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solution: Best IR Blaster solution when no serial control
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Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Didn't see a lot about good ways to do IR blaster control on here, at least not a lot recent, so thought I'd post this to help out anyone doing future searches or struggling with this now.

The IR Blaster that TiVo sends does a sub-par job, IMO. And why it has two emitters, I don't know. I think the second emitter can actually cause problems with the signals arriving at the sensor at different times.

Xantech makes what they call an "IR mouse emitter". It plugs into the IR port on the back of your TiVo and does what the TiVo supplied blaster does, just better. They make a dual unit, too, but don't get it as one suffices and the second can cause problems.

It is very tiny, so really doesn't look too bad if your cable box is visible (mine isn't, buried behind TV in cabinet). It sticks directly onto the plastic in front of the IR receiver inside your cable box. It is transparent, so allows signals from your cable remote to still get in.

Or if you'd rather eliminate stray signals (say from another cable box with its own emitter in the same room/rack), they also make a "mouse emitter shield cover". It also has 2-sided tape, is opaque, and covers the emitter and about 2-3 square inches. It's a good fit with their emitter, and beats the hell out of a fort of cardboard/duct-tape/tin foil or whatever else.

Price is very reasonable, at least where I got them: $6.95 for emitter, $0.95 for cover.

http://www.worthdist.com is where I got them:

click on products / Infrared / Xantech / emitters (enter the password "dealer" at this point or you won't see prices)

One downside is their shipping is high: $6.95, just as much as the unit costs. Here's another site that sells them for much higher prices, but not sure of their shipping: http://www.asihome.net/asihome/xablemwimi.html

Hope this helps. It so far has given us 100% channel changing, where we had been mising one of twenty shows, give or take.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Here's a picture of the IR-mouse-emitter under its shield. The black tape you see is leftover from the old setup using the TiVo supplied emitter. (Don't tell my wife it's still on there! That would bug her, but it's out of sight.) Click on my sig for a couple other pics of my setup.

Posted by: JPriller

quote:
Originally posted by ThreeSoFar
Here's a picture of the IR-mouse-emitter under its shield.

Looks like it'd keep the IR from the emitter from leaking out, but maybe not keep all external IR from getting in. Is it not supposed to do the latter?

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

quote:
Originally posted by JPriller
Looks like it'd keep the IR from the emitter from leaking out, but maybe not keep all external IR from getting in. Is it not supposed to do the latter?

Yes, it is supposed to, but on this particular cable box, no it probably won't. You'd need some black tape around the edges of the shield.

But this shield is much easier to plug the leaks around than a clunky fort would be.

I need not worry about it as we only have the one box on IR, and it's tucked behind the TV pretty far out of sight from the sun and such.

One thing about the shield, its adhesive seems much stronger than just plain black tape. That will make it harder to take off if you ever need to, but less likely to shift/drift on its own over time, as my electrical tape fort had started to do. You might even buy a couple extra shields and snip the flat bits to go around your one covering the emitter. Probably fine with just electrical tape, though.

Posted by: landrumdh

I have a setup for something at work that uses Xantech style IR emitters (don't know the brand b/c I didn't buy them but they look EXACTLY the same). As long as you don't remove and reapply them which screws up the glue then they are GREAT little devices that are HIGHLY dependable.

Posted by: Mike20878

I would imagine you would need the second emitter for Sony controlled Sony VCR's. That's what I do with my TiVo second emitter.

Posted by: Mike20878

What is the Blink emitter that they sell?

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

quote:
Originally posted by Mike20878
What is the Blink emitter that they sell?

A little capsule sized clear plastic with the emitter inside. It has two-way tape to stick it directly over the sensor. Click on my sig, and near the bottom is a paragraph about it with links to a photo and ty my TC thread on the topic.

The "blink" just means it blinks with visible light every time it sends IR.

Posted by: Mike20878

Has anybody had any luck finding these at local electronics shops?

Posted by: BGLeduc

A local hi-fi shop in my city handles Xantec products....got my stuff there (although it was not needed for my Tivo).

Not something you would likely find at RS or an Ultimate Electronics type of place. If a local shop handles custom install work, they would be a good candidate to sell Xantec.

BGL

Posted by: mikey94025

I ordered a couple of these Blink emitters and installed them the other day (with shield, for 99 cents why not). They look great, much better than the previous fort situation.

Thanks for the recommendation, I hope they fix my channel switching woes. Though I also did discover that the IR eye on my Motorola 5100 boxes is in a different place than on my older 2000 boxes. Oops.

