First time venturing into serial control of A/V

dbinaz

Active Member
This area is pretty new to me. My Denon receiver and dvd both have it, so would like to be able to use it. I have 2 cat5's already available. What do I need as far as hardware is concerned?

Thanks,
Derek
 
Derek,
If you are talking about PC control over your Denon receivers and DVD, then you would want a dedicated serial cable (store bought, or fashioned from Cat5 wire w/ adapters on both ends) between PC and Denon. this is NOT an ethernet (PC LAN) cable, but can by same type of wire (Cat5).

If you are remote between the two, then you can put an ethernet to serial adapter (like a globalcache or Lantronix MSS100) on the PC network and plug the serial side into the Denon. the GlobalCache some support two serial ports so only one LAN wire between PC and GlobalCache.

You can even do wireless, but not recommended for reliability.

From a software side, MainLobby supports all of the Denon Rs232 receivers. Can't remember if the DVD player is supported today or not.
 
If the protocol is pretty simple, then the Elk M1 should be able control this unit. You would have to get a dedicated M1 XSP serial port expander tho.
 
electron, when you are saying "should be able to support it", are you saying "any user should be able to write an RS232 driver for the ELK", or are you saying "electrically it should work if ELK writes a driver for that particular model of Denons"?

Our experience with Denon is that each product is different from the other. We came very close to makeing a unique plugin for each Denon unit because of the differences. We ended up with one plugin for all Denons (which reduces plugin count), but that added quite a bit of complexity into the plugin, which ELK would also have to do and I suspect might be beyond the hardware (but I could be off base here).
 
If the protocol is really simple (i.e., simple ASCII commands), then you can just use the ASCII string feature, it's how I control my Ocelot. If the protocol is more complex than that, then the Elk M1 won't be able to drive the equipment directly.
 
Looks like a very simple protocol, so the Elk M1 can definitely control this device. The only thing to keep in mind is that the Elk M1 does have memory limits. Here is a link to a tutorial I put together on how to process the X10 DS10A security sensors, it will show you how you add the ASCII strings, and how to use them in rules (in your case, you would send instead of receive tho). The ElkRP part is towards the end.
 
Looks like a very simple protocol, so the Elk M1 can definitely control this device.

Dan, I have a Denon AVR-4308CI. This model has a manual on the Denon USA site to allow you to send commands over TCP port 23. (I'd post the link, but this is my first post and I don't have the privilege yet.)

Anyway, I have an Elk M1 and an M1XEP interface. My Netgear router has a static IP address for the Denon.

How do I get Elk RP to send a string like PWON<cr> (Meaning "main PoWer ON") to a specific address like 192.168.0.96? Will I need the M1XSP?

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!
 
Why would you want to control the Denon through the Elk? What interface do you plan on using for control (Elk TS07, Homeseer, MainLobby, CQC)? Please help us better understand your "Use Case" so we can recommend a solution. A couple options could be:

MainLobby or CQC as your front end -> Touch Screen -> PC with RS232 or Global Cache -> Denon.

or a remote solution like a Philips Pronto:

Philips Pronto TSU9600 -> Philips RFX9600 w/RS232 -> Denon

These are just two options that would allow you to take advantage of RS232's discrete 2-way control.
 
Why would you want to control the Denon through the Elk? What interface do you plan on using for control (Elk TS07, Homeseer, MainLobby, CQC)?

Great question, Bryan.

I would like to wake to music, and the Denon with the in-ceiling speakers would be a lot better than the current AM/FM clock radio. The Denon also lacks a sleep feature, and I would like it to turn off 30 minutes after a task ("Good Night") is executed. Two-way RS-232 is not really needed for these tasks.
 
I've posted this question on the Elk M1 forum, but I have not gotten any response from them.

Am I correct that the Elk CANNOT send strings to a given IP address?
 
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