Arcam AV8

Make/Model	Device Version	Connection Type
Arcam/AV8	N/A	Serial

Description:

This driver supports the Arcam AV8 A/V Receiver. This is a pretty full featured device, with good build quality and nice looks. It supports a fairly dizzying array of processing modes and variations thereof. It is a 2 zone receiver and has nice zone two features. The control protocol has it's quirks, but it's not too bad and provides access to a lot of functionality.

This driver's server side component is CML based. The server driver classes for this device are in the MEng.System.CQC.Drivers.AV8Proc scope.

Quirks and Limitations:

Since the device will not provide information when a zone is powered off, when the driver starts it must power both zones on so that it can get current state information.

The AV8 overloads the meaning of one of the values of the Decoding Mode (DecMode field of this driver.) There are No Mixdown and Pro Logic II Movie modes, both of which have the same value in the device. Which one is intended depends on the signal type. So the driver will return No Mixdown if it is seeing a multi-channel digital signal type, and will return Pro Logic II Movie if is seeing an analog or non-multi-channel digital signal type.

When you write to the field, it doesn't matter which one of the two values you write, regardless of signal type, since they both map to the same value.

Connection Details

The AV8 uses a serial connection. It can use a standard 9 wire cable or a minimalist 3 wire cable, since it really only uses send, received, and ground wires. The connection parameters are 38,400 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, and no flow control. The speed is high, which is good because this full featured a device has a lot of data.

Driver Fields

This section lists the fields that the driver makes available, their types, minimum and maximum values, etc...
Name Type R/W Description/Limits
Command String W A general command invocation field to handle some value setting chores without having to have lots of individual fields for them. The format is covered below.
Compression String R/W Read or set the compression (or 'night time' ) mode. This is an enumerated field with the values: Off, Medium, High.
DecMode String R/W The audio decoding mode. The values that will be accepted depend on the input source and signal type. It is an enumerated field with the values: Mono, Stereo, No Mix, Pro Logic II Music, Pro Logic, NEO:6 Cinema, NEO:6 Music, Pro Logic II Movie.
See the Quirks section above.
DirectMode Bool R/W Read or set the Direct mode on the main zone.
Effect String R/W Read or set the main zone effect. This is an enumerated field with the values: No Effect, Music, Party, Club, Hall, Sport, Church. This is only available for non-bitstream signal types.
HeadphoneOut Bool R/W Read or set the headphone output enable. Write true to enable or false to disable.
LipSync Int R/W Read or set the lip sync delay settings. It is an integral value from -1 to 44.
Preset Card R/W Read or set the current preset. There are 5 presets, so the value of must be from 1 to 5.
RecToTape String R/W Read or set the source that will be be seen by the tape when recording to tape. It is one of the inputs as indicated in Z1AudioInputSrc.
RecToVCR String R/W Read or set the source that will be be seen by the VCR when recording to VCR. It is one of the inputs as indicated in Z1AudioInputSrc.
THXMode String R/W Read or set the THX mode. Note that the setting of this value is heavily dependent on other settings and it will be rejected if not valid for the current circumstances. It is an enumerated value with values: Off, THX Cinema, THX Ultra2 Cinema, THX Music, THX Surround EX.
VideoType String R Indicates the video format that the AV8 is currently seeing. This is an enumerated field with values: 4x3, 16x9. This can be set via the remote, but not via the control interface, so this field is read only.
Z1AdjustVol Bool W A write-only field that will adjust the Zone 1 volume up if you write True, and down if you write False.
Z1AudioSrc String R/W Read or set the source input for Zone 1. It is an enumerated type with values: None, Source, Aux, CD, Tuner, DVD, Sat, AV, MultiChannel, Tape, VCR, FollowZ1.
NOTE: The FollowZ1 value is only valid for the Z2AudioSrc field. None is only a readable value, you cannot write it.
Z1Mute Bool R/W Read or set the Zone 1 mute state. Writing a value other than -53 to the Z1Volume field will implicitly turn off this mute state.
Z1Power Bool R/W Read or set the Zone 1 power state. True means power on and False means power off. When off, all writes to other Zone 1 fields will be rejected.
Z1SigType String R Indicates the signal types that the AV8 is seeing on the currently selected Zone 1 source.
Z1VideoSrc String R/W Same as Z1AudioSrc but for video source.
Z1Volume Int R/W Read or set the Zone 1 volume. This value is in dB and ranges from -53 to 19.
Z2AdjustVol Bool W A write-only field that will adjust the Zone 2 volume up if you write True, and down if you write False.
Z2AudioSrc String R/W Read or set the source input for Zone 2. It is an enumerated type with values: None, Source, Aux, CD, Tuner, DVD, Sat, AV, MultiChannel, Tape, VCR, FollowZ1.
NOTE: The FollowZ1 value is only valid for this Z2AudioSrc field, and makes it use the same source that Zone 1 is using. None is only a readable value, you cannot write it.
Z2Mute Bool R/W Read or set the Zone 2 mute state. Writing a value other than -53 to the Z1Volume field will implicitly turn off this mute state.
Z2Power Bool R/W Read or set the Zone 2 power state. True means power on and False means power off. When off, all writes to other Zone 2 fields will be rejected.
Z2SigType String R Indicates the signal types that the AV8 is seeing on the currently selected Zone 2 source.
Z2VideoSrc String R/W Same as Z2AudioSrc but for video source.
Z2Volume Int R/W Read or set the Zone 2 volume. This value is in dB and ranges from -53 to 19 (though it can be more limited via the Zone 2 configuration.)

Command Format

The Command field in the table above allows you to set some less often used device settings, without having to have many write only fields to do so. The format of the string written to this field is:
Target=Value
Where Target is the target setting to update, and Value is the value to set. The value field is interpreted differently according to the target. The possibilities are listed below.

