[mythtv-users] IR Blaster not always changing channel

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Wed Dec 15 18:56:59 UTC 2010


On Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:14:52 am Ben Eisemann wrote:
> I spent a significant amount of time troubleshooting what I thought
> was an LIRC problem.
> 
> I ended up taking a piece of plastic conduit and "isolating" the IR
> transmitter and receiver by taping them at either end of the tube.
> Worked like a champ after that.  Turned out stray signals were
> bouncing of a near by object and causing all sorts of weird issues
> like missed channel changes, double channel changes, etc.

Glad you figured it out.

This is a common type of problem, especially today when the CFL type 
lamps are getting more common (and even mandated in some locales).

LED lamps are not as much of a problem, but they are still pretty 
pricey, though the prices are coming down. I picked up a couple of 
Toshiba true replacement type LED lamps that put out the equivalent of a 
60 watt incandescent lamp (300 lumens) while only using 7.8 watts, with 
a 2700K color temperature. You can use them with dimmers and electronic 
controls, but they still cost $40 US.

Other things besides flourescent lamps can cause such issues, even bright 
sunlight in the room.

This is more of a problem with serial port driven blasters, they do not 
have as much IR output as devices with an independent power source, 
which are "bright" enough (in the IR spectrum) to overcome a lot of 
stray interference.





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