[sdumas]

I bought a Barco Data 801s on Ebay for $1,075. It works great. Of course there was no remote control that came with it...


So I called the local distributor in Montreal to get a remote control for it... I fell off my chair. They wanted to have $500 (CDN mind you) for a remote control ... I don't think so Tim...


So here is my question.


I have a Denon RC8000 remote control. Does anyone know of a trick/way to get the proper codes for the Barco remote into my Denon remote?


I have another question which I posted on the HTPC forum, but may be more appropriate on this one, so here it goes:


My image coming from my HTPC is very soft and seemed out of focus (Main PC only - Image from PowerDVD is very crisp and clear) characters are out of focus and difficult to read. I am using a Radeon 7200 64M SDR with a HD15 to 5 BNCs connector.


Would a different cable be better; ie HD15 to DB9? I need to have 25' to 30' to connect to the HTPC.


Any suggestions, comments?


Thanks


Sylvain Dumas

 

[ESantos]

Sylvain,


I have the same PJ and I don't think that the 801s comes with a remote. There is of course the on-board remote at the back of the unit, but I think that is it. My solution was that I programmed my Philips Pronto with all the codes. They are available at Remote Central . I didn't even have to go through the reomote learning them I just used those supplied by the web site.


Another possible solution is to contact Curt Palme on this forum. He sells Barco parts as well as complete PJs.


About the soft image of your Windows desktop. I think this is just a result of higher resolutions with this PJ. Movies look very sharp but my desktop is a little soft too. Try running at 640x480 and you should see things sharpen up on your desktop but I don't think you will want to run this low for movies. The 801s supposedly uses Sony tubes which have a tendency to have a slight softness.

 

[RVonse]

I have a Barco 800 and faced the same situation with not having a remote and needing one bad. In my situation, the Barco keypad was extremely unhandy because the projector was right up against the back wall and the only was to get at the keypad was to take the cover down. I am pretty sure my projector uses the same remote as yours. Anyway, I took the cover off and noticed that the wired keypad built in was actually a real remote with parts missing. So I took it down (comes unplugged) took it apart and discovered that there is not really that much missing to make it a real remote. The keypad already has and uses the main chip that drives the remote codes. Basically what is missing is the IR diodes and their NPN driver transistors. Also is missing is the 9 volt battery socket. I went to radio shack, bought the components, and soldered them in (the printed circuit already had the holes drilled and foil was present). It was not that bad of job. After I got up the courage, I pressed one of the buttons and it actually worked as a wireless remote! More importantly, I did not smoke the chip so that I could not control the projector at all. So after I learned my AV remote, I then plugged it back into the projector, and it is probably the only Barco keypad that also transmits IR. I do not even use the barco control pad anymore, but I know I will have to depend on it again after my AV remote batteries get old and lose the program.


If it helps you, I would be happy to program your AV remote on mine if you ship it to me with money to pay for shipping back to you.


I also notice that my Barco focus appears much more focused when I watch 15K composite video from DVD's but that the vga video at 33K is much more silky and film like but also appears blurry. I am not sure if this is an optical illusion in that I can no longer see sharp raster lines and dot crawl or if it is just reaching the limits of what my projector can successfully resolve. I can't say because I have never seen anything else except my own projector.

 

[Curt Palme]

I'm out of remotes, but I usually extend the 3 wires of the wired remote up to 50' or so with no problems. Don't get the wires crossed though, in most units all 3 are yellow..


Curt

 

[DarrinLinders]

Hi Sylvain,


After having Curt over the other night and talking about the softness of the desktop image (Barco Data 801s with GeForce256DDR based HTPC) I was getting at [email protected], I decided to try something. I hacked the registry to allow a custom resolution of [email protected] The difference was quite noticeable. My scanrate lowered, of course, to 49.9KHz (which gave a bit more headroom, compared to 54.7KHz for 1280x720), but what I really noticed was the brightness of the picture definitely increased (allowing me to lower my settings for contrast down to 45, and brightness to 35), and even the desktop now appears sharper. I haven't noticed a degradation in picture quality of DVD playback, but it does appear sharper. I have obviously come that much closer to the PJ's "sweet spot".


Hope this helps.


Cheers!


Darrin

 

[ESantos]

Darrin,


666, huh? Your machine now has the mark of the beast!!!

 

[kal]

I'm with Bob: My BG800 didn't come with a wireless remote so I took an old 25' coiled headphone entension cable and wired it to the built-in remote (which I removed). I then drilled a hole in the front metal panel mounted to the convergence PCB and mounted a 1/4" headphone jack. This way I can plug and unplug the 25' wired remote as needed.