Where a speaker must be indicated, the values you should use are:
Center. The front center speaker
FL. The front left speaker
FR. The front right speaker
SL. The side left speaker
SR. The side right speaker
RL. The rear left speaker
RR. The rear right speaker
Sub. The subwoofer
All. Affect all speakers
Supported Commands
The following commands are currently supported.
Balance=x
Sets the main balance setting. The value must be from -10 to 10. An example would be:
Balance=2
BaseTrim=x
Sets the base trim setting. The value must be from -6 to 6. An example would be:
BaseTrim=-1
ForceAnalog=x
Sets or clears the 'force analog' setting on the main zone. The value should be On or Off, and it is case sensitive so be sure to spell it correctly. An example would be:
ForceAnalog=On
PL2CenterWidth=x
Sets the Prologic II Center Width value. The value must be from 0 to 7. An example would be:
PL2CentreWidth=2
PL2Dimension=x
Sets the Prologic II Dimension value. The value must be from 0 to 6. An example would be:
PL2Dimension=1
PL2Panorma=x
Sets the Prologic II Panorama settings. This is an on/off settings, so the value must be either On or Off. An example would be:
PL2Panorama=On
SpeakerTrim=s:x
Sets the speaker trim. You must indicate a speaker, followed by a colon, and then the value to set. The value must be from -10 to 10. An example would be:
SpeakerTrim=Sub:-2
TrebleTrim=x
Sets the treble trim setting. The value must be from -6 to 6. An example would be:
TrebleTrim=3

Name	Type	R/W	Description/Limits
Command	String	W	A general command invocation field to handle some value setting chores without having to have lots of individual fields for them. The format is covered below.
Compression	String	R/W	Read or set the compression (or 'night time' ) mode. This is an enumerated field with the values: Off, Medium, High.
DecMode	String	R/W	The audio decoding mode. The values that will be accepted depend on the input source and signal type. It is an enumerated field with the values: Mono, Stereo, No Mix, Pro Logic II Music, Pro Logic, NEO:6 Cinema, NEO:6 Music, Pro Logic II Movie. See the Quirks section above.
DirectMode	Bool	R/W	Read or set the Direct mode on the main zone.
Effect	String	R/W	Read or set the main zone effect. This is an enumerated field with the values: No Effect, Music, Party, Club, Hall, Sport, Church. This is only available for non-bitstream signal types.
HeadphoneOut	Bool	R/W	Read or set the headphone output enable. Write true to enable or false to disable.
LipSync	Int	R/W	Read or set the lip sync delay settings. It is an integral value from -1 to 44.
Preset	Card	R/W	Read or set the current preset. There are 5 presets, so the value of must be from 1 to 5.
RecToTape	String	R/W	Read or set the source that will be be seen by the tape when recording to tape. It is one of the inputs as indicated in Z1AudioInputSrc.
RecToVCR	String	R/W	Read or set the source that will be be seen by the VCR when recording to VCR. It is one of the inputs as indicated in Z1AudioInputSrc.
THXMode	String	R/W	Read or set the THX mode. Note that the setting of this value is heavily dependent on other settings and it will be rejected if not valid for the current circumstances. It is an enumerated value with values: Off, THX Cinema, THX Ultra2 Cinema, THX Music, THX Surround EX.
VideoType	String	R	Indicates the video format that the AV8 is currently seeing. This is an enumerated field with values: 4x3, 16x9. This can be set via the remote, but not via the control interface, so this field is read only.
Z1AdjustVol	Bool	W	A write-only field that will adjust the Zone 1 volume up if you write True, and down if you write False.
Z1AudioSrc	String	R/W	Read or set the source input for Zone 1. It is an enumerated type with values: None, Source, Aux, CD, Tuner, DVD, Sat, AV, MultiChannel, Tape, VCR, FollowZ1. NOTE: The FollowZ1 value is only valid for the Z2AudioSrc field. None is only a readable value, you cannot write it.
Z1Mute	Bool	R/W	Read or set the Zone 1 mute state. Writing a value other than -53 to the Z1Volume field will implicitly turn off this mute state.
Z1Power	Bool	R/W	Read or set the Zone 1 power state. True means power on and False means power off. When off, all writes to other Zone 1 fields will be rejected.
Z1SigType	String	R	Indicates the signal types that the AV8 is seeing on the currently selected Zone 1 source.
Z1VideoSrc	String	R/W	Same as Z1AudioSrc but for video source.
Z1Volume	Int	R/W	Read or set the Zone 1 volume. This value is in dB and ranges from -53 to 19.
Z2AdjustVol	Bool	W	A write-only field that will adjust the Zone 2 volume up if you write True, and down if you write False.
Z2AudioSrc	String	R/W	Read or set the source input for Zone 2. It is an enumerated type with values: None, Source, Aux, CD, Tuner, DVD, Sat, AV, MultiChannel, Tape, VCR, FollowZ1. NOTE: The FollowZ1 value is only valid for this Z2AudioSrc field, and makes it use the same source that Zone 1 is using. None is only a readable value, you cannot write it.
Z2Mute	Bool	R/W	Read or set the Zone 2 mute state. Writing a value other than -53 to the Z1Volume field will implicitly turn off this mute state.
Z2Power	Bool	R/W	Read or set the Zone 2 power state. True means power on and False means power off. When off, all writes to other Zone 2 fields will be rejected.
Z2SigType	String	R	Indicates the signal types that the AV8 is seeing on the currently selected Zone 2 source.
Z2VideoSrc	String	R/W	Same as Z2AudioSrc but for video source.
Z2Volume	Int	R/W	Read or set the Zone 2 volume. This value is in dB and ranges from -53 to 19 (though it can be more limited via the Zone 2 configuration.)