Sony STR-DA4600ES Receiver IP Control?

I am in the process of shifting my AV rack into a closet and Roomie looks to be able to solve most of my problems wrt control.

One question I do have is that my receiver (Sony DA4600ES) is advertised as having IP control capability and certainly seems to work very well with the iOS app supplied by Sony to do just that.

Are there plans to offer IP control of Sony receivers or do I need to fall back on IR?

Thanks!

There is a roughly 20% chance that it will "just work" for very basic control if you add it via Manual IP and then select Receiver->Sony->Binary Serial Protocol. We know the protocol is the same, but the changes over the years mean there is a chance things have broken over time.

Assuming that does not work, we do plan to add the new X800ES series soon. They're all the same basic protocol so in theory that will enable support for the model you referenced.

With regards to other Sony receivers, we have just finished adding the DN1030 style models that will appear in the next Roomie release. (Note that the DN1030 unlike *all* other supported receivers from all supported brands do not support any form of feedback via IP so we would recommend other options to users. The ES series receivers do have proper feedback for supported models.)

Thanks for responding so quickly. I tried your suggestion but wasn't sure what port it should talk to, is that documented anywhere?

In theory that model would run on port 33335...

Kevster- Were you able to control your 4600ES utilizing Manual IP set up? I'm getting a 4600, and was looking at the Roomie for control. If you were successful, what level/amount of control do you have? Thanks.

I got my STRDA5600ES to work on manual IP control with the generic Sony Binary Serial Protocol using port 6001.

@sprinter, thanks so much for that. I was tearing my hair out trying to find out which port to use!

@runnershi, Roomie is doing everything I need it to do with the DA4600 right now, but that may change as I work on greater levels of WAF....

@Roomie, is there any means by which I can switch HDMI via IP control? I have a TV connected to HDMI A and and about to connect a projector to HDMI B, so I'd like to be able to switch between HDMI A, B A+B. Is this possible? Thanks.

The Sony Receiver IP commands we have don't currently have that code as we don't officially support that model, so there are lots of codes for it that aren't there. We just added those 3 commands now though so if you need them just email support and we'll send you the replacement set. Note that there are probably about a hundred other commands not there which we'll add when we officially add support for the X800ES models.

BTW Via infrared control, the codes for that are in the library today. They are HDMI OUTPUT A and HDMI OUTPUT B and HDMI OUTPUT TOGGLE.

Outstanding support, I now have this feature working, thanks!

 

I have a Sony DA3700ES and it also states that it supports control over IP. All I am looking to do is select the correct HDMI input (cable/blu ray/game/input 1/ input 2/AM/FM), use the up/down/L/R and select buttons and use the receiver as the master volume. Did you find that this type of basic functionality was available to you? Can you fully configure the receiver remote to only the functionality you want displayed and can you name the specific HDMI inputs on the remote interface?

@dshollis, the on-screen remote for IP control has power, volume, receiver input and HDMI output. I don't actually use the on-screen remote, I have everything setup in activities.

UP/DN/L/R/Select is not on there and may only be available via IR control or in an upcoming device control file.

I don't know if there is a way to rename inputs/devices, maybe someone else can advise.

Thanks for the reply kevster. The only reason that I would want the up/down/L/R select is for selecting AM/FM stations or streaming from a DLNA device. Not all that common of a task for me and prob not a deal breaker. I'm not sure how your receiver works, but with the 3700 and my setup I have 6 HDMI in and 1 out. All I do is select the input and the receiver tends to do the rest. I just want to have activities that will directly select the correct input. I don't want to have to "dial" through all of the inputs. I want to have an activity that is watch Blu-Ray and the Roomie switches my receiver to the BD input and gives me a control of the BD player. If I want to watch cable TV I want it to switch directly to the cable input and display the TV guide and cable remote. Each activity sending the correct discrete power on commands. Any chance you can upload some sceen shots of you user interface. I am very interested in how people are configuring their remotes with activites and especially what their cable remotes and guides look like for time warner cable.

Yes, you can accomplish what you have specified above easily by setting up an activity for each device. For example, if you have your cable box hooked up to HDMI 2 on your receiver, then set up an activity called "Cable" or something along those lines and have the activity set up as:

Opens Remote - Your cable box remote

Remote Design - Start with your cable box remote and customize if you want

Volume Control - Your Sony receiver

Power Device - Your cable box

Start Commands - Add a command for your Sony receiver, choosing INPUT HDMI 2 for the command

That should do the trick, it's how I have mine set up.

I purchased the app and the xpac that allows for more than 2 devices and I have gotten the TV and Blu-Ray working very well. I was able to manually add the receiver, but I get very little functionality and a very limited remote with it. Adding activites was very easy and I now have a good "Watch Blu-Ray" activity and the "Watch Cable Activity" should be a snap once I get the IR pack and IP2IR emitter. For the life of me I can't figure out how to make custom remotes. The limited receiver remote that I was give using the manual IP-> Receiver-> Sony -> Binary Serial Protocol does not have all of my inputs listed. The available Input TV, Input Tuner, Input Sirius and Input DB select the cable, FM, sirius and Blu Ray inputs correctly. When I use the roomie virtual receiver remote I have tried all of the other available inputs, but I can't select anything else including AM radio or the WiiU that I have connected via HDMI. The Input HDMI1-6 commands don't seem to do a thing.

See above in our December 22 post. There are quite a few commands not in that set. That's why we don't list it as supported for IP control yet. While we have added some commands recently by request such as those in today's library update, IP control support for the newer ES receivers from Sony is on the ToDo list, not the supported list for the moment. IR control will provide you many more commands for Sony receivers than any other method at this time.

I was more wondering if any other users had been able to identify the other HDMI inputs. Is there any indication if once the X800ES is added the X700ES will be discoverable as well? Again great product so far and thanks for your support.

dshollis, I'm also controlling a 3700ES over IP with reasonable success. As you probably noticed there isn't currently an input for "Game" but it is possible to get most of the others working - BD, TV/SAT, CD, Video1 and Video2 and Tuner (AM only) all operate as expected. Volume feedback is great, although I'm controlling the volume level via the attached TV over CEC in order to keep the on-screen display. I'm using IR to control the other inputs and receiver features until the device database is updated to support the newer ES models - everything that I have tried works perfectly and the IR seems very reliable so it isn't a big deal.