General Questions.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Scud, Jul 16, 2009.

  1. Scud

    Scud

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    Hi there;

    I don't have too much knowledge about C-Bus but am learning quickly. The one thing i do not understand is that on a lot of websites it says that it can control home cinema's and such, whilst the lighting is obviously controlled through the C-Bus switches, how does C-Bus control the video equipment, as in TV, DVD-Player Etc. The only way i can think of is through IR which then is more then just like acting like a universal remote. For instance, remote sends IR to press play on DVD Player.

    Thanks,
    Scud
     
    Scud, Jul 16, 2009
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  2. Scud

    znelbok

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    The PAC has an RS232 interface on it.

    Using a HA control system you can use C-Bus as a trigger for other events to occur that are controlled by the HA software.

    There are a few other ways, it all depends on what you have and what you want to do.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jul 17, 2009
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  3. Scud

    Scud

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    Thanks for that, but as i said im knew to all this. So i didnt really understand what that meant?
     
    Scud, Jul 20, 2009
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  4. Scud

    Wire_Bug

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    What he's saying is that there is a number of ways that you can accomplish control of AV.

    Probably the simplest of ways is to do so via IR. There are a couple Cbus products that will transmit IR over an emitter to whatever equipment you are controlling. Configuration when controlling via IR can change due to different circumstances, but essentially, you trigger a Cbus Group Address, and that tells the NIRT, or Matrix switcher to fire out an IR code that you programmed. To take this control to the HA (home automation) level, you can program a scene for instance that dims down the lights in the home theater, and also fires some IR codes to your AV equipment to turn on the projector, input switches on the receiver, etc.

    What Znelbok was referring to with the PAC and serial ports is that the Pascal Automation Controller has 2 programmable serial ports on it. If you have an AV device, along with the serial protocol for that device, you can use the Logic Engine (feature of the PAC) to write some code that will send out the appropriate serial strings, and parse the incoming serial data as well if needed. Serial ports are also included so you can accomplish the same sort of control from the Colour Touchscreen, or the MKII Monochrome touchscreen (w/ logic). However, they are used less often for this type of control because serial communication is effected pretty greatly from the distance of the physical wire and a PAC is pretty easy to physically locate close to the equipment.

    As a fair warning - if you don't have experience in serial communications, tread lightly at first until you get yourself a little more comfortable. I would probably recommend trying to do AV control at first using the IR method if you can get away with it.
     
    Wire_Bug, Jul 20, 2009
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