Long topic but I am using the 880 to control a Panasonic plasma TV, Denon AVR, Denon DVD and DTV C41. All but the TV are on an IR repeater that goes into a Buffalo R-100 block. Output has two emitters on each line and the emitters are taped to the device with black electrician's tape. I am a complete IR novice which is why I spelled all this out. My problem could be anywhere.

The problem is the C41 ALWAYS works if I point the 880 directly at it. It sometimes works if I point the 880 at the IR transmitter that is taped to the TV. Everything else seems always to work, including turning the appropriate devices off and on for watching TV or watching DVD. The signal is getting through as reflected by signal lights on the transmitter and the R-100.

Part of the problem may be the IR receiver on the C41. I have been told that the receiver is behind the small window toward the left side of the unit, but it doesn't work for me. Holding the remote against the C41 and moving it right and left I was able to determine the point where it seemed to work best (or at all) and I taped the emitter there. However, that could be wrong.

The fact that everything else works over the repeater but the C41 has led me to the possibly erroneous conclusion that the C41 requires a little more "juice" than the average device and the 880, which is fully charged, doesn't have enough kick. It is also possible the Buffalo R-100, which I assume acts as some kind of amplifier, doesn't boost the signal enough or may even attenuate it!

Any ideas?

I have just discovered something. If I point the 880 remote toward the left wall from several feet away it works. If I point it directly at the receiver from a couple of inches away it works.

It appears most or all of the signal is coming out of the right side of the remote rather than the front. Is that possible? What do I do about it?

That's not right either. Signal strength seems to be about the same from both eyes and I can sometimes get results pointing at random locations in the room. Unfortunately, I cannot find any completely consistent place to point. The only consistent thing is the 880 works when pointed directly at the C41 and it also works if it is within a few inches of the IR transmitter.

I suspect there may be some setting in the 880 that will make it control the C41 over an IR repeater, but I have no idea what to try!

Increase the Repeats for the C41

I swapped C41s but that did not help so I played with repeats. I found, contrary to expectations, that fewer repeats worked better. In fact, with five repeats I could not get the C41 to respond at all. With zero repeats it actually sometimes worked and if it didn't, the help button would quickly correct the problem.

I also played around with the IR transmitter and that seemed to help a bit.

There is still a problem between the 880 and the C41 over an IR repeater. It is too bad the help button doesn't correct the settings or at least indicate what it did to help. Right now I seem to be pretty close but don't know what to do to completely solve the problem.