After getting my hands on a new Yamaha AVR model RX-V2400, I thought it was time to plug into the serial port. Those that know me will not be surprised to learn that the speaker wires are still strung across the floor. But they'll be hidden in a day or so. After a web search to see if somebody else wrote this program, and coming up empty handed, I wrote this as a quick experiment. This command line program connects to this receiver, and possibly other models, and provides some rudimentary monitor and control. It also acts as a YAC listener, so can route Caller ID information to the monitor connected to the AVR.  Here's the process: Caller ID information is extracted from a home PC with a caller ID modem, A desktop program (YAC) on that PC serves it to designated network nodes, Another PC on the network acts as the YAC listener, parses the information, and Passes it to the Yamaha RX-V2400 via the RS-232 port where The RX-V2400 overlays the information on-screen. I have the concept for an embedded appliance counter-part to this program. Take a look in my Hardware forum for AVR Caller ID. [You must of course have Caller ID service for this to work.] Download avrcvr.zip and give it a go, and after you tried it, be sure to send me feedback, and since this seems to be a unique creation (so far), please consider using the PayPal link at the bottom of this page.  The interface is primitive, but I justify this as the experiment. I also coded a lot of commands and responses, but not 100% of them. Perhaps in the next revision I'll add more. I hope to reuse some of the code, and the knowledge at the very least, in an embedded interface to this receiver. Time will tell. If I had a PC stationed near the AVR, then I'd convert this to a "service" so it could run regardless of the active login. In the mean time, if your PC is near your AVR and you choose to use it this way, you can put a shortcut to this program in your startup folder with the command line option -YAC to activate the listener feature. As with most of my command line programs, I put [hopefully] more than enough built-in documentation into the code. You can access some of this by appending "-?" to the command line. Then, you should see this: C:\>avrcvr -? AVRcvr [Options] v0.3 by D.Smart This program connects to a Yamaha AVR model RX-V2400, and possibly other models, and provides some rudimentary control. It also acts as a YAC listener, and can route Caller ID information to the AVR on screen display. Options: -Com # Set to read Com port # [defaults to 1] -YAC Activate YAC listener mode for OSD -NoHeader Suppress this startup banner -Verbose Makes the program more chatty -Instructions Show more instructional detail -History Shows the program version history and more operational details. Return codes: 0 Normal program termination 1 Command line error, or History, Errata requested 2 Failed to open com port 3 Failed to get heap for YAC Pinouts Direction Signal [Just some handy info] 3 2 -->> Transmit Data 2 3 <<-- Receive Data 7 4 -->> RTS - Request To Send 8 5 <<-- CTS - Clear To Send 6 6 <<-- DSR - Data Set Ready 4 20 -->> DTR - Data Terminal Ready 1 8 <<-- DCD - Data Carrier Detect 9 22 <<-- RING - Ring Indicator 5 7 ---- GND - Signal Ground More Info: For more information on this or other home automation concepts, http://www.smart-family.net or mailto:info@Smart-Family.net YAC: http://www.sunflowerhead.com/software/yac Win32 Serial: http://home.ict.nl/~ramklein/Projects/Serial.html There are two web resources I used. You may want to look them up yourself. YAC is the caller ID utility I leveraged into this project. You can learn more about this utility at their web site. Win32 Serial port control is pretty new to me. So, after a browse I found sample code. You can learn more about that at their site. Running the Program The best way to run this program is to open a console shell (DOS box) that you've set to perhaps 50 or 60 lines rather than the default 25. Then, when you run the program you may see this: C:\Projects\AVRcvr\Release>avrcvr Yamaha AVR Interface Menu (?): Command Description Command Description + Zone 1 Volume Up - Zone 1 Volume Down 2+ Zone 2 Volume Up 2- Zone 2 Volume Down 3+ Zone 3 Volume Up 3- Zone 3 Volume Down FM Tuner FM AM Tuner AM < Tune Down > Tune Up Tuner A Tuner Page A Tuner B Tuner Page B Tuner C Tuner Page C Tuner D Tuner Page D Tuner E Tuner Page E Tuner 1 Tuner Preset 1 Tuner 2 Tuner Preset 2 Tuner 3 Tuner Preset 3 Tuner 4 Tuner Preset 4 Tuner 5 Tuner Preset 5 Tuner 6 Tuner Preset 6 Tuner 7 Tuner Preset 7 Tuner 8 Tuner Preset 8 Gray 1 Gray back auto Gray 0 Gray back off Hello Hello info Info Request Inp Phono Zone 1 Input Phono Inp CD Zone 1 Input CD Inp Tuner Zone 1 Input Tuner Inp CDRom Zone 1 Input CD Rom Inp Tape Zone 1 Input Tape Inp DVD Zone 1 Input DVD Inp TV Zone 1 Input Dig TV Inp Cable Zone 1 Input Cable/Sat Inp Sat Zone 