IR blaster problem solved

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

There was a thread late last year on problems with getting the IR
blaster to properly change channels on a digital cable box. Mike
Kamerman reported (Dec 18 2003) that he had found a solution in the
RTV knowledge database and would report back if successful. He must
have gotten busy, because he didn't report back, but I contacted him
by email and he said it had solved his problem (gone from 50% to 98%
success). My problem was less severe, with about 95% success prior to
changing the IR blaster parameters, but it seems to be 100% success
since changing. Both of us have Comcast cable.

To fix the problem here's what Mike had me do. Go to Menu, Setup, IR
blaster. The default parameters (which get reset every time you come
here, so you'll never "see" your change, except that the IR blaster
will hopefully work better) are:

Interaction 400 ms
Response Delay 200 ms
Pre-command delay 400 ms
Inter-command delay 401 ms

Change Response Delay from 200 to 1000 ms and exit.

Hoping this can help someone else, and thanks to Mike for his original
post.

Martin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Can you tell us which Comcast cable box you have and which IR code you're
starting with? It makes a difference..... And I'm curious, because I'm
currently troubleshooting IR blaster problems with my Comcast box. I have a
Motorola DCT2224 digital box and am currently using the 0476 code with a few
minor changes. I used 4476 for a while, but 0476 seems to work better. Not
perfect, but better.

Regards,

Margaret

"Martin Hellman" <hellman@stanford.edu> wrote in message
news:45cf32b4.0406211137.455fbd9d@posting.google.com...
> There was a thread late last year on problems with getting the IR
> blaster to properly change channels on a digital cable box. Mike
> Kamerman reported (Dec 18 2003) that he had found a solution in the
> RTV knowledge database and would report back if successful. He must
> have gotten busy, because he didn't report back, but I contacted him
> by email and he said it had solved his problem (gone from 50% to 98%
> success). My problem was less severe, with about 95% success prior to
> changing the IR blaster parameters, but it seems to be 100% success
> since changing. Both of us have Comcast cable.
>
> To fix the problem here's what Mike had me do. Go to Menu, Setup, IR
> blaster. The default parameters (which get reset every time you come
> here, so you'll never "see" your change, except that the IR blaster
> will hopefully work better) are:
>
> Interaction 400 ms
> Response Delay 200 ms
> Pre-command delay 400 ms
> Inter-command delay 401 ms
>
> Change Response Delay from 200 to 1000 ms and exit.
>
> Hoping this can help someone else, and thanks to Mike for his original
> post.
>
> Martin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

"Margaret Wilson" <twokatmew@nospam.msn.com> wrote in message news:<cb7l8o02tp@news4.newsguy.com>...
> Can you tell us which Comcast cable box you have and which IR code you're
> starting with? It makes a difference..... And I'm curious, because I'm
> currently troubleshooting IR blaster problems with my Comcast box. I have a
> Motorola DCT2224 digital box and am currently using the 0476 code with a few
> minor changes. I used 4476 for a while, but 0476 seems to work better. Not
> perfect, but better.

I'm using a Motorola DCT2224 digital cable box with code 4476 on a RTV
4500 series. If I have any more problems I'll try your suggestion of
code 0476 instead, but hopefully things are settled down now.

I also put reflective tape (opaque is all that matters) over the IR
emitter/IR blaster to keep out stray light as is often suggested. I
had done that before changing the IR blaster fine tuning settings, and
it didn't seem to help. But it still may have helped the change in
settings work better.

As I looked in my "help" files for the info you asked for, I came
across instructions on how to get to IR blaster fine tuning. Even tho
you didn't ask for them, I thought it might help to include them for
you or others:
===
If you've already got your IR Blaster working, go back into Setup,
Network and Input Settings, then select the input which is using the
IR Blaster (IN1 in my case).

On the next three screens, confirm the connection (Digital Cable box
in my case), specify your service provider and cable box brand.

At the first IR Blaster screen, hit Continue when ready.

At the next screen (where you test if you can turn your cable box on
using the RTV remote), press Zones. [NOTE: On the 4500 series, it's
labelled Replay Zones, not just Zones.]

If not set, turn on Enable Fine Tuning and go from there.

If you screw up completely so you cannot control your cable box at
all, do the above steps again and, when you get to the Fine Tuning
page, the defaults will be reloaded.

Note: You must actually go to the screen where you can test the IR
blaster, not the one that says you're going there.