Sony PCM-800

Eight tracks of 16-bit digital on a Hi8 videocassette — the format that put a serious multitrack in reach of the project studio.

Overview

The first thing that grabs you about the PCM-800 is the tape. It doesn't take reels, it doesn't take DAT, and it certainly doesn't take a hard drive — it takes a standard Hi8 videocassette, the same consumer video format that was sitting in camcorders at the time. Sony built an eight-channel digital audio recorder on top of that "robust and reliable Hi8 video format," and the result was a machine pitched squarely at radio and TV broadcasters, project studios, and post-production facilities. A standard 120-minute Hi8 tape yields 108 minutes of 16-bit linear digital audio, which is a strange and wonderful thing to hold in your hand: an hour and three-quarters of multitrack digital on a cassette the size of a paperback.

The price of entry was $5,995 at manufacturer's list, according to distributor literature of the period. That's a lot of money, and it's worth being honest about what it bought. This was not a toy for the home recordist — it was a professional tool, and the feature set reflects that. Balanced XLR analog inputs and outputs sit alongside AES/EBU digital I/O, so the PCM-800 was ready to interface directly into a pro audio chain without a pile of adapters. Sample rates were selectable between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, covering both the CD world and the video/broadcast world. Variable speed ran ±6%, adjustable in 1% steps.

Where the PCM-800 earns its keep is in the editing and sync features. Audio punch-in and punch-out are handled digitally with crossfade technology, and the crossfade time is adjustable from 10 ms to 90 ms in 10 ms steps — a genuinely useful range that lets an engineer tailor the seam to the material rather than living with a fixed splice. External sync with SMPTE/EBU time code is part of the package. And the machine scales: with the optional DABK-801 sync board, up to 16 units can be locked together for a system of up to 128 channels. A single PCM-800 is a project-studio workhorse; sixteen of them is a post-production facility.

The optional RM-D800 remote control is the other piece most owners ended up wanting. It provides full transport control including a jog/shuttle wheel and can command up to six machines. Between the sync board and the remote, the PCM-800 was designed to be part of a system, not a standalone box on a shelf.

Contemporaries took note of how Sony differentiated the machine from the obvious competition. Mix (January 1995, p.240) observed that from a cosmetic standpoint Sony opted for a gray finish, replaced the push-on power switch with a VCR-style rocker switch, and swapped the position of certain controls — a reminder that this was a machine built in direct conversation with the Tascam DA-88, the other Hi8-based eight-track that defined the era. The same Mix listening sessions (October 1995, p.60) put the PCM-800 up against the stock DA-88 on violin, with one listener praising its transients while finding the top end "a bit rough" and another noting muted highs — subjective impressions from a blind-style comparison, but the kind of honest note that tells you this was a converter/transport package with a character of its own rather than a faceless black box.

It's the kind of gear that rewards the owner who understands what it is. The Hi8 transport is the heart of the thing, and the whole design philosophy — pro I/O, digital crossfades, time-code chase, modular sync — flows from the assumption that this recorder would live in a rack and be driven by people who cared about punch-ins landing where they were supposed to. The gray finish and VCR-style switch are period touches, but the engineering underneath is serious.