Owner`s manual

Serial Communications

58 VideoWall™/CineWall™ Installer/Integrator Manual

PRE

IMINAR

5.3

Types of Commands

The VideoWall/CineWall supports two types of commands: key commands and operation

commands.

Key Commands Key commands mimic pressing a button on the remote control. This is only useful if you

can see the screen, otherwise you won’t know where the selector is in the menu.

Operation Commands Operation commands tell the display exactly what to do, allowing more flexible and direct

control of the display. For example, with operation commands, you can:

• Set green in the white color balance to 27

• Turn off the lamp

• Save the current settings into memory slot 23

• Recall memory slot 7

Operation commands can ask questions and get answers, such as:

• What is the state of the lamp? (on, off, failed, etc.)

• Is the Auto Lamp feature on or off?

• Which connector is used if memory slot 3 is recalled?

String Commands String commands send strings of characters to the display. String commands can also

retrieve information from the display. For instance,

ST 00 BUILD.DATE? <code>[CR]

returns the build date of the firmware:

ST 00 BUILD.DATE= "SEP 17 2008 at 17:41:49"

5.4

Addresses in

Commands

All commands must be addressed. Each display has a two-character ID that is unique to

it. The two characters can be 0

- 9, A - Z. The first character is the Group ID, and the

second one is the Unit ID. The default Group ID and Unit ID are both 0. When

communicating with only one display, it is not necessary to change either ID.

You can also use the “wild card” character (**) to address a display.

Direct Addressing There is another way to address displays: direct addressing. When the address is two

hyphens (

-- ), the first connected display receives and executes the command.

Direct addressing is handy when you want to control a display, but you don’t know its ID.

Just connect a serial cable straight to the display and use direct addressing.

➤

Whenever a command is sent to an individual ID, wait for the

response before sending a second command.

Note

➤