Posted by: Mike20878

quote:
Originally posted by mikey94025
I ordered a couple of these Blink emitters and installed them the other day (with shield, for 99 cents why not). They look great, much better than the previous fort situation.

Thanks for the recommendation, I hope they fix my channel switching woes. Though I also did discover that the IR eye on my Motorola 5100 boxes is in a different place than on my older 2000 boxes. Oops.

It's right behind where it says "remote" on the panel, correct? I don't understand why someone in the cable box code thread recommended placing the blaster to the left edge of the display.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

You saw my link to http://www.worthdist.com above, right? In the first post of this thread.

FYI, when I priced their shipping last time, the web site ended up adding $6.95 PER UNIT for shipping. I called their toll-free number and asked if that was right (they're so tiny it seemed it couldn't be). She said, no, it wasn't. The shipping for up to 6 (I think) of them should be the same as for one. Keep that in mind if you order and have friends/family that might also be in need.

Posted by: mikey94025

quote:
Originally posted by Mike20878
It's right behind where it says "remote" on the panel, correct? I don't understand why someone in the cable box code thread recommended placing the blaster to the left edge of the display.

No, it seems to be on the left side for the 5100. If you shine a flashlight in there you'll see that there is nothing on the right edge and the eye is on the left edge. I looked up the manual online and the "remote" thing is just a light to tell you that "the remote is in use", though it never lights up for me.

I don't have a 2000 anymore to verify that it had the eye on the right side.

Posted by: mikey94025

quote:
Originally posted by ThreeSoFar
You saw my link to http://www.worthdist.com above, right? In the first post of this thread.

FYI, when I priced their shipping last time, the web site ended up adding $6.95 PER UNIT for shipping. I called their toll-free number and asked if that was right (they're so tiny it seemed it couldn't be). She said, no, it wasn't. The shipping for up to 6 (I think) of them should be the same as for one. Keep that in mind if you order and have friends/family that might also be in need.

Yeah, I used them. Thanks again. I used their online site and ordered 3 of the units plus 2 shields and the total shipping was only $4.95 and no tax. They shipped it FedEx Saver.

Posted by: Mike20878

quote:
Originally posted by mikey94025
No, it seems to be on the left side for the 5100. If you shine a flashlight in there you'll see that there is nothing on the right edge and the eye is on the left edge. I looked up the manual online and the "remote" thing is just a light to tell you that "the remote is in use", though it never lights up for me.

I don't have a 2000 anymore to verify that it had the eye on the right side.

Hmm, I'll have to check that out. If that's what it's supposed to do, mine never lights up either. It's probably an option the cable company didn't enable.

Posted by: Mike20878

quote:
Originally posted by mikey94025
No, it seems to be on the left side for the 5100. If you shine a flashlight in there you'll see that there is nothing on the right edge and the eye is on the left edge. I looked up the manual online and the "remote" thing is just a light to tell you that "the remote is in use", though it never lights up for me.

I don't have a 2000 anymore to verify that it had the eye on the right side.

I'll be damned... You're right. I checked with a flashlight and there it was on the left. No wonder I've had problems at times.

And I was wrong, my remote light does light up, though I didn't notice if it lights when TiVo sends a signal.

Mike

Posted by: Crrink

Thanks for the informative post. We missed Friends due to a missed channel change (yeah, not exactly a travesty :)) - so I ordered an emitter and shield.
Hope missed changes will be a lot more rare now.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

You're welcome.

With this level of reliability in channel changing, I'm even considering getting a second digital cable box. Now, two of our three TiVos (all on same TV) are just using analog cable, so we can only record HBO/SHO on the one unit.

Posted by: Ingersoll

TSF,

Thanks for the great info. Do you know whcih model it is? The 282-MRP?

Thanks again!

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

quote:
Originally posted by Ingersoll
Thanks for the great info. Do you know whcih model it is? The 282-MRP?

I got mine at http://www.worthdist.com. There, it's model X283M. the "blink-IR mouse emitter". Regular length cable, visible light blinks. Looks like a match to the AV283 on asihome.net.

Posted by: Crrink

Hmmm....I just got the regular ol' emitter, not the blink one - figured I didn't need another flashing LED in the equipment rack - hope it works as well.

BTW, we have only one cable box as well because of the reliability issues with IR blasters. It would be nice to be able to change this, although, the stupid cable box banner that takes up 1/3 of the screen at the start of every show bugs the crap out of me (I have it set to turn off quickly, but it ain't quick enough!).

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Used to like the banner as confirmation of correct channel change. Getting on my nerves more though now that channel changing is more reliable.

