Theater:
MX900 / MRF350 / IR Routed / RF Channel 3




Master Bedroom (Directly above Theater)
MX900 / MRF350 / IR Routed / RF Channel E




Bedroom 1
MX350 / MRF 250 / RF Channel B




All rooms have the same Motorola DCT HD cable box ( I think the 6416).


When the client has the guide up in both rooms (someone watching in both) it causes interference not allowing the other user to control anything. Basically, the remotes seem to be battling. The RF light on the antenna flashes in both rooms (theater and Master bed) but doesnt flash the "status" light. The client states that sometimes one remote can actually control the cable box in a separate room. Keep in mind that these boxes are RF only and on independent RF channels.

I kind of understand (even though it is silly) if only one remote can communicate at a time within a certain range since it ties up the antenna. It would be great if there is a solution.

However, not only does it tie up the antenna from receiving signals but sometimes seems like a few commands will bleed through and actually control the cable box in the separate room.


Anyone......

Wish I could provide some help on your main issue, but if you have two rooms in particular that cause problems with each other you could consider swapping out one room for 433mhz parts.

RTI?

URC offers 433mhz versions of newer products... the model numbers end with "i". For example, MX-900i and MRF-350i.

Sound.SD,

I'm having the same exact problem and I'm working on the issue with URC. I'll post here if/when I come up with a fix. It is really weird but it's only happening when the Motorola guide is up up on the screen.

Andrew

if you have 2 people like my wife who gets the guide up and flips thru every channel for every time in the next 12 hours and and does it continuously for 30 minutes, I can envision problems with any brand.

i have rti with an xp8 and she causes me problems at times.

I just got off the phone with the lead tech at URC...well she said she was lead tech. She told me that they have tested in the field this problem with the motorola boxes and here is what they said to do...by the way she told me that you wont believe why it works so she didnt explain but here is what she told me to tell you guys. Turn the emmitters "up to max", then take the emmiters and put them "off axis" for the motorola box. I told her this doesnt make sense to me but she assured me that this was the known work around as of today. Also it has to be done on both boxes to make it work, that kills the bleed...she says. She said URC has been flushed with calls about this very problem so they had to figure out the work around. I am not a pro so if my wording is off sorry.

Sounds like they are wanting to have the sensor placed off access so the "bleeding" signal (since it is weaker) does not reach the IR sensor on the cable box. Turning the IR output up to max prior to placing the IR sensor off access is an attempt to retain control of the sensor even when placed away from an ideal location with the intended controller.

We will give it a try.

Sounds like a super-sensitive IR eye on the Motorola... and some circuitry in need of greater rejection capabilities in the URC.

OR - just guessing here, it could be related to an issue I have with the MSC-400. Again, more guessing, but it "appears" URC passes through the first part of the RF transmission to all ports no matter what, instead of decoding the RF and then only sending out commands that are for that port. When I send any command to my MSC-400 (including serial), ALL the flashers briefly light up. The one the command was intended for will continue on with the actual IR data (note that all of this flashing generates IR, as my little sniffer proved). It could be the the MotoBozo boxes do the old "let's turn off my input for a while when I don't recognize a command" trick when this pulse arrives, thus blocking any signals for a while. There is a sort of a test for this :-). Take the downstairs remote upstairs. Look at the back of the flasher and see if there is a very short pulse every time you press a button. I'm assuming the MRF's have a similar flasher. If so, it's "possible" this little burst is messing up the cable box temporarily. I'm probably all wet, but you can try it out :-).