The Sony 9-Pin Protocol is a 2-way communications protocol for controlling advanced video recorders. Sony introduced the protocol to control reel-to-reel Type C Video Tape Recorders (VTR) and VideoCassette Recorders (VCR). It uses a DB-9 connector with 9 pins, where bidirectional communication takes places over a four wire cable, with accordance to the RS422 Standard.
In the Sony RS422 Protocol, the Controller/Master is defined as the equipment which controls a VTR and the Device/Slave is defined as the equipment which is being controlled. If connecting to a Brainboxes DB9 serial module, it's important to verify whether your Brainboxes module is a Controller or a Device as the physical wiring configuration will change depending on this.
Below are the pinouts of the Sony RS422 protocol, using a DB9 serial connector:
| Sony RS422 Controller (Master) | Sony RS422 Device (Slave) |
|---|
| Pin | Direction | Name | Description |
|---|
| 1 | --- | GND | Frame Ground | | 2 | ---> | RX_A | Receive A- | | 3 | <--- | TX-B | Transmit B- | | 4 | --- | TX-GND | Transmit Ground | | 5 | --- | N/C | Not Connected | | 6 | --- | RX-GND | Receive Ground | | 7 | ---> | RX-B | Receive B+ | | 8 | <--- | TX-A | Transmit A+ | | 9 | --- | N/C | Not Connected |
| | Pin | Direction | Name | Description |
|---|
| 1 | --- | GND | Frame Ground | | 2 | <--- | TX-A | Transmit A- | | 3 | ---> | RX-B | Receive B+ | | 4 | --- | RX-GND | Receive Ground | | 5 | | NC | Not Connected | | 6 | --- | TX-GND | Transmit Ground | | 7 | <--- | TX-B | Transmit B+ | | 8 | ---> | RX_A | Receive A- | | 9 | | NC | Not Connected |
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Below are 2 examples of using a Brainboxes ES-320 Ethernet to Serial module with a Sony DB9 VTR. The first example is where the ES-320 is being used as a Controller, with the second using the ES-320 as a Device:
