RS232 vs IP. Can IP be used for control?

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Buffalo

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Wannabe Geek

#35533 11-Jun-2009 13:57

Hi Guys

I am implementing a digital media project at work. We will have central control of what all screens are playing. I have sorted out RS232 connectivity to turn on/off and it works fine. My problem is we are trying use domestic level screens rather than industrial due to the huge difference in price. We are very limited in our screen selection as not many domestic models have RS232. Most models now have a
RJ45 port. Does anyone know if this can be used to send control signals to a TV somehow?
Cheers.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#223961 11-Jun-2009 14:02

The only solution I could think of would be to use a IR blaster to send commands from a PC and then use remote IR transmitters running over the spare pairs in the cat5e cable. You could then stick one in front of the IR eye on each TV and turn these all on/off from your application.

I don't know whether any of the TV's that have ethernet support allow control of the TV via ethernet, it's mostly just for DLNA support.

Buffalo

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Wannabe Geek

#223965 11-Jun-2009 14:16

Cheers. Yeah the IR thing would work initially but we are expecting to grow to 100s of screens so would become a bit messy. What is DLNA?

richms

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#224078 11-Jun-2009 17:10

Do you need individual adressablility of the screens? If not IR should be doable just by paralleling up the IR LED's stuck to the screens.

Otherwise look into an arduino near each cluster of TV's since that has many digital outs you can hook LEDs to individually, and there are varients available with a RS232 rather then a USB for control so you get distance OK.

If you dont want the LEDs stuck to the front then you can try jamming them in a vent at the back near to the IR sensor on the front since it will bounce around inside and hit the sensor

Richard rich.ms