Re: Old Betacam .... Need some advice please!

It looks like it is in rough shape. The capacitors are probably leaking. Who knows how much time (if any?) the heads have? As soon as it breaks (maybe even before you get it home) you will have to find somebody that still works on it, and THEY will have to scrounge old, used parts to repair it with. No honest and conscientious repair operation would even look at it, because it will cost more for them just to evaluate what is wrong with it than it is even worth.

It is analog Standard Definition in a digital HD world. Even if it produced phenomenal SD pictures (which it doesn't by modern standards) what would you DO with SD video???

As soon as the remaining tape supplies (if any?) have dried up, it will be very expensive to find tape for it. Then, once you have a recorded Betacam tape, where are you going to play it back on when 99% of the planet's Betacam tape decks have died? There will probably always be one or two places that keep old tape format machines running and provide dubbing services for archives, but that will be very expensive and inconvenient.

There are probably a dozen more equally compelling reasons to run away from this. It would be a money pit even if they paid you $60. It seems unfortunate considering its cost and performance back in its day, but that is progress for you.