Controlling Philips BDM4065 monitor via RS232

thestormdragon

Thanks again Claus

I'm happy to write a program to do the conversion but (and sorry to be slow on the uptake) can you please share exactly what you converted the "Get current source send string" to?  I've tried and not got a "this is your input source" response.

Here's my workings:-
According to the spreadsheet of commands the query for "get current source" is A6010000000301AD08

and converting that via that table I get
  A  6   0   1   0   0   0   0   0  0  0   3   0   1   A   D  0   8
10 06 00 01  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 01 10 13 00 08

Sending 10 06 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 01 10 13 00 08 the monitor then returns (and that's progress in itself)
21 01 00 00 04 01 00 03 26                       !.......&      

Looking that up on the protocol tab of that spreadsheet, I believe the monitor has replied with "command cancelled" the packet is received normally but either the value of data is incorrect or request is not permitted for the current host value

If I could get just one command (e.g. get current source) working then I'm sure I can figure the rest out

Many thanks

David

cb831

No, No

You are using the ASCII table the wrong way. You should take the hex pairs and lookup the character e.g. 21 41 42 43 will give a exclamation mark plus ABC (!ABC). Problem is that not all characters are printable and that's why you should use some kind of tool/program to enter/transmit it to the monitor.

Claus

thestormdragon

Hi Claus

Well that was stupid of me

So I found a new program for talking to the serial port called RealTerm that will send decimal numbers as character code numbers (thus eliminating the non-printable issue)

I then converted the "what's the current input?" query A6 01 00 00 00 03 01 AD 08 (using Windows Calculator in Scientific mode) to decimal numbers 166 1  0  0  0  3  1 173 8

Having sent the above query code I then got 21 01 00 00 05 01 AD FD 04 70 back - I am happy to report I'm using the displayport input and that's what this reply confirms.

So I did some more testing and can report that

Converting, and sending:-
A6 01 00 00 00 07 01 3C 01 03 00 00 9F to 166 1 0 0 0 7 1 60 1 3 0 0 159 turned PiP on in the bottom right corner

While
A6 01 00 00 00 07 01 3C 00 03 00 00 9E to 166 1 0 0 0 7 1 60 0 3 0 0 158 turned PiP off

I now at least know the monitor is alive and the serial port works - next to figure this out programatically.

Many thanks for your help

David

thestormdragon

Hi Claus

I've written a little program that will do the conversion and sending of the commands to the monitor - run the program, copy/paste the command from the spreadsheet and click OK.

It works perfectly for me but obviously comes without warranty

I’m working on a version that will also display the reply from the monitor – let me know if you’d like a copy.

All the best

David

Fma965

Hi David, Bit late but just received this reply from philips

thestormdragon

Hi Scott

Well that's intriguing - everything in their last reply to you (from "The COM_Master software & script work" onwards) is copied from the email I sent Erik @ Philips last night

And the second program they've sent you is the one I created (Send HEX as ASCII Codes to Philips Monitors.exe - I did give them permission to do so).

I've actually created another program specifically for me that allows me to programatically switch PiP on & off and what source is displayed how (see attached) - I intend (when I have nothing better to do) to create a more generic version for anyone to use but I've not got that far yet.

I hope that you've got everything under control now but do let me know if I can help in any way.

Kind regards

David

Fma965

Haha i didn't notice that, i made a program a while ago which controlled my AVR from my pc using Telnet and plan on making a application similiar to that but via Serial for my Monitor.

I have just ordered a non null-modem serial device so will see the results friday

It seems after many months this was finally sorted

Thanks.

CyanLabs · GitHub (VSX Volume and VSX Remote) - VSX Volume is outdated though.

thestormdragon

Hi again

My programs were based on AutoIT - see AutoIt - AutoIt - and I've attached the source code for them as I was struggling to get serial port comms working.

FYI - I don't need any additional cable(s) - just plugged the Philips supplied one into the monitor and the serial port on the PC.

Have fun playing - it's so nice to have this finally working.

Cheers

David

Fma965

Thanks for that, i have no onboard serial port though so i have ordered a pl2303 usb to serial adapter

andy w

This is a superb monitor

I have made a initial stab at a C# application to control this monitor, andy-w/BDM4065ControlApp · GitHub