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Ah that’s interesting, thanks. The ML Gateway can send commands to link room products, and I do also have a 1614 converter, so your ‘use case 7’ could work (assuming I can get a BM4500 at a reasonable price!).
Such a shame that B&O abandoned Beogram compatibility on their later products though. I saw a video where Hall Audio suggested they had considered developing a phono stage that uses Datalink and connects via ML, for use with later Beosound devices such as my BS4. I sincerely hope they do!
Location: Liverpool
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Yes, the ML Gateway does allow various commands, to different devices, from the same macro, so that part would be achievable.
I didn’t realise that I could not have a Beomaster 5500 (in Opt 0) and also a Beosound 4 (in Opt 1) in the same ML network. Getting a 4500 and setting it up as a link room would perhaps be the only solution then.
Instead of connecting an output from the Beomaster to the Aux input of the Beosound, I was wondering if I could connect my Beolab speakers to the BV8 instead, and set it up with the BV8 in Opt 2 and the BS4 in Opt 0 (which is what the Beolink handbook seems to suggest if you want your speakers connected from the TV).
But: if I did then also connect a Beomaster via my 1611, that would also need to be in Opt 0, so I’m guessing that wouldn’t work, as the two audio masters would both be in Opt 0. The Beolink handbook (v2.1) gives lots of examples of setups with more than one video master, but none with more than one audio master.
if you can find a Beomaster 4500 with SW version 1.6 as this can be setup as a link room
SW version 1.6 specifically, or SW version 1.6 or later? How do you find out the software version on these?
Location: Liverpool
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This may interest you. I have recently been experimenting with an ML Gateway I got hold of a while ago, and I read on the old support site that it will work with a Beolink Converter 1611, with this caveat given:
BeoLink Converter can be used with compatible video master and old audio master in Option 2-0
So I set my BV8 to Opt 2, then connected my 1611 converter into the same ML network (which also has the ML Gateway), disconnected my BS4 and connected my BC8500 and BG8500. Then I set my BC8500 to Opt 0. I was then able to add the 1611 to the ML Gateway’s devices – it was recognised.
I then created a macro in the ML Gateway, asking it to send the Phono/N.Radio command to my BV8 if I hit the LIGHT button on my Beo4. It worked! The BC8500 comes on in Phono, the BG8500 starts playing. The sound comes from the BV8 speakers, but at least it works.
I could only get it to start the turntable with that command – I have so far been unable to find a way of getting a macro command that will move forward or back on the BG8500, but it’s a start.
I’m wondering if I might be able to find a way of making this work with my current obsession of getting my Beo4 to control my BG3000, which is connected to my BS4. I’m wondering if I could get a cheap BM5500 (in place of the BC8500 which needs to go back to the room it belongs in!), and somehow, with some clever wiring and link settings, use the LIGHT commands on my Beo4 to trigger macros in the ML Gateway that will start my BG3500, playing through the speakers connected to my BS4. That’s the dream.
Location: Liverpool
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I’ve been able to have a bit of a play around with it now. At one point the old behaviour returned and it wouldn’t power back on, but I tried it again a few minutes later and it came on. Every time I have tried it since then, it powers on OK.
I have connected my old Nintendo GameCube to the SCART 2 socket and the picture quality is in fact very good, considering its age. Sound from the built-in centre speaker is good, and I also connected my BL 6000s to the speaker outputs then switched those on to test that too, and it all sounded good.
The video recorder is the problem though – what is already on the tape plays OK (not great, but OK), but I tried to record something else and the picture rolls badly. I tried to adjust the tracking but it didn’t improve. Add to that the fact that the tape won’t eject… to be expected from a VCR that hasn’t been used for at least 10 years though, I suppose.
The thing I love the most is the motorised stand. My BV8 doesn’t allow for one, and I never had one for my old BV7 either. The fact that I can get it to ‘fold itself away’ into the corner and then turn to point right at me when I switch it on – childish I know, but I love that!
Location: Liverpool
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As long as I’m happy only using that one tape that’s already in it, the VCR works a treat! I’ve just found out it has a built in satellite decoder too. Too old to be useful now, but interesting.
Location: Liverpool
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So, had been busy with work so had not done anything with this TV for a few days, but I was walking past it this morning, and realised I had left it connected to the mains, so for the hell of it, I tried to switch it on.
It came on!
The blinds opened (a bit noisily, mind), the TV rotated on its stand, and the screen came on.
I found an old VHS tape so I tested the video recorder. It didn’t work at first but after a couple of attempts it came to life, and played the tape. The tape won’t eject (it tries, but fails), but at least I know it plays!
When I put it back in standby, the blinds closed, and it rotated back to the original position. Obviously I then switched it back on again to make sure it wasn’t a one off, and it did.
Later on when I have finished work I will plug in an external source to the other SCART socket and see if that works, and see if the VCR records okay.
I bought this as part of a job lot and it was the other items I really wanted; I don’t really have room for this in my office (which is the only room my partner will allow it to be!), but it looks so cool, I kind of want to keep it now.
Location: Liverpool
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I had a similar issue with my Beocenter 8000 – if yours is the Type 2 tape deck (which I believe the 9500 has?), it could be that the little cogs aren’t fully disengaging. This caused slow playback on mine. The auto-reverse did work sometimes on mine, but it was temperamental.
I was able to fix if from the brilliant advice given by @Dillen in this post. In my case I shaved a thin piece of plastic from an old credit card (really just a fraction of a millimetre thick, practically thin as paper), and glued it (using superglue gel, and applied carefully with tweezers) in the place seen in the photo you will see in that post. It instantly worked, and is still in full working order.
Location: Liverpool
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I have managed to get it back to its original state (not powering on, but at least the LED is back on) by disconnecting it from the mains, disconnecting all cables, leaving it for a while, then plugging it all back in.
I deliberately plugged the ML plug from the Control Center the wrong ML plug on the back of the TV. Then, when I press ‘TV’ to try to switch it on, the TV does not come on, but the Control Center displays a message – on the left display it shows the software version (SW.1.10), and on the right display is shows ‘error 1’ which means the Control Center isn’t correctly connected. At least I know from this that the Control Center is probably working!
I took the back off the TV (it comes off quite easily) but I can’t see anything obviously wrong inside. I’m no expert but I’ll take a good look at the service manual in hope of finding a likely cause.
Location: Liverpool
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This is strange – this morning I was reading through the service manual on this site, and reading the troubleshooting tips. It says to make sure it’s not in Option 0 by changing it to Option 2 (on BL1000 using Power-Picture-2-Store).
I tried that, and when I pressed Store, the LED on the TV went off. I haven’t been able to get it back on since – I have tried the physical power button on the TV, and tried changing it back to Option 1 with the remote, but nothing – now I get no response from the TV at all!
Location: Liverpool
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Yes I have tried that, but with the same result, so the problem does definitely seem to lie with the TV.
Location: Liverpool
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Yes, I’d assumed that about the SCART, but tried both anyway!
I’m colourblind so wasn’t able to see this, but my partner has just observed and tells me that when I am pressing the power button, the LED on the top right is turning briefly green (which is for ON), then immediately back to red (OFF). It stays green for a fraction of a second only.
I’ve also discovered from the manual the TV has a hidden power button on the TV itself (underneath) – pushing that button results in the same outcome – the LED blinks green for a fraction of a second, then back to red.
Another odd thing – if I disconnect the mains, then reconnect it, only the LED on the TV comes on. The LED on the control center only comes on when I have tried to switch the TV on, then it remains lit. If I then disconnect the mains, there is the very recognisable ‘thunk’ sound of a speaker being disconnected, so I assume that the control center/VCR is powered on, but the TV is not.
Location: Liverpool
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The seller told me it was working only a week ago – the TV was coming on (but with nothing connected to it, so just snow on screen), the blinds were opening, and the motorised stand was working. They even sent me a video of it doing that. Maybe it hasn’t enjoyed the journey to my house in the back of my car.
The Control Center has three cables coming directly out of it:
- ML Cable – you connect it to one of the TVs two ML sockets, one of which is labelled ‘Control Center’, so of course that’s where I connected it!
- Stand Cable – for the motorised stand, there is only one place this can go on the back of the TV.
- Power Cable – with a female figure 8 power plug, it connects to a male socket on the back of the TV, to take it’s power from that.
There is also a short SCART cable connecting the control center to the TV – the control center only has 1 SCART, the TV has two (and I’ve tried both).
I was very careful transporting it but maybe something has gone wrong on the journey. Such a shame, as it is in almost perfect cosmetic condition.
Location: Liverpool
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I have been able to get Hue API commands to work following the instructions on Get Started – Philips Hue Developer Program (meethue.com).
On that page they include a link for Clip API Debugger and some example commands you can try. I have been able to do that – using that Clip API Debugger I have been able to turn the lights on and off, change the brightness, colour and so on.
It’s when I try to translate those same commands into something the ML Gateway can understand that I fail. In the Clip API Debugger you enter the URL and the body command (for example {“on”:true}) in separate fields, then hit the PUT button, and they work. The trouble I’m having is translating those same commands that work there into something the ML Gateway can understand on a single line.
I’ve not figured it out yet, but I’m not giving up!
Location: Liverpool
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Thanks for this – I haven;t been able to make that work, but I have at least stopped getting error messages.
I tried the above (adding my username and the correct group number for my lights, being 3), and I no longer get the error messages I was getting before when trying to figure this out for myself, but I also get no change in the state on my lights.
This is the simplified version I attempted to just turn on the lights in my office, which I added as below to the Match/command string field:
PUT /api/[username]/groups/3/action HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 12\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\”on\”: true}
I’ve set the Type as Output (command) which I assume is right, but I tried the other two options too, just in case!
I don’t get an error message when I test it, but I don’t get any change in my Hue lights. When I check the monitor, I see this (with the date and time):
E: Custom strings: Hue Test: CONNECT
I assume this means it is connecting to the Hue Bridge successfully, but it isn’t understanding what I am asking it to do.
Location: Liverpool
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It seems it works without the software update. The documentation is unclear, but I think that the update is only needed in order to have the BS4 pass LIGHT commands to the ML Gateway, but I don’t need to do that.
I have tested various commands on my various ML devices and so far everything works. I have also successfully set the unused LIGHT button on my Beo4 to carry out a specific macro (switch to A.Aux, and increase the volume by 6 – this is because I use A.Aux form my Beogram turntable, and it needs a little but more volume!).
Now I’m trying to figure out how to get it to send custom API commands to my Philips Hue lights, which appears to be possible, but I’m no programmer, so I’ve had no success with that yet!
Location: Liverpool
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After a lot of frustration I’ve at least made a start on this. I managed to update the software to the latest version, then, with the help of the PDF guide (intended for the B&O installer), I’ve spent a good few hours trying to build a web panel with virtual buttons, and also to write macros that I can trigger from my Beo4.
It took me a long time to figure out – once you’ve added your ML products, room, virtual buttons and macros, you have to click the Test button then the Save button to save it in the admin panel – it all appears to have saved, but isn’t really saved until you do that!
So far I’ve managed to build a web panel which carries out some test functions successfully (just basics for now, power off, play CD, and so on), and I have been able to create a macro that responds to the LIGHT button on my Beo4. It is working – I can make it work with my Beosound 4, Beovision 8, Beolab 3500, Beolab 2000 and Beolink Passive, which I have in my ML Network. Only my Beolink PC2 is left out, as that is not ML Gateway compatible.
It seems to be a genuinely useful price of kit for ML products – I’ll continue here as I discover more about how to make it work.
Location: Liverpool
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Update – I removed the bases to see if the clear plastic cover could be removed from the base, with a view to repairing the mirrored surface beneath (which has some marks). Alas, it’s not practical. The mirrored surface is in fact stuck to the underside of the clear plastic cover, it is not separate, so not replaceable (or at least not without a lot of work).
On horrible moment – when I was putting the bases back on, one of the bolts sheared off – I had overtightened it. They are long bolts that go right through the amp unit and connect to the speaker unit at one end, and fasten the base on the other end. While I’m pretty confident that the other four bolts will hold it well enough, if anyone happens to have any spares of these bolts, please do let me know!
Location: Liverpool
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Thanks – I had no idea it could be so useful. I especially like the idea of being able to connect my B&O kit (most of it is in an ML network) with a web interface.
I’ll keep it and investigate this further, thank you! If anyone else has any tips or links to other resources, please do let me know.
Location: Liverpool
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I have ordered some Mk2 Powerlink cables, but I am curious – if the Audio Aux link cable worked, what exactly is the difference between an Audio Aux Link cable and a Powerlink M22 cable?
Also, I have managed to fix a couple of loose bits of finish at the back of the cabinets quite easily, and I have started to polish the cabinets – they are coming up really well, and appear to be in great condition. The only bit with any real marks is the pentagonal base. I haven’t risked removing them yet but it looks like a kind of mirrored finish, beneath a clear plastic cover. That clear plastic cover is undamaged, but the mirrored finish underneath has some marks. Does anyone have any experience of that – if I remove the bases, could I remove that clear plastic cover and then replace the mirrored finish?
It might only be some Beovisions that have limitations in showing display data.
As an experiment I will connect them to my BV8 TV later, and see what display data I get (just out of curiousity).
Location: Liverpool
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Ah, great tip, thanks! I happen to have an audio aux cable, so I’ve used that to test both, and the displays are working, and displaying all of the data from the BS4 (source, preset/track number, volume).
The display colour is green rather than orange, and the Product Page here on Beoworld tells me that the display is green only on Mk3, which is also great news as they were sold as Mk2.
I started polishing the metal cabinets last night and they are going to look really nice. I will order those foams I need for the middle speakers, and they’ll be almost like new when I’ve finished!
Location: Liverpool
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