1 Input Sat Inp VCR 1 Zone 1 Input VCR 1 Inp VCR 2 Zone 1 Input VCR 2 Inp VCR 3 Zone 1 Input VCR 3 Inp Aux Zone 1 Input Aux Inp2 Phono Zone 2 Input Phono Inp2 CD Zone 2 Input CD Inp2 Tuner Zone 2 Input Tuner Inp2 CDRom Zone 2 Input CD Rom Inp2 Tape Zone 2 Input Tape Inp2 DVD Zone 2 Input DVD Inp2 TV Zone 2 Input Dig TV Inp2 Cable Zone 2 Input Cable/Sat Inp2 Sat Zone 2 Input Sat Inp2 VCR 1 Zone 2 Input VCR 1 Inp2 VCR 2 Zone 2 Input VCR 2 Inp2 VCR 3 Zone 2 Input VCR 3 Inp2 Aux Zone 2 Input Aux Inp3 Phono Zone 3 Input Phono Inp3 CD Zone 3 Input CD Inp3 Tuner Zone 3 Input Tuner Inp3 CDRom Zone 3 Input CD Rom Inp3 Tape Zone 3 Input Tape Inp3 DVD Zone 3 Input DVD Inp3 TV Zone 3 Input Dig TV Inp3 Cable Zone 3 Input Cable/Sat Inp3 Sat Zone 3 Input Sat Inp3 VCR 1 Zone 3 Input VCR 1 Inp3 VCR 2 Zone 3 Input VCR 2 Inp3 VCR 3 Zone 3 Input VCR 3 Inp3 Aux Zone 3 Input Aux OSD On Screen Display Mute 1 Mute On Mute 0 Mute Off Nite 1 Night Mode On Nite 0 Night Mode Off Report 1 Report Cmd on Report 0 Report Cmd off Power 1 Power on Power 0 Power off Zone1 1 Zone 1 On Zone1 0 Zone 1 off Zone2 1 Zone 2 On Zone2 0 Zone 2 off Zone3 1 Zone 3 On Zone3 0 Zone 3 off ShowUse Show Usage ShowInst Show Instructions ShowHist Show History ShowMenu Show Menu + SetEcho 1 Command Echo On SetEcho 0 Command Echo Off quit quit program > At this stage, you're operational.  The Command Line The case sensitive command line interface is probably unlike any other, including others I've made. If the command you wish to run is absolutely unique in the list (by first character match), then it will run it with a single keystroke. If the command requires two or more characters to be recognized, then when you have typed enough to be uniquely identified, it will fill it in for you. But, because it was not unique, you now have to press <Enter>. What Can You Do What you can do depends on the state of the AVR. If it is off, you can't do much but to turn it on. A quick test is with the "OSD" command, which sends a message to the connected monitor. I made bold what I typed. This AVR can only show up to 16 chars at a time. So, if you type a longer message, it will send each group of 16 chars, with about a 5 second delay between them. >O 1234567890123456 Enter your brief (16 char) message: This is a test !   If I want to get some information from the AVR, there are several ways. When I was coding the "Info" command, I think I found an error in the AVR software. Take a look >i Tuner Freq. 105.1 Master Vol. -48.0dB Input Name DTV Zone 2 Vol. MUTE Zone 2 Name TUNER Zone 2 Vol. -B3dB Zone 2 Name DVD   It says Zone 2 Vol. and Zone 2 Name twice, but the data is different. Based on some experiments, the second set appears to be for Zone 3. Also, not the 'B' in the Zone 2 Volume level... A more interesting query is with the "Hello" command. >H S/W R0161E dlc 8A fixed @E01900 busy 0 power 1 input 6 6 ch 0 inp mode 0 mute 0 zone 2 2 mute 2 0 volume 88 zone 2 vol 00 pgm 17 effect 1 es status 3 OSD 1 sleep 4 Tuner Pg 2 Tuner # 3 Night 0 ????? 0 Spkr A 1 Spkr B 0 Playback 1 Fs 0 Ex/Es 0 Thr Bypass 0 Red DTS 0 Headph 0 Tuner Band 0 Tuner Tuned 1 DC1 Control Out 1 ????? 02 DC1 Trig Ctrl 1 dis 96/24 0 DC2 Trig Ctrl 1 DC2 Trig 1 Spkr B Set 0 Zone 2 SP out 0 Main R 2B Main L 29 Center 23 Rear R 2D Rear L 28 Sur Bk R 20 Sur Bk L 20 Front R 28 Front L 28 Sub 28 ????? 000000 LFE SP 14 LFE HP 14 Audio Delay 00 ????? 0000 Inp Mode Set 0 Dimmer 4 OSD Msg 1 OSD Shift 05 Gray Back 1 Video Conv 1 D Range SP 0 D Range HP 0 Zone 2 Vol out 0 ????? 0 Memory Guard 0 SP set center 0 SP set main 0 SP set rear L/R 0 SP set rear ct 4 SP set front 0 SP set LFE/Bass 1 6 ch center 0 6 ch sub 0 Main level 0 Test Mode 0 ????? 0 Lvl 6 ch main L 29 Lvl 6 ch main R 2B Lvl 6 ch center 23 Lvl 6 ch sl 28 Lvl 6 ch sr 2D Lvl 6 ch sbl 20 Lvl 6 ch sbr 20 Lvl 6 ch front l 28 Lvl 6 ch front r 28 Lvl 6 ch swfr 2D Zone 3 Inp 5 Zone 3 Mute 0 Zone 3 Vol 77 ????? 0 MultiCh Select 0 MultiCh Surround 0 SP Set SW1 0 SP Set Crossover 2 Component OSD 1 PB/SB Select 1 CKSUM 29 There's a lot of information buried in there, most of which I didn't decode, I just posted the Hex-ASCII values. Reference Information Yamaha AVR RX-V2400: Homepage, Manual, RS-232 Codes Web site, Standard, Extended, IR Standard, IR Extended YAC: Yet Another Caller id Win32 Serial: Tutorial with basic drivers for serial ports License Agreement This program is Webware. You may install it, test it for a reasonable period of time, and even modify it, but if you elect to keep it in use, whether in original form or in a modified form, you are then obligated to pay on a scale based on the value you receive from it. You are not allowed to redistribute any modified copy. As with other license agreement, this program is supplied as is, and is not guaranteed free from defects. You assume all risk for problems you may incur as a result of the use of this program.