Sony VO-5800 U-Matic SP 3/4" Editing Videocassette Recorder - LOCAL PICKUP LA

Description

Shipping to USA is flat rate 7.50, but if you are in California, please send me a message BEFORE you buy and I will reduce the shipping to 6.25 for you.
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Note: I sold a few more U-Matic decks than I thought, and suddenly realized that THIS IS THE LAST ONE I have to sell. And the pro VHS machines, too. After this, it's just Betacam SP and Digital Betacam machines.
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This is a Sony VO-5800 editing videocassette recorder/player serial number 11781. It plays U-matic 3/4" videocassettes.
This deck has the optional RFK-634 RF unit for playback on standard TV set (installed, as you can see in the photos).
It also has the standard functions of the VO-5800 editing videocassette recorder/player, including the bidirex search dial with search speeds from 1/30th to 5x normal, in either direction, and the editing interface for the optional Sony RM-440 editing controller (or the Sony RM-580 Remote Control Unit with the display and shuttle wheel, I have one I could list on eBay if someone wants to buy it, the RM-500 also works, that's the one with no wheel on it).
Demonstration Video:
You can see and hear this deck (along with the Sony PVM-14L1 14" Broadcast Video Monitor that I just sold) playing a movie scene tape in the demonstration video "Vintage Video: Sony VO-5800 #11781 U-Matic Recorder - Playing a few tapes" on the Synclav com YouTube channel.
I can't say for sure, but I believe this plays low band U-matic 3/4" videocassettes and high band U-matic 3/4" videocassettes. As far as I know, I believe it plays high band U-matic 3/4" videocassettes because I think that's mostly what I have, these are tapes made at major studios as work prints through the year 2000. I say this because I think that pretty much all of the high band decks were backwards compatible to play low band tapes, but I don't think I've had any low band tapes because that's older than what I get from the studios around here (Synhouse most often gets gear from audio post production facilities that use some video gear for scoring or spotting sound effects to picture, via the Synhouse Synclavier business, but some large lots are obtained from straight video post production companies as well, this unit actually came in a huge shipment I made from from a music composer audio facility in New York City when they closed a room in 2010). Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
Please look at the photos carefully, I took very high resolution photos outdoors in natural light showing each side, the front, the back, the top, and the bottom, in great detail so you could see everything well. Please note that the lead photo makes it look like it is missing one of the feet, it isn't, it's just blocked from view by the stand that it's on and you can see it in the photo of the bottom side.
This deck has Sony 33-pin parallel control.
It has BNC jacks for composite VIDEO IN/OUT, SC IN, and note that this has two video channels input selectable on the front panel, VIDEO 1 and VIDEO 2.
It also has an F-type RF OUT and phono/RCA audio jacks for AUDIO LINE IN/OUT CH-1/L and CH-2/R, a mini jack AUDIO MONITOR, and the 8-pin TV jack, plus the Sony 7-pin DUB IN/OUT jacks (these are better quality in some cases when doing external time base correction).
The lower part of the front panel is hinged, it releases, flips up to different positions and latches there, and releases correctly and smoothly. You can see this flipped up in one of the photos, and in the demonstration video.
Synhouse got it in 2010 from the buyout of a whole room of production gear at a music composer audio facility in New York City when they closed a room, it probably hadn't been used in at least 5-10 years, I was told it was good and I didn't test it when I checked it into the Synhouse inventory. A lot of the beige paint is scratched off the edges of the black plastic because this deck was a "floater", not rack mounted but rather moved from studio room to room for projects that needed a video. I kept it in a flight case inside the warehouse until I brought it home in August of 2020. This was sealed in an airtight flight case from June 2010 until January 2020, so it is clean and was untouched for 10 years. I pulled it out and brought it home August 2020 and it played many tapes as you can see in the demonstration video.
I am not a video engineer and can't do critical tests for specific performance attributes, but I can tell you how I have tested it this week and what the results were. All I can guarantee is that I got these results and that it did what it did when I made the video that you can see, beyond that, I don't guarantee it. My test results from this week:
The basics: Front panel display works. All controls work. All buttons respond instantly to the lightest touch. Loads tape. Ejects tape. Now the loading and the ejecting you need to do correctly and deliberately, if you just loosely slap it in there while not looking, it won't go in, it needs to be straight, lined up, and pushed home, then it goes down. Plays tape (and the picture is clear with good contrast and color). Stops tape. Fast forwards tape. Rewinds tape. Plays in fast search using the shuttle wheel. Plays in fast reverse search using the shuttle wheel. Has picture, has sound. Audio is good (almost every prerecorded U-Matic tape I have was made for audio scoring/effects spotting at local audio recording studios, so they all have a mix of dialog and SFX on channel 1 and linear LTC SMPTE time code on channel 2 [that's a tone that sounds like a fax machine], and this is not a time code deck). All of the above is good for a machine of this age, especially one that hasn't been spun up in 10-20 years. This is all on the playback side; I have no way to test the recording function as I don't have any video source to record and don't have any blank U-Matic tapes here to record to. Not sure if that's even a thing now; I think people are looking to record new material in the U-Matic format, everyone asking about my decks and buying them is only concerned with playback because they are archiving/digitizing old program material. I opened the top panel and inspected the insides, it's clean and the pinch roller is smooth and rubbery, which I'm a little surprised of at this age.
More critically: Professional video decks need regular maintenance and periodic service (whether used or not), as does this one, and it hasn't had maintenance or service since, well, I don't know, I'd say some time a long time before I got it (in 2010 and even then it hadn't been used in a long time). The belts in this are probably 15-33 years old and dry, although these aren't showing me too much slippage, just a little where it seems that when it starts moving in fast forward or reverse you can hear the parts moving quickly, but the actual LED counter comes up to speed a little later, I'd assume this is the dried out rubber idler wheel sliding a little as it gets a grip, and this lessens when the deck is used and warmed up, and you can hear the audio test tone at the start of "Vintage Video: Sony VO-5800 #11781 U-Matic Recorder - Playing a few tapes" and the pitch has very little modulation to it. I'm an audio guy, so the way I can tell this is by playing an audio tone test tape in it (I use one that has SMPTE color bars on the screen, a constant audio test tone on channel 1, and SMPTE LTC on channel 2) and hearing that this deck #11781 has very little perceptible wow and flutter when listening to that tone.
I played four tapes over two days last week and this week (with a high quality Sony CRT broadcast monitor), then I just let it play a 22-minute movie scene tape all the way through while took some notes. I completely fast forwarded and rewound several tapes several times without trouble.
Both of the meters (audio level L/R) have working backlamps as you can see in the video, because I repaired them, this was a hell of a lot of work and at my service rates would have been a 0 job (3 hours) plus parts. The red LED display is bright and perfect.
The clear plastic dust cover door is present, intact, and swinging back and forth when tapes are moved in and out.
BTW, I have steel rack shelves available if you want me to list one for this.
Shipping
The "rugged diecast aluminum chassis" that Sony advertised this as having makes it five pounds heavier than other models.
This will be very safely packed for shipment. This is a very heavy item, valuable and delicate. I will pack it into a cardboard carton, then double-box it into a second outer carton, with solid foam/air packs between the layers. I just spent EIGHT HOURS packing another Sony sold two weeks ago and I don't get paid for that. So local pickup would be nice...
Shipping to USA is flat rate 7.50, but if you are in California, please send me a message BEFORE you buy and I will reduce the shipping to 6.25 for you.
BTW, for years I've had---but never used---an Anvil flight case for a Sony VO-9850 (that's what the stenciled lettering says on it, same size as the VO-5800), the wood and hardware are good, the wheels are literally gone and the foam is almost gone, but if someone needed it, tell me and I'll list it on eBay for local pickup only or add it to this listing for more but for local pickup only (it weighs more than the machine and is much bigger).
Free local pickup in the Los Feliz district of L.A. is okay if you can
work around my busy schedule.
I will be listing at least a few of my Sony video decks soon, maybe several, possibly including (1) VP-7630 multiformat U-Matic w/PAL, (1) VP-9000 U-Matic SP player, (1 or 2) DMR-4000 (this is a U-Matic deck optimized for digital PCM audio recording with the Sony PCM-1630), (1) UVW-1800 Betacam SP recorder w/Michael Sellman LTD 4-channel audio extender mod, (1) BVW-22 Betacam SP player, (1) BVW-65 Betacam SP player, (3) BVW-75 Betacam SP recorder, (2) DVW-500 Digital Betacam SP recorder, (2) DVW-A500 Digital Betacam SP recorder, plus a rack mount for a Sony SVO-1630 VHS deck. All I really need is one of each format, but I have so many.
I also have a ton of absolutely mint condition BNC cables, including some Belden Brilliance RGB sets. Also BNC patch bays and everything for older analog video. At least 10-15 Avid Media Composers. One of the first Chyrons ever made (the size of a trash compactor). Lots of broadcast monitors, not even sure how many but for sure a Barco CVS 51, JVC TM-H150CG, Ikegami TM14-16R, (2) Ikegami TM20-16R, and Panasonic WV-5200BU triples in rack mount. I can't easily tell because all are in flight cases that are stacked in the warehouse, most I haven't even seen in 14 years.
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