Denon¶

Some notes on controlling a Denon receiver over TCP/IP. Some of this might be specific to the model I own.

Connecting¶

Make HTTP requests to port 80 on the Denon.

For many commands, use GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0={command}.

Send key¶

GET /keypress/{key}.

Power on and off¶

GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0=PutZone_OnOff/ON
GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0=PutZone_OnOff/OFF

Getting state¶

To get the current state, GET /goform/formMainZone_MainZoneXml.xml.

Useful parts of the response include:

<Mute><value>on</value></Mute> if muted
<Power><value>ON</value></Power> if power is on
e.g. <MasterVolume><value>-28.0</value></MasterVolume> (see below for values used for volume)
If power is on, <InputFuncSelect><value>DVD</value></InputFuncSelect> gives the currently selected input.

Example response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<item>
<FriendlyName><value>Denon</value></FriendlyName>
<Power><value>ON</value></Power>
<ZonePower><value>ON</value></ZonePower>
<RenameZone><value>LIVING RM
</value></RenameZone>
<TopMenuLink><value>ON</value></TopMenuLink>
<VideoSelectDisp><value>OFF</value></VideoSelectDisp>
<VideoSelect><value></value></VideoSelect>
<VideoSelectOnOff><value>OFF</value></VideoSelectOnOff>
<VideoSelectLists>
    <value index='ON' >On</value>
    <value index='OFF' >Off</value>
</VideoSelectLists>
<ECOModeDisp><value>ON</value></ECOModeDisp>
<ECOMode><value></value></ECOMode>
<ECOModeLists>
    <value index='ON'  table='ECO : ON' param=''/>
    <value index='OFF'  table='ECO : OFF' param=''/>
    <value index='AUTO'  table='ECO : AUTO' param=''/>
</ECOModeLists>
<AddSourceDisplay><value>FALSE</value></AddSourceDisplay>
<ModelId><value>2</value></ModelId>
<BrandId><value>DENON_MODEL</value></BrandId>
<SalesArea><value>1</value></SalesArea>
<InputFuncSelect><value>DVD</value></InputFuncSelect>
<NetFuncSelect><value>NET</value></NetFuncSelect>
<selectSurround><value>Stereo                         </value></selectSurround>
<VolumeDisplay><value>Absolute</value></VolumeDisplay>
<MasterVolume><value>-28.0</value></MasterVolume>
<Mute><value>off</value></Mute>
<RemoteMaintenance><value></value></RemoteMaintenance>
<SubwooferDisplay><value>FALSE</value></SubwooferDisplay>
<Zone2VolDisp><value>TRUE</value></Zone2VolDisp>
<SleepOff><value>Off</value></SleepOff>
</item>

Volume¶

To toggle being muted, GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0=PutVolumeMute/TOGGLE. (See above for how to find out if it’s currently muted.)

To set volume, GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0=PutMasterVolumeSet/{denon_volume}.

Setting the volume on the Denon is kind of weird, because the range of numbers is not 0-100 or anything sensible like that, it’s -79.5dB - 18.0dB . (I usually have the front display set to another option that shows the volume as 0-98, but that doesn’t seem to affect the web API.)

So if 0% volume = -79.5dB and 100% volume = 18.0dB, 50% is half-way in-between, or (-79.5 + 18.0) / 2.0 = -30.75. And so forth… results:

0% volume = -79.5dB 0.0 25% = -55.125dB 24.375 50% = -30.75dB 48.75 75% = -6.375dB 73.125 100% = 18.0dB 97.5

But let’s not use percent, we’d have to keep throwing in 100’s. Decimal is easier, e.g. 0.0 = silent and 1.0 = full volume:

decimal denon denon+79.5 (denon+79.5)/97.5
0 volume = -79.5dB 0.0 0.0 0.25 = -55.125dB 24.375 0.25 0.50 = -30.75dB 48.75 0.5 0.75 = -6.375dB 73.125 0.75 1.00 = 18.0dB 97.5 1.0

The resulting formula is:

decimal volume = (denon Volume + 79.5) / 97.5

and so

denon volume = decimal volume * 97.5 - 79.5

Inputs¶

To change inputs, GET /MainZone/index.put.asp?cmd0=PutZone_InputFunction/{code}. Keep reading to learn how to figure out the code to use.

The most confusing thing about trying to control the Denon over the network is that each input source has multiple names and ways to identify it. There are three sets of names for the inputs.

