Cary Audio Design - Cinema 11a Interface

(c) 2010-2011 My Device.

This driver gives you full control over the Cinema 11a with polled feedback. Both zones are available, as well as all configuration functions. By design the Cinema 11a does not provide unsolicited updates, which means we need to poll regularly for information. I have found that setting a poll period of 2000ms (this is the default value) is very usable.

This driver has been tested against firmware version 1.08. Please note there are some quirks with the rs232 output from the Cinema 11a so it's not advisable to use this driver with earlier firmware versions.

As with most of our drivers, we support a connection via IP with the use of a Global Cache interface.

Driver Setup

Once you add the driver to your project, the following settings must be configured:

System Settings

Polling interval - This is the number of milliseconds between requests for zone updates. Be careful to not set this value too low otherwise other functions may become unresponsive. A value of zero will stop polling completely. This is useful if you wish to handle this yourself for each function call (ie. only poll when the user makes a change).

Serial Settings

Serial Port - Select the port your Cinema 11a is connected to. Baud rate is fixed at 9600.

Global Cache Support:

Note: If you plan to use this outside your DMZ you need to NAT ports 4998 and 4999 to the outside world.

Enable Global Cache - Check this box if you plan to use a GC-100/iTach to remotely control the Cinema 11a. If you are directly connecting the XP8 to the 11a leave this box unticked.

IP Address - The IP address of the Global Cache unit.

Serial Port - The port the 11a is connected to on the Global Cache unit. Select serial port 1 or 2.

Licensing:

Unlock Code - Once you have purchased a license for this driver, enter the unlock code here. Without an unlock code the driver will for for 60 minutes at a time. After 60 minutes the driver will cease to function until the XP8 is reset/power cycled.

Variables

The following variables are available:

Zone 1:

• Power (On/OFF)

• Source (7.1 IN, Input 1, Input 2, Input 3, Input 4, Input 5, Input 6, Input 7, Input 8, AM, FM, HDAM, HDFM, HDMI 1, HDMI 2)

• Volume Actual (in dB, for example -70)

• Volume Percentage (0 - 100). Use this for bar graphs.

• Volume Front Left

• Volume Center

• Volume Front Right

• Volume Surround Left

• Volume Surround Right

• Volume Surround Back Left

• Volume Surround Back Right

• Mute (On/Off)

• Stereo Effect (Off, Prologic II Movie, Prologic II Music, Prologic IIx Movie, Prologic IIx Music, Neo:6 Cinema, Neo:6 Music, CES 7.1, All Stereo, All Mono)

• Dolby Digital 2.0 Effect (Off, Prologic II Movie, Prologic II Music, Prologic IIx Movie, Prologic IIx Music, CES 7.1, All Stereo, All Mono)

• Dolby Digital EX Effect (Off, Prologic II Movie, Prologic II Music, Prologic IIx Movie, Prologic IIx Music, CES 7.1, All Stereo, All Mono)

• Decoder Status (Stereo, Dolby AC3, dts, LPCM, 7.1, 2-ch Analog, No signal)

• Decoder Flagged Status (No signal, Mono, 2ch, 2ch surround, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital HD, DTS 5.1, DTS ES Matrix, DTS ES Discrete, DTS HDMA, DTS HRA, LPCM 2.0, LPCM 5.1, LPCM 7.1, 7.1 Analog)

Zone 2:

• Power (On/OFF)

• Source (7.1 IN, Input 1, Input 2, Input 3, Input 4, Input 5, Input 6, Input 7, Input 8, AM, FM, HDAM, HDFM, HDMI 1, HDMI 2)

• Volume Actual (in dB, for example -70)

• Volume Percentage (0 - 100). Use this for bar graphs.

• Mute (On/Off)

Events

Please note: For the events to work correctly you must poll the Cinema 11a regularly. If you do not poll, you may miss events which are triggered by the user interacting directly with the front panel controls.

Zones 1 and 2:

• Power On

• Power Off

• Source Change (any)

• Source Change (specific)