Haven't used it much lately as I now use a Pronto... but the wired remote's great if I ever sell the thing.


Kal

 

[DarrinLinders]

Ernesto,


LOL! Yeah, I thought of that! My nickname for my PJ is Medusa, so I guess it fits...


Cheers!


Darrin

 

[tixin]

Curt, kal...


Can you guys post a detailed how-to for extending the wires of the remote control, specifically how to safely remove the wired remote? It sounds like an interesting little project, but I sure don't want to break anything while trying to do it. Thanks.


tixin.

 

[kal]

Tixin,


No detailed instructions are possible really - it's really very trivial for anyone with a minimum knowledge of electronics, but having some sort of basic electronics understanding is required though.

If you're uncomfortable about this or don't understand then PLEASE don't touch anything.


That being said, simply extend the 3 existing wires using whatever means are appropriate for you and what extra wire you can find lying around. You'll need 3 wires total. I used a 25' coiled headphone extension cable that I had lying around as it had 3 wires (Left, Right and Ground). The 3 wires come out of the remote and attach to the main chassis via a little plug.

Unplug this connector, then unmount the remote from the chassis by unscrewing it, cut the 3 wires in the middle and the solder on 3 extension wires. You'll probably want to use some sort of strain relief to avoid the weight of the extension cable from pulling on the connectors at the projector and in the remote. I went an extra step and mounted a simple plug the projector so that I could plug/unplug the remote as needed. Anything with 3 or more connectors will work. Since I used a headphone cable, a 1/4" stereo headphone jack was the logical choice for me. My BG800 works fine without the built-in remote connected so I usually leave it disconnected as I use a Pronto for everyday use.


As I mentioned before - I hate to say it, but if you need more details then this then you probably shouldn't be attempting this yourself!


Kal

 

[kal]

Quote:

Originally posted by DarrinLinders After having Curt over the other night and talking about the softness of the desktop image (Barco Data 801s with GeForce256DDR based HTPC) I was getting at [email protected], I decided to try something. I hacked the registry to allow a custom resolution of [email protected] The difference was quite noticeable. My scanrate lowered, of course, to 49.9KHz (which gave a bit more headroom, compared to 54.7KHz for 1280x720), but what I really noticed was the brightness of the picture definitely increased (allowing me to lower my settings for contrast down to 45, and brightness to 35), and even the desktop now appears sharper. I haven't noticed a degradation in picture quality of DVD playback, but it does appear sharper. I have obviously come that much closer to the PJ's "sweet spot".

Darrin - have you performed the RF mods to your GeForce card? If not, part of the extra clarity may be because you're running at a lower bandwidth which doesn't get filtered quite as much. Though I'll be the first to admit that the jump from ~55Khz to 50Khz isn't a major one. I'll have to give your rez a try either way when I get the chance... I've been running my BG800 at [email protected] for the last 10 months.

 

[pegFACE]

It does have a remote, or my Barco 801s Data does anyway

 

[Bilbo]

I just programmed my "Cinema 7 - One For All" remote with comands for my Barco Remote. I put the standby button on 1L, Input 2 (S-Video) on 2L, and Input 3 (RGB, RCA DTC-100) on 3L.

This setup works like a charm. I had to assign these to the TV button.

 

[tixin]

kal,


Is the Pronto capable of learning the convergence code and perform like a real Barco remote? Thanks.


tixin.

 

[kal]

Tixin,


I'm not sure what the 'convergence code' is.


That being said, a "real" wireless barco remote has a bunch of buttons on it. All these buttons can be emulated by a Pronto, so if the "real" remote could do it, the Pronto can do it as well.


Kal

 

[tixin]

Thanks kal,


I'll get a Pronto to try it out. If it doesn't work, there is always Ebay . BTW, will an old TS1000 be adequate?


tixin.

 

[kal]

Quote:

Originally posted by tixin BTW, will an old TS1000 be adequate?

Yup! The newer models simply add more RAM (TS2000 = 2Mb, TS1000 = 1Mb) and colour (TS8000?)... not much in terms of increased functionality.


Unless you have a bazillion remotes you're trying to integrate or have 20 games, or a library of 50000 CD's you want to load up onto your Pronto, you don't need the extra RAM that the TS2000 offers.


Kal

 

[ESantos]

tixin,


I use the Pronto with the CCF file with all the Barco remote codes and I use this exculsively for all Barco adjustments for my 801s. It works great and I never use the onboard remote anymore (that also goes for adjustments as well as selecting video sources).