Official Audio Authority AVAtrix Q&A Thread (AVX-661 and AVX-561) - Page 8

I have firmware 2.2 and I'm using the recommended xantech 291-10 unit. It could be an issue with lcd/plasma display I suppose.

By chance does anyone have a Visio stencil for the Avatrix?

What's a visio stencil?

It's stencil used in Visio...

Visio is used to document systems (computer and AV).

I don't have it as a Visio stencil but I do have a Visio system drawing that includes a 6x6 AV/trix. Would that help?

DrDSL... I would appreciate it if you could share that with me. Please email to cinematainment at g mail dot com.

DrDSL,

Would you mind if I had a copy of that as well?

I see some of you are from the Chicago area. Does anyone know of a good installer that they could recommend not only for the AVAtrix but also a couple of flat screens and a roof-mounted OTA antenna? I need help and can't seem to find any. Please PM me with any information you all might have. You too Trent!! lol

Thanks all,

John

PS. We close on the old house on Thursday!!! It's about time. That means, Trent, I'll be calling you for an order sooner rather than later.

I thought 2.2 was working solid for me until I started using a couple tvs at the same time. I noticed from time to time that no IR commands would get thru for about 5-10 seconds periodically. I have the same problem with versions 2.3.1 and 2.4. My setup has the IR running thru an xantech 789-44 connection block with xantech dinky link IR receivers at each location. Luckily, I have most of the older firmwares and 2.1 seems to be the last version that doesn't exhibit this issue for me. Anybody else having any IR issues with the newer firmware versions?

Trent,
In the release notes for 2.4 one of the changes is:
Double-click waits 5 seconds before reset if the double click is accompanied by a right turn

What in the heck does this mean?

thanks,
Murray

I've had constant issues however I think it's due to my LCD TV's. I still need to pony up and buy the LCD "proof" version of the IR receivers. However, what you describe regarding a 10 second or so timeframe where no IR info seems to go through seems consistant with what I have expereinced.

Yeah, I think mine is due to not having plasma friendly IR receivers also. The weird part though is it works fine with 2.1 so that leads me to believe otherwise. What firmware version are you currently running?

I'm running 2.2

If I let the TV's warm up for say 5 minutes then I have a lot less trouble but it's quite the spoiler not to be able to avoid seeing a game I'm recording since I can't control the DVR for a few minutes. I'm going to get plasma friendly receivers soon.

I am just getting started with my AVATRIX project and Mainlobby integration. Would you be willing to share your screens with me?

I'll in turn share my customizations with you.

Scott@ccsipro.com

I am about to begin my in wall wiring for my AVATRIX and have a question about termination.

It is obvious that at the far end I would just terminate all of my cables with RJ45 connectors that will plug into the face plates.

In my equipment room I am thinking about putting in a 24 port patch panel to terminate all of my ends. Do any of you feel that using a patch panel may degrade my signal to the point that it may cause an issue.

My alternative would be to just put a RJ45 connector on both ends of my runs and then just plug the end directly into the back of my AVATRIX switcher.

I really want the 24 port patch panel, because it will look so much better.

Let me know your experiences with termination. Once I cut the wires.... They are cut...

Scott

Scott, I'd be happy to share my scenes with you if I had any!
I have been procrastinating doing anything new with my scenes because I plan to redo everything -- when I do that I will be happy to share. Sorry to not be of any help! Winter is here so I am not as busy with outside things for the next few months so I hope to get going on my scene redesign soon. I don't anticipate having an Avatrix specific scene -- I will probably just have 6 buttons (or a pull-down) to set the source depending upon which room I am in.

Murray

Scott, Trent should probably confirm this, but I can't see any reason why the patch panel would cause a problem. Any reason why you are going with a 24 port rather than a 12 port patch panel? Are the 24 more common? Are you planning on having two 1176's to serve more than 6 wall plates?

Murray

No reason on the 24 port, I just happen to have one around and it will fit in my rack well.

