The Sony AV series

The Sony AV-8650 is a color 1/2" open reel player/recorder that also plays back monochrome video. This video player conforms to an EIAJ standard, with video the standard 30 frames per second, 2 fields per frame. Other decks in the Sony AV series are the AV-3600, the AV-3650 and the AV-8600. The 3600 and 3650 are black and white machines. The 8600 and 8650 are color. The 3650 and 8650 are editing decks.

     Sony  8650

Most of the 1/2" open reel tapes that are transferred at BAVC are played back on this machine. BAVC has two AV-8650s.

As far as connectors go, the AV-8650 is modern compared to the CV-2100. Audio out is still a mini plug, but the video out is either a UHF or BNC connector. A UHF to BNC adapter is readily available at electronics stores such as Radio Shack.
One important feature of the AV-8650 is that the video input will also serve as a sync input. With a "sync in," you can run the video signal of the AV-8650 through a time base corrector (TBC) that is not full frame, such as the Sony BVT-810.

The audio connector on the AV-8650 is a mini plug and the signal is not +4 db. If the record machine has +4 db audio (Beta SP, Digital Beta, one inch, etc), the audio will need to be matched.

Even though the AV-8650 has a "color/BW" switch, I feel that it seldom pays to switch from color. Often tapes have several segments edited together. Some may be color and some monochrome. Unfortunately, if you leave the switch in color the monochrome image may have sparkles of false color.

The only way to avoid this is to attempt to change the color switch on the fly. Perhaps the best "workaround" is to record in color, accepting false color artifacts. If this tape is used to create a new program, the program color can be adjusted in post-production.
 

    The rewinding set-up

The two AV-8650s are mounted to provide a simple rewind station. BAVC's CV-2100 doesn't rewind tapes. We took this feature into consideration when we designed the ergonomics of the remastering center.

With 1/2" open reel decks the information is recorded on the diagonal. This is referred to as helical scan. The supply reel sits higher than the take-up reel and the tape drops in its path from the supply reel, past the video heads on its way to the take-up reel. This drop in the path as the tape is moving causes the information to be recorded on a diagonal on the tape.

 

We have our two EIAJ 1/2" open reel players mounted next to each other on the same level. With this configuration we can rewind tapes without passing them through the video player's tape path.

We put the tape to be rewound on the right player's supply reel spindle, and the empty take-up reel on the left player's supply reel spindle. Wind the end of the tape around the take-up reel and you are ready to rewind.

If you turn the left player's control lever to "REWIND", nothing will happen because there is an auto shutoff mechanism in the player's tape path. It is a metal part that resembles a paper clip. Using your right hand to provide some tension to the tape to be rewound, push on the auto shutoff mechanism. The tape should begin to rewind. It will continue as long as you push on the mechanism.