[mythtv-users] Remote, IR Receiver

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 17, 2008, at 8:27 PM, Douglas Wagner wrote:

>
> Second question: IR Receivers.  I posted to the list a while back  
> (several months in fact) about an odd issue I was having with my IR  
> Receiver.  I have a home brew (purchased from someone) IR serial  
> receiver.  In the evening times it basically stops working.  I've  
> run the mode2 command on it to see what it's outputting and it's  
> really odd...in essence my receiver gets BOMBARDED with IR at nights  
> when the lights in the house are "dim" (i.e. only one light on)  
> where as during the day there's GENERALLY no issue.  Basically I can  
> shield the IR eye and it'll stop spamming the screen with output and  
> when I release it starts up again.  Frankly I have no idea where i'd  
> be getting IR signals from.  I've gone so far as to shut down just  
> about everything in my living room (lights, fan, whatever) and I  
> still can't figure it out.  Part of me wonders if my IR receiver has  
> gone bad or wasn't well made or got chewed up by a cat or  
> whatever...shorting out or something.  SO (long lead up, short  
> question) can someone recommend a serial/usb IR receiver I can  
> purchase that works well?  I'm not really interested in the "combo"  
> receivers and Remotes (see next question) like the MS stuff.   
> Recommendations?  BTW my media center case is not visible in the  
> entertainment center (heated up WAY too much when I put it in a  
> cubby of my entertainment center...not enough opening for intake) so  
> whatever the recommendation it's going to have to be able to sit  
> outside the PC case.
>
Interesting. Since you say it happens only in the evening I doubt it's  
a hardware problem with your setup, unless you have BIG temperature  
excursions at night.

The usual suspects are light fixtures, especially the compact  
flourescent ones, other remotes and military sniperscopes.

Assuming you are not in an active war zone (marriages don't count),  
you might try and make a cardboard cone to get some directionality and  
try to locate the offending source. Lit up IR emitting LEDs can  
usually be seen by looking in the viewfinder of a digital camera, but  
it's very likely your "noise" source isn't that bright, might be worth  
a try though.

As for alternatives, I've found the receiver in the PVR-150 to be  
pretty much trouble free. Probably because so many Myth users have  
them, they seem to be pretty well supported. Of course it helps if you  
already have or can use one of these cards, otherwise it might just be  
an expensive receiver.

At least you took the trouble to show that your problem is in the  
outside world, instead of just complaining about LIRC :-)

beww