In my HT room the recievers,DVD,VCR ect are in back of
room. If I am on couch faceing my SONY HS61 and want to
change channels will my PRONTO work by pointing to screen. Some have said I have to point it to back of
room were equiptment is..

Thanks
David
Jackson Tenn

This is a loaded question.
The answer is maybe. It might work with some equipment, if it works with the current remotes then there is a good chance that it will work, since the Pronto has four strong emitters. But the best solution would be to get some kind of IR repeater system, put the receiver in the front and the transmitter in the back.

Correct. The Pronto does have 3 pretty strong blasters and may be able to reach the back, but I don't know that I would count on it on a consistant basis. The other thing you could do is run an IR repeater system from the front to the back.

Does anyone have any recommendations for Repeater systems? Anyone With any good Experiences to share. I am still a little unclear how a good repeater system should be used. I would like to know if anyone has a good hard wire setup.


Carlo.

I have a Recoton IR100 "Remote control extender". It consists of 2 pieces:
1.) An IR receiver that receives an IR signal and turns it into an RF signal. This is placed in front of you where you want to point the remote at.
2.) A RF receiver is placed in front of the HT equipment in a position where it has line-of-sight of all HT IR sensors. The RF receiver gets the RF signal and translates back into an IR signal which it then transmits to the HT equipment.

I used to use it for playing computer games on my TV. My computer is in another room but connected to my TV with a 50ft. coax cable. I have an IR wireless keyboard. I placed the RF receiver/IR transmitter in front of the wireless keyboard's IR sensor which is connected to the computer. I placed the RF transmitter/IR receiver next to my TV in the other room. When I press a key on the keyboard it sends the IR to the IR receiver. The IR receiver then sends a RF signal to the RF receiver which then sends the correct IR signal to the IR receiver connected to the computer. It worked flawlessly even with quick consecutive key presses. I'm sure it would work for you as well, as long as it can receive and transmit multiple signals spaced at .1 sec intervals.
I think I bought this at Best Buy for about $40. here's a link to this product:
[Link: recoton.com]

I have not bought one yet. I was in Office Max last night and low and behold there was one for $299.00.
Iam thinking its a little to high tech for me to mess with.. Iam a turn the switch on kinda guy not to indept
on reading manuals and programing.. I would like to
have it set up... Ill prob get one, Ive heard to much positive things about it..
How much is the repeter and does Radio Shack have it?

David
Tenn

David,
I just installed a system from Smarthome.com - it consists of a table top reciever, a connector block, 4 double emitters and a power supply.
Receiver sits on top of the TV in line of site, connector block is screwed to back of equipment cabinet, emitters are connected by double stick tape to front of components (over the IR receiver - the emitters also allow signals to go through, they don't block the receiver) and the power supply is connected to the connector block. There is also available a 50'extension cable for the emitters. Works like a charm and the whole thing ran about $140 including shipping. Any questions just holler.
Good luck,
Bill

Just back to the original question, it really depends on your room and exactly where the equipment is and how you're pointing the remote. In my room, yes -- it would work. But if you've got non-reflective surfaces, your footage may vary. If you're going for the Pronto any ways, I say buy it and try. If it doesn't work well, then go for the repeater.

These repeaters were at Recoton Direct www.recotondirect.com for under $10. They've since sold out (about three weeks ago), but I'd keep checking there in case some more appeared...