I too have been playing with this idea (but only for about a year!) I know for a fact that is IS possible to decode DMX with a PIC for two reasons: 1. The last time I looked inside a Zero 88 BetaPack fitted with a DMX Receiver there was this 17C42 looking back at me. 2. It is possible to bit-bang DMX through a 16C54 - I have chip here >from a company called Stortfield which does that - though I can't get the little bugger to work! 3. There was a company at PLASA this year, Artistic Licence (UK) Ltd, who sold pic based DMX receivers - They have a WEB Site - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/artistic/. I guess the problem is that all the people make LARGE sums of MONEY selling these beasties and consequently no one is willing to give anything away. I'm currently working on a 16C54 based system for which I have a schematic and am slowly developing the code - I reckon there's just about enough time in the stop bits to stuff an 8-bit parallel word out. But as I said things are progressing VERY slowly! When it finally arrives I guess it will probably be PUBLIC DOMAIN when completed, there must be people around who could improve on my coding - in fact I guess anyone could improve on my coding Anyone else out there with any experiences they are willing to share? -- Andy B. --------------------------------------------------------- "How can I tell that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical senstaions and my state of mind..... ------------------------------------------- Douglas Adams