Help using RS232 to control old video mixer

Projects Programming
1

Hey pals,

Just hoping someone could assist me a bit on a project I've wanted to do for ages.

I have an old Panasonic AVE 55 video mixer that has a serial port for external control, and I really wanna make a MIDI Fighter style controller for it but using the serial interface.

My scouring of the net has led me to find some stuff, but I'm struggling to understand it.

Documents I've found have listed the op commands for it, I'm just not sure the best way to send them over serial.

The commands are like this:

ASTR_OFF$ = "<02>VDE:070<03>"
ASTR_1$ = "<02>VDE:071<03>"
ASTR_2$ = "<02>VDE:072<03>"
ASTR_3$ = "<02>VDE:073<03>"
ASTR_4$ = "<02>VDE:074<03>"
ASTR_5$ = "<02>VDE:075<03>"

I know the characters at the start are the description of the effect, eg: Bank A Strobe Effect OFF

I'm just not sure what type of commands they are or if they can be sent via Arduino using push buttons etc.

Can anyone give me any advice or tips?

I'll be using a TTL RS232 module for the serial connection.

This URL leads to a doc I found (in French) that lists a bunch of stuff if that's of any help.

Cheers,
Gus.

2

guseboi:
Hey pals,

Just hoping someone could assist me a bit on a project I've wanted to do for ages.

I have an old Panasonic AVE 55 video mixer that has a serial port for external control, and I really wanna make a MIDI Fighter style controller for it but using the serial interface.

My scouring of the net has led me to find some stuff, but I'm struggling to understand it.

Documents I've found have listed the op commands for it, I'm just not sure the best way to send them over serial.

The commands are like this:

ASTR_OFF$ = "<02>VDE:070<03>"
ASTR_1$ = "<02>VDE:071<03>"
ASTR_2$ = "<02>VDE:072<03>"
ASTR_3$ = "<02>VDE:073<03>"
ASTR_4$ = "<02>VDE:074<03>"
ASTR_5$ = "<02>VDE:075<03>"

I know the characters at the start are the description of the effect, eg: Bank A Strobe Effect OFF

I'm just not sure what type of commands they are or if they can be sent via Arduino using push buttons etc.

Can anyone give me any advice or tips?

I'll be using a TTL RS232 module for the serial connection.

This URL leads to a doc I found (in French) that lists a bunch of stuff if that's of any help.

WJ-AVE55 - Google Sheets

Cheers,
Gus.

The two characters, <>, identify the letters between the symbols are HEX. the <02> is a a STX, or start of text. The <03> is a HEX for ETX or end of text.

Hope that helps.

Paul

3

That does help!

Thanks heaps Paul

4

ASTR_4$ : I'm betting the xxx$ is the old BASIC "this is a string variable" marker.

You'll need baud, data bits, stop bits, hand shaking.. You got all that stuff?

-jim lee

5

Yep, fortunately that info was in the same doc:

BPS 9600
Length 8
Parity M
Stop 2
Handshake no

6

A quick Google search dug up this on github. It's some JavaScript code, I think! But it may help you.

I also found a user manual for the console that indicated that the serial port parameters were 9600,8,N,1. Ie No party rather than Mark parity. It also showed wiring of a cable to a really old 25-pin serial connector.

I also found this which may interest you.

7

Cheers Mark,

I've been using those pages you linked for reference, they are about the only info I can find on this thing, don't reckon there's too many playing with these things anymore lol.

I actually had a crack at getting that javascript running on a Raspberry Pi but got error after error. Once again I know bugger all about Java, I think the code used maybe outdated and node.js can't use it. Wouldn't know what needs changing though unfortunately.

This is a project I'm digging into to learn about all this stuff. I'm fine with Arduino programming but most of my knowledge comes from searching and finding others that have done similar things.

As there isn't much out there about this I'm kinda diving into the deep end, but if I eventually get it to work, I'd be pretty proud.

8

Would a
serial.Write("VDE:070");
Work in this situation or am I way off track?

9

The second link in my previous post has a screenshot from Realterm. If the data shown in the screenshot is correct, then it shows you the a sample message.

I'm guessing that you need to send out the STX and ETX around your message and in theory you would be good to go.

EDIT: I think you need to send the command message like this:

Serial.write( 2 );       // = STX
Serial.print("VDE:070"); // the command
Serial.write( 3 );       // = ETX
10

This is exactly what I need. Thanks heaps mate. Sorry if the questions were dumb. Just needed a bit of clarification.

Really appreciate you putting the time in to help