Next Generation Remote Control Extender - Both RF & IR Possible? - Page 3

Hi guys--what are the approx dimensions of the spaceship? I am trying to figure out if I have enough room in my cabinet to put it in front of the component

thanks
JIM

Just a general note to folk trying to get their base station spaceship to control multiple components inside their cabinet, depending on how you have things setup inside the cabinet, placing (taping) a sheet of white paper (or even a mirror) to the inside of the door can improve the chances of the IR signal bouncing off and reaching multiple components.

To help visualize your component layout better, get a small flashlight and put it where the spaceship will sit, now point it and add reflective materials until you get it to light up the front of your components where their IR receivers are located.

-Suntan

It's about 4" in diameter and about 2" high, excluding the antenna, which is around 4" high. You can see a nice little demo of someone stting it up for their home system at amazon.com -- check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generatio...3251236&sr=1-1

hi
i'm almost ready to try all this stuff
two questions
i saw some info on whether the one eye emitter would help or hinder the spaceship
you said you didn't think it would preclude - is that still your thought??

second, if at some point i need more emitters, can you kind of "chain" them, or split them, or do you just have to do aqway with the single, and use the three or the six

thanks

will let you know when i finally get it going


just one other completely different question
i have a pvr set up downstairs, can i split the signal and feed two tvs with it???
i know i would have to watch same channel if both tvs were on , but it would allow me to tape on either, or replay, etc. both upstairs and down, without getting a second pvr
and if i wanted to watch two separate things, i could just have my non taping unit into a different input in the upstairs tv
see what i mean?????

larry


thanks for your thoughts

1) My understanding is that the "eye" emitters are in addition to whatever the base unit picks up, so connecting additional emitters wouldn't hinder what the base unit can pick up.
2) There is only one input jack, so it can take a one-, three-, or six-eye emitter, but you can't daisy chain them.
3) If the units are picking up the same signal, I don't see why it wouldn't work. You'd want to prevent the second tape unit from picking up the signal, as you pointed out.

Actually, no, I no longer believe the base station will transmit a signal while an emitter cable is plugged in.

Although I've never actually tested the theory out with my NG remote extender, I did in fact test it on a Terk Leapfrog unit which basically works the same (other than the NG's unique in-remote-battery-type transmitter) and what I found was that the components that were receiving a signal via the base station no longer did whenever I plugged the emitter cable in.

Again, this was with the Terk Leapfrog and the NG may or may not yield the same results.




As speedread said, there's only one input jack...


Yes, you can feed the signal to more than one TV and yes, you can connect another source to another input on either TV.

my experience with this is mixed. Battery strength is what makes or breaks it. It DOES NOT like rechargeables. It'll work with them, but your going to drain the smaller battery out in a couple of days. Stick do duracell or energizer alkalines, at least with mine that is the way it is.

Other then that, it works well...it's like magic.

According to what I've read regarding the Next Generation, the base remains active (transmitting and not just receiving) even when the corded ir blasters are hooked up. I've been researching, and just ordered one from amazon for that very reason. I have my projector behind the back wall in a separate projection booth, and am tapping an HD/DVR for my Comcast cable access that is in the room directly above my media room. I plan to have the base station in the projection room sending signals to the pj, and the cabled blaster on the front of my cable box upstairs. I'll let you know how it works out. The package should be here next week.

While I'm here, is anyone using this with the Blu-Link PS3 universal remote? http://www.amazon.com/Blu-Link-Unive...5268609&sr=8-1

If everything works out, this combo will truly be a one-for-all solution!

Please do, I'd definitely like to know what you find.

yes, the base does continue to transmit even with the ir's connected.

Just found this threat, I have simple question. I am going to switch to DirecTV. I want to get one SD receiver to control 4 TVs throughout the house. They are rarely watched, never at the same time. The other TVs will have dedicated receivers. I am planning on splitting the output of the receiver 4 ways and buy additional remotes to control the Next Gen Extender.

They advertise 100’? Is that really the case? I am planning on having the receiver in the basement, and using two TVs on the second floor.

Are there any better solutions out there?

Based on my experience with the NG remote extender, this shouldn't be a problem.

I have a personal rule that I accept 75% of any spec that a manufacturer gives me so even with that math you should be fine. If you drew an imaginary straight line from your equipment in the basement to your furthest TV through walls andfloors and everything else in the way then 75-100' is a long way to go.

Just checking back in to let everyone know that the Next Generation Remote Control Extender is working exactly as I had envisioned. The wired ir blaster is placed on my cable box on the first floor. I used a 1/8" female coupler and 10' long 1/8" male to male patch cable to get it back to the base. That would be my only real gripe. I wish the wired ir blaster had a longer cord. It's only about 10' long, but luckily I already had the patch cable/coupler on hand. The base is placed in my projector room which is behind the theater/media room and the reach for the wired cord is now right at 20' with no noticeable signal degradation or delays whatsoever.

I can also confirm that both the transmit and receive functions remain active on the base when the wired ir blaster is plugged in. I use the base to transmit IR to my projector and it is also working perfectly, so it eliminated the need for me to pick up a second unit. Overall, I am very happy with this solution. Usable IR/RF functionality for $40 and it lets me avoid an extra $12.99 in monthly cable fees for an extra HD box and outlet charge. It will pay for itself in no time!