Cheers, Scott

Did anyone ever find those "plasma proof" IR receivers at a decent price? I need to get one, but hate the price of those! I have one LCD that blocks the IR signal for about 2-3 minutes when turned on and then it is fine. An annoyance I would like to correct for the right price.

I've always liked the look of MainLobby, but have never taken the time to get it intergrated with my AVAtrix. I find that I don't switch sources as much as I thought I would. I basically, have 4 Directv receivers going out to 7 tvs and an HTPC which I switch to when I want to watch a movie.

Well I just recieved my xantech 291-80 LCD "friendly" IR receivers. Grrrr I'm still having trouble. It looks like I can control my Tivo's but my DirecTV HR21 doesn't want to respond to any commands consistantly. On the back of the 291-80 there's a dial to adjust the frequency. Doesn't seem to help. I'll keep trying. Not sure what to do if I can't get it to work. The 291-10's worked pretty good except for the first 5 minutes when the TV was first turned on. Was looking forward to elimating the waiting. This IR stuff is just crazy.

Just to follow up. It seems as though my devices (tivo, ect) are picky about the signal coming from the 291-80 receivers. I can get the Tivo boxes to work by adjusting the distance between the emitter and IR window. BUt as stated in my last post, I cannot find a distance that seems to work with the Direct Tv HR21. I'm wondering what type of emitter is packaged with the avatrix IR router and do I need to try different emmiters? I looked at the xantech website and they have an emitter that's low output model#283M. Not sure if this would be the ticket or not? Any thoughts at all?

I have had a problem with my two Pioneer 300 DVD Carousels since I switched to a Mitsubishi TVs a few years ago. I had to switch all of my DVD video to S Video to mask the issue. It has cropped up again, since I am now using AVATrix and it requires the component video.

I thought maybe some of you might know what is causing my problem.

When playing component video with a component cable directly attached from the DVD player to the TV I get a jittering ripping image in the top 1/8 of the display.

When I hook up the DVD Player through the AVATRIX to the main output, I get this same ripping image at the top of my display.

When I run it through the AVATRIX, and take the signal out through one of the RJ45 lines, it works great. No ripping or jittering. While this is a work around, it is not what I really want. I do not want to mask this by making my theater room a zone and using up one of my RJ45 outputs.

Do I need an amp? Is this what the active voltage filters are for?

Any thoughts?

Scott

I'm sending to HR20s and that is exactly the waiting problem I want to eliminate. This is not good news.

RXman, it appears that the Xantech 291-80 lcd friendly remote doesn't send a low enough frequency for the HR21. I do have a channel vision IR-2105 that does work on the HR21. At first it still wasn't perfect but since I've upgraded to the 2.4 firmware on the avatrix it seems to work fine. I think I'll switch them all over to the channel vision and try that.

For the price, I may give one of them a try. I would need to update my firmware first though. I had a bunch of channel vision IR receivers when I first received the AVAtrix and they didn't work at all. I have since stayed away from channel vision, but maybe the new firmware fixed that.

Rxman1,

I may have to take back what I said about the channelvision one. I pulled it from one of my TV's and tried with another tv/wallplate and it's been finicky. It seems that this IR stuff is a challenge to figure out. It does work decent with in at least one location. Not sure why. I might try something else in the mean time.

RXman1 or anyone else who cares,

I've been running IR tests using the AVATRIX diagnostic functions per audioauthority instructions. I first send an IR signal with the remote through the xantech LCD friendly remote and see what frequency is reported. Then I did the same thing with the regular xantech receiver and check it's frequency. They were different so I adjusted the dial on the back of the LCD friendly one until I would get the same frequency as the the regular one. Unfortunately the HR21 still doesn't respond. I'm going to go bonkers trying to figure this out. I'm going to experiment with receiver and emitter positions but this isn't looking good. The sad thing is the xantech 291's work pretty well once the TV is warmed up. Maybe I'll try turning them backwards so they don't see the TV's interference. Maybe I can bounce my remotes signal off the wall?

THe 291-80's would be great if it wasn't for the HR21 being particular.

P.S. the tech guy said the channel vision ones are not good. (paraphrased).