While the machine basically worked, the picture quality was never that great. I didn't know whether it was the heads, or the quality of the secondhand tapes that I was using on it, but still, in the absence of any better alternative, I continued to use it anyway.
12 years or so later, and it all seems so long ago! I'd all but forgotten about my old beta machine, and even my VHS gear doesn't get much use since I bought a DVD recorder. However, I was at a car boot sale last sunday when I spotted a sanyo nx-100 with a box of around 30 tapes going for �15. Too tempting - I haggled it down to �10 for the lot, and wondered what I'd just spent my money on!
But how pleased was I when I got it home to find that not only does the machine work perfectly, but the tapes that came with it are a dream of 80s nostalgia - old shows of Top Of The Pops, Christmas specials from 1986, intercut with an assortment of forgotten classic adverts and programme trailers - lovely! What's more, it turns out that while my dodgy old toploader's playback was a bit rough, the recordings that I made during my teenage years on it play back perfectly on this machine! Silly? Maybe. Overly nostalgic? Most probably. Happy? Definitely!
Submitted Monday, July 05, 2004 6:15 AM