That's good to know, thanks for posting your results....glad it worked out for you.

I'm still trying to figure out the same thing! I can't find an explanation anywhere explaining how it can convert IR to RF through the battery compartment... Anyone?

I bought one of these things on the many recommendations from AVS plus the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon.

In short - it just works. I bought an additional battery so I have two in my remotes and a spare that is always charging in the base station.

My family room remote (harmony 670) controls the TV, receiver, dvd in the actual family room and the RF battery controls the PVR, an HDMI switch, and my PopCorn Hour media player - all 3 of which are located in the utility room in the basement.

My basement remote (another Harmony 670) controls my main theater, but the only thing it has line of sight to is the projector. All other components (PVR, receiver, hdmi switch, PopCorn Hour box, DVD player, etc) as mentioned above are located in a separate utility room.

I have a headphone splitter cable from the rear "blaster" jack of the Spaceship base station, which feeds (a) a 3-eye IR blaster (this is the official Next Generation blaster but I think any eye blasters will work). The "eyes" send IR signals directly to the PVR, PopCorn box, and HDMI switch, and (b) a headphone cable that goes directly into my receiver's IR input jack. I probably dont need the direct cables because the IR signals sent from the dome of the spaceship are strong enough to flood the room and reflect back on all the equipment in the rack, but I am planning to punch a hole in the wall between my theater and utility room and make a recessed rack so that face my equipment is visible from the theater room, and then my spaceship will not have a line of sight to the equipment.

Bottom line is that this is a great device and is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the alternative IR blaster systems (Niles, etc). I have been using it for over a year with zero problems.

I have a 70' wide house with the masterbed in the back corner. My bonus room above the garage is in the opposite corner of the house a floor up. It has to be close to 100' with walls/doors/ceiling/floor inbetween. It worked flawlessly controlling my upstairs DTV box from the master bedroom.

I also tested the RF functions of the DTV remote (RC64R) and it did not work anywhere near as well. I highly recommend the NG extender for anyone looking to do this on a budget.

FYI, you can use any HD receiver to distribute SD signals using an RF modulator (composite to coax to splitter). This is my plan to drive my SD TVs and eliminate the need to pay $5/month for my SD box.

Does anyone know if these now work with the Home Theater Master MX-500 remote?

Also, all of my equipment is in a salamander triple 20 cabinet, with doors, as in the pic below. Will it work if I place it say on the right side inside the cabinet?

Thanks...

So my understanding is that you replace one of the AA (or AAA) batteries with the special NextGen transmitter-shaped battery. Does that mean the NextGen transmitter itself is a battery? Is this battery rechargeable, or do you need to buy a new transmitter battery (which would be expensive given how quickly a Harmony sucks power)?

The transmitter is a two part item. The outer cap is the transmitter, and there is a battery that is approx 2/3 ther size of a normal AAA battery that skips up inside it. The unit comes with two batteries so that you can keep the spare battery inside the unit so that it is always fully charged.

I bought an additional spare battery for a total of three. I keep one in the unit (charging) at all times, and I have the other two in two identical Harmony remotes. One powers my basement theater and the other runs my family room system. The NextGen repeater controls my satellite box, my Popcorn Hour media player, and an HDMI switch so I can share the two media devices between the upstairs and downstairs systems.

As you mentioned, Harmony remotes slug back the batteries, and because the NextGen battery is smaller than the typical AAA, I find that it lasts about half as long as the other three batteries in the Harmony.

I have had this little extender for over a year, and I still cant believe how well it works.

How long does the battery generally last before needing to be recharged? Obviously it will vary with use, but I'm curious to know if most people get just a couple of days or if it can go for a couple of weeks.

The one in my IR keyboard lasts months without a charge.

All of my HT gear is close to the tv and exposed. I can point my remote at the tv as one is naturally inclined to do and everything works just fine without a repeater. However, my HTPC is in a closet "behind" me as I sit in my tv viewing position. I have a USB-UIRT that is exposed out of the closet, but it too is behind me. Right now, if I want to control the HTPC, I have to put the remote over my head and point it backwards. Not cool. I just need a system to repeat the IR back to the HTPC. I have been looking at the NG, but it sort of seems like overkill. But it is getting good reviews. I have the 620 Harmony remote, and I just need to kick back the Windows Media Center codes to the computer. Will this be a good solution for me, or is there a better option?
By the way, I have a pair of old school RCA repeaters (D935/D940) and they don't accurately resend anything for me. They are sending something, because I can see the codes coming in EventGhost, but they are usually mangled or something. Before I plunk down some money for this repeater system, I kinda would like to know that it will work with my setup.

Skip

I don't think it's overkill at all. On the contrary, I think the NG is the perfect solution for you. You don't have to point the remote anywhere in particular like you did with the two piece RCA model because the transmitter resides within the battery compartment. It should work fine with your Harmony 620 and I'm confident you'll find it's performance to be superior as well.

so will this work with the MX-980 and windows7 Media center?

No, it doesn't work with remotes that use rechargeable battery packs.

Has anyone tried it with a Harmony 700? Technically its rechargeable but it can use regular AA batteries.

I've used it with a Harmony 670 and it worked fine so I'm guessing that it'll work with the 700.