The non-blink one will be fine. With the shield cover on it, you can barely see it anyway. Ours is tucked behind the TV out of sight, so you definitely can't see it.

Posted by: DPF

Picked up one of these from a local Home theater shop here in Naperville last night. Works great. It's actually not a Xantech, but another brand that I'd wager is made in the same place, looks exactly the same. The shop used to sell Xantech but replaced it with this brand (which I can't remember now) since the other IR components are allegedly higher quality so they replaced the whole line. All I know is, it works great. The little translucent docking clip with double face tape is so easy to mount and much better than the fort type operation.

Thank you very much to TSF for the OP

-DPF

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Great. That one sounds a tad different. With the Xantech, there's two-sided tape directly connected to the emitter that sticks on the cable box. Not a "docking clip" as you describe.

Yer welcome.

Posted by: DPF

Kooky, I thought they were the same. The little ears on the side are actually part of the base and the little ovoid emitter part slides up and out. I just stick the base piece right over the STB detector, which I could clearly see through the translucent base piece, and then slip the emitter back into it after its mounted. Really slick little unit.

Looking back at the Xantech pages, I guess they don't have the base. Still a good solution though. Far more reliable than the supplied IR Blasters that's for sure.

Here's the one I got:

SpeakerCraft IR Emitter

-DPF

Posted by: bebw

Thanks for all your information on the IR mouse emitter. Do you think it would work with a Phillips Tivo? Do the IR blasters and this emitter you mention work on Sony or Philllips Tivos??

Posted by: DPF

They should work on any. They just replace the packaged IR blasters.
-DPF

Posted by: bebw

I might add that I don't have a Series Two or anything, just one of the older model Phillips in regards to IR question.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Work fine on S1 or S2 standalone TiVos, Phillips or otherwise. You're good to go.

Posted by: iamme

I just wanted to say thanks for the information! I have one of the dreaded 2244 GI (Motorola) digital cable boxes, and Comcast told me I couldn't have a different model. I got my TiVo last year (TCD240080) and had averaged about 15% misses. But a few months ago, things got worse for some reason - at least 25% missed changes - and I was getting right frustrated.

After I found this thread, I ordered an X283M and a cover from Worthington. Shipping was $4.95, total was $12.95, good service. First I tested it with just the emitter, from where you test the codes (10006-Medium) and had 2 misses. (Out of curiosity I tried 10006-High too, and had a TON of misses.) Then I added the cover, but, I still need to be able to use the cable remote sometimes, to get rid of the message light and to use On-Demand. So instead of using the cover's stickum, I used electrical tape all around the edges, and fashioned a loop "handle" at the top to easily pull it down (but it still hangs on from the bottom.)

The improvement was amazing, better than I expected even! Zero misses for the first few weeks! In the past week, I have had 2 misses - luckily those were both on suggestions - and both times, I noticed that the tape at the top had pulled away slightly on one side so that there was a small gap between the cover and the cable box. But my top strip does only have a measly 1/2" sticking area on each side. I'll redo my tape contraption so the top tape strip is longer, and maybe wrap the tape over onto the top too. That should make it more secure. (Until I get around to that I've just been repressing it a couple of times a day.) BTW, even with my contraption in place, I can still get the cable box remote to work, but only if I stand very close.

For anyone who's been having problems with misses, especially if it's due to a weak cable box, I'd recommend giving this a try.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Glad to help. We never use on demand and the box itself is out of sight behind the TV, so don't care about that stuff.

Posted by: TivoGeezer

Maybe I was just lucky but the IR blasters which came with my SVR-2000 have always worked fine. Or is it just the ones with the Tivo brand PVR's which are junk?

Posted by: DPF

Don't know, but I used to get misses all the time with the blasters no matter what I tried. I have a SciAt 3200 box (not sure on number) and it missed all the time.

After getting the speaker craft emitters, no misses at all. Not one. Of course now that I said that I'll probably go home tonight to find it misses the wife's Oprah and I'll get yelled at :rolleyes:

I also went ahead and just mounted them directly without the little docking clip just to be safe. Why add one more layer of translucent plastic to the mix.

-DPF

Posted by: ccwf

quote:
Originally posted by TivoGeezer
Maybe I was just lucky but the IR blasters which came with my SVR-2000 have always worked fine. Or is it just the ones with the Tivo brand PVR's which are junk?

Well, it's a bit of a balancing act. The Motorola/GI/Jerrold/Clearview boxes seem to work better with a stronger IR signal than that sent out by the TiVo IR emitters in TiVo's recommended placement. However, stronger IR swamps the IR sensors on boxes made by Scientific Atlanta and can stop them from working.