Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Posted on
Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:09 pm
kennybroh offline
Posts: 531
Joined: Dec 13, 2009
Location: Baltimore

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Worked like a charm. Now if I could only figure out why mute stopped working I'll have it pretty well set up. Nice plugin.

I got this unit after I had the 4th failure of an Onkyo...

Posted on
Sat Nov 16, 2019 7:30 pm
MattDinOC offline
Posts: 38
Joined: May 30, 2013

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Turribeach wrote:
Like siclark I also bought a Denon AVR-X2400H in the UK. It's also missing the RS-232 interface and IR controls but who needs that with the wonderful plugin from perry! (many thanks perry)

Here is a quick cheat sheet to get this plugin working:

1) Setup a fixed IP in your DHCP server so the Denon AVR doesn't change IPs
2) Install plugin and use the IP address when adding the new device
3) You most likely will need to Edit the device and set the Source Map to match your list of AVR sources as each ARV is different. To get the AVR source codes you can change them in your AVR and watch the Custom States on your Denon device in Indigo (you may need to scroll down to see them all).
4) Then create Action Groups for what you want to do with your AVR. For Volume up/down use this "=current+step" and "=current-step" as the Volume value, the plugin will do the rest.
5) To turn on debugging, enable debug on the plugin and enter denon.avr into the Debug Modules field.

That should do!

Incidentally I got two questions I couldn't figure out myself. How do I turn on and off the Zone 2 on this AVR? Any scripting samples out there showing how to turn on the AVR and then wait until state=on so I can send the rest of the commands I want to run?

Thanks!

Just wanted to bump this post, as I found it to be the most helpful thing in getting this plugin working. :) Happy to now have volume control via Indigo!

Posted on
Wed Jan 22, 2020 10:09 pm
sbe08 offline
Posts: 30
Joined: Sep 14, 2006

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

A long time ago, I was able to get this Denon plug-in to work in my setup. I just upgraded everything (server hardware, Indigo, Denon AVR) and I'm trying to make it work again. I'm now stumbling on this error:

Code: Select all
   Starting plugin "Cynical Denon 1.8.0" (pid 1683)
   Cynical Denon                   API version 2.2
   Cynical Denon                   Python version 2.7.16.final.0
   Cynical Denon                   debugging module: denon.avr
   Started plugin "Cynical Denon 1.8.0"
   Cynical Denon                   mapping device "Denon AVR-X3200W" 1757853201(avreceiver)
   Cynical Denon                   Denon AVR-X3200W starting
   Cynical Denon                   Denon AVR-X3200W connecting to host
   Cynical Denon                   plugin starting asyn operation
   Cynical Denon Error             Denon AVR-X3200W unavailable: [Errno 61] Connection refused
   Cynical Denon                   Denon AVR-X3200W connecting to host


If I connect directly to the AVR's IP address using a web browser, I'm getting with the http configuration pages from the Denon. There isn't that many setting, so I'm puzzled as to where to look for to resolve this connection refused problem. I'll gladly take any pointers you might have.

Posted on
Thu Jan 23, 2020 6:24 am
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

IIRC, one condition that will cause this error is that the Denon (or was it the plugin, I don't recall off hand) only allows one active connection at a time. Any chance that there's another connection to the Denon somehow?

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Posted on
Thu Jan 23, 2020 6:57 am
sbe08 offline
Posts: 30
Joined: Sep 14, 2006

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

You nailed it DaveL17! I could have other connections since other services interact with this Denon (http, iOS app, Savant). I shut everything else down and it now works properly. Thanks!

Posted on
Thu Jan 23, 2020 7:37 am
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Good deal. Glad I could help.

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Posted on
Mon Feb 03, 2020 5:10 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
Location: UK

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Hi Perry. Finally got Alexa back u and running and now getting this set up properly. I would like to be able to set my Denon volume to a specific number, probably from a variable, via an action group. I see I can go up and down but a step but can I use a variable I can change to go straight to a particularl volume?

Thanks

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:44 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Here's what works for me with a Denon AVR E400.

