Official Audio Authority AVAtrix Q&A Thread (AVX-661 and AVX-561) - Page 11

For what it's worth I haven't had any issues with the following setup:

Harmony 670 -> micro link (standard) -> avatrix -> low power mouse emitter -> HR20

I'm using a Panasonic plasma display and have the micro link (regular, not plasma friendly) installed in my AVR cabinet a couple of feet below the TV.

And

Harmony 670 -> dinky link (standard) -> avatrix -> low power mouse emitter -> HR20

Here I have a Samsung LCD and a standared dinky link installed again about 3 feet below the set. I've used the HR-20 remote as well without issue.

I realize that this might not be helpful since I'm not using the plasma/lcd friendly receivers but I haven't had any issues at all having the standard receivers mounted away from the sets.

I should also have said that I'm on current Avatrix firmware (2.4 I believe).

Twells thanks for the input. I actually can control my HR-21 with a standard xantech IR receiver from a couple of my LCD/Plasma tv's but one of them must set the record for IR production. I just about have to put it in a box while the tv warms up before I can stop the flood of IR. So it seems to be pretty TV specific. By the way all 4 of my Tv's are Vizio.

I just bought a Mits HC1500 projector and know very little about projectors but I'm assuming they don't produce any IR? Crossing my fingers on that one.

I have also had luck with the non lcd dinky links. I just have a few tvs that are strong and/or placement away from the tv isn't feasable.

Flapbreaker,

Your projector will be fine. Nice choice btw. I have the Mits HD1000 which I purchased last year and really like.

Okay, this might sound like a long shot (given the tape didn't work for you) but you might try Glad Press N Seal (see link below). I just did a little experiment and held the dinky link (regular) up to (facing) the Samsung LCD (so that the receiver light was bright red... about 12" from the set. I used 32 layers of the Press N Seal (8 layers wasn't enough to do much so I just folded it over twice) and the glow on the receiver became very dim (didn't go off completely) but the remote continued to work perfectly. Anyway, if you happen to have the stuff around it might be worth a try.

Also, this might be stating the obvious but the actual IR receiver in the Dinky link is on one end of the unit, the circle (not the circle that lights up) AND the very end of the unit so make sure you're also covering the end and orient it away from the tv if possible.

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=8443

Also, more discussion here, apologies if you've seen this already. Could the backlighting be an issue? Turning it off seems to work for some...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-...se-remote.html

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=70777

Moving the IR emitter worked for me. I read earlier where someone had placed their IR emitter at the end of a 1 or 2" PVC pipe attached to the HR20's IR window. I had an empty pill container that was about 2" long, so I took the cap off, cut a small hole in the bottom of the bottle and stuck the IR emitter just inside the bottom of the bottle. I then rested the bottle next to the IR window (emitter was about 2" away from the window). The HR20 responded perfectly to the remote from a wallplate in my son's room.

I didn't try anything else and I guess I got lucky on the distance the first time. Now, it's not a pretty sight so if this becomes my permanent solution I need to work on making a more elegant way of keeping the IR emitter a few inches from the IR window.

Murray

I know much of this thread has been about IR problems, but I am about to make a desion on what Video distribution system to use.

IR asside, what is the general feeling about the AVAtrix?

Thanks
George M

I have had some of the same IR issues as here with the HR20, I need to read some more to see if I might be able to solve my problems.

MY real question though is that I am not getting any digital audio sent to my zones. Works fine for the local source, but I tested several of my zones and none of them seem to be getting any digital audio sent through. Any ideas?

I love mine. My IR problems are exactly the same as reported here. I have both an HR20 and HR21, which sit on top of each other, not in a rack for the moment. Originally, I was having some leakage which was pretty annoying, just offsetting the boxes a little fixed that.

I am getting the multiple taps problem which can be really frustrating. Mine is improved by moving the 291-80 receiver into a cabinet with a glass door that sits below the TV (at least it seems improved, it is always worse during the day, so I will test tomorrow). Would be nice to find a real solution to this though.

