Are the blasters for the 551 strong enough to shoot thru 1/8" amber glass (I am considering making a custom dropdown cabinet, which would be operated in a 10' high well ventilated dust free plenum). Also, does the IR signal deteriorate when shot at lets say a 30 degree angle from eight ft away? My first thought was to see if Viewsonic made a wired remote (to the RS232 Control Port) which of course they don't but were happy to fax me five pages of line commands that a PC could fire at the projector. Any ideas out there? Thanks

In general, IR behaves just like a beam of visible light. Which is to say, some of it will pass through a transparent sheet of glass and some will be reflected. The more acute the angle at which it stikes the glass, the more will be reflected rather than passing through. However if you are going to use amber glass, the effect of the tinting may be different at IR wavelengths than at visible wavelengths. It may attenuate the IR more or it may attenuate the IR less, no easy way to tell other than by experimenting.

So my feeling is that the only way to tell for sure is to get a sample of the glass you want to use and try holding it between the projector and the remote while you experiment with various distances and angles. If that doesn't work, then as an alternative you might consider getting an RF remote extender system (for example the Radio Shack 15-1950) and placing the IR transmitter end of inside the cabinet with the projector.

I enjoyed communicating with someone who obviously is dedicated to teaching the newbie and not trying to impress the audience. Your instructions were easy to comprehend, while at the same time technically complete which most of the time does not happen when neophytes are exposed to answers for their questions. Hats off.