The poor man’s ML link room

[Madskp]

This has been cooking in my brain for some time now.

There must be a lot of unused Beolink Video type 1615 boxes out there since most people don’t use CRT TV’s anymore.

Also there must a lot of MCL2A  with the corresponding IR eye’s that has become obsolete as most people have moved to newer technology.

But what if some of these things could be used?

I have already done some tests with the use of the Beolink Video 1615 and Beomaster 4500 with certain software revisions as a link room https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beolab-3500-and-1611-converter-settings/page/22/#post-30516.   and the MCL2AV and the Beolink Video 1615 as a link room https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beolab-3500-and-1611-converter-settings/page/20/#post-21015 both proving that the 1615 can be used for other stuff than CRT TV’s.

In this post we discovered that an MCL IR eye could be connected to the AUX connection of a Beomaster 5500 and do some controlling.

This got me thinking if it could do the same if the IR eye is connected to the AAL connection on the Beolink Video 1615.

And it can. 5V has to be supplied to the IR eye from an external power source.

I does not seem to matter what option settings I make for the link room, but for some reason I can only start the Audio master by pressing Link + an audio command.

Furthermore there is no voume control in the link room.

So what can this be used for?

I actually see a lot of possibilities:

1. make vintage audio systems without link capabilities into link room by supplying the audio to their AUX socket. Volume control is done on the vintage products own volume control.
2. Make systems like Beosound 1 (CD version) and Beosund Century into link room by supplying the audio to their AUX socket. Aux has to be selected as a source first, but there is no conflicting remote commands like double volume control involved.
3. Use Beosystem 3500/4500/5500/6500/7000 and Beocenter 8500/9000/9300/9500 as link room systems by by supplying the audio to their AUX socket. Aux has to be selected as a source first, but there is no conflicting remote commands like double volume control involved. Audio aux from the system must no be connected to the converter.

Of course most of the above could also be achived by using a Beolink passive, but the purpose of this is to get unused equipment usefull again.

Feel free to comment this solutions and make inputs for things to test and/or modify

[Madskp]

Also a picture of my messy test setup

I will also do some followup with video master sources and check if other Beolink converters like the 1611 and 1614 will do the same

[Guy]

Great result – thanks for posting.

Perhaps if the audio was fed into a Playmaker, auto-sense on its line-in could switch on connected PL speakers and you would have Beo4 volume control also?  You’d probably need the PM in A.OPT 4 so that it will respond to the ‘link mode’ volume commands that are used to activate the BL1615, and you’d have to avoid the A.MEM command as this would put the PM into Airplay mode.

If the PM works then maybe Essence would be similar.

[Madskp]

Guy wrote:

Perhaps if the audio was fed into a Playmaker, auto-sense on its line-in could switch on connected PL speakers and you would have Beo4 volume control also?  You’d probably need the PM in A.OPT 4 so that it will respond to the ‘link mode’ volume commands that are used to activate the BL1615,

Oh yes, didn’t think of that as an option. That would be an even more seamlessly solution, especially if the BEO4 is programmed to send link commands.

Guy wrote:

and you’d have to avoid the A.MEM command as this would put the PM into Airplay mode.

Yes A.MEM can not be used from the main room in this scenario as the PM also seems to prioritize Airplay over Line in.

[Madskp]

I did a little more testing today.

For some reason the linkroom setup responds to both normal audio commands and LINK audio commands today. Very weird. I can’t tell why it differs today, but might have to do some more long term testing.

This does make scenario 2 and 3 in the first post less interesting as there is now risk of conflicting commands.

 

I have also added my BC6 to the ML part of the system, and the TV can be activated from the 1615 link room with normal video source commands

 

I have also tried to replace the 1615 with both a 1611 and 1614 Beolink converter and it seems to work the same as the 1615 except they do not react to video commands.

To be continued…

[Guy]

Madskp wrote:

For some reason the linkroom setup responds to both normal audio commands and LINK audio commands today. Very weird. I can’t tell why it differs today, but might have to do some more long term testing.

Does the IR eye/BL1615 combination accept Option programming? This could explain the change of response. Also, I am not sure whether the Option setting is stored in the IR eye or the BL1615 – you’d have to swap between components to test.

[Madskp]

Guy wrote:

Madskp wrote:

For some reason the linkroom setup responds to both normal audio commands and LINK audio commands today. Very weird. I can’t tell why it differs today, but might have to do some more long term testing.

Does the IR eye/BL1615 combination accept Option programming? This could explain the change of response. Also, I am not sure whether the Option setting is stored in the IR eye or the BL1615 – you’d have to swap between components to test.

Thanks for the input. I have tried Link option 1-6 and do not see any change in behaviour no matter which one I choose, so I am not sure if the options settings does anything for this particular setup.

I have yet to try option 0 though. That would at least give a hint to wheeter or not the options settings has any effect at all. That will be for my next testing run.

[Guy]

Madskp wrote:

I have tried Link option 1-6 and do not see any change in behaviour no matter which one I choose, so I am not sure if the options settings does anything for this particular setup.

For the BL1615 it may also be worth trying V.OPT settings, as that is what you would do if there was a connected TV.

[Madskp]

Guy wrote:

Madskp wrote:

I have tried Link option 1-6 and do not see any change in behaviour no matter which one I choose, so I am not sure if the options settings does anything for this particular setup.

For the BL1615 it may also be worth trying V.OPT settings, as that is what you would do if there was a connected TV.

I have now tried L.OPT 0, A.OPT 0 and V.OPT 0, and in all cases it still reacts to the remote commands, so guess the option settings does not work in this setup

[Madskp]

Looking at the diagram for the MCL2A the data line has no connection to anything in the relay box which might suggest that the option settings are stored in the IR eye.

I might try with another IR eye to see if it act any different. I belive the one I am using here is one I have not used before, so it could have issues

[Author]

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