Quick & dirty RS422 VTR control from your laptop

If you need to control a deck (or test routes through an RS422 matrix) then a very quick and easy way of doing it is via your laptop. Modern machines don't have RS232 ports and so you can't just hook up an RS232-422 balancer, but USB serial devices are cheap - the Addenda RS-USB4 is the one I keep in my rucksack.

It's worth noting some of the settings you need for the serial port in Windows.

You then need a bit of software that will talk the P2 protocol. WSony II has been around forever but still works under Windows7. You have to run it as admin for it to access the serial port.

Once it runs you have to tell it what port number gave it - It shows up as Com1 on my machine by default, but bear in mind that Windows will often assign it to Com5 or greater. The WSonyII will only talk up to Com4 so you might need to change that (see the first image above in the advanced tab).

Now you've got everything you need to drive a VT or test that an RS422 circuit is working.

Oh, if you don't have the CD that came with the Addenda adaptor cable you'll need to download the software here.

Remember; P2 over RS422 runs at 38,400 baud.