PrecisionControl

A tool to control Cisco\Tandberg PrecisionHD cameras via serial, demo here.

What works

• PTZ
• Manual focus
• Backlight compensation
• LED control
• Mirror\flip

What doesn't work/isn't implemented

• Manual exposure:
  • auto\manual toggle doesn't appear to work
  • Iris control appears to only toggle open and closed
• Manual white balance: there is no reference to what values to send
• Manual gamma correction
• Reading data from the camera
• Presets/PTZ direct
• PTZ limits
• Multiple camera addressing
• Reading ambient light sensor
• Reading onboard accellerometer
• Software update

Pinout

DANGER: THIS IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH A STANDARD "Cisco" SERIAL CABLE

Pin 1 can be used to power the camera directly, or to leech power from the connected power brick.

Pin	Signal name
8	+12V (2.8mA current source when connected in daisy chain)
7	GND
6	RS232 TXD (out)
5	NC (no connect)
4	NC (no connect)
3	RS232 RXD (in)
2	GND
1	+12V

License

This work is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.

Control strings

The control scheme is based on Sony's VISCA protocol, however there is little overlap with the actual control packets.

The first byte represents the address, by default the camera is 1 (IE. 0x81).

Camera control

Command	Command packet	Comments
Power_On	8x 01 04 00 02 ff	Power control. This command
Power_Off	8x 01 04 00 03 ff	stores the zoom and focus value and reset these motors. Used for Tiger if the camera was on for a long time.
Video_Format	8x 01 35 0p 0q 0r ff	Selects video format. p = reserved. q = video mode. r = See the chapter about the DIP switch settings
WB_Auto	8x 01 04 35 00 FF	WB: White Balance
WB_Table_Manual	8x 01 04 35 06 ff
WB_Table_Direct	8x 01 04 75 0p 0q 0r 0s ff	Used if WBmode = Table manual pqrs = wb table.
AE_Auto	8x 01 04 39 00 FF	AE: Automatic Exposure.
AE_Manual	8x 01 04 39 03 FF
Iris_Direct	8x 01 04 4B 0p 0q 0r 0s FF	Used if AE mode = Manual. pqrs: Iris position, range 0..50
Gain_Direct	8x 01 04 4c 0p 0q 0r 0s FF	Used if AE mode = Manual. pqrs: Gain position, values:1221dB.
Backlight_On	8x 01 04 33 02 FF	BacklightCompensation mode
Backlight_Off	8x 01 04 33 03 FF
Mirror_On	8x 01 04 61 02 ff	Sony calls this CAM_LR_
Mirror_Off	8x 01 04 61 03 ff	Reverse. RR (FT/AT mirror command)
Flip_On	8x 01 04 66 02 ff	Sony calls this CAM_ImgFlip.
Flip_Off	8x 01 04 66 03 ff
Gamma_Auto	8x 01 04 51 02 ff	Gamma mode. Default uses
Gamma_Manual	8x 01 04 51 03 ff	gamma table 4.
Gamma_Direct	8x 01 04 52 0p 0q 0r 0s ff	pqrs: Gamma table to use in manual mode. Range 0-7.
MM_Detect_On	8x 01 50 30 01 ff	Turn on the Motor Moved Detection (camera recalibrates if touched)
MM_Detect_Off	8x 01 50 30 00 ff	Turn off the Motor Moved Detection (camera does not recalibrate if touched)
Call_LED_On	8x 01 33 01 01 ff	Refers to orange LED on top
Call_LED_Off	8x 01 33 01 00 ff	of camera. Will always be off at startup.
Call_LED_Blink	8x 01 33 01 02 ff
Power_LED_On	8x 01 33 02 01 ff	Green power LED. If switched
Power_LED_Off	8x 01 33 02 00 ff	to off and stored to startup profile, it will always be off.
IR_Output_On	8x 01 06 08 02 ff	See IR push message.
IR_Output_Off	8x 01 06 08 03 ff
IR_CameraControl_On	8x 01 06 09 02 ff	Lets up/down/left/right/
IR_CameraControl_Off	8x 01 06 09 03 ff	zoom+/- on the IR remote control the camera directly. Those keycodes will be sent to the controller if IR Output is on.
BestView_On	8x 01 50 60 0p 0q ff	Turn BestView on or off.
BestView_Stop	8x 01 50 60 00 00 ff	pq=time (in seconds) Will generate push message(s) as specified above when the time runs out.

