So, they put a 232 port on the "media controller" for this plasma, and if you dig around enough you can find a protocol document. As it turns out, this is the same controller as Sharp is using for their 30" LCD box. Sharp builds them and Pioneer rebrands them. Here is the big problem:

It has a discreet POWER OFF via 232 but there is seemingly no way to do a POWER ON via 232. We've tried different versions of the power off, input selects and just about every other published command in an attempt to get this thing to come to life.

So, has anyone else been down this road yet? Have you found a solution. Hoping that theres a hidden command that will get this thing to turn on, I've got 3 of these going into a project early next month and I'd rather not have to put an IR emitter out on the display itself (the media controller appears to have no IR sensor of any sort, though I've not disassembled it yet).

Thanks
Brad

Okay... so I'm either the first one to try this or the only guy crazy enough to wanna control this unit via 232.

Does anyone have any high-level contacts within the support side of either Sharp or Pioneer they could put me into contact with? We've tried our regular channels and of course get stonewalled by the low level support crews. Our reps have not been helpful either, though I'm not terribly surprised by that.. Seems only my AMX rep can ever actually help us solve a problem.

Brad

Have you taken a look at the Crestron module for controlling Pioneer plasma?

jcmitch

[Link: crestron.com]

JCMITCH:

Thanks for the pointer, but this is the older generation plasma without a "media controller" so its code set is not at all the same. If it was one of the old 503 or 505 plasma sets, I know the commands exist for everything I wanna do on those.

The sets with the Media Controller are:

PDP-4330HD
PDP-5030HD

Still hoping someone's got a "silver bullet" for me.

Brad

Okay, well I think I've found the culprit with these "Media Controllers". It would seem that when the set is turned off, the RS-232 port goes dead, it no longer responds to valid or invalid commands with the correct response codes, hence it could never accept an "On" command.

Talk about horrible design and engineering, I recommend everyone think long and hard about purchasing these 2 Pioneer Plasma displays, or the 30" Sharp LCD unit as it uses the same MC.

I ended up disassembling the Plasma display and embedding an IR emitter into it to get the asthetics and control I need.

We should reward those Manufacturers who do things right and not those who do this sorta stuff.

Brad

right on.... need to find replacements that fit needs... good you got it....
I still need IR discreet input commands for same set, but straight on to plasma sensor is OK...

I have verified that the discreet input codes for the previous generation of Pioneer plasma's works correctly on these sets, see the "Plasma Hidden Commands" in the RTI's master IR database for example. This covers Input 1-4 but not the internal tuner input, though you can get there with a bit of Macro work.

Brad

got it... thanks Brad