Volume feedback for a DriverWorks serial driver

[wppinell]

I am working on a DriverWorks serial driver for my Panasonic plasma (TC65VT30) and have most of the functionality in place. I am employing the standard technique of using timers to queue various commands. Also, I have created functions for start and stop of volume up and down so that ramping is supported. I have a C4 touchscreen and would like to provide feedback of the volume status. I do a C4:SendToProxy of MUTE_CHANGED so that the touchscreen will show when mute is on/off. That is working properly. Next, I would like to have volume feedback. Can anyone give me a pointer on how to do this? My guess is that serial feedback from the TV is processed in the ReceivedFromSerial command. I put some print statements in that function, but it seems that function is never called. Any help would be appreciated!

[RyanE]

While I love two-way feedback, and having volume feedback on a TV driver is awesome, I'll tell you right now: there's a defect on the TV proxy, that TVs don't show volume feedback, even if you properly send it to the proxy.

I believe the proper format to send the volume feedback (so it'd work when the proxy gets fixed) is:

C4:SendToProxy(ProxyIDBinding, "VOLUME_CHANGED", {VOLUME = volume_value_level})

Mind you, that's off the top of my head, I don't have the docs here handy at home.

Good luck with your driver.

RyanE

[wppinell]

Ryan, thanks for your feedback. Forgetting about volume feedback, I would at least like to be able to send query commands to the TV and process the feedback. To be more specific, if the TV is in VieraCast mode (selection of Pandora and various apps) and the user selects to exit, I would like the video mode to revert back to the previous setting, e.g. satellite, since this this is what happens on the TV. This way, the remote will automatically switch back to the proper source.

I performed an experiment by sending power and volume query commands in my driver in the OnTimerExpired function. My assumption is that feedback from serial commands is processed in the function, ReceivedFromSerial. I put a print statement there, but it seems that control never reaches that function. Does this mechanism not work for the TV proxy or am I doing something wrong? In my past experiences with RS-232 feedback with receivers, some brands required certain serial settings in order to receive serial feedback. I checked the TV settings and found no special settings. Of course, I did check the baud rate, parity, character length, and stop bit settings. I don't see any issues there...

[RyanE]

Sending / Receiving serial has nothing to do with what proxy you use (or even having a proxy), so I wouldn't blame not getting anything in ReceivedFromSerial on the TV proxy.

ReceivedFromSerial should get called if you get something on serial. C4:SendToSerial is what you would use to send. It's parameters are the serial binding, and the data.

RyanE

[wppinell]

I did use C4:SendToSerial to transmit both direct and query commands. I am definitely communicating from the controller to TV. I'm not sure why I am not getting feedback via ReceivedFromSerial. I'll dig further...

Thanks

Bill

[wppinell]

I have had several requests for my driver and have uploaded both the serial (Driver Wizard) and DriverWorks serial drivers for the Panasonic TC-65VT30 to the following locations:

http://www.c4forums.com/uploads.php?file=plasma_Panasonic_TC-P65VT30_driverworks.c4i

http://www.c4forums.com/uploads.php?file=plasma_Panasonic_TC-P65VT30.c4i

The DriverWorks driver is a work in progress, but it is functionally superior to the Driver Wizard version. It has the following improvements:

1) Commands are queued via timers with values configurable in the properties window.

2) Supports volume ramping. Similar behavior is not supported for channel up/down, but I could easily make this change if anyone expresses an interest.

3) Volume mute status updated on Control4 touchscreens.

4) Debug (print) mode.