Sony BVE 900

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Photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission.

These Sony BVE 900 edit controllers were used extensively in tape edit suites in the 1990s at BBC Pebble Mill.

The following information was added by Ray Lee:

‘This was the standard edit controller control panel used in all the News Betacam edit suites. Normally it controlled 2 players and a recorder, although as can be seen from the picture there are 6 source select buttons on the top right and it could control the recorder, up to 3 betacam players, and 2 other sources. The numeric key pad could be used to enter specific time codes, and there were keys to enable the capture of timecodes as edit points on the fly, and also to trim them up or down. It allowed spilt edits where pictures and sound were edited in different places as a single operation, so for instance the outgoing sound could continue with the incoming picture and then switch to the incoming sound a few moments later. It enabled rather more complex editing than could be acheived with the Betacam front panel, and could use EDL’s (Edit decision lists).The control panel shown connected to a 4U rack controller that connected to the other equipment in the edit suite. In the late 80’s and through 90’s it was the workhorse of news and regional editing.’

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:

Gerry King: ‘A bit of kit I liked because it worked constantly, reliably and made editing that bit easier til computers took over.’

2 comments on “Sony BVE 900
  1. Grubby isn’t it ? VTB had one once driving D3s and betacam machines and I remember slaving over one for weeks on end in PSC4 doing Good Morning on beta SP. It was good for timecode editing ( so did accurate and repeatable tape edits). You could fire off vision mixers from timecode and so do repeatable mixes and wipes. All VTRs controlled from one console and EDL made going back and changing things a bit easier even if all you wanted was to go home ! JD.

  2. Yes, John, it is a bit on the grubby side! I think I was probably sat next to you in PSC4, as you slaved over Good Morning! Happy days! Vanessa

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