Thank you for considering BCD's DVD-1150/DVD-1150HDD.

Summary: Play with this machine at your shop before installing at the customer's site.  Please be certain that it does what your customer requires before you get to the job site.

The DVD-1150 was designed from the outset to be controlled by RS-232 via a Crestron, AMX, PC, or other RS-232 control device.  Please note that compared to a BetaCam (our favorite controlled device), the response of the DVD-1150 is very slow.

Our manual is comprehensive and includes all available commands. Nevertheless, it is probable that you, the programmer, have your own ideas about how it should operate.  That's good, and we are eager to hear about it, but the fact is that you need to program for what it actually does and not what you imagine it ought to do.

The Most Important Commands :  "ECHO 0"  and  "MODE 1"
1.  The first command should be ECHO 0.
Normally the DVD-1150 echoes each character back to you as you send it.  What a waste of bandwidth, parsing.. all of that.  ECHO 0 turns off character echo so that the ">" prompt character is the only extra charater you get, other than the response value.

2.  Use MODE 1 instead of STAT or MODE
The DVD-1150 CPU is contantly polling the system for status anyway.  The STAT and MODE commands force the CPU to query the whole system again, redundantly, and this can take a long time (2-3 seconds).   MODE 1 instantly returns the current MODE value without the wait.  MODE 1 will make you happier.

We have found that programmers are often very self-assured and reluctant to ask for help because they know that they can do it themselves.  We often hear "I've been programming controllers for xx years and I know how to do it."

PLEASE call us (800-223-6734) or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   with your questions when you begin!  Please do not wait until you are frustrated and angry because the machine doesn't do what you think it should.   There is probably a way to do what you want, maybe not the way you had in mind.   It may be that there is something we forgot (after all, we do things our way, not yours).  

By the way, if there's an operational feature you'd like us to change or add, let us know.  We are good listeners and are often able to respond very quickly.

Whatever the challenge, communication is the key.  Please contact us early in the project and we can all have satisfied clients.

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