I know that this question has been asked in the forums past, however, now that I am experiencing the problem I am ready to pay attention to it. What has been the solution to installing ir receivers near plasma TV's? It activates the ir receiver while the TV is on and I am curious as to why it does that?

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

Audio Plex and Xantech both have plasma proof IR receivers. SpeakerCraft just released theirs for shipment last week.

Robbie S

Niles has a new 'plasma proof' IR receiver also available. Just remember that this is a 4 wire device only to be used with the new IR blocks. The old IR blocks are for 3 wire.

The best solution I have found is to use Marantz or Pronto remotes with RF extenders. There are NO spurious IR problems, and the extenders are actually cheaper than a sensor, power supply, distribution block and the labor to run the wire.

The only drawback is that someone at Philips was pretty dumb and made the split portions of the cables on their dual IRs too short. You cannot use these for two components unless a)you are willing to have them come in from the side, not from behind the units, or b)you are lucky enough to have a stack of two where one wire can go up to the upper piece and the other can go down to the lower piece. In these cases I replace the emitters with Xantech.

Plasma TV's just barely meet FCC emissions guidelines. When on, they constantly spew out random crap across different parts of the spectrum, including the IR band. It's analogous to you trying to hear someone speak across a room full of other noisy people.

"Plasma-proof" IR receivers simply narrow the reception range down to normal IR's 38k vicinity. Some crap still gets in, just a lot less.

The best solution is to avoid IR repeaters around plasmas, and stick to RF extenders or RS-232. And ALWAYS discuss this issue with the customer before the sale to avoid a costly & possibly unfixable problem later. You can also reassure them that the plasma won't make them sterile or cause their kids to grow a third eye.

It won't, will it?

Doug @ HomeWorks

It's analogous to you trying to hear

that a great,simple way to explain it -mind if i use that one? :)

Thanks for the info, I use Xantech quite a bit so I'll try that one.

Jeff

The plasma proof IR receivers work pretty well most of the time, BUT there always seems to be one stubborn component that won't always react well to the repeated code, Sonance navigator harbor, Scientific Atlanta cable boxes, the 15 year old VCR the client insists that you use after the system has been designed, etc. Stay with an RF remote and everyone will be much happier.

NILES IS SUPPOSED TO START SHIPPING THE NEW LINE UP OF PLASMA PROOF IR THIS WEEK. HOW ANY ONE CAN SAY THEY WORK OR DON'T IS HARD TO BELIEVE SINCE NO ONE HAS THEM... I HAVE HAD TO SUFFER WITH RF. PLASMA'S AND HD DSS BOX'S CAUSE INTERF. WITH THEM ESPECIALLY THE MX600/800. I REFUSE TO SELL ANOTHER...I HAVE USED THE XANTECH PLAMA EYE, ONLY PROBLEM IS THE COST. I AM WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE NILES STUFF TO COME IN. I HOPE IT WORKS.. IF IT DOES, IT'S WORTH THE $$$$$$

I've had a couple problems with the Xantech plasma proof IR receiver.

I. The cost of course.

2. Not quite as effective as they claim.

Want a better way to get away from the problem with a plasma set without going to RF, which is somewhat questionable as to reliability?

Use a standard IR receiver (mini or barrel type), mounted up in a light fixture, or somewhere FAR away from the plasma (a little logic IS required).

Mine is a barrel type IR receiver mounted in the ceiling fan housing. Works flawless!

With Fujitsu's newer models I have been getting away with Xantech's "DINKY LINK" with a small piece of tape over the receiver to slightly reduce the amount of light. With some patience I have had pretty good results.

Just my 2 cents

the only problem with the xantech is it wont pass the scientific atlanta cable boxes---I just switched to the audioplex and has worked near to perfect. There are some signal strength issues with certain devices which can be worked around--As far as RF for the pronto--Philips can suck my left nut if they think that rf piece of garbage is worth anything--
Who's the f--ing retart who designed those emitters. Sorry for the the anger there but why not dump a little more r and d into the rf and make something that actually works. i'll pay the extra 50 bucks

To Steve D,

What a great idea. I put a Scotch tape (actually two of them are working better) on the IR window of my Echo 301 receiver and most of Plasma related sluggish IR performance are gone!

Interesting idea idg, but I think Steve D. was talking about putting tape over the thingy you point the remote at. Maybe black electrical tape, leaving a tiny area for light to get into the recieving module. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Plasma displays with IR repeaters are a fun combination. "Yes Mrs. Jones, that's correct. It's going to cost a zillion dollars and we cannot guaranty it's going to function correctly..."

I was amazed once when I covered a Xantech dinky link eye with two layers of blue painter's tape, thinking that no IR would go through, to try to see if the interference I was getting was IR or something else; the interference went away and the IR passed through the tape!

Someone over at avs forum just figured out for us that the Scientific Atlanta boxes have IR modulated at 58 (maybe really 56) kHz. They made their system work by using a Xantech adjustable sensor, and I suggested that if they use one of those to snag the Scientific Atlanta box and a regular sensor to snag the 38 kHz tha just about everybody else puts out, then they should be stylin' !

This is similar to the idea Audioplex uses in their 4056 sensors -- two separate IR paths with two separate bandpasses so that both signals get put on the bus.