NOTE: This article was originally written by Andrew Hepburn on Sept 16, 2000, and has been updated by Shaun Wood on June 15, 2007.

Pioneer PR-8210
Pioneer PR-8210R
Pioneer LD-1100

COMMANDS: (and other notes)

Each command is sent in a series of 11 pulses. Each pulse consists of a 38kHz square wave with a duration of 260 uSec. (In other words, a pulse is actually 10 pulses of 26 uSec each.) 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.

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 seek commend is issued both before and after the frame number and is terminated by EOC EOC EOC. For example, a seek command would be sent as:
"Seek Seek EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC # # EOC Seek Seek 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)

These are the commands that were sent by MACH3 and Us vs. Them boardsets:

Play: 10100
Pause: 00100
Stop: 01110
Seek: 11010

0: 00001
1: 10001
2: 01001
3: 11001
4: 00101
5: 10101
6: 01101
7: 11101
8: 00011
9: 10011

Example of the digits sent for a play command:

0011010000 0011010000 0000000000 (Play Play EOC)

Example of the digits sent for a 'Seek 12345' command:

0011101000 0011101000 0000000000 (Seek Seek 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 (Seek Seek EOC)
0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 (EOC EOC EOC)

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.

As a side note, 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. There is no corresponding command that I know of on the Sony-LDP to reproduce 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.
 

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