[RandyWalters]

We have two Time Warner Cisco 8742HDC DVRs in the house. One responds to the remote quickly and isn't a problem, but the other one in my man-room has always been sluggish and slow to respond to commands from the original remote, and also when using my URC MX500 or URC R40 remotes. Not wanting to exchange it and lose hours of unwatched shows, i searched around and found a random post where a guy placed a Light Dims sticker over the IR sensor on his sluggish DVR and that solved the problem. I already had a pack of 50% Light Dims but couldn't find the IR sensor anywhere on the face of my DVR, then found a site with pictures of a disassembled unit which showed the sensor located in a blank area just to the right of the front USB port. The plastic panel over the sensor area doesn't look opaque but it apparently is.


I placed a square Light Dims sticker over the whole area right up to the edges and it actually worked!! I was skeptical, but for whatever reason it greatly speeds up the response time from my remotes. As a test, i removed the sticker and the DVR became sluggish again, then sped up when i put the sticker back on. This guy's Light Dims trick may work on other brands and models of DVR as well.


If you do this, get the "Original" Light Dims which are 50% light blocking (don't get the 100% versions because they completely block the light just like a square of black electrical tape does). The pack was about $3 at Fry's. Or you can buy them directly from their website. I use the 50% Light Dims on the power indicator light on my Plasma TVs (one sticker didn't dim the light enough, so i put a 2nd one over the first one and now it's just a dull glow that is barely noticeable). I also put a big one over the clock portion of my Cisco DVR to tame it down a little, and i also use them on an alarm clock that's too bright as well as my AV Receiver power light, on a PC monitor, and various other TVs around the house. Some of my LCD TVs required two or three layers to make a light dark enough. The good thing about these is that they are static-cling so they don't leave any sticky residue on the surfaces.



Here are some links. The Light Dims TV ad is intentionally campy, but the product works great.


Taking a Look Inside the Cisco 8742HDC:
http://samkear.com/hardware/cisco-8742hdc-cable-box


Link to Cisco 8700 series manual:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/video/at_home/Set-Tops/8000_STTs/4038345C.pdf


Light Dims:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=COsz5kRC_JE

http://lightdims.com/

http://lightdims.com/tvad.htm?PHPSESSID=afdb265d465ab355c5a33e3ece3c14d0





The IR Sensor is the little black square thingy to the right of the front USB port:

 

[domino92024]



Quote:
Originally Posted by RandyWalters  /t/1524059/is-your-cisco-8742hdc-dvr-sluggish-and-slow-to-respond-to-the-remote#post_