Remotely managing your display using RS-232

You can connect a control system or terminal emulation program on your computer to the display's room control input and remotely select video inputs, change power and sleep states, and get information about the display’s current settings, such as current input source, contrast and power state.

Connect an RS-232 cable from the control system or the computer’s serial port to the RS‑232 connector on the bottom of the display.

Important 

Use only a standard RS-232 cable. Do not use a null modem cable. Null modem cables typically have ends of the same type.

Configure the control system or computer’s serial interface before sending commands to the display.

To configure the serial interface settings

  1. Turn on the display.

  2. Turn on the control system or computer, and access the serial data communications settings.

  3. If using a terminal emulation program on a computer, activate local echo.

  4. Configure the serial interface settings using the following values, and then press ENTER.

    Baud rate

    19200

    Data length

    8

    Parity bit

    None

    Stop bit

    1

    When a command prompt (>) is received by your control system or terminal emulation program, the display can accept commands. If the command prompt isn’t received, send a carriage return character (0x0d) to the display (press ENTER on your keyboard if you’re using a terminal emulation program on your computer).

    Note 

    If no message or an error message is received in the control system or terminal emulation program, the serial interface isn’t configured correctly. Repeat steps 3 and 4.

Communication consist of a command argument, property affected, operator symbol, a value to apply, and a terminating carriage return character (0x0d).

Important 

When manually entering commands into a terminal emulation program, commands must be terminated with only a carriage return character (0x0d). If you terminate a command with both a carriage return character (0x0d) and a line feed (0x0a), the command may not be processed and the command prompt that indicates readiness to receive the next command may not be received.

Notes 

  • The display won’t respond to RS-232 commands when it is in a low power state (soft off). Disable Power saving mode to prevent the display from entering a low power state. See Power saving mode.

  • When you first turn on the display, the RS-232 connector operates in a special diagnostics mode instead of control mode, and the display won’t respond to control commands. In addition, the connected control system or terminal emulation program might receive unexpected data characters.

    Program a connected control system to ignore the unexpected data characters and only send commands after it receives the command prompt (>).

    If you haven’t disabled Power saving mode, you’ll see the unexpected characters every time you turn on the display.

Copy

Correct

>set input=HDMI1
Copy

Incorrect

>set HDMI1

To use the room control system to get information about the display or to adjust display settings, send commands after receiving a command prompt (>), and then wait for the display’s response before sending another command.

Copy

Correct

>get volume
volume=55
>

If you send a command that the room control system doesn’t recognize, you receive an invalid command response.

The example contains an extra space in the volume command.

Copy

Incorrect

>set vol ume=65
invalid cmd=set vol ume=65
>

Notes 

  • Use ASCII formatted commands.

  • Commands aren’t case-sensitive.

  • When manually entering commands into a terminal emulation program, review each entry carefully before you press ENTER to send a carriage return (0x0d) to terminate the command.

  • Don’t send another command until you receive the response and the next command prompt.

To identify the current value of a setting

  1. Use a get command.

    This example shows how to get the display’s current volume setting:

    Copy
    >get volume
    volume=55
    >

To assign a value to a setting

  1. Use a set command.

    This example sets the volume to 65:

    Copy
    >set volume=65
    volume=65
    >

To increase or decrease the value of a setting

  1. Use the set command to increase or decrease the value by a designated number.

    This example increases the volume by 5:

    Copy
    >set volume+5
    volume=70
    >

    This example decreases the volume by 15:

    Copy
    >set volume-15
    volume=55
    >

The display has the following power states:

Power state

Description

ON

The display is in normal operating mode.

READY

The screen is off, but the display is ready to turn on when:

  • A user presses the Power button on the front control panel.

  • A user presses the Power button on the remote control.

  • You send the set powerstate=on command.

    Tip 

    If the set powerstate command returns an “invalid command” message, add spaces around the operator symbol (=).

SOFT OFF (low power state)

The screen is in a low power state (soft off)and won’t respond to RS-232 commands. Disable Power saving mode to prevent the display from entering a low power state. See Power saving mode.

The display turns on when:

  • A user presses the Power button on the front control panel.

  • A user presses the Power button on the remote control.

UPDATEON

The display is updating firmware. Do not turn off the display.

UPDATEREADY

The display is updating firmware while the screen is off. Do not turn off the display.

With the exception of get powerstate and set powerstate, commands are available only when the display is in ON power state.

Get command

Set command

Response

get powerstate

set powerstateValue

Where Value is one of the following:

  • = on

  • = ready

Notes 

  • If the command returns an “invalid command” message, add spaces around the operator symbol (=).

  • The screen is in a low power state and doesn’t respond to any RS-232 commands. Disable Power saving mode to prevent the display from entering SOFT OFF. See Power saving mode.

  • If the display is in UPDATEON or UPDATEREADY state, it might not change power states after it receives the command.

powerstate=Value

Where Value is one of the following:

  • on

  • ready

  • updateon

  • updateready

get input

set inputValue

Where Value is one of the following:

  • =OPS

  • =OPSCC

  • =HDMI1

  • =HDMI2

  • =HDMI3

  • =VGA

input=Value

Where Value is one of the following:

  • =OPS

  • =OPSCC

  • =HDMI1

  • =HDMI2

  • =HDMI3

  • =VGA

  • =ANDROID

Notes 

  • =OPSCC is only available if you install an AM50 iQ appliance and compute card.

  • =ANDROID is the display’s settings.

get brightness

set brightnessValue

Where Value is one of the following:

  • +Value

  • -Value

  • =5–100

brightness=Value

Where Value is a number between 5 and 100

Note 

Enabling Auto Brightness overrides any brightness values set manually.

get volume

set volumeValue

Where Value is one of the following:

  • +Value

  • -Value

  • =0–100

volume=Value

Where Value is a number between 0 and 100

get mute

set muteValue

Where Value is one of the following:

  • =on

  • =off

mute=Value

Where Value is one of the following:

  • on

  • off

get fwversion

fwversion=Value

Where Value is the firmware version.

 

get serialnum

serialnum=Value

Where Value is the display’s serial number.

Note 

If multiple displays are connected, the response includes the serial numbers for all displays, separated by commas.

 

get partnum

partnum=Value

Where Value is the part number, including the revision.

 

get videofreeze

Note 

This command is only available in e³ experience system software 1.8.7 or later.

set videofreeze=Value

Where Value is one of the following:

  • =on

  • =off

Note 

This command is only available in e³ experience system software 1.8.7 or later.

videofreeze=Value

Where Value is one of the following:

  • on

  • off

Note 

This command is only available in e³ experience system software 1.8.7 or later.

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