Sony EDV-5000
Description
The Sony EDV-5000 was the basic model in the ED Beta lineup, released in November 1987 at a retail price of ¥189,000. It was the second ED Beta deck to reach market, following the flagship EDV-9000 by two months.
The EDV-5000 was derived from the SHB Beta SL-HF1000D but used a completely new loading mechanism, which meant the linear casting mechanism characteristic of the 1000D was not carried over. The side wood panels and adapter shoe, which were optional on the SL-HF1000D, were included as standard equipment.
Notably, the EDV-5000 is the only ED Beta deck that lacked a flying erase head (FE), which caused prominent rainbow noise artifacts at the beginning of insert edits. Sony included a complimentary dry-type cleaning tape with each unit due to frequent head clogging issues with the new mechanism. The new loading mechanism also caused a noticeable delay when switching from playback to rewind due to a gear changeover — a quirk unique to this model among Beta VCRs.
Like the EDV-9000, launch units included the promotional "Shiki no Oka: Natsu" ED Beta tape. Body color is silver (even-numbered thousands = silver in Sony's ED Beta naming convention). The EDV-5000 was sold exclusively in Japan and had no direct North American counterpart.
