Sony SAT-333ESG (1990)
The Sony SAT-333ESG is a BS (broadcast satellite) tuner released in 1990 at ¥79,800 in Japan. It was built for the early days of Japanese satellite broadcasting, when receiving BS meant a separate box sitting on top of your TV or in your rack. It's an ES-series model, which places it in Sony's "Elevated Standard" line, though it's far less documented than the ES amplifiers and CD players of the same era.
The record shows a heavily featured unit for its time. It receives BS channels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 via a 75Ω F-type antenna input, and the power supply for the BS converter switches on and off. Video output is two systems at 1Vp-p/75Ω (NTSC), and audio is handled with two stereo outputs. The audio engineering is the interesting part. Sony fitted the SAT-333ESG with its newly developed pulse D/A converter, which converts digital signals into high-speed 1-and-0 pulses and expresses music waveforms by pulse density. In principle, this design eliminates differential non-linear distortion, glitch, and zero-cross distortion. Audio specs in B-mode (the higher-quality mode) are frequency response of 2 Hz to 22 kHz ±0.5 dB, dynamic range of 95 dB or more, and harmonic distortion of 0.002% or less at 1 kHz.
The video side uses a CCD dynamic comb filter for Y/C separation, the same type used in commercial equipment. It compares three scanning lines to determine correlation and perform effective separation. It also has a PLL-type FM detector and PLL frequency synthesizer tuning. On-screen display could overlay received channel, audio mode, stereo/mono, and main/sub status on the TV picture.
For its era, the SAT-333ESG was well connected. It offers both coaxial and optical digital audio outputs, plus a bit-stream output (the format isn't documented), keyed AFC input, and detected outputs for connecting a down-converter for HDTV or a data channel decoder for facsimile broadcasting. There are two video and two audio output systems with gold-plated connectors, an RFU adapter output for TVs without video/audio inputs, and a headphone jack with volume. Three timer-recording link methods (BS control, linked AC outlet, and power-on sensing) were designed to work with different VCRs. A wireless remote (RM-D33G) was included.
It measures 470mm wide by 100mm high by 355mm deep and weighs 7.5kg. With the optional side wood panels removed, width drops to 430mm. Power consumption is 30W, and it has two AC outlets (one non-linked, one for VTR only).
Documentation on this model is thin. The primary sources are Japanese equipment databases and a handful of listings. No period reviews have surfaced, and no production end date or market context is recorded. The unit was designed for the analog BS broadcasting era, so its practical use today is limited. A current used listing in Russia showed 10,500₽, and a Yahoo! Auctions Japan listing appeared for a unit that failed power-on testing, sold as-is. One spare part, IC UPC1536C, is available through a parts supplier.
- Type: BS tuner
- Released: 1990
- Original price: ¥79,800
- Channels: BS1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15
- Dimensions: 470 × 100 × 355 mm (W×H×D)
- Weight: 7.5 kg
- Accessories: Wireless remote RM-D33G
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