Deck Control Cable

AJA Video Systems

Deck Control Cable

Posted by Bill Thomas on June 12, 2008 at 3:29 pm

Can I use a regular RS232 cable (9 pin) to connect my IO HD to my Sony 2800 Betacam deck (9 pin also)? Both connectors look like basic RS232 connectors, yet the IO connector says RS422.

Thanks,

Bill

Bill Thomas replied 17 years, 11 months ago 5 Members · 8 Replies
8 Replies

Gary Adcock
June 12, 2008 at 3:52 pm

[Bill Thomas] “Can I use a regular RS232 cable (9 pin) to connect my IO HD to my Sony 2800 Betacam deck (9 pin also)? Both connectors look like basic RS232 connectors, yet the IO connector says RS422.”

Yes it is a standard 9 pin serial cable- RS232 is a computer serial protocol whereas RS422 is solely used in video applications and hardware. There are very few devices that can convert between the 2 protocols accurately.

The IoHD only supports the RS422 protocol.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Inside look at the IoHD
Bill Thomas
June 12, 2008 at 3:55 pm

[gary adcock] “The IoHD only supports the RS422 protocol.”

So then, I CAN use a regular 232 male-to-male cable?
Jeremy Garchow
June 12, 2008 at 4:30 pm

You can use the cable, just not the 232 protocol.
Bill Thomas
June 12, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Thanks a lot you guys!!

Bill
Jeffrey Di lullo
June 12, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Bill,

You can use your deck, but you need to get a converter.

https://www.aja.com/html/support_faq_main.php?q=rs232&productid=&button=Search&b_productid=-1

check out this company:

https://www.addenda-elect.com/rs2324.htm

I hope this helps,

jd

Jeffrey Di Lullo
BBC&S Video Communicaitons
Gary Adcock
June 13, 2008 at 1:56 pm

[gary adcock] “Yes it is a standard 9 pin serial cable- “

As Jeremy said.

YES.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Inside look at the IoHD
Bob Zelin
June 14, 2008 at 10:27 pm

there are countless cables that are “lying around” that look like “pin to pin” 9 pin cables, but are “null modem” cables or RS232 with transmit and receive crossed at one end, or real cheapo cables that only have 3 wires in them (since RS232 only requires transmit, receive and ground). The bottom line is, that you CANNOT assume that just because it has 9 pin males on both ends, that it will be a
working cable for this application. You need a nice boring 9 pin male to male cable, with all nine wires going “straight thru”.
“But how would I know if it’s wired this way internally – it’s got molded plastic ends on both sides” – without testing the cable, you can’t tell, and if it doesn’t work, don’t blame the AJA.

“Why does all of this stuff have to be so complicated” – I don’t know, I don’t make the rules, but the “rules” are getting worse every day. Things are NOT getting simplier.

Bob Zelin
Bill Thomas
June 16, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Thanks Bob!! Why should anything work seamlessly? Then our lives would be boring!!

In fact, in the past I had (what I thought) were two exactly same db9 cables. But only one worked for deck control. Hmmm…. I guess what you said explains it!!

Thanks for the info!!

Bill

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