Written by Andrew Hepburn, 16 September 2000  -  Updated by Shaun Wood, 12 February 2010

KNOWN COMPATIBLE PLAYERS
Pioneer PR-8210
Pioneer PR-8210-A (via IR)
Pioneer LD-1100

FORMAT
(as generated by M.A.C.H. 3 boardset)

Each command is sent in a series of 11 pulses.  The space between two pulses indicates a 1 or 0.  Each command is sent as 10 digits (there are 10 spaces between 11 pulses).  A small space (1.05 mSec) between two pulses indicates a 0.  A large space (2.1 mSec) between two pulses indicates a 1.
(Note: Each "pulse" is actually a 38kHz square wave with a duration of 260 uSec. In other words, it's 10 pulses of 26 uSec each.)

Each command is repeated twice.  Each command is terminated by 0000000000, designated as EOC (End Of Command).  For example, a play command would be sent as:  "Play Play EOC"

The search command is issued both before and after the frame number and is terminated by EOC EOC EOC.  For example, a search command would be sent as:
"Search Search EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC Search Search EOC EOC EOC EOC"

Each command starts with 001 and ends with 00.  Each command is designated by 5 digits.  For example, the digits for a play command would be sent as:  "0011010000" (a leading 001, 5 digits to indicate the command, and an ending 00)

The 5 digits for the "Play" command are 10100.
Here are the digits sent for a play command:

0011010000 0011010000 0000000000 (Play Play EOC)

The 5 digits for the "Search" command are 11010.
Here are the digits sent for a "Search 12345" command:

0011101000 0011101000 0000000000 (Search Search EOC)
0011000100 0011000100 0000000000 (1 1 EOC)
0010100100 0010100100 0000000000 (2 2 EOC)
0011100100 0011100100 0000000000 (3 3 EOC)
0010010100 0010010100 0000000000 (4 4 EOC)
0011010100 0011010100 0000000000 (5 5 EOC)
0011101000 0011101000 0000000000 (Search Search EOC)
0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 (EOC EOC EOC)

COMMANDS

These commands were taken from the output of the RU-8210 Remote Control Unit.
The "Fixed" version is generated by stripping off the leading "001" and trailing "00", and then reversing the order of the remaining 5 bits.

COMMAND CODE FIXED CODE IN HEX
3X FWD001100000001h
SCAN FWD001010000002h
SLOW FWD001110000003h
STEP FWD001001000004h
PLAY001101000005h
3X REV001011000006h
SCAN REV001111000007h
SLOW REV001000100008h
STEP REV001001000009h
PAUSE00101010000Ah
SEARCH00111010000Bh
CHAPTER00100110000Ch
AUDIO 2/R00110110000Dh
AUDIO 1/L00101110000Eh
REJECT00111110000Fh
0001000010010h
1001100010011h
2001010010012h
3001110010013h
4001001010014h
5001101010015h
6001011010016h
7001111010017h
8001000110018h
9001100110019h
FRAME DISP.00101011001Ah

OTHER INFORMATION

Both M.A.C.H. 3 and Us vs. Them require the video signal to turn off and on in order to recognize a seek performed.  If this is not done, the game will sit there and seek over and over forever.  The Pioneer LD-V8000 is the only player I know of that can be configured to drop the video signal during searches.  To do this, set DOC control (Drop Out Compensation) to OFF.  There is no corresponding command that I know of on the Sony LDP series to do this, except for turning the motor off and on.  This however results in a 15 second wait while the player spins back up.  Using the video off and on commands do not work, as they put out a "black" screen.  The video signal still exists (if you actually unplug the video cable and plug it back in suddenly the game recognizes the seek).  My best guess is that the Pioneer PR-8210 actually shuts the video signal off and on momentarily when it seeks.  Someone could probably reproduce this by using a relay to shut off the video when a seek happens.

The output from the M.A.C.H. 3 board comes from a ground-supplying open collector transistor.  It is delivered on the center conductor of the cable going to the PR-8210.  The shield conductor supplies +5V.  To use this signal, place a 470-ohm resistor across the two wires and read the signal from the center conductor.

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