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Author Topic: Doremi control of CP500 Andrew Maddison Film Handler Posts: 13 From: Coventry, West Midlands, UK Registered: Sep 2007 posted 01-13-2013 12:32 PM                     We are a UK based film society and have an ex-Digital Screen Network digital cinema projector (Christie CP2000S with Doremi DCP2000 server and Dolby DMA8+) and we're slowly finding more and more films we are showing only being available in digital form (as a film society we prefer the hands-on experience of showing 35mm or 70mm film!). We've been adding features to our system using the Doremi Macro Editor and then integrating those into our shows (using the GPIO to allow us to press a button external to the projector to start the show, controlling the decoding mode of our DMA8+ to switch between Direct and Pro Logic to cater for 6-channel or 2-channel assets, etc), and we'd like to be able to control our CP500 processor using macros on the Doremi as well. I can see in the documentation for the newer CP650 that serial control is possible via its serial port, to select softkeys or set the volume level, but the only information I can find from Dolby on the CP500 indicates that the 9-pin serial port is only for the use of the Load500 software to update firmware and up/download settings. I've seen on the Pennywise CA21 manual in the Warehouse (Pennywise CA21 Manual) that the CA21 can control a CP500 using serial on the Bypass Pwr/Remotes connector, but the manual doesn't give any details of the protocol or much on the wiring (other than that the ground seems to go to pin 5 on the Pennywise connection, as expected, but the data connection is connected to both pins 2 and 3, which seems odd!). Does anyone else have any experience of this or know of any further documentation that might allow us to control the CP500 via the Doremi? Thanks! Andrew  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 01-13-2013 04:38 PM                     I had a look at the manuals I have and could not find anything. It would be quite interesting if serials command could be used to control a CP500. I guess that if that is actually a serial control port, connecting a laptop and changing fader/formats should show on an hyperterminal/putty screen the corresponding commands used.  |  IP: Logged Marin Zorica Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 671 From: Biograd na Moru, Croatia Registered: May 2003 posted 01-13-2013 04:47 PM                     Don't knwo for serial communication, even is possible just somebody from doremi needs to make script for CP500 to receive TX from doremi. But simpler way is to use doremi GPIO (if you have enought output ports) and if you need basic commands and just connect them to Cp500 remote controll inputs.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-15-2013 06:44 PM                     Pennywise is the only automation I've seen that does this, I guess he looked at whatever data passes between the CP500 and the Dolby remote for it... or Dolby may have a description they will give you - worth asking. But unless it's something simple to derive from a serial port you will have trouble using it, and even then I haven't done serial directly from a Doremi server. I've used a Jnior to convert TCP/IP to serial for controlling serial devices from a Doremi.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 01-15-2013 07:01 PM                     I have heard some people using multiple presets with different volume settings on the CP500, and switching between them over GPIO. It's not like a remote fader control, but it is a cheap alternative if a small number of volume choices are sufficient. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-15-2013 07:29 PM                     Dolby and serial commands have always been a bit wanting. The CP500 does have a proper serial port but I think the issue of volume level is one that may have driven Pennywise to use the remote port (which uses a common "data" terminal for both Tx/Rx and it isn't necessarily RS232. I don't know if the serial commands for the CP500 were ever published but they are not human readable...they are in Hex. As I recall, for volume, you could only send it up or down though it would give out the volume on the serial connector.  |  IP: Logged Andrew Maddison Film Handler Posts: 13 From: Coventry, West Midlands, UK Registered: Sep 2007 posted 01-17-2013 05:18 PM                     We'd agree about the CP500 being left wanting as far as serial commands goes... it just got our hopes up too much that this might be simple as the CP650 manual gives serial commands (with a big caveat about the potential to damage your sound processor!). We're already using all 8 of the GPIO outputs (3 light settings and 5 masking settings) although with a fair bit of work we could try to serial control our lighting system which could free up 3 of the outputs. We have a rough control of the CP500 sources as the DMA8+ selects the relevant softkey for the 6-channel input when cued to select any of its Digital inputs, but what we were trying to do was smoothly fade the Non-Sync source down during the last pre-show slide (some projectionists fade too fast, some fade too slow, and some just carry on turning the knob after the Digital input is selected and the sponsorship advert's music gets faded down a bit by accident). Again, the simplicity of the serial command to set the volume level on the CP650 has got our hopes up too much! I'd imagine Dolby might be helpful with protocols, since we bought a CP500 a long time ago and a DMA8+ far more recently, but Pennywise wouldn't have any reason to help as we've never been a customer of theirs! Andrew  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-17-2013 06:26 PM                     There are always more than one way to skin a cat. Buy the Pennywise DF-1 box (aka, Digital Fader). It is RS232 in and relay closer with a digital pot on the output. So you can turn it into an RS232 device with sensible commands! You would put the CP500 into Auditorium fader mode to let the DF-1 control the fader. I used one on a couple of CP200s so things like Crestron and AMX could control the CP200 (and vice-versa since the DF-1 allows for status to also be represented).  |  IP: Logged Ian Freer Expert Film Handler Posts: 135 From: Wellington, New Zealand Registered: Oct 2003 posted 01-17-2013 09:07 PM                     I think serial control of all buttons and fader is possible, as I'm pretty sure it could be done from a Panalogic CA2000 automation. I don't recall if the connection was to the remote input or the 9pin, but I do have recollections that a diode had to be used to isolate Tx and Rx on the CP500 as it uses a single pin for both, so the diode separated them on the way into the automation unit... There may be a Panalogic manual here that would describe that half of the method. Of course the actual commands are already programmed into the Panalogic, so I cannot help with those. Cheers, Ian...  |  IP: Logged Aleksandar Obradovic Expert Film Handler Posts: 125 From: Belgrade, Serbia Registered: Oct 2012 posted 02-21-2013 12:58 PM                     AFAIK CP500 does not support remote control of fader. It is only possible to switch between channels/SoftKeys and to mute/unmute via automation. For this you can build some simple and cheep solution which you probably know already. BR Alexander  |  IP: Logged Ray Derrick Master Film Handler Posts: 310 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2001 posted 10-09-2013 05:42 AM                     Someone should have e-mailed me with this question, you would have had an answer 6 months ago. There was a Dolby document describing this protocol that I obtained in about 1995, but I have long since misplaced or trashed it The CP500 remote control uses a non-duplex RS485-type connection, meaning it is single data line for both send (Tx) and return (Rx) data, plus a ground connection. The data format is conventional common RS232 9600/n/8/1. However to interface with an RS232 terminal it is necessary to connect the RS232 pin 2 to the CP500 data line and connect a small signal diode (such as a 1N914) between RS232 pin 3 (diode anode) and the CP500 data line (diode cathode). The format commands in hex format are as follows: Select Button 1 (Mono) 55 AA 00 00 00 00 Select Button 2 (A-Type) 55 AA 00 00 01 FF Select Button 3 (SR) 55 AA 00 00 02 FE Select Button 4 (Digital) 55 AA 00 00 03 FD Select Button 5 (External) 55 AA 00 00 04 FC Select Button 6 (70mm) 55 AA 00 00 05 FB Select Button 7 (NS-1) 55 AA 00 00 06 FA Select Button 8 (NS-2) 55 AA 00 00 07 F9 Select Mute 55 AA 00 00 0D F3 To anyone versed in communication data you will recognise the last byte in each string above as a (Modulo 255 sum) checksum of the preceding 5 bytes. All commands both inward and outward have this checksum appended as the last of the 6 bytes. The CP500 will respond to any of these commands with a resulting format string as follows: Button 1 (Mono) 55 AA 01 08 01 F6 Button 2 (A-type) 55 AA 01 08 02 F5 Button 3 (SR) 55 AA 01 08 03 F4 Button 4 (Digital) 55 AA 01 08 04 F3 Button 5 (External) 55 AA 01 08 05 F2 Button 6 (70mm) 55 AA 01 08 06 F1 Button 7 (NS-1) 55 AA 01 08 07 F0 Button 8 (NS-2) 55 AA 01 08 08 EF Unfortunately the CP500 only has volume up and volume down commands, there is no command to go to a specfic volume: Volume Up 55 AA 00 01 01 FE Volume Down 55 AA 00 01 00 FF The response from the CP500 for a volume command however does indicate the current volume level: e.g. Current volume = 0.0 55 AA 01 07 00 F8 Current volume = 5.0 55 AA 01 07 32 C6 Current volume = 7.0 55 AA 01 07 46 B2 Current volume = 9.9 55 AA 01 07 63 95 Here the 5th byte is the hex equivalent of the volume value from 00 to 99 (0.0 - 9.0 or hex 00 to 63) followed by the checksum. With Panalogic CA1400 and CA2000 automations, when a new volume level needs to be set on the CP500, the CPU will send a volume up or down command and then examine the return string to check whether the CP500 has reached the target volume. If it has not, the automation will repeat the process until the target volume is reached. Hope this is of some assistance.  |  IP: Logged Aleksandar Obradovic Expert Film Handler Posts: 125 From: Belgrade, Serbia Registered: Oct 2012 posted 10-11-2013 05:16 PM                     Ray, This is so simple i can't believe. I have a lot of CP500's in my cinema chain and i will try this solution so i can achieve full automation in cinemas until we switch all of them to CP750 (undergoing process). Tnx Alex  |  IP: Logged Andrew Maddison Film Handler Posts: 13 From: Coventry, West Midlands, UK Registered: Sep 2007 posted 11-20-2013 04:35 PM                     Ray, this is indeed brilliant. However it would seem our Doremi is not - I can get it to output easy things like "Hello World" on its serial port (using a PC with a serial port monitoring programme running to verify it's sending the right things), but it won't send out the right Hex commands for the CP500 - it seems to output everything before a "00" byte at which point it stops and doesn't even send the rest of the message. I've tried changing the device setup from a fixed length message to a message with a specific end character, it just won't do it... has anyone else experienced this problem with the Doremi DCP2000? Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Francois Bouzigues Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Barcelona / Spain Registered: Dec 2013 posted 12-16-2013 03:21 AM                     This post is a bit old, but I think this answer might help people. It works with all old dolby processor, from CP45 to 500. Set physically your fadder at 5. Maybe it will not work that well for fadder level 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0. If you often use these fadder levels in your room, set the fadder physically to 6.0. Then, in the macro editor, add these macros. <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 3.0</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:cdf8d865-cfe4-4bec-a9b0-1b50a740f68b</Id><CommandList><Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-20</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 3.5</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:9d40d917-e3ab-4df0-9e8c-0919ddee7c37</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-18</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 3.8</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:1dd23679-1763-48bd-9805-9e902a386405</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-16</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 4.0</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:089b84a8-9e54-4380-b14e-327a192b70b6</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-15</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 4.3</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:948939b1-78a7-4fca-8b4b-3aab2c1ea27e</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-13</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 4.5</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:08836e84-e2ee-4256-8016-2fd234291cdf</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-12</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro><Name>Sound : Fader 4.7</Name><Id>urn:uuid:368e0589-9fd5-4635-a44b-4af5bae6484d</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-9</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 5.0</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:83c40e07-a237-4663-892f-3add16584c32</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-4</Value></Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 5.5</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:4b3d9015-1e4f-4842-b1b6-56852d205106</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>-1</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 6.0</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:401aff16-1831-475b-b24f-d824ed0a7441</Id><CommandList> <Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>1</Value> </Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 6.5</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:d198cc4c-18d9-44f1-ba81-0c9660b70422</Id> <CommandList> <Command><Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>2</Value> </Command> </CommandList></AutomationCueMacro> <AutomationCueMacro> <Name>Sound : Fader 7.0</Name> <Id>urn:uuid:ff3a7df3-5a40-41bb-b781-248d536161b4</Id><CommandList><Command> <Type>AudioVolume</Type> <Value>3</Value></Command> </CommandList> </AutomationCueMacro>  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-16-2013 06:07 AM                     My guess is that the Doremi is able to adjust the audio level in dB...if so...those commands would work but would not track as if it was a real fader. That is your 4.0 would not have the same level as if one were to set the fader to 0.0 and the Doremi level to 0. Most digital faders have a characteristic that mimics a logarithmic fader (since perceive volume changes that way). As such, when one is around the "reference" level...historically "7" on a 0-10 system. The slope of the fader should be much more shallow around "7" than it is around 3 or 4...where it should be steep. This allows the fader to have a linear feel to is when one is using their ears. Most seem to change the slope around the equivalent to fader 4 or 5 (one could have even more slopes too but it is not really necessary since one rarely manually adjusts the level between three or more slope zones on the same show). A typical dB range is -90dB to +10. Anyone remember Sony SDDS? The first generation was only -10 to +10dB since it was only an adapter and it was just trying to match to one's house level of their analog film processor. When they 3000 series came out, they had to have a -90 - +10 range to have the range of a 0-10 fader. QSC, with their DCP line, have tried to bring this fader style back, unfortunately. A dB scale fader only is intuitive when the control has a limited range like a single-turn control or a slider because our brains will subdivide that range into equal increments...but in a digital representation (just a 2-3 digit number) with a continious knob...there is no "feel" for the difference between -20 to -10 versus -5 to -3.  |  IP: Logged

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