Secrets of the CDX Changers?

Just got my Slink-e yesterday, it is one COOL product. Thanks, Colby, for your most excellent product and support!

I have gotten a good number of functions to work using HyperCard to drive my CDP-CX153 and CDP-CX250 changers. But I've already encountered a few "gotchas" that I wouldn't have guessed from reading the .CDE file...

It appears that the "play_dt disc,track" command (0x50) will NOT function if the CDX changer is in "Shuffle" mode. Reports "already_did_that" error???

The "disk_id" format is really wierd (BCD up to 99, then BCD(99)+ i-99) (thanks, Colby!)

How do you get the changer into a "known" base state (shuffle off,...)?

What are the benefits/problems with going into "remote_off" mode?

Does anybody use "timecode_on"? For what purposes?

And, finally, how does anybody get the "set_memo_text" 0x80 command to work?

I *really* want to get this last function working, as both my changers have the alphanumeric display, and sometimes spinning the jog-shuttle dial is quicker than firing up the computer... :-)

I tried repeated to get the memo_text to "take", but no joy... I'm supposed to send 0x80, followed by a disk_id byte, followed by 13 bytes of characters right? (plus the Slink-e header/trailer) Do I have to somehow put the changer into a "receptive mood"? :-)

There really doesn't appear to be a lot of hard detailed information on the CDP series S-Link command set out there*. The .CDE files are by far the best source of info, but they leave a bit to be desired as a programmer reference manual. I've bumped into Dan Zenchelski's document on VisionTouch, but have found nothing else which deals with the CDX changer's command set. Any other suggestions or references?

* "Thanks, Sony. $5000 VisionTouch developer's kit, indeed..."

I appreciate any help/hints with the particular issues raised above (esp. the memo_text). I'd suggest that you respond on the BBS, so that others can see the hints, and so they are archived. In the longer term, I think it would be useful to develop a real programmers manual for the CDP-CXxxx series. I'd be willing to contribute (or even write it myself) given sufficient interest...

Thanks for your help!