Sony EDV-9000
Description
The Sony EDV-9000 was the flagship ED Beta VCR and the first ED Beta deck to be released, launching in September 1987 at a retail price of ¥295,000. Based on the SHB Beta SL-HF3000 chassis, it featured comprehensive editing capabilities including a jog dial, shuttle link, programmable edit points, and ±3 frame accuracy — features that rivaled much more expensive U-matic setups.
The EDV-9000 holds the distinction of being the longest-produced Betamax deck in history. It remained in Sony's product catalog for 15 years, finally ceasing production in August 2002. This made it the last Betamax deck Sony ever manufactured, marking the end of the format's commercial lifespan.
At launch, Sony included a promotional ED Beta tape called "Shiki no Oka: Natsu" (Four Seasons Hill: Summer), a high-definition landscape film by photographer Maeda Shinzō shot in Biei, Hokkaido using HDTV equipment. The tape was presented in 4:3 with the sides of the original 16:9 image cropped.
The EDV-9000 was the basis for the North American EDV-9500 (USA) and EDV-9300 (Canada). An undocumented service mode reportedly allowed βIs recording, though this was never officially supported. Body color is black (following Sony's convention of odd-numbered thousands being black, even-numbered being silver). As with all ED Beta decks, special playback modes used 8-bit digital processing — a first for consumer Betamax.
