Peripherals settings

 

Applies to HMP300, HMP350, HMP400, and HMP400W. See also Peripherals settings on DiVA players.

Description

The "Peripherals" page of HMP Control Center allows configuring settings related to the serial and USB ports. It contains the following sections:

• Serial

  This section contains settings related to the serial port of the HMP.

• Serial Port Automation

  This section allows configuring whether a serial port protocol file should be used by the HMP when communicating over the serial port.

• USB

  This section let you configure and see USB devices attached to the player.

• Capture

  This section let you configure indexes for audio/video capture devices connected to an HMP400/W through USB.

Serial

Peripherals → Serial

This section contains settings related to the serial port of the HMP.

• Enable serial port

  Enable / disable the usage of the serial port. Default: enabled.

• Baud rate

  Set the baud rate / speed of the serial communication. Default: 9600.

• Data bits

  Set the number of data bits per character. Default: 8.

• Parity

  Set the parity bit in each character. Default: none.

• Stop bits

  Set the number of stop bits per character. Default: 1.

Note:

This feature requires a DSOS license to be activated on HMP400/HMP400W.

Serial Port Automation

This section allows configuring whether a serial port protocol file should be used by the HMP when communicating over the serial port. Different settings are displayed depending on the value selected from the drop-down box labeled "Settings", as following:

• Disabled

  Select this to disable the usage of serial port protocol files.

  Note that if the serial port is enabled, it is still possible to send and receive RS232 data using the JavaScript COM API.

• Simple (added in firmware 4.0.1)

  Select this to be able to enter one or more simple commands for screen control, to be sent over the serial port.

• Advanced

  Select this to be able to enable the usage of serial port protocol files.

Note:

To schedule the execution of the "PowerOn" & "PowerOff" commands, go to Display & Audio > Power page.

Simple settings

Automation - Simple

After selecting "Simple" from the drop-down box labeled "Settings", you can enter one or more simple commands for screen control, to be sent over the serial port, as following:

1. Enter the name of the command.

   It could be "PowerOn", "PowerOff", "MuteOn", or "MuteOff" (these are compatible with the screen control widgets from Elementi), or another custom name depending on the screen specification.

2. Enter the command data string to be sent to the screen.

   See the note below for more details about the string syntax.

3. Optionally, click the "Add" button to add another entry in the list of commands. To remove a command, click on the orange x button next to the command you want to remove.
4. Click the "Apply" button to apply the new serial port commands.

Note:

This feature requires a DSOS license to be activated on HMP400/HMP400W.

Any character in the command data string can be escaped using its hex-encoded character code, prefixed with \x, as following:

• The end of line symbol ('\n') has character code 0A in hex, so it must be written as '\x0A'.
• The byte string '7E 50 4E 0D' must be written as '\x7E\x50\x4E\x0D'.
• XML notation (like 
), single character escape sequences (like '\r') and FSM %c{...} notation (like %c{13}) are automatically converted (for instance to '\x0D').
• Printable ASCII chars can be used without encoding ( i.e. 'PowerOff\x0A' ).

See the complete documentation for the protocol string syntax.

Custom commands are triggered using sendComPort() JavaScript function.

Advanced settings

 

Applies to HMP350 and HMP400/HMP400W with DSOS SYSTEMS license.

Automation - Advanced

After selecting "Advanced" from the drop-down box labeled "Settings", you can enable the usage of serial port protocol files, as following:

1. If needed, click the "Add Protocol File" button and upload your custom protocol file.
2. Select the radio option from the "Active" column, next to the desired protocol file.
3. Click the "Apply" button to apply the changes.

Notes:

• The HMP comes with four built-in protocol files (prefixed with "[sys]"): three for LG LF65, Panasonic plasma and Sharp Aquos screens, and one for GPS data integration with devices compatible with the NMEA-0183 standard.
• If some commands were added using the simple settings described above, then these commands are added into a protocol file called "simple".
• The custom serial port protocol files can be removed from the player by clicking on the orange x button, from the "Delete" column, next to the protocol file you want to remove.

USB

Peripherals - USB

This section let you configure and see USB devices attached to the player.

• Enable USB I/O API

  Enable / disable the USB I/O API. Default: disabled.

  This option requires a DSOS SYSTEMS license on HMP400 and HMP400W.

• Use external USB drive to store content

  If a formatted USB drive is attached to the player, it will be used instead of the HMP internal storage. In this case, the USB storage device is activated.

  This option no longer requires a DSOS SYSTEMS license on HMP400 and HMP400W starting with DSOS 4.7.4.

Any USB storage device connected to the HMP is displayed in this section, along with information about its storage size and the status of usage.

If the USB storage device was not activated, then the status is "Not currently in use" and the following actions can be performed:

• Publish USB content to HMP internal storage

  This button allows coping the content present on the USB storage device on the HMP local storage.

• Format

If the USB storage device was activated, the following actions can be performed:

• Copy to USB

  This button allows coping the content present on the HMP local storage to the USB storage device.

• Format
• Disconnect USB storage device

  The "Disconnect" button is present when the USB storage device is in use as local storage for the HMP. It is recommended to use the "Disconnect" button before removing the USB device from the HMP, especially if the USB storage device is in write mode.

Activate the USB storage device

To configure the HMP to use a USB drive connected on its USB port as local storage (instead of the HMP internal storage), follow these steps:

1. Enable the "Use external USB drive to store content" option.
2. Click on the "Apply" button.
3. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of the HMP. If the USB was already connected, you need to re-connect it!
4. Wait for a few seconds and then click on the "Reload" button. The page should indicate that the local storage is currently set to USB storage.
   • You may need to Format the USB device before it can be used to store the content.

Format the USB storage

The "Format" button allows formatting the USB storage device - beside clearing any data existing on the USB device, this also turns the USB device into a permanent writable local storage. To format a USB storage, follow these steps:

1. Plug the USB storage to the HMP and wait for it to be detected.
2. Press the "Format" button.
   • A message will be shown indicating the format is in progress.
3. Wait for the formatting to be completed (the duration depends on the size of the USB storage). For instance, for a 250 GB drive the duration is approximately 4–5 minutes.
4. Unplug the USB storage device from the HMP.
5. Reconnect the USB storage device to the HMP.

Note:

The maximum supported size of the external USB storage device is around 2 TB for HMP350 and HMP300.

The USB storage device is formatted using the ext4 (up to 2 TB).
After formatting, the USB storage will no longer be readable by Windows OS; except if you are using 3rd party utilities, like Paragon ExtFS for Windows (tested by Convergent, USA), Ext2Fsd, Explore2fs etc.

Capture

 

Applies to HMP400 and HMP400W.

Peripherals → Capture

Whenever an audio/video capture devices is connected to an HMP400/W through USB, it will appear under this section. Since multiple such devices can be plugged in the same time, for instance through a USB hub, it's recommended to assign them a numeric index, this way each capture device can be referenced through that index when adding a video-in layer in Elementi.

Note:

After an index has been assigned, the capture device will remain in the list, even when the device is no longer connected. To avoid that, remove its index, click "Apply", restart the player, and the device will disappear from the list.

See also

• Control Center
• Peripherals settings on DiVA
• Serial port, Serial port protocol file
• Storage
• USB port
• Content Settings 3.x, I/O Automation for legacy players