=current+step will increase the volume by 0.5
=current+1 will increase the volume by 1.0
-80 will set the volume to 0
-60 will set the volume to 20
-50 will set the volume to 30

Although the default value for the set volume control is -100, I've found that value to be ignored by the plugin. Since -80 sets mine to the reference value of 0, that's what I use as a baseline. So, to set the volume to 28.5, I would take -80, add 28.5 to it, and set my volume to -51.5. Does that make sense?

Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 2.42.03 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 2.42.03 PM.png (68.65 KiB) Viewed 6439 times

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Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:17 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
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Location: UK

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Thanks Dave. But what I want to do is use Alexa to set a variable for the volume ie 20 or 30 and then have a trigger on that variable change to set the Denon volume to -80 + variable.
Is that possible? The -80+30 could be done in the storing to a variable.

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:35 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

EDIT: This is not true. As of 2020-02-05, the Cynical Denon plugin doesn't appear to support Indigo substitutions. See below for an alternative approach.

You just need one additional step. The plugin supports substitutions so, instead of entering the volume level directly -- as I did above -- enter a variable substitution formula in the action like this:

Code: Select all
%%v:12345678%%
where 12345678 is changed to the ID of your variable. You're going to have to look elsewhere on the Alexa part. :D
Last edited by DaveL17 on Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:50 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
Location: UK

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Ugh. I missed the v: part I think last night. I'll have another go tomorrow.
The Alexa bit I've got sorted.

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:08 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

Correction -- I spoke too soon. The plugin doesn't support Indigo substitution methods, but it does support the use of standard Indigo objects. I have confirmed that this will work:

Use a Cynical Denon Audio Volume Action
Select your AVR
In the Volume field, use this structure:

Code: Select all
=indigo.variables[1222166288].value
Note that the equals sign is important. More complex formulas are also supported, like:

EDIT: I've now tested it, and this structure will work. If you don't convert the variable value from a string, it will cause an error.
Code: Select all
=-80+indigo.variables[1222166288].getValue(float)
You could use the formula for a more natural "Alexa, set the AVR volume to 30" rather than "Alexa, set the AVR volume to -50".

I came here to drink milk and kick ass....and I've just finished my milk.

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Posted on
Mon Jan 04, 2021 9:31 am
Espressomatic offline
Posts: 73
Joined: Dec 30, 2018

Send arbitrary command to any Denon or Marantz

Post for future reference. I saw this mentioned in passing in another post in this thread, where it was very easy to miss. I don't ever want to lose/forget this. :)

Sending any command to Denon and Marantz AVR/AVP

Device Actions -> Cynical Denon Controls -> Python Script -> Script: device.zone.command("COMMAND")

Where COMMAND is a valid ALL CAPS command for your AVR/AVP model from the appropriate Denon/Marantz Protocol spreadsheet (serial/telnet command reference by model/year).

Sample images below show definition of the "Info" command for a Marantz AV7703. This is a menu class command which is represented by "MN" and the info command itself is "INF" making the complete command "MNINF"

Define Action.jpg
Define Action.jpg (324.03 KiB) Viewed 5796 times

Edit Action.jpg
Edit Action.jpg (61.37 KiB) Viewed 5796 times


Tags: Receivers, AVR, AVP, PrePro, Pre-Pro, Processor, AMP, Amplifier

Posted on
Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:41 pm
jltnol offline
Posts: 989
Joined: Oct 15, 2013

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

While I was excited to see these commands, I then remember that my Denon (AVR-X4400) doesn't play well with Python commands for some reason. I can send ONE command... and then the system seems to 'time out', and just ignores whatever commands follow. After some time, it will act upon another command, but not more than one sequentially, even if the 2nd command is delayed before being sent.

In the Denon protocol I have, all the command examples have a <CR> at the end...
Code: Select all
MVUP<CR>
but although I've tried hitting "return" after the last character entry in the command, that doesn't make it work. I just wish I could figure out why it doesn't..

Posted on
Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:32 pm
Espressomatic offline
Posts: 73
Joined: Dec 30, 2018

Re: Cynical Denon - Denon and Marantz AV Receiver control

The carriage return is already sent by the plugin - it's required for the AVR to process any command.

Try accessing your AVR directly with telnet (or puTTY) and issuing the commands manually to see if that works.

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