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Need Smaller Flat-TVs with Serial Control
TurnipTruck
Posts: 1,485
Greetings,
Does anyobne know of any smaller (15-25") LCD TVs that have serial control capability? I have loked at Sharp Aquos and BenQ and they are IR only.
If I cannot find one with serial, at least discrete IR power commands would be nice.
Thank you.
Does anyobne know of any smaller (15-25") LCD TVs that have serial control capability? I have loked at Sharp Aquos and BenQ and they are IR only.
If I cannot find one with serial, at least discrete IR power commands would be nice.
Thank you.
0
Comments
We have used several Sony LCD TVs in the 21"-23" range that have discrete power and input selection (standard Sony discrete power and input codes from RemoteCentral.com that have been re-captured through IRIS). You may already have the Sony IR codes you need for many of their LCD line in the 20"-25" size range. If you do not have them already, we can remedy that quickly.
Another option is to use LG LCD TVs. They have an integrator line of LCDs (you can see them on their website) and they do have models as small as 21" and 23" with RS232 control interfaces (and they even publish their protocol and encourage integrators to use it!!!). If you do not want to go the RS232 route with the LG TVs, they also provide (and also document!) discrete power and input selection IR codes for the TVs. The IR codes are most likely consistent across a range of their LCD TVs so the discretes may work on even smaller models of the LCDs. The serial protocol, unfortunately, can differ from model to model. This is primarily due to the fact that some of the larger and more feature rich models offer RS232 commands and options not relevant to other models but the problem is that the same command with the same option might mean something different to different models of LCD. If they had at least extended the protocol and maintained consistency, we could have used the same Netlinx module for instance across the entire LCD line. However, as it stands, LG might be worth a look.
Hope this helps.
Be somewhat careful with the LG LCD line - Some models do not offer RS232 codes for all the functions you may need. Have come accross a model (forgot the extact model#, sorry) that had almost everything, but was missing basic TV strings (channel up/down, etc.) and we ended up with both RS232 and IR connections to control it. Also they not only will change codes between different size models (like Reese mentions); they will even change it for that display's successor.
While we are discussing SONY Plasmas and LCDs, I just ran into something odd with a Sony Plasma. I don't remember the exact model, but it was something like FPD-50PX1. It's a professional series product. It has to HDDB15 inputs labeled INPUT 1 and INPUT 2. The thing to be aware of is the discrete inputs. Both inputs support both RGN and Component video signals, but there is NO discrete IR code for them. There are discrete INPUT 1 and INPUT 2 commands, but they toggle between the RGB and Component decoding. I talked with Sony and they indicated that there are discretes via the RS232 port, but definately no way to deal with the inputs via IR. Just an FYI
Jeff
Regarding Jeff's point on the Sony LCDs, we too ran into some oddities when testing them for discrete input control via IR. We installed several 21" and 23" models in a hotel application. Because of size constraints, we used different models in certain rooms. When testing with IR for discrete inputs, we found a set of IR codes that handled discrete power for all of the LCD models (common codes) but we discovered that the input discretes behaved differently depending on the model. On most models, inputs 1, 2, and 3 could be selected fine using the IR discretes but on one TV, input 1 and 2 worked but no others. What we found was that often experimentation is required with the different models and that it is also best not to make assumptions about IR discretes for power and inputs on Sony LCDs even within the same LCD family and size range.
Regarding the cautions on the LG LCDs, I agree with the comments. Since we used the LCD primarily as a monitor (external tuning so the tuner was not required), channel up/down missing was not an issue for us. It was however very odd to see a TV with an RS232 interface that did not support the basic channel up/down functions. While LG has developed a nice LCD line for integrators and has embraced RS232 and discrete IR control, they have yet to standardize functions and protocols between models and this of course makes our job harder. Just something to watch out for if you go the LG route.
Jeff
YOu have to be careful with lg. As far as rs232 control that is. For instance there rs232 strings for sizes 23 -32 are completly different from 42 inch and above.
I had a ton of trouble actually finding the strings. The manual that came with the smaller sets was wrong. LG admitted that.
I eventually found the strings. It was a lot of work though.
Nigel