LabGuy's World: Sony Half Inch EIAJ Deck VTR's Sony AV-3600, AV-3650, AV-8600 and AV-8650 Videocorders (in relative scale). .         The basic line up of Sony EIAJ VTR's. The first unit, AV-3600, is a basic B/W record & playback deck. The second unit, AV-3650, is a B/W editing deck. The third is the AV-8600 basic color record & play deck. The fourth unit, AV-8650, is the deluxe color editing deck.         The first three decks each have two video heads. The AV-8650 has four video heads, one record/play pair and one pair of flying erase heads used only during editing. With a 7" reel of tape, these machines have a recording time of 60 minutes with a tape speed is 7.5 IPS. All of the models had mono audio tracks.         Notice that the AV-3600 resembles the CV-2600 shown on the previous page. These two models represented the "cross over" point when Sony discontinued the skip field recording systems in favor of  the fully standardized, as well as full full field recording, EIAJ system. The AV-3600 was also available in a version similar to the TCV-2110, where the tape deck was combined with a built in 9" receiver / monitor. That model was known as the TAV-3610.         I have had the AV-3650 since 1991 and acquired the AV-3600 & AV-8650 early in 1999. The AV-8600 was provided to the museum at a great price by Jeff Rice in December of 1999. The AV-8650 is on loan to my museum for the purpose of dubbing several hundred hours of tapes for its owners. The tapes are supposed to contain sign language studies. This sounds very interesting . . . . Update Info: 020307 New Photos: 020310 AV-3600 Ready Reference Card .         Above is both sides of the ready reference card that came with the AV-3600. It shows how to perform some common operations with this VTR. The first photo tells you how to record video and audio. The second photo details audi only recording. This information can be applied, in general, to almost any of the basic reel to reel VTRs of this era. The files are kind of large. I hope the additional image quality makes up for the extra download time. The following text is a general description of the AV-3600.         The Sony AV-3600 is a lightweight (33 lbs.) videocorder that provides a whole hour of monochrome recording and playback on ½ inch tape. Two numbered buttons and a single lever make the AV-3600 extremely easy to operate, as does the fully automatic gain control for picture sound. Audio manual gain control with meter is also provided. The AV-3600 has stop action, audio that can be added after recording of video, and an optional RF modulator that enables tapes to be played back on regular TV set. The AV-3600 conforms to standard EIA TV signal requirements. It can record an EIA composite TV signal from a camera or receiver/monitor. Horizontal resolution is more that 300 lines. Tapes are interchangeable with those of any AV series VTR. Tape pattern conforms to EIAJ-1 standard. Dimensions: 15-3/4" (w) x 9-3/16" (H) x 13-3/16" (D) . NEW! 02.08.25         [CLICK HERE] To read the Operator's Manual for the Sony AV-3650. New Addition! 01.04.23 Sony AV-5000A (non-standard) Color / B/W EIAJ Videocorder. .         I have wanted one of these since I was in high school! This machine is unique. As the story goes, and I am quoting the description as I remember it from a 1975 Denson Electronics quarterly catalog, that Sony jumped the gun on the color EIAJ standard. Sony was so certain that the EIAJ committee was going to approve their color recording method, they actually started shipping these VTR's before the standard was established. The committee considered Sony's behavior to be so arrogant that they went with JVC's 767 kHz color under system instead. The AV-5000's use what is called a pilot tone system instead. Each system has pluses and minuses and is to involved to go into here at this time.         The Sony AV-5000A was preceded by the AV-5000. After shipping some AV-5000's Sony engineers determined that they could raise the pilot frequency a few hundred kilohertz and get better color bandwidth. What this means, of course, is that a recording made on an A type machine won't play back on a non-A type machine and vice versa!  So, not only where the 5000's not compatible with the rest of the EIAJ community, they weren't even compatible among all members of their own family!!! We can easily see that there was quite a race going on in the video industry to get VTR's to market in the late 60's! All of this culminated, of course, with Betamax in 1975. Needless to say, all the players learned a lot of hard lessons in those short ten years from the time the CV-2000 was introduced until Betamax finally succeeded on the market. Newest Addition! 01.07.21 New Information! 02.07.22 Sony TAV-3610 Combination EIAJ Videocorder & TV. .         Sometimes, we have to take what we can get! This is a combination B/W VTR deck and (obviously missing) 9" B/W television receiver / monitor. The second photo shows what the unit would like like if it were complete. Normally, I wouldn't display an incomplete item in this museum. But, this one is just too cool to not be shared with all of you! The third photo is of the original Quick Reference Card showing common configuration schemes of the TAV-3610 unit. According to Ray, who sent me an email on this topic, the monitor is a model number CVM-51UWP. Thanks Ray!         Exactly the same as the CV-2110 in concept, this was a "grab it and go" combination video system. Note the two handles at the front of the unit. One person can move this thing, but two is better! On location, all the user had to do was plug in power, pop up the monitor and all was ready for the video experience. The deck could record from either the built in monitor or from a camera or other external source of video. The VTR is the venerable AV-3600 vanilla flavored, general purpose B/W VTR discussed earlier. . Update Information! 02.09.12 Sony TAV-3610 (#2) getting checked out in the lab. .         LabGuy's World has obtained the TAV-3610 from Ray Meola bringing the total number of these units in the collection to two. The monitor has some problems (vertical scan failure, sound issues), but the VTR works fine. I even watched a few minutes of the Johnny Carson show, on a separate monitor, that some thoughtful person recorded way, way back on January 8, 1970! They even put the date on the reel! Johnny's guest was none other than Dr. Paul Erlich, the author of the book, The Population Bomb, which he wrote in 1968.         The slip rings in the head drum need a good cleaning, but that is the only issue I can mention about the VTR at this point in time. The VTR works just fine as far as I could tell from the ten minutes I spent checking it out. It looks like this system stands a good chance of becoming a 100% restored unit! The photo quality is a little bit low, because I did not use the flash. I wanted you all to be able to see that the reels are in motion.         As I was preparing to put the machine back into temporary storage, I discovered the original TV sun shield lying in the bottom of the case! REfer to the second photo. What an interesting discovery.  It is a simple affair, made of soft plastic with an elastic strap to hold the shade securely on the monitor. Seems like Sony thought of everything back then! More to come very soon. Stay Tuned!         NEEDED: Service manual for the CVM-51UWP monitor. Also, any other literature about this product and another TV receiver / monitor for the other TAV-3610. Update Information! 03.01.04 1974 Sony AV-8600 (#2) and CVM-1225 Trinitron color video monitor being checked out in the lab. .         Another new entry to the collection! A fully functional AV-8600 and a matching color monitor/receiver of the period. A recent lucky find on Eaby brings us this marvelous equipment to enjoy. Thanks to Paul for posting such a wonderful artifact and for taking such good care of it all these years. The ensemble came with over 100 still playable video tapes as well. The picture on the monitor was most likely recorded almost twenty five years ago. (Star Trek Copyright property of Paramount Studios) As can be seen in the photo, color quality is respectable. In fact, most of the color errors are actually the low quality of the film chain used by the broadcaster at the time. This VTR and monitor are in superb condition!         The second photo is a close up of the video and audio jack bay on the right-rear of the monitor. This is a typical video monitor/receiver jack bay of the period. If you see a tv with these connectors, it is most likely a semi-pro model for use with a VTR.         NEEDED: Service manual for the CVM-1225 Trinitron color video monitor/receiver. Click here to:        Go to the Next Exhibit: Other (non Sony) Half Inch deck VTRs        Return to the Exhibit Index        Return to The Top of LabGuy's World         Last updated: January 04, 2003