Pioneer Elite Receiver Plug-in

[AccessHA]

I recently picked up a Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV receiver. I would love the ability to control this unit through ML since is has full 2-way RS232 support. The first thing that came to mind was Bob’s impressive Yamaha plug-in. So I asked Bob if he would be interested in adapting his plug-in to support Pioneer receivers. Bob is a very busy individual and he wasn’t sure when or if he would have the bandwidth to tackle such a project.

So I just wanted to get some feedback from the ML crowd to see if others would be interested in a plug-in like this as well?

The major reasons I went with the Pioneer had to do with the following:

1. HDMI support (2 in 1 out)
2. Automatic Multi-channel Acoustic Calibration (auto adjusts speaker distance, sound pressure level, frequency response, and phase)
3. IPOD Control
4. XM Radio
5. Multi-room / multi-source control
6. Price

It would be great to have IPOD control through ML.

[dreamhost]

While I'm not good enough to build an actual plugin for you, I may be able to lend some 'direction'

http://www.cinemaronlineforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6479

This was a thread I started while trying to figure out why the generic serial was missing so many commands. A few posts down in the topic is an answer from another member that is detailed enough to get you started. By following his directions I was able to get my denon working perfectly via serial. I'm guessing it would be the same for you.

good luck on it

[AccessHA]

Thanks DH, I'll take a look.

If anyone else is still interested, please voice your support.

[peacekeeper]

I am interested in this as well. I do not own MainLobby (yet) I am researching it, however I have the same reciever and a plug-in for it would almost seal the deal...

_Peace

[mcascio]

We actually ran into a Pioneer executive in charge of product planning.

He was greatly impressed with the Cinemar software and offered to send us the necessary components to develop drivers for their hardware.

We're still catching our breathe from the show and wrapping up MainLobby3/MLServer2 last minute changes so we can roll it out.

Once we get there and touch base with our contact and get the hardware, we should be able to start getting drivers for the Pioneer line.

[AccessHA]

Mario,

That's fantastic! I’ve been really blown away by this receiver. Very solid performer and does a great job correcting room deficiencies with its MCACC (automatic room calibration). I pulled out an AudioControl RTA to do some measurement comparisons and was amazed by how close the readings were. You can even download the data to your PC for additional analysis using their Advanced MCACC software. It also appears that their RS232 codes are well documented.

The only real downside to this receiver… it’s remote and GUI. The remote is too cluttered, difficult to navigate, and has no backlighting. The GUI, while functional, is basically just text.

Needless to say, I would love the ability to control it through ML and a touch screen. Keep me posted and thanks for the reply!

[AccessHA]

OK, made some good progress with the MLGenericSerial plug-in tonight. Using the sample xml file, found in the thread dreamhost pointed me to, I can now control my new Pioneer (1-way). So thanks for pointing me in the right direction dh.

I did have a couple questions regarding status (2-way). The Pioneer supports a bunch of status request commands including: volume, power, mute, function, zone power, XM channel, etc. How can I use these status requests to populate variables in MLServer? Is there a better way of handling status?

I would like to show power status, xm channel information, volume status, etc. in a scene.

The RS232 commands look like:

?V<cr> = Volume Level Status Request
?P<cr> = Power Status Request
?XM<cr> = XM channel Request

Pioneer’s guide also states that when the input function status is changed using knobs on the front panel or remote, the receiver will send its new status automatically.

I’ve searched the forum but couldn’t find a step-by-step on this one.

[srgny]

If you send the command ?V<cr> you should receive the info you are looking for from the unit. This will probably be in the form V095 where 95 is the volume level. To get the 95 into a ML variable, do the following:
In the "Map Command" section of MLGenericSerial type a name (like get volume) in the first box, V* in the second box and type MLServeCmd.SetVariable|variable name~<<*1>> in the third box. This will set the variable, "variable name", to whatever is received after the V from your unit. So if you set this up correctly and use "volume" as the variable name in the third box, when you send ?V<cr> and you receive V100<cr>, the ML variable, "volume" will be set to 100.

[AccessHA]

Srgny,

That makes sense but it sounds like I would need to request the information from the Receiver before it will populate the variable. So is there any way to automate this so it automatically updates the variable when the volume is turned up or down?

