Controlling Philips BDM4065 monitor via RS232

thestormdragon

Dear All

I have my fab new Philips BDM4065 UHD monitor on my desk but am unable to get the "control via RS232" working (I want to be able to set the gfx input, PIP state, audio source programatically)

Philips were great and provided me the tech manual (I've uploaded all of them to my website at Index of /monitor and attached the command protocol sheet to this tab) but I just can't get anything out of the serial port.

According to all the doco I've seen, connecting the monitor to a serial port and sending
A6010000000301AD08 to the monitor should return the current source - but I never receive anything back, no matter what command I try (A60100000004014414F2 should set the volume to 14).

I've now tried:-
2 different, known working, serial-USB adaptersan old PC with a serial port on the motherboarda PCI Express based serial port in my main PC
I've tried sending the commands:-
via Termiteand echo (from a command prompt)both of which I've used for other serial port comms, neither of which work.


I've tried baud rates from 2400 to 57600 (manual says 9600, 8, N, 1 is the default) and nothing happens.

Philips have sent me another monitor but it has the same issue.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be my issue and, thus, how to fix it?

Many thanks

David

noiseboy72

What sort of cable are you using? Does it require null modem, with the data lines crossed over?

thestormdragon

Thanks for your question - it's the official "special" cable that comes with the monitor (2.5mm plug for the monitor end, DB9 on the other end).  I hadn't considered the need to cross the data lines - I'll hack my serial extension cable and try that.  Watch this space

thestormdragon

I've now tried a straight and cross-over cable - neither work.

Any other thoughts?

Many thanks

noiseboy72

I would start looking at monitor specific commands, like monitor ID. Make sure that you have the correct id and try messing around with the leading zeros - 01, 001 etc. Also make sure the checksum is correct.

thestormdragon

Thanks for your follow-up.

Are you, or is anyone, able to help with such commands?  I've never tried doing this before so it could be something simple of my behalf.   It's quite feasible that I should be sending 0xA6010000000301AD08 or even the decimal version but I'm way out of my depth.

The tech command guide (from Philips) is attached to my first post and all I'm doing is sending the commands listed there-in - e.g. sending    A6010000000301AD08     to the monitor should return the current source - but I never receive anything back, no matter what command I try (A60100000004014414F2 should set the volume to 14).

Thanks again

David

noiseboy72

Sorry, its been many years since I last messed around with RS232 to this extent! If you are 100% happy you have a valid data connection, then check things like monitor IDs match, then look at the command string you are sending. Not sure if you can trigger the monitor to send back error or comms messages to check the connection?

Member 732774

Did any one make any progress on this?

thestormdragon

Hi

Not at this time - it's currently with Philips to see what they say but they've stopped being quick with their responses.

Cheers

David

Fma965

Oh right, did you check that you were using the right id for the device? i have just ordered a null modem usb to rs232 adapter so will try it out tomorrow. will keep you updated.