IR Blaster Stopped Working

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

I have been using a RTV 4500 with IR blaster to control a Motorola
DCT2224 digital cable box for some time. Initially I had the usual
problem with occasional incorrect channel changes, but this was solved
(as noted in an earlier posting here) by changing the IR Blaster Setup,
Response Delay from 200 to 1000 msec. But, just yesterday, the IR
blaster stopped working totally. I tried changing channels with the
Motorola remote and, with the exception of a short time when it didn't
respond, it changed channels perfectly. So I chalked the "exception" up
to poor aim of the remote or similar. Since the problem did not appear
to be in the Motorola box, I tried changing the IR blaster and, when
that had no effect, I swapped in another RTV, again with no luck. So
the problem does appear to be in the Motorola box after all.

The symptoms are as follows: If the Motorola box is on channel 222 and
I tell the RTV to change to channel 3, it sends a zero (I can see this
on the Motorola display), but seems to send a string of zeroes and a
string of 3's, so the Motorola box often ends up on channel 333,
instead of channel 3! (This is why it was on channel 222. The previous
command had been to go to channel 2.)

So it appears that either the RTV is sending an intermittent IR signal,
so a single zero or two becomes seen as a a string of them. Or the
Motorola box now needs a stronger IR signal than before (and we all
know that IR "blaster" is a misnomer, that the signal is weak) and
interprets the weak IR signal as intermittent, on and off. Has anyone
else had similar behavior and, hope of hopes, found a solution other
than getting a new digital cable box? (That's my next step, but I'm not
sure a new one will be any better. And it could even be worse.)

Many thanks.

Martin

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

Woops. The problem is Comcast's upgrade, not the IR blaster or anything
else. Changing to IR blaster code 7400, as suggested under the thread
"My replaytv is acting up today", one or two threads before this one
seems to have solved the problem.

I had done a search of the newsgroup, but under IR blaster problems,
not Comcast upgrade problems. Damn them. I wasted 2-3 hours on this!
Why does their STB "upgrade" have to monkey with IR codes??

Thanks to the posters on the other thread.

Martin