Denon DVD 1930

vining

Is there a trick to making this player talk. I'm trying to use the DVD-2900 module which has identical RS232 protocol plus it's been previously posted to be compatable with the 1930 but all I get is transmit from AMX nothing received. I've used pre-made straight through cable home made patch cable w/ RJ-45 adapters and I just can't get any thing to return from the player or player to respond to commands for that matter. It's supposed to be straight through but I have tried cross over. On the home made cable none of the pin are jumped and the RS 232 protocol doesn't indicate anything should be.

I haven't tried telnet yet but I don't think I can cuz I need to start the string w/ STX end with ETX and then BCC and as far as I know I can't send HEX or decimal values from telnet and STX/ETX ($02 & $03) don't have real ascii equivelents to send.

Is there a hidden idiot switch that I can't seem to find? OK, not a real physical switch but something so stupid that I'm overlooking.

I haven't been able to find anything in the manual that indicates this unit will send strings out the RS232 port any time the front panel buttons are pushed like the Denon AVR's do. Does any one know if it does or does it only respond to commands and queries?

REBUILD_EVENT

I've had the exact same problem. I found no other way than control it via IR ...

TonyAngelo

Have you tried just sending it strings from the control a device dialog box?

NMarkRoberts

I've had no trouble with the Denon DN-V300 but it seems to use an entirely different protocol. PM me if you want my code.

vining

Post from a older thread:

mpullin wrote:

Are you talking about the 1930CI? I have a 1930CI and a 3910 in my current system, and I have discovered the AMX module for the 2900 works for both of them.

They all have identical published protocols so what's the trick?

vining

OK, I had a second Denon DVD 1930CI on the job that hadn't been installed yet and had it brought back to the office to bench test it's communications.

I set it up running the same module on the office system connected via a Radio Shack straight through Male/Female RS232 cable and just like in the field I had no luck. I then broke out the RS232 break out jacks and connected only pins 2,3 & 5 and wha la communications.

I had a similar situation last week with a PANA 65" plasma that on the plasma side it spec'd pins 7 & 8 to be jumped and the RJ-11 to RS-232 jacks that I used in this instance did just that as well as possibly pins 1 & 6 but I had no comms. After about an hour of veifying pin orders and proper TX/RX parings I was about to give up and as a last attemp I snipped all wires other that 2,3 & 5 on the AMX side and whah-la it talked.

Now with the DVD player I was using RS-232 to RJ45 adapters which we pinned out with no jumpers so it was strictly straight through pin to pin on either end but didn't work. Since I now had it working I decided to connect up all 8 of the 9 (using CAT 5, hence only 8) pins on the break out adapters pin to pin straight thorugh just as I did in the field and sure enough no comms. I removed and then replaced one wire at a time with the exception of 2,3 & 5 for obvious reason and when I got to pin 6 comms returned.

Long story short for this thing to work just use pins 2,3 & 5 cuz if pin 6 is connected at both ends it don't work.

To answer one of my previous questions, the DVD player is a chatter box. It constantly send updates when playing and for any front panel button pushes, play counter etc. Polling is definitely not required.

Now if it wasn't for mpullin's post saying that he had it working, I likely would have given up after looking in the manual and reading the RS-232 port description stating it was for future use even though they had a published RS232 protocol specifical for this device and then Denon web site listed a new player DVD 1940CI for the same price which clearly stated the RS232 port was custom integration devices.

It seems to me that the thing that should be the easiest is often the most complicated pain the in the .... part of the project. Connecting a simple cable for comms.

TonyAngelo

I always make my own cables. I guess this is one advantage of that.

Chip Moody

I guess it can't be said enough times, but when you're using an AMX processor with DB-9 connectors on the COM ports, you DO NOT WANT TO USE 9-pin straight-through cables. Just say no. It's a bad idea. Don't do it. Resist the urge...

The ports on the controllers do NOT have RS232 signals on pins 1, 4, 6 and 9. There are signals on those pins however, and they will more often than not wreak havoc when connected to a device that has a "standard" RS232 port on it!

Sorry you had to learn the hard way Vining - that had to be frustrating!

- Chip

nherc

Any Command to Turn Certain Pins Off?

Is there any command to run off certain pins on the serial port of an NI?

I ask because buying a pre-made 3ft. straight through cable and installing it is both cleaner and easier than making one. I understand that it's not hard, but all of the techs here say they'd rather use pre-terminated cables.

So, again, has anyone found a way to get around the issue discussed here with a premade cable and a software command?

vining

In think the problem is with the NI being multi protocol serial jacks. Even though in software you set it for RS232 the pins used for RS485/422 don't exactly float like one would expect. As far as I know there's no solution other than making your own or pulling pins which isn't such a great idea. As far as neatness goes making your own to the exact length is as neat as you can get. You can put colored braiding on and shrink tube the ends, etc.

TonyAngelo

nherc wrote:

So, again, has anyone found a way to get around the issue discussed here with a premade cable and a software command?

If the product is in AMX's database and their is a cable pinout diagram there should also be a FG# that you can use to order the cable.

You can also buy the covers for the 232 connectors so they look better, and a custom cut cable will look cleaner in a rack install then a premade length. I like using the custom cables myself for another reason, I can easily switch pins 2 and 3 if I need to, instead of using a null modem adapter.

nherc

Okay, I pulled the unneeded pins from a pre-made cable...

Personally, I agree with the comments on making your own, BTW.

QUESTION: Now that I am talking to the DVD Player what is the best way to get updates to touchpanels?

I am currently updating the panels with chapter/time this way:

DATA_EVENT[dvDVD]
{
    ONLINE:
	{
        SEND_COMMAND dvDVD,"'SET BAUD 9600,E,8,1'"
		
		dvDVD_Online = 1
	}
	OFFLINE:
	{
		dvDVD_Online = 0
	}
	STRING:
	{
		// update DVD chapter and time info
		_buffer = DATA.TEXT
		
		IF (FIND_STRING(_buffer,"$03",1))
		{
			IF (FIND_STRING(_buffer,"$02,'0 11'",1)) // this is a non-solicited time feedback line
			{
				cDVDChapter = MID_STRING(_buffer,15,2)
				cDVDTime = "MID_STRING(_buffer,18,2),':',MID_STRING(_buffer,20,2),':',MID_STRING(_buffer,22,2)"
				

				SEND_COMMAND devTP_DVD,"'^TXT-',ITOA(nTXT_DVD[1]),',0,',cDVDChapter"
				SEND_COMMAND devTP_DVD,"'^TXT-',ITOA(nTXT_DVD[4]),',0,',cDVDTime"
			}
		}
		_buffer = ''
		CLEAR_BUFFER _buffer
	}
}

First of all, do you see any issues with the code?

Secondly, is there a better way to go about it?

Big Thanks.

vining

The AMX Denon DVD 2900 module works pretty good. Give it a try and just customized your GUI based off theirs.

nherc

I AM using their module (I had started with the 2900 module, but moved to the 3910 one trying to get responses working--both seemed to work for sending commands).

In any case, according to an AMX Tech. the 1930ci uses a slightly different protocol particularly for responses, thus my trying to code that portion myself.

I'd love to see the actual module source code and fix it to work with the 1930 directly, but it's compiled.