Movement control

Command	Command packet	Comments
Zoom_Stop	8x 01 04 07 00 ff
Zoom_Tele	8x 01 04 07 2p ff	p = speed parameter,
Zoom_Wide	8x 01 04 07 3p ff	a (low) to b (high)
Zoom_Direct	8x 01 04 47 0p 0q 0r 0s ff	pqrs: zoom position
ZoomFocus_Direct	8x 01 04 47 0p 0q 0r	pqrs: zoom position tuvw: focus position
	0s
	0t 0u 0v 0w ff
Focus_Stop	8x 01 04 08 00 ff
Focus_Far	8x 01 04 08 2p ff	p = speed parameter,
Focus_Near	8x 01 04 08 3p ff	a (low) to b (high)
Focus_Direct	8x 01 04 48 0p 0q 0r 0s ff	pqrs: focus position
Focus_Auto	8x 01 04 38 02 ff	Autofocus mode on/off.
		NOTE: If mode is auto, camera may disable autofocus when focus is ok. Autofocus will be turned back on when camera is moved using Zoom_Tele/ Wide, PT_Up/Down/Left/Right. Ditto for IR_CameraControl movement.
Focus_Manual	8x 01 04 38 03 ff
PT_Stop	8x 01 06 01 03 03 03 03 ff
PT_Reset	8x 01 06 05 ff	Reset pan/tilt to center positition. Will also resynchronize motors.
PT_Up	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 03 01 ff	p pan speed
PT_Down	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 03 02 ff	t: tilt speed
PT_Left	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 01 03 ff	Right -> increment pan Left -> decrement pan
PT_Right	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 02 03 ff	Up -> increment tilt Down -> decrement tilt
PT_UpLeft	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 01 01 ff
PT_UpRight	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 02 01 ff
PT_DownLeft	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 01 02 ff
PT_DownRight	8x 01 06 01 0p 0t 02 02 ff
PT_Direct	8x 01 06 02 0p 0t 0q 0r 0s 0u	p: max pan speed t: max tilt speed qrsu: pan position vwxy: tilt position
	0v 0w 0x 0y FF	Attempts to linearize movement.
PTZF_Direct	8x 01 06 20 0p 0q 0r 0s 0t 0u	Sets all motors in one operation.
	0v 0w 0x 0y 0z 0g 0h 0i 0j 0k ff	pqrs: pan tuvw: tilt
		xyzg: zoom hijk: focus
		Never route this message through Sony cameras.
		Attempts to linearize movement for pan and tilt
PT_Limit_Set	8x 01 06 07 00 0x 0p 0q 0r 0s	x=1: Up/Right x=0: Down/Left pqrs: Pan limit tuvx: Tilt limit.
	0t 0u 0v 0w ff	This command is valid only to next boot.
PT_Limit_Clear	8x 01 06 07 01 0x [...] ff	x=1: Up/Right x=0: Down/Left
		Sony specifies lots of filler bytes after 0x. Ignore them.

Inquiries

Command	Command packet	Comments
CAM_ID_Inq	8x 09 04 22 ff	Resp: 90 50 zz xx 00 yy ff Only zz, which identifies the camera, is relevant. zz = 0x50 for this camera.
CAM_SWID_Inq	8x 09 04 23 ff	Resp: y0 50 [1-125 bytes ASCII SWID] ff. Never route this message through Sony cameras.
CAM_HWID_Inq	8x 09 04 24 ff	The response is the Module
		Serial Number stored in EEPROM. The number is converted to ASCII : y0 50 [12 bytes ASCII HWID] ff.
Zoom_Pos_Inq	8x 09 04 47 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs: zoom position
Focus_Pos_Inq	8x 09 04 48 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs: focus position
Focus_Mode_Inq	8x 09 04 38 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: Auto, p=3: Manual
PanTilt_Pos_Inq	8x 09 06 12 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s 0t 0u
		0v 0w ff pqrs: pan position tuvw:
		tilt position
Power_Inq	8x 09 04 00 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On, p=3: Off
WB_Mode_Inq	8x 09 04 35 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff
		p=0: Auto , p=6: Table manual
WB_Table_Inq	8x 09 04 75 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs: Table used if table mode
AE_Mode_Inq	8x 09 04 39 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=0: Auto, p=3: Manual
Backlight_Mode_Inq	8x 09 04 33 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On, p=3: Off
Mirror_Inq	8x 09 04 61 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On, p=3: Off
Flip_Inq	8x 09 04 66 ff	Is video flipped or not? Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On , p=3: Off
Gamma_Mode_Inq	8x 09 04 51 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: Auto, p=3: Manual
Gamma_Table_Inq	8x 09 04 52 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs: Gamma table in use if manual mode.
Call_LED_Inq	8x 09 01 33 01 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff
		p=2: On, p=3: Off, p=4: Blink
Power_LED_Inq	8x 09 01 33 02 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On, p=3: Off
Video_System_Inq	8x 09 06 23 ff	y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs=video mode currently being output on the HDMI port.
		See chapter on DIP switches.
DIP_Switch_Inq	8x 09 06 24 ff	y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pqrs contains the bit pattern of the DIP switch. See chapter on DIP switches.
IR_Output_Inq	8x 09 06 08 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=2: On, p=3: Off
ALS_RGain_Inq	8x 09 50 50 ff	Ambient Light Sensor Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s 0t 0u 0v 0w ff pqrstuv=32 bit unsigned integer, relative gain value. The integration time is a constant set in the camera SW.
ALS_BGain_Inq	8x 09 50 51 ff
ALS_GGain_Inq	8x 09 50 52 ff
ALS_WGain_Inq	8x 09 50 53 ff
BestView_Inq	8x 09 50 60 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p 0q 0r 0s ff pq=0: BestView not running. pq>0: BestView running, time specified when started rs: Time spent so far
Up side down_Inq	8x 09 50 70 ff	Resp: y0 50 0p ff p=0: Camera is upright. p=1: Camera is upside down.
CAM_Boot	8x 01 42 ff	Reboot the camera. This will also reset serial speed to 9600.
CAM_Speed	8x 01 34 0p ff	p=0: Serial speed 9600. p=1: Serial speed 115200. Reply will be sent before the speed switch takes place. Please wait 20ms after ok before sending new commands.