Assuming my digital audio problem is something stupid, probably user error, the quality is just excellent for me. Sending 1080p about 100ft, and the quality is great, the AVAtrix itself responds very quickly and hasn't let me down. Even my wife gets it and can use it.

Wynn29,

The multiple taps problem, if I undstand that correctly would be your DVR receiving more than one signal for fast forward ect? I've had this problem too but have mostly fixed it. I think the problem is on the emitter side of things. I didn't realize that both sides of the emitter actually send out a signal so it's possible that the side not facing the IR receiver on your DVR is bouncing a signal off of the front of your AV cabinet which arrives a bit later than the original signal, thus giving multiple IR signals to your DVR. Anyway you might mess around with putting something not so reflective to counter act the "echo" effect of the IR signal. Hope I made sense.


As far as the AVAtrix goes it works as advertised. My ONLY problem has been with IR but that would be the case no matter what system I was using. Mostyl it's one TV that's giving me the problems and if I didn't own a DirecTV HR21 the lcd friendly Xantech IR receivers would of worked fine. It's just that the HR21 doesn't seem to like those so I'm trying different brands ect.

I absolutely love mine. I purchased it long ago, but have just recently got to the point where the family uses it as I thought they would when I bought it. The main reason for the delay was I needed more HD TVs!

I have remotes setup with macros. Last night the kids hit "watch movie" and it switched over to the htpc. They select a show and watch it. This morning they hit "watch tv" and it switches back and then controls the dvr. All from their room. Meanwhile, the wife and I enjoyed a movie in bed and then clicked over to watch some late news.

Have you tested both optical and coax digital inputs? You should definitely call AA's tech support. I had digital audio problems on one of my output ports and they sent me a replacement that works well now. See this post for some more detail: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post12395941

Like the others who have responded, I really like mine as well. As I mentioned in the post cited above, I have really been impressed with their customer support

One more positive since that post above is the way they handled my return of my defective unit. I chose to have them send me the replacement and charge my credit card for it and get the charge refunded when they received my defective unit. I received my replacement the end of Nov or beginning of Dec. With the holidays and some other things going on in my life, I did not have a chance to remove my old one and replace the new one until early January and then took a couple of weeks to getting around to sending my defective unit back. As I was packing it up and getting it ready for shipping, I looked at my invoice and at the bottom it stated that if they did not receive return merchandise within 10 days of me receiving it I would be subject to a 10% restocking fee -- whiich in this case would have been nearly $300. So I sent it back and was bracing myself for that "restocking" fee and preparing to beg to Trent or Curtis to not be charged. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the refund on my credit card for the full amount! And I didn't even have to grovel for mercy!

Murray

I'm on cloud nine today. RxMan1, I am very happy to report that the xantech 480-85 IR receiver is working perfectly with the HR-21. I still can't believe it after all the testing and returning of equipement. At first it was being finicky so I decided to adjust the emitters position from being stuck right on the HR-21 to about 2 inches away. The Tivo's are ok with it too. I hope they work for everyone. Maybe we can lay this one to rest?

2" was the distance that I tried first and it worked, so I didn't try any other distance. Just curious, what are you using to keep your emitter 2" from the eye? My temporary fix, an empty medicine bottle, is probably not the most elegant solution!

Glad it is working for you.
Murray

MurrayW,

That's funny. My stuff is sitting on a metal rack just like yours. Anyway, my emitter is taped to the back of a cd jewel case and is leaning against the top of the DVR. Pretty elegant huh? LOL I was using the jewel cases already just to block any IR signals cross contamination (3 tivos, same location) so it seemed natural to tape it to the jewel case. They have a black back so they should obsorb rather than reflect any IR too.

I talked to Xantech and they advised to use the 282M, non LED emitters instead of the included 284M blinking emitters. I grabbed them from SmartHomeUSA.com and everything works perfectly.

I myself control two HR21s from 60' away with my 291 and only use one DTV remote. You can program the AV1 slider to code 00003 and set the secondary receiver to AV1 in the remote menu. Quite stylin'!