Maybe it will become clearer if I start with something basic like power status. When I power on the Receiver, I believe it automatically responds with a PRW0 status. Then when it’s turned off, it responds with a PRW1 status. How can I setup a variable to monitor this? I would like to simply place a button in ML with say a {{powerstatus}} variable in the Title. Then change the states of the button depending on the power status.

[srgny]

if you map a new command in MLGenericSerial such as "power status (top box) then put PRW* in the second box, put MLServeCmd.SetVariable|powerstatus~<<*1>> in the third box. Everytime the power status changes, {{powerstatus}} will be equal to 1 when off and 0 when on.

[AccessHA]

Thanks! I'll give it a try tonight.

[AccessHA]

OK, still struggling and I’m sure it’s because I’m overcomplicating things. So now that I'm sitting in front of MLServer I can provide some more accurate details.

I’m using the following ASCII rs232 commands to turn on/off and request power status from the receiver:

PO<cr> = Power On – Answer = PWRX<cr+lf> *2
PF<cr> = Power Off - Answer = PWRX<cr+lf> *2
?P<cr> = Request Power Status – Answer = PWRX<cr+lf> *2

Additional testing shows that PF<cr> actually turns the receiver on and off, which I found rather strange. PO<cr> only turns the receiver on. So if I fire PF<cr> it turns the receiver on and off and shows the proper status of PWR0 when the receiver is on and PWR1 when it's off.

With that in mind I’ve mapped the following commands in MLGS:

Name: poweron
Incoming: PO<cr>
MLServeCmd to Run:

Name: poweroff
Incoming: PF<cr>
MLServeCmd to Run:

Name: powerstatus
Incoming: ?P<cr>
MLServeCmd to Run:

I’ve also created a mapped command called:

Name: pioneerpowerstatus
Incoming: PWR*
MLServeCmd to Run: MLServeCmd.SetVariable|elitestatus~<<*1>>

When I run the poweron command map I get the following in the MLServer log:

SetVariable|elitestatus~0

This is correct but when I run the poweroff command map I get the following:

SetVariable|elitestatus~<cr>

So instead of posting a 1, I’m getting the <cr> symbol.

[AccessHA]

OK, depending on how many times I fire the PF command I receive different event updates from the Receiver. For example…

First time I fire PF<cr> with the Receiver on I get: PWR0 as an event update. Indicating power is now off.
Second time I fire PF<cr> when the Receiver is on I get: ?PWR1
Third time I get: ??PWR1
Fourth time I get: ?PWR1

So how do I get the SetVariable to avoid the question mark (?) and just read the PWR event?

[srgny]

I don't have the receiver that you do. For my Denon, unit sending FUNCTION?<CR> polls the receiver and returns the specified status. For example, if I send PW?<CR> I receive PWON<CR> which means the unit is on. If I send PWON<CR> when the unit is off, the unit turns on and returns PWON<CR>. However, if I send PWON<CR> again (when the unit is already on) I get nothing back. Is it possible that you need to send PF?<CR> or ?PF<CR> to receive the correct status?

[AccessHA]

srgny,

The 72TXV has a bunch of status request commands. The command to request power status is: ?P<cr>

However, if you send a ?P<cr> when the unit is turned off, it just powers the unit on and shows a power status of ON (PWR0). Apparently any trigger on the RS232 port will turn the receiver on. This happens even if I reboot the PC, which is kind of a PITA but I've read that some other receivers do this as well. So why they even have a Power Status Request command is beyond me if you can only poll status when the unit is ON.

The 72TXV also sends event updates when a function is triggered. For example, when you first power the unit on using the command PO<cr> the Receiver sends the following status to the MLGeneric plug-in:

PWR0 (Power On)
LM128 (Listening Mode = STEREO)

So I see it’s status in the MLGeneric Incoming Data window without having to send a: ?P<cr> power status request.

Same happens when I send a power off command (PF<cr>). It powers off the receiver and I see the following in the Incoming Data Window:

?PWR1

Note: The PWR1 status has a question mark in front of it. Why? I can’t explain.

So what’s driving me crazy is the question mark that is showing up in front of the response. This is also causing a problem when trying to use the SetVariable command as you suggested above. Because sometimes it comes back looking like:

?PWR1
Or
PWR1
Or
??PWR1

The question mark shows up randomly for reasons I can’t explain and varies in number. This isn’t just for power events, it’s everything.

I’ll take it that you don’t see this with your Denon? BTW… I really appreciate your help and patients.

One way control works great, but I really need status.