Sony RS-422 DB9 Pinout

FAQs

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

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:

ES-320 Master
ES-320 Slave
FAQs