I have a lot of older Sony equipment that has Control S and Control A1 ports. I believe the Control A1 is most likely a proprietary Sony 2 way thing because it used to allow me to download my CD info from my 300 disc Jukebox onto my Sony Remote (the IR sender on my receiver burned out and it quit working). However, I was wondering what the Control S port really is. I know that I can put a tape in my VCR and it will automatically turn on my receiver and tune it to the correct input, but I'm not real sure how it is working. Are these simply IR ports? Could I possibly hook a 3.5m cable between something like a Harmony 890 base station and my components to control them? Or is this a proprietary Sony thing, that doesn't work like a normal IR jack?

If I remember correctly the Control-S is the IR code minus the freq. header info. While not a proprietary connection your Harmony wouldn't be able to control anything without removing the header info on the IR code. Crestron controllers and IR drivers can handle this.

Thanks. I've been thinking about upgrading my Harmony 880 to an 890 pro and if The Control S port would have worked with a 3.5mm mono cable I probably would. But if it won't work, I will probably wait and see if they come out with a RF version of the One, and pick it up (and deal with sticking emmitters on the front).

Something like this might do the trick to strip off the carrier (see 794-10 for Sony):

http://www.xantech.com/products/i_folder/i_794_797.pdf

I have a Sony KD-34XBR960, is the Control S compatible with the Onkyo/Integra RI?