RE: Hidden IR remote control

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Charles,

> Well we have finally taken the plunge into the world of flatscreen
> (LCD)
> SWMBO wants everything hidden away. I already have a repro cabinet
> which the Hifi lives in so with a bit of squeezing I can get the Tivo
> freeview box and DVD in there

Dont squeeze too much. Tivo and Freeview generate heat 24/7 and need
adequate ventilation to ensure reliable operation.


> Burr walnut veneer doors are not known for their Infra red
transmission
> qualities.
> So I need to get the signal into the cabinet some how.
>
> Requirements:
> To control
> Sony AV amp
> Sony DVD player
> Phillips freeview box?
> Tivo
>
> The Tivo currently uses an IR emmitter to switch the freeview box, the
> latency on this sytem can be frustrating especially when SWMBO starts
> high speed channel swapping. Therefore it is imperative that what ever
> sysystem we choose it should not add any delay compared to a direct
> signal.

You wont add delay. The reason for the existing delay stems from two thing.

1. Tivo needs to know what channel you want before it can send IR therefore
the channel change doesnt occur until about 1 second after the last IR
signal is received. It then takes a second or so to send the IR command to
Freeview etc.

2. You dont see the channel change happen until a couple of seconds AFTER
it
actually occurs as all output from TiVo is via the hard drive so it had
already been encoed, recorded, read back and decoded. This also adds a few
seconds.

> What happens if the doors are open and the unit sees both signals i.e.
> from the remote and from the retransmitter.
>

At worst it just wont work. Easiest way to avoid the problems are...

1. Keep the doors close :-)
2. Fit a small microswitch to the cabinet so that you cut power to the IR
system when the doors are open.

> I have read reports on both Firm and xantech. I am not looking for a
> multiple room distributed solution just get through the wooden doors.
> Any recommendations or other things I should be looking at.
>

Xantech or FirM will work fine and will not introduce any extra delay.

BTW, you could relocate your Tivo and Freeview box to Node0 and use KAT5 to
carry the signal to your TV which would also give you IR control of the
boxes :-)

Hope that helps

Keith
www.kat5.tv