Vidikron PlasmaView Owner’s Operating Manual 53
PRELIMINARY
6.1 RS-232 Connection and Port Configuration
To interface the PlasmaView with a home theater automation/control system or a PC running
terminal emulation software, connect it to your control system or PC as shown in Figure 3-13.
Configure the RS-232 controller or PC serial port as follows: no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit
and no flow control. Set its baud rate to 115200, to match that of the PlasmaView RS-232
port.
On the PlasmaView, confirm that the Baud Rate is set to 9600BPS and that the ID Number is
set to 01. These settings are found in the Option menu in Installer Adjust mode (refer to
Option (Installer Adjust Mode) on page 43).
6.2 Serial Command Syntax
Serial commands to the PlasmaView take the following form:
• You can send commands in either hexadecimal or ASCII format.
• ASCII commands are not case-sensitive.
• Commands begin with the “Start of Text” (STX) character (02h or <Ctrl> B in ASCII),
followed by the display ID (2 bytes), the command data and command argument (3 or 6
bytes; refer to Table 6-1) and the “End of Text” (ETX) character (03h or <Ctrl> C in ASCII).
• You do not need to send a carriage return after the command.
• The default Pla smaView display ID is 01 (30h 31h ). With most comm ands, you can al so use
the “wildcard” display ID of “**” (2Ah 2Ah) in place of any value for the ID. However, when
requesting status via serial commands, you must use a specific display ID; “**” does not
work in these cases.
ExampleFor example, if the PlasmaView ID number is set to its default value (01 = 30h 31h), send the
following sequence to set the contrast to its highest possible level (255):
6Serial Communications
Avoid sending excessive status requests (also known as “polls”) to the
PlasmaView. Doing so may delay command execution or prevent a
command from being executed at all. As a general rule, limit status
requests to once every five seconds or only as needed to refresh a control
system display.
Caution
STX ID (2 bytes) Command (3 bytes) Argument (3 bytes) ETX
Hex 02
30 31
or
2A 2A
43 4E 54 32 35 35 03
ASCII <Ctrl> B
0 1
or
* *
C N T 2 5 5 <Ctrl> C