Anywho, this alleviates all of the black tape and 2" away fixes.

-
Manny

I think that mine are the non-blinking type already. I'll check when I get home. Hope I am wrong!

thanks,
Murray

Update: I am using non-blinking emitters (282TP). From the Xantech literature:

Is it okay to terminate the cat5e wiring for the avatrix in a patch panel and then use patch cables to the avatrix?

That's what I did.

Stupid question: I have a test system running with an old Xantech IR receiver into a 9879 wall plate. All works well, except I am getting some interference from my LCD TV. I ordered 3 Xantech Dinky Links that are CFL friendly. When they arrived I discover that the wires are not terminated. They are just stripped for a connecting block. So, to connect Dinky Links into a AA wall plate, it looks like I need to get some mini jacks and attach them to the Dinky Links.

I have looked around a bit. Any suggestions for a make/model of jack that does not involve soldering? (I don't have a gun) If not, any recommendations on jacks that are easy and reliable?

Thanks.

I have no idea if there are jacks that don't require soldering but if you decide to solder just get a soldering iron not a gun. Irons are cheap at radio shack. Also, the plug I used at Radio shack is part# 274-1547. It's a 1/8" stereo phone plug. It can be tricky figuring out what post the three wires solder to on the plug. I can't remember exactly or I'd tell you. I did an internet search and found a schematic of a phono plug. Hope this helps. If the dinky links don't seem to entirely work for you then you will want play with the IR emitters a bit. Test them a few inches away from the component your trying to control rather than stuck to the face of it. Good luck.

I hooked up my new avatrix 1166 home theater routing system today and found that at all my wall plates, I only get audio, no video.

So first I checked both RGB cables from the source to the 1166, and then the one that runs from the wall plate to the tv. Both of my RGB cables are fine.

Next I tested the 1166, I pluged one of the RGB directly from the main output to a tv. It worked fine.

Next I ran two new ethernet cords directly from the 1176 to a wall plate. Still only audio, no video.

Last I tried adjusting the cable lenght switch on the wallplate and still that did not help. Really the lenght is only 6 feet, but I tried every one (0-9) to be on the safe side.

Also, the bus cable looked like it was capable of adding two more units on it because it had a total of 4 plugs, currently I have only one 1176 so i pluged both ends of the bus cable (1166 and 1176) and left the two middle plugs in the middle free. I'm thinking maybe I should have attached the bus cable in order and left the two bottom free, but from the instructions I think I attached them correctly with the two in the middle left free.

Please help..

I'm just a user, not an AA expert but I can confirm that you have the bus cable connected correctly, do not leave the end plug free. When you say that you connected a 6-ft ethernet cable, I assume that you terminated them per AA specs? It's not a standard wiring scheme.

..... my search didn't find where this has been asked before -- is there any advantage or disadvantage (other than extra cost) to using "STP" cat5e as opposed to "UTP" cat5e, with regard to long cable runs such as through a residential attic space for the AVX-661 application?

Do you mean that regular ethernet cables you buy from any computer store will not work??

B/c that is what I am using.

Oops, i just checked AA's website... in their user manual they specify the EIA-568B pairing. I'm not sure if using 568A would work or not (also not sure what you're using but 568A is more common) but I assume not since 568B is specified. Perhaps Trent or someone more knowledgeable about this will chime in.

Regular ethernet cables should work fine as long as they are not crossover cables. Don't know how common those are though.

Thanks for all the help guys, I just want let you know I found the problem. I rechecked the bus cable and found it not seated properly. Once I did that, it all worked just fine. After my last post, I did some research on the net and came to learn that a standard cat5e cable uses the EIA- 568B wiring scheme AA is asking for. I love this thing, Thanks again guys.

I am having trouble getting my Philips Pronto remote to learn a clean set of codes from my AA 1105 remote. Anyone have something that works well in one of the pronto formats? If so, would you be willing to share? I looked out at Remote Central, but couldn't find anything I could use.

As an aside, I have no problems with the built-in codes for my Harmony remote.