Shuttle SG33G5M VFD

[Javichu1984]

I´ve open this thread, to get in this post all the info about this Shuttle VFD, becouse I saw, that a lot of people is buying this HTPC

I´ve already fixed the remote control yesterday with the help of this forum, and now I wanted to make the VFD complete functional with all the experience of the users.

The first thing, is that this VFD has only 1line...

I´ve found this info:

"The VFD device contains two main chips - a Cypress CY7C63723 and a PTC PT6314. The Cypress chip is a programmable USB-to-serial interface, while the PTC chip is a serial-controlled driver for a VFD display. The Cypress chip has been programmed to respond to particular instructions over USB, and use them to control what appears on the screen."

So what is the manufacturer of this display?I know is a MCE compatible display...

Does anybody get this VFD full functional???

Thank you a lot!!!

[Devilson]

Hi there, I also have an SG33G5M.. I have installed the MCEDisplay util and with the reg file comming form the vfd driver you can edit some display text.. with a track played it only shows the time ...

I have even taken a look at a possible plugin for winamp to display song info . .but nothing is available.. It would be really nice to get the display running.. I'm not a programmer - sorry - but maybe I can help out to test ...

I hope someone can help us. .!

greetings,

Devilson

[dennisfreak]

Hi !

I'm also a user of the SG33G5M and i'm watching this topic try to find out to make the display running the way you want it.

For now I only see date, time but the artist and song number not worked out yet.

I hope someone here can help or give some tips.

Dennis

[ezekuel]

Hi. I also have the SG33G5M.
Have anyone gotten the VFD to work as it should yet?

And one mor question.
How can I power up the pc with the remote? Hitting the power button on the remote..
I can`t get the remote to start the pc, I have to push the power button on the pc every time I want to start it.

Can someone please help me?

[mij1525]

In the same boat here. Been playing with this thing for a while now but I'm probably just making it worse. My latest effort involves LCDHype (LCDHype Board (Powered by Invision Power Board)) but since I don't know but a few words in German, having to use babelfish to work is a slow, painful process. Hopefully someone else is having better luck.
By the way, the IR receiver is horrible on this thing which is why you may be having trouble using the remote to power it up.
I think I'm just going to build my next HTPC from scratch. ;-)

[Dr.Phunk]

So far there have been almost no means to address the display apart from using a version of Windows MCE. I've already tried several plugins with none of them being particularly helpful. JoeDaltons MCE Plugin is the only one working a bit, but Joe has left the Project. I'm not really well versed in programming, so I wanted to ask if somebody be able and willing to look into it. You'd make a bunch of shuttle users really happy with that, you know.

Here's what I could gather about the display:

- There are two chips used for the display: The first one would be the Cypres CY7C63723; the second one the PTC PT6314. Further information can be found here *Cypress * and here *PTC*

- The display has a single row and 20 columns as well as means to display various symbols (Clock, Play, Reverse etc.)

- Shuttle themselves are offering the following drivers for the device: *Click*

The Zip file contains two interesting files: FileWriter.dll and the corresponding FileWriter.reg as well as an msvcr71.dll for C++

The .reg file is assembled in the following way:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FileWriter]
;************************************************* *****************************
;--<Formate >--
; "CountryCode.string*" = " LANGUAGE STRING "
;
;--<Variable>--
; CountryCode = Country code (ex. 0 = English, 49 = Germany)
; * = String ID (0 ~ 13)
; LANGUAGE STRING = The string who want to show on the VFD.
; (Be careful with the number of characters.)
;
;Note : After you added/changed any context, you must register this file again.
; Use "REGEDIT /s FileWriter.reg" to register it.
;************************************************* *****************************

;================ English & Define ================
"0.string0" = " Media Center "
"0.string1" = " MY TV "
"0.string2" = " DVD "
"0.string3" = " Guide "
"0.string4" = " MY Music "
"0.string5" = " MY Pictures "
"0.string6" = " MY Videos "
"0.string7" = " Recorded Shows "
"0.string8" = " Radio "
"0.string9" = " Unknown "
"0.string10" = " Eject "
"0.string11" = " Phone Call "
"0.string12" = " Create CD/DVD"
"0.string13" = " Channel"

;================= Germany =========================
"49.string0" = " Start "
"49.string1" = " Eigene TV-Kanäle "
"49.string2" = " DVD "
"49.string3" = " EPG "
"49.string4" = " Eigene Musik "
"49.string5" = " Eigene Bilder "
"49.string6" = " Eigene Videos "
"49.string7" = " TV-Aufzeichnungen "
"49.string8" = " Radio "
"49.string9" = " Unbekannt "
"49.string10" = " Auswerfen "
"49.string11" = " Anruf "
"49.string12" = "CD/DVD erstellen"
"49.string13" = " Kanal"

- Apparently, Windows MCE accesses the display via the IMediaStatusSink Interface. The actual data output seems to be rather limited, though (cf. filewriter.reg)

- An alternative means would be accessing the display by means of the so-called XPC Tools. However, the output is similarly poor: You can choose between either the current time and various pieces of system data. For the XPC Tools there'll be no further development by Shuttle.

- I suppose the XPC Tools access the disply directly without referring to any Windows-based interface. While inspecting the program directory I noticed a file called UsbHidDll.dll. I could imagine this dll to be concerned with the display drivers.

- In Linux there's already a script which allows accessing the display. Further information can be found over her: *Click*

- JoeDaltos MCE plugin sources can be found here *Click*

[mij1525]

Wow, Dr Phunk. Looks like you did half the work already! lol
I've never messed with programming or anything of the kind before but with all this information, I'm almost inclined to give it a go. It would probably take me longer to learn how to do it than to actually take this on for me though.
I'll look into it a little and see what I can come up with. However, I know there are people a lot smarter than me on this forum. If anyone else is going to take this on, don't let me stop you!

[HenriM]

*bump*

[mij1525]

I think I've about given up on this one. Everything I try just makes it worse.