(No doubt PAL versions for Oz, etc.)

Bitchin Super-Beta Is-speed editing decks.. made unlike your average VHS throw-away (of the day, let alone the drugstore $88 remnants seen now.) SVHS could never equal the color quality of the Betas, depite sl. higher BW than Beta Is
Then too - there were even 'D' machines, special tape - intro'd too late to effect any market penetration: just the perfectionists. Over $2K, too.

Heavy machines; lots of stuff inside there, from micro-inch machining on to reliable electronics. At the time, I marvelled at Sony's ability to mass produce such lab grade mechanical designs. A 10 \ufffd-in. finish is mirror-like.

(And.. My HF-650 Super-beta continues on.. .. .. (with one replacement of the metallized rubber pad in the remote.)) It will play (but not record) the faster, higher def'n tapes. It was the poor slob's HF-1000 du jour.

Note the eBay prices on well-preserved specimens of the above or HF-1000 (an editing deck with a monstrous remote: designed 23+ years ago.) Some folk have hundreds of tapes - I suspect that recent sales of these may have to do with needing the fine playback quality for a media change(?) amidst those who: simply define the best tape performance as adequate. And computer-free, (more likely.. Doze-free.)

ie not as silly as you imply.

A friend recently passed along a near-new JVC S-9600U. I must concede that it handles tapes with as much finesse as the Betas, does amazing things at EP and otherwise just seems very good. Looks as if its editing is no slouch either, were I so inclined. (Not.) Does better on VHS than a previous hors de combat Sony managed, though it may have a strange / infrequent glitch; I can live with less than perfection.

(I have yet to run down an S-VHS tape on which to experiment; best attend to that before the local ... If Everybody doesn't want it - nobody Gets It ... marts drop them.)

It really IS amazing IMO - what recent machines can do with EP! (Some folks, unclear-on-the-concept of Vision - persist in using that sluggish pace on off-air material.. oh well.)