Remote control your Pioneer VSX receiver over telnet

telnet <ip> VU<enter> #win!

I’m a hacker, developer and lazy guy. So when I found myself in the kitchen cooking, just realizing that my Pioneer VSX 921 receiver was turned down too low I didn’t walk over to turn it up or find the remote; I instead remembered that it has a bad app for iOS, meaning that it accepts being controlled remote over the network. A little bit of google searching and I found a plugin for an I-dont-know-what containing an XML with some Lua code (XML with code — yay), and also a very nice mapping table for commands the same code runs against a VSX 1021.

So a quick telnet session later I had yanked the volume up without ever leaving the kitchen! These commands probably work for most of the VSX 921/1021 series and later. Enjoy:

Volume:

VD = VOLUME DOWN
MZ = MUTE ON/OFF
VU = VOLUME UP
?V = QUERY VOLUME

Power control:

PF = POWER OFF
PO = POWER ON
?P = QUERY POWER STATUS

Input selection

05FN = TV/SAT
01FN = CD
03FN = CD-R/TAPE
04FN = DVD
19FN = HDMI1
05FN = TV/SAT
00FN = PHONO
03FN = CD-R/TAPE
26FN = HOME MEDIA GALLERY(Internet Radio)
15FN = DVR/BDR
05FN = TV/SAT
10FN = VIDEO 1(VIDEO)
14FN = VIDEO 2
19FN = HDMI1
20FN = HDMI2
21FN = HDMI3
22FN = HDMI4
23FN = HDMI5
24FN = HDMI6
25FN = BD
17FN = iPod/USB
FU = INPUT CHANGE (cyclic)
?F = QUERY INPUT

If you want to change input to the iPod port and turn up the volume, given you’re using OS X or some Unix derivative, you would do this:

Open a terminal
Run the command telnet <ip>
Select input by typing: 17FN<enter>
Nod volume up 1 time: VU<enter>
Repeat VU until you are happy.

There is a tone of other commands you can use, I believe this manual for the VSX 1120 is very much valid for other devices in the series.