The labels printed on the remote control, and also displayed in the Denon’s web interface’s virtual online remote control. (Except that there’s a remote button with “Internet Radio” printed on it, but no such source. Pressing it sets the source to “Online Music” and then drills down into the “Internet Radio” part of that.) Examples: “CBL/SAT”, “Blu-ray”, “GAME”, “TV AUDIO”.
The internal names used in the API to command the receiver to change inputs. More on these below. Examples: “SAT/CBL”, “BD”, “GAME”, “TV”.
What I’ll call the display names, which the user can edit anytime via the receiver setup. These are displayed:
- on the front panel
- in the web interface, displaying the currently selected input
- in the API, returning the currently selected input
- in the API, included in the status return inside “VideoSelectLists” as the text inside the <value> tags. Notice that here they are space-filled to their maximum length, while the value shown as the currently selected input is stripped of whitespace. Also note that this list seems incomplete; possibly it only lists the sources whose display names have been changed from their defaults?:
```
<VideoSelectLists>
    <value index='ON' >On</value>
    <value index='OFF' >Off</value>
    <value index='SAT/CBL'>SAT/CBL     </value>
    <value index='DVD'>DVD         </value>
    <value index='BD'>BD          </value>
    <value index='GAME'>GAME        </value>
    <value index='AUX1'>AUX1        </value>
    <value index='AUX2'>AUX2        </value>
    <value index='MPLAY'>My media pla</value>
</VideoSelectLists>
```

The “internal names” are the codes used in the API to select a source. They can be seen as the value of “index” in the XML excerpt above, e.g. “MPLAY”, and also as the final value in each line in the Javascript below, excerpted from the Denon web interface’s code:

appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn31"), $("<div>CBL/SAT</div>"), "SAT/CBL");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn32"), $("<div>DVD</div>"), "DVD");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn33"), $("<div>Blu-ray</div>"), "BD");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn34"), $("<div>Game</div>"), "GAME");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn35"), $("<div>AUX1</div>"), "AUX1");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn36"), $("<div>Media Player</div>"), "MPLAY");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn37"), $("<div>TV Audio</div>"), "TV");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn38"), $("<div>AUX2</div>"), "AUX2");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn39"), $("<div>Tuner</div>"), "TUNER");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn310"), $("<div>iPod/USB</div>"), "USB/IPOD");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn311"), $("<div>CD</div>"), "CD");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn312"), $("<div>Bluetooth</div>"), "BT");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn313"), $("<div>Online Music</div>"), "NETHOME");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn314"), $("<div>Media Server</div>"), "SERVER");
appendSource($("div#S3 div.btn315"), $("<div>Internet Radio</div>"), "IRP");

Identifying renamed sources¶

The VideoSelectLists portion of the status response lists the display names of some input sources… maybe just the ones that have changed from their defaults?

You can find out what more of the current names of the sources are by loading /SETUP/INPUTS/SOURCERENAME/d_Rename.asp, which returns an HTML page. This is the page a user could use in the web interface to rename the inputs, and it includes showing the current names, so you can parse it to find out that information.

Warning: Even here, not all of the input sources are shown, I guess not all are renameable?

Warning: Neither the string inside <TD><B>...</B></TD>, nor the tail of the value of the input name attribute, exactly match any of the other sets of names in all cases…

Part of response:

<tr>
  <TD><B>CBL/SAT</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameSATCBL' value="CBL/SAT" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameSATCBL' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>DVD</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameDVD' value="DVD" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameDVD' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>Blu-ray</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameBD' value="Blu-ray" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameBD' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>Game</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameGAME' value="GAME" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameGAME' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>Media Player</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameMPLAY' value="MEDIA PLAYER" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameMPLAY' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>TV Audio</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameTV' value="TV AUDIO" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameTV' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>AUX1</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameAUX1' value="AUX 1" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameAUX1' value='off'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <TD><B>AUX2</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameAUX2' value="AUX 2" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameAUX2' value='off'></td>
</tr>
  <TD><B>CD</B></td>
  <TD><INPUT type='text' name='textFuncRenameCD' value="CD" size='20' maxlength='12'><INPUT type='hidden' name='setFuncRenameCD' value='off'></td>
</tr>

Device Information¶

To find out basic info about the device, GET /goform/formMainZone_MainZoneXml.xml and the response looks like: