Hello,

I hope someone here can help. I'm burying all my equipment in a cabinet, and I picked up the Channel Vision IR-5000 kit they just released. It was the perfect package solution, including the receiver, block, power supply and ir blasters all in one combo for a great price from Smarthome. Everything works perfectly except for my SA 8300HD box. I can point either my Harmony 880 or the included remote directly at the 8300 and it works perfectly. I can point either remote at the IR-5000 receiver, within a couple feet and straight at it, and everything also works perfectly. But at even a slight angle and from my couch (about 13 feet away), I get intermittent response at best. ALL of my other equipment works perfectly except for this. This equipment includes: Denon 2806 AV receiver, old Yamaha cd player, 5-yr old Sony DVD player, Xbox 360. The TV is a new Samsung HL-T6187S, which is a rear-projection, DLP TV with an LED light engine.

Could the TV be interferring like Plasma TVs do? The receiver in the IR-5000 package is supposed to be okay around Plasma TVs. I've also heard the SA boxes run at a high frequency, and someone mentioned some 56k frequency modulator to fix things. I'm not sure that is an option for me since this was a fairly complete combo package, but spending a little more to get separate components and having everything work perfectly with my devices would be worth it.

Thanks for the help!
James

The IR sensor on the 8300hd dvr is to the left of the 1st digit in the display window. Make sure your IR blaster (flasher/bug) is on top of this spot. If it already is, try moving it slightly to the left or to the right. I am not sure on the frequency range of your IR repeater, but the SA boxes all work around the 56k frequency.

I have had no problems using standard Xantech type emmiters with the SA8300.

That's your problem. You need the 56k modulator. Search this forum and you'll find about a half-dozen threads regarding it.

Just got off the phone with Channel Vision. The receiver on the IR-5000 combo is hard-wired, so using the filter would not work. Also, from my talk with the tech at CV, they take a different path towards blocking interference be decoding and re-encoding IR signals inside the box. Unfortunately, SA boxes not only run at near the limits of their receiver (rated 30khz - 60khz) but also uses weird pulses that are difficult to duplicate. He noted that in just the last week or two, they have tightened up the coding in the boxes and I may have received one that was just before this change. I'm either going to RMA it with them, return to Smarthome and get the Xantech combo, or a little of both and ultimately end up returning one of the kits.

Thanks for your advice!

I've never used the channel vision IR stuff but have yet to have a problem with Xantech or Niles on any install. I'm in LV as well if you need some local assistance.

I've never had any issues with any IR package (or RF for that matter) with the SA 8300. NIles, Elan, Speakercraft Russound etc all work fine. The Modulator was your best bet but sounds like you may need to RA and swap it for something better.

Brian

Ordered Xantech components this morning. If everything works perfectly, I'm just going to keep that and return the Channel Vision pack to Smarthome. I don't want to deal with a week or two of sending it to Channel Vision for them to check it out, get it back to me, and then have a product that could have issues with the next thing I get. I don't need the plasma rejection, which they told me is why they chose to do a uncode/re-encode route to their systems. It prevents them from needing special $120-250 receivers around plasma systems. The Xantech stuff was all rated 30-100khz so I'm hoping the extra high frequency bandwidth will help with the SA 8300 which operates at 57.1khz according to Channel Vision. I'll let you know in a few days how my results are with the Xantech setup. No kits available for what I needed, but was still able to piece together a combo for about $150. Too bad the Channel Vision IR 5000 kit doesn't appear to be working since it was only $90 for all I needed.

Xantech items arrived today. 4-channel box, three Smarthome dual emitters, and Xantech brass IR receiver. Unfortunately, one of the Smarthome dual emitters was DOA, but everything else is working FLAWLESSLY, including perfect response from my SA 8300HD cable box and now perfect response from my Xbox 360 too (it was usually good with the IR 5000 kit but now it's perfect). Thank you for responding, and especially for recommending that the Xantech stuff has always worked flawlessly for you. For a little more money, THIS is what I expected to get in the first place.

I'm not entirely impressed with the Smarthome dual emitter from a quality standpoint (especially one being completely dead), but the two that work fine are doing their job just perfectly. For half the price of the Xantech version, I'm okay with one not working considering I have to RMA the IR 5000 kit to Smarthome now anyway, so it's just going back to them with that stuff for them to send me another kit.