How do I send Hex commands (or bytes) using BrightAuthor?

Follow Avatar Lyndon

Last Updated: October 14, 2015

You can easily send Hex values using an Interactive presentation in BrightAuthor.

The following is an example of a "power on" command for a Viewsonic projector. These are hex values, indicated by the “0x” prefix. 

0x06 0x14 0x00 0x04 0x00 0x34 0x11 0x00 0x00 0x5D

To send this command to the projector using the serial port on a BrightSign player, do the following:

  1. Create an Interactive presentation in BrightAuthor.
  2. Open the media state or event where you want to send the hex command.
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. Click Add Command and set the command to Send -- Serial Bytes.
  5. Set the Port to 0 (this is the case for most standard serial devices).
  6. Enter the command in the Bytes field. Use a comma to separate each byte.

When sending serial bytes, you must use decimal values, not the hex values listed above. You can convert hex values to decimal values using any number of free websites.

Hex values: 06 00 04 00 34 11 00 00 5D

Equivalent decimal values: 06 00 04 00 52 17 00 00 93

Note: The DE-9 (more commonly referred to as DB-9) serial port is fully RS-232 compatible, but the 3.5mm serial port can only interoperate with some RS-232 compatible devices. It can receive from any RS-232 device, but transmission may not work depending on the electrical characteristics of the device.

SendBytes__Custom_.JPG

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33 Comments

Date Votes
  • 0
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    Mike R

    Is the presentation settings left at ASCII at this point still? 

  • 0
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    Alex

    Yes.

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Hey folks, I understand the Brightauthor side but am having trouble reading the manual for my Samsun TV (model DME55).  Can anyone make sense of the serial commands in the attached screen shot?  Specifically, I am looking to power on the TV at the start of the day and power off the TV at the end of the day so the power on/off commands are the most important.  Thanks in advance!

  • 0
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    Alex

    Can you attach the manual for that TV?

  • 0
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    MTG Support

    Sure.  The commands are on page 37.

  • 0
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    Alex

    AA 11 FF 1 1 12 power on

    AA 11 FF 1 0 11 power off

    Try using the following command to power on the TV:

    170,17,255,1,1,18

    and use the following command to power off the TV:

    170,17,255,1,0,17

  • 0
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    Wildner Jan

    Hi, i need to start up projector HITACHI by XD1230

    hex command is BE EF 03 06 00 BA D2 01 00 00 60 01 00

    so i need to convert it do decimal.. i did it by https://www.easycalculation.com/hex-converter.php

    but there are numbers in one line.. and i dont know how to separate it: 1152921506217463800

    can you help me?

    Thanx a lot

  • 0
    Avatar
    Alex

    You should convert hex values one by one. Convert BE first, then convert EF and so on. BE in hex = 190 in decimal. EF in hex = 239 in decimal, etc. Your decimal command would be 190,239,...other values via comma here... Does it make sense?

  • 1
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    Soft Controls Domótica y Audiovisuales S.L.

    Hi,

    We are trying to switch on Samsung DB10 with the next serial command in decimal:

    170,17,255,01,01,18

    Our configuration are attached on the "question.png" image.

    We don't understand why is not working...

    Thank you

     

     

  • 0
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    Alex

    Try to replace the "Serial byte" command with the "Serial bytes (comma separated)" command.

  • 0
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    Soft Controls Domótica y Audiovisuales S.L.

    Hi,

    The problem was the RS-232 cable.

    Problem solved.

    Thanks a lot.

  • 0
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    MTG Support

    Hi all, I've tried the suggestions for the Samsung TV previously suggest here for power on as shown below.  The TV's are still not powering on or off.  Below is the screenshot for powering on the TV's.

     

     

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    Mike Stitzinger

    Is there a method of troubleshooting commands in the Brightsign player or verifying that commands are being transmitted to the TV's?

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Hi, is there a utility or method built into Brightsign players that allows serial commands to be sent on command such as for testing purposes?

  • 0
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    Lyndon

     

    I don't understand the question. You can send serial commands from the player, easily, using a brightauthor playlist. You can send commands when a file plays, when an event is received like a timeout or button press our touch. What exactly are you trying to do?

