Controlling a camera using IR

[Pauly1980]

Hi everyone.

I am contemplating wether or not it is possible to use a picaxe to control my Panasonic HDC-SD9 video camera via IR. The reason for this is that I have been donated an Underwater video housing to use that was designed around the Sony Lanc commands and is not compatible, as a housing for my camera is approx $1200AUD the picaxe approach would seem far better. I have limited experience with the picaxe but can do most basic programming.

I have been unable to locate a Protocol of the Panasonic IR commands so if anyone could help that would be great and any links to other projects that may help me understand how to do IR??

Thanks heaps,

Paul Daniels

 

[mrburnette]

I have been unable to locate a Protocol of the Panasonic IR commands ...

For generic IR overview, the document at this link is well written: http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?17303-Infrared-%28IR%29-Communications-Basic-Tutorial

For Panasonic-specific IR, this may give you some insight: http://www.vishay.com/docs/80071/dataform.pdf

I suspect the biggest issue is whether Panasonic used their generic, consumer IR command set with the video camera? The consumer info is located here: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/Monitors/Discrete-remote-control-codesProntoCCFformat.pdf the idea being that you could try some of the inexpensive "universal" remotes and see if you can hit-upon the camera code or at least verify it is/is-not in the consumer range.

 

[Pauly1980]

Thanks for that info. The link to the ftp link doesn't work, is it correct?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Buzby]

.... The link to the ftp link doesn't work, is it correct? ....

It works for me, but I can't make head nor tail of what the numbers mean !

 

[mrburnette]

Thanks for that info. The link to the ftp link doesn't work, is it correct?

Thanks,
Paul

Link is correct... may be a browser issue as some browsers 'choke' on FTP sites.

Regarding the format... this may help: http://www.etcwiki.org/wiki/Open_CCF_Files
Summary:

CCF files are remote control infrared code files (some with a clickable GUI), and CCF stands for Component Configuration Files (sometimes called Component Characteristic Format). This is a Philips proprietary infrared code format, also known as Philips Pronto.

- Ray

 

[inglewoodpete]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over not being able to access the file from the FTP site. It is for a Panasonic Plasma TV and the codes would not operate a camera.

The remote control unit for the HDC-SD9 is a N2QAEC000023. I can't find the IR codes for this model. However, the IR codes listing for N2QAEC000012 can be found here on the LIRC site and could be very similar (the number of buttons and therefore the number of codes may differ a little). The website tells you more or less everything you need to know, once you understand it.

My experience is with the NEC 32-bit code format. I notice that the Panasonic uses a 24-bit code.

 

[boriz]

Picaxe can generate almost any IR protocol. You just need to know the modulation frequency and the mark-space timing for specific commands, then a fairly simple Picaxe program can reproduce it.

You'll need a storage 'scope, or a PC 'scope to analyze the signal from an official IR transmitter. Unless you can get this data some other way.

 

[Pauly1980]

Picaxe can generate almost any IR protocol. You just need to know the modulation frequency and the mark-space timing for specific commands, then a fairly simple Picaxe program can reproduce it.

You'll need a storage 'scope, or a PC 'scope to analyze the signal from an official IR transmitter. Unless you can get this data some other way.

Ok, I have the original remote buried around here somewhere so I will try to dig it out and see what I can do. Thanks to everyone who has contributed

Paul

 

[geoff07]

I don't have any experience with this camera but I do have code that works well with a Nikon, that simulates an ML-L3 remote (I'm not the author, it came from this forum as I recall). It is part of a turntable system used for making web movies from a series of stills of 3D artwork. So in principle it is possible, so long as you have the bit sequence (which you could reverse engineer with a scope as already mentioned above).

I also have (untested) code for a Sony IP-55 videocam (for snaps) and for a Canon. Essentially they use a combination of Pulseout and Pause in a loop to generate the code.