Atrium Projector

Atrium projector

A Panasonic PT-EZ590, fed by the SVSi decoder named Atrium Projector (10.0.25.126, Atrium switch port 0/17). The decoder carries its HDMI and RS-232. The projector’s network cable runs into the decoder’s second Ethernet jack, but its LAN doesn’t send anything, so serial through the decoder is the only way to control it. See The LAN.

   
Control RS-232 via the decoder, 9600 8N1, Panasonic’s ASCII protocol
MAC bc:c3:42:f9:ed:f5
LAN settings DHCP on; the static address is the factory default 192.168.10.100
Standby Mode NORMAL (the LAN stays powered in standby)
Power management SHUTDOWN after 30 min with no signal
Lamp 855 hours

Controlling it

AMX drives it through the decoder: sendser: power_on / power_off / input_hdmi_1 on UDP 50001 replays serial codes stored on the decoder’s Serial page (Automation/amx/include/Atrium.axi). AMX’s power-off also turns the decoder’s HDMI output off (DVIOFF:on), and power-on turns it back on. So after a power-on that didn’t come from AMX, the projector has no picture, and the decoder reports its HDMI as disconnected.

Automation/server/scripts/panasonic-projector.py sends any command through the same serial port. It uses the Execute button on the decoder’s Serial page (POST command=executeserial with the hex to /serial.php). That returns the projector’s reply, which the Legato decoder doesn’t. The AVoIP VLAN is only reachable from docker-server; run from anywhere else, the script forwards the decoder’s web UI through it with ssh -L.

panasonic-projector.py menu                 drive the on-screen menu from the keyboard
panasonic-projector.py status
panasonic-projector.py power on|off
panasonic-projector.py input hdmi1|hdmi2|rgb1|rgb2|video|digitallink
panasonic-projector.py key menu|up|down|left|right|enter|back ...
panasonic-projector.py raw QPW 'VXX:STMI0=+00000'

In menu, m is MENU, the arrow keys move, Enter selects, Esc/Backspace/b is RETURN, s is STATUS and q quits.

Each command is ASCII between STX (02h) and ETX (03h), and the reply comes back the same way. An ERnnn reply is an error (ER401: can’t be executed now, ER402: invalid parameter). The full list is Panasonic’s PT-EZ590 series Control Commands.

Commands tested against this projector:

Command Meaning Result
PON / POF power on / off ✅ QPW reads 001 within 5 s of PON
QPW power 000 standby, 001 on ✅
QIN input HD1 = HDMI1 ✅
QSH AV mute ✅
Q$L lamp hours ✅
QVX:STMI0 / VXX:STMI0=+0000n Standby Mode: 0 NORMAL, 3 ECO ✅ read and set
QVX:ECOI5 / QVX:ECOI6 power management / its timer ✅
QVX:DKMI1 / VXX:DKMI1=+0000n DIGITAL LINK mode: 1 AUTO, 3 ETHERNET ✅ read and set
QVX:DKSI1 DIGITAL LINK link status ✅
OMN OCU OCD OCL OCR OEN OBK remote keys: MENU, arrows, ENTER, RETURN ✅

There’s one serial line and the decoder doesn’t tell replies apart. Two senders at once get each other’s replies: No data., or one reply stuck to the front of another (OBKECOI5=+00002). Run one copy of the script at a time.

The menu path to the network settings is MENU → NETWORK (the last item, one UP from the top) → NETWORK STATUS (one UP from the bottom). NETWORK STATUS shows the address and MAC but not whether the LAN has a link. The only link indicator in the menu, NETWORK → DIGITAL LINK STATUS, covers the DIGITAL LINK jack.

The LAN

The projector has two network jacks next to each other, beside the HDMI inputs: LAN, then DIGITAL LINK/LAN at the end of the row. Either one works for plain Ethernet in AUTO mode, and both share one set of network settings. Which one is cabled hasn’t been confirmed, but the DIGITAL LINK jack reports no link. That was the reading in AUTO, and with the mode forced to ETHERNET.

The cable in use reaches the decoder’s second jack. The decoder has a Marvell 88E6352 switch inside, and from a root shell (maintenance mode) its registers show:

  • The second jack has a 100 Mb/s full-duplex link to the projector. With the projector in ECO standby, which powers its LAN off, the link dropped 88 s after power-off and came back 18 s after power-on.
  • Nothing ever arrives from the projector. The port’s receive counters, errors included, read zero. They stayed at zero after the projector’s LAN was restarted, after the projector’s network settings were reset, with DHCP turned on, and after the decoder rebooted. Over the same period the decoder sent the projector millions of broadcasts.
  • The projector’s MAC has never appeared on any switch, and nothing answers for it on any VLAN, even when asked from inside its own subnet.

A link that comes up means the projector’s transmit pair carries a signal. So the most likely cause is the projector’s network interface, not the cable. The wiring hasn’t been checked yet.

If it’s ever brought up on its factory default, note that 192.168.10.100 is already taken on the Dante network by a Dante device (00:1d:c1:0b:02:ba).

To read the decoder’s switch: /svsi/VE/mdioRead <smi> <reg>. Port n’s registers are at SMI 0x10+n: port 1 is the uplink and port 2 is the second jack. Reg 0 bit 11 is link, and bits 9:8 are speed. The per-port counters are read through Global 1 (SMI 0x1b, reg 0x1d). Setting MEDIAPORT1 off stops video streams going out the second jack; it didn’t change the result here.