Pioneer BDP-33FD control

DHawthorne

Anyone successfully control one of these IP or RS-232? The web site has some documents listing available commands, and they explicitly say it's IP controllable, but there are no instructions whatsoever how to connect to it. After failing to get a web page or Telnet connection, I ran a port scan, and the only standard ports open are SMTP and POP3 ... and I find it hard to imagine you control it via e-mail . Even if I have to resort to RS-232, there's nothing in there about baud rate, etc. I have an e-mail out to support, but figured I might get a quicker answer here.

Joe Hebert

The closest I have is for a BDP-09FD. I attached the protocol. Maybe it's the same.

DHawthorne

Thanks ... the protocol looks right; I'll give it a try. Still hoping I can find a way to do it IP though ...

DHawthorne

The protocol matches what I have, but doesn't work. I suspect a baud rate change on this model ... really got to love incomplete documentation coupled with e-mail only tech support.

DHawthorne

Update on this ... I still can't find the correct RS-232 settings, but I got some limited IP control going. By digging around at Remotecentral.com, I discovered the IP port is 8102. I can open the connection and send commands via Telnet, but for some odd reason, the same commands aren't working from NetLinx code (got to be something brain dead I'm overlooking). The other issue I'm having is that the documentation lists two command sets .. one is a set of direct commands, and the other is a table of remote codes to send as a command parameter. I can't (yet) get the remote code commands working, there must be something non-intuitive about the syntax, though it sure looks clear enough. Still plugging away at it ...

Oh, and by the way, all indications are this box is really a re-packaged Sharp, and as such, has the irritating power saving thing going. Unless you turn on "Quick Start" in the setup menu, it won't accept IP commands when it's off.

Joe Hebert

Dave - For what it's worth here is the syntax for working commands on the old model with the baud rate at 115200:

Play
"'/A181AF39/RU',13"

Stop
"'/A181AF38/RU',13"

DHawthorne

Thanks ... but I had that. Was figuring there was some special interpretation on account of the fact it didn't work. I've set aside RS-232 for now, but I have the IP communications working. Here's what was throwing me off: there is a limit on character spacing, and I just couldn't type the longer commands in fast enough when I was testing manually. The two-letter commands worked fine, but when I got to the remote code strings, which are as Joe posted, I couldn't type them in a Telnet window quick enough for them to be recognized. Firing them in code works just fine.

Pioneer's web site has a full listing of the commands (I was going to post a link, but couldn't find them when I went to check it, so I just attached the dang thing instead), so if anyone else is monkeying with this device, here are the sticking points for IP control:

1) It's port 8102 for control
2) There is a discrepancy in the doc for remote codes, it's "/<code>/RU" (the doc says just /R)
3) All commands terminate with a CR ($0D)
4) "Quick start" must be turned on in the menu or you lose the IP port when the power is off

Joe Hebert

DHawthorne wrote: »

if anyone else is monkeying with this device, here are the sticking points for IP control:

1) It's port 8102 for control
2) There is a discrepancy in the doc for remote codes, it's "/<code>/RU" (the doc says just /R)
3) All commands terminate with a CR ($0D)
4) "Quick start" must be turned on in the menu or you lose the IP port when the power is off

Good to know. Thanks.

TurnipTruck

Good info Dave. Thanks. I will be working with oe of their BDs and a Receiver soon!

DHawthorne

I finally got a response from Pioneer, and they referred to the document Joe posted. Connection information, response interpretation, etc., is the same as the 23FD, and whatever 33FD-only commands exist are in the document I posted. Apparently, the device is so new they haven't caught up on the documentation yet.

I haven't tried RS-232 yet (and see no reason to really, the IP connection seems pretty robust), but I have to wonder if I didn't get that to work for the same reason the IP didn't work for me at first ... has to go directly out the port, typing it in won't work.

a_riot42

DHawthorne wrote: »

I finally got a response from Pioneer, and they referred to the document Joe posted. Connection information, response interpretation, etc., is the same as the 23FD, and whatever 33FD-only commands exist are in the document I posted. Apparently, the device is so new they haven't caught up on the documentation yet.

I haven't tried RS-232 yet (and see no reason to really, the IP connection seems pretty robust), but I have to wonder if I didn't get that to work for the same reason the IP didn't work for me at first ... has to go directly out the port, typing it in won't work.

Not sure if its the same for the 33FD but in the 43FD manual there is a picture of the back of the unit showing the RS232 port. Its description is "RS-232C terminal. This port is not used."
The control documentation has some commands for it but I couldn't get it to work over serial, no way no how. The serial commands were very limited anyway so my guess is they are stopping support for 232 at some point and using IP only.
Paul

VLCNCRZR

Pioneer BDP series

I have controlled the BDP-23FD units numerous times sucessfully with RS232.

When I first started working with these units, I discovered that I had to perform
a firmware upgrade on the deck in order to get the serial communication to work.

I now keep the FW disc with me in my CD case.

You basically download the file from Pioneer and burn it to a disc and then let
the deck read the file and update itself.

The entire process is thoroughly documented through Pioneer.