    This is an old video, but it covers sending serial commands in general. 

    https://www.brightsignnetwork.com/download/Videos/ba2.2_advanced_serial-1.mp4

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    I'm curious if there is a way that is not based on a presentation, such as  an independent method for testing purposes that is either built into the player or one that can be accomplished through 3rd party software, such as via a terminal CLI program running on a laptop.

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Do you have any instructions on turning on debugging mode?  In short, the commands being sent to turn our TV wall on or off are not working.  I'd like to confirm that the commands are being sent to the device, and if so, what the TV's response back is - does it recognize them or is there some sort of syntax error that debugging would provide more incite into.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Lyndon

     

    You can send serial commands to the player using a terminal program. Brightauthor was for the player to send commands back..

    But, you can use a script to send serial commands from the player. What is it you want to do? You want to send a command to the player, and have it relay it over serial. If you can give a specific example of what you're wanting to to, we can tell you how to do it..

     

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Sure, I'm trying to power on the TV's in the morning say 7am, and off at the end of the day at 6pm.  The commands according to the manual are:

    AA 11 FF 1 1 12 power on

    AA 11 FF 1 0 11 power off

    which convert to

    170,17,255,1,1,18

    170,17,255,1,0,17

    I have configured a presentation to run during this time, which send serial bytes, comma separated but the TV's do not respond either turning on in the morning or off in the evening.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Lyndon

    Ok, understood. Most serial issues are caused by one of the following:

    1. Wrong or poorly formatted commands

    2. Serial port settings not being correct

    3. Serial cable

    With that said, yes, there are a few ways to check on what's sending.

    a. Under the publish tab in brightauthor, you can turn on system log debugging. You don't want serial debuggin on since all that output to the serial port will make the commands you want to send not work.

    b. with system log debuggin enabled, you can log into the unit's ip address, to access the diag server, and go the log tab of the unit. There you'll see output when any commands are sent.

    c. In your brightauthor project, you can add a serial event, and a variable. In the serial event, you can specify you want any serial commands received to be assigned to the variable. You can then display that variable on your screen, or log into the player on port 8008 if you enabled the local server on the unit, to see the value in the varialbe. 

  • 0
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    Lyndon

    What serial port speed did you set? (file, properties, interactive)

    Are your commands suposed to be terminated with a carriage return or line feed?

    which brand and model tv is this?

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Excellent. I will test this when I am on-site later this week.  Is someone usually manning this forum for a quick response?

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    We have the Samsung model DME55.  Port speeds are set per the screen shot below

  • 0
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    Lyndon

    I don't know of any displays that use 115200 as the port speed. Most of them are usuall 9600. Sometimes, 19200, but most common seems to be 9600. I'm 99% sure your port speed is wrong. 

  • 0
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    Lyndon

    According to the Samsung manual, the port speed should be set to 9600

    pg32-samsungdme55.JPG

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    Soft Controls Domótica y Audiovisuales S.L.

    We are working with a Samsung DB48D without problems, bps 9600 ok

    Mike, have you check the pins in your RS232C cable? 

    Bright Sign pin 3 TR -> Samsung pin 2 RX

    Bright Sign pin 2 RX -> Samsung pin 3 TR

     

  • 0
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    Mike Stitzinger

    Hello, the power off command appears to be only turning off the volume with the power off command, and turning on only the picture with the power on command.  Can you explain how you got the following values for power off and power on from the manual that was previously uploaded earlier in this thread?

    You gave the following hex values:

    AA 11 FF 1 1 12 power on

    AA 11 FF 1 0 11 power off

     

    I would like to see if I can also control the volume with seperate commands sent to the TV's.

  • 0
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    Jonathan Andersen

    Not sure if I'm just not looking in the right area but is there a way to use the advanced send feature over USB to talk back to whats interfacing with the BrightSign??

  • 0
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    Lyndon

     

    The brightsign doesn't have any commands for sending messages over usb curently unless you're using a usb to serial cable or some usb device that shows up as a serial port.  what device did you have in mind?

  • 0
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    Jonathan Andersen

    I will have to talk to my manager more but as far as I know we need to be able to tell our receiver that it has gotten an end of file. There may be more however so any information I can grab is more than appreciated. Specifically we have an LS 322 audio player to use, will we be able to do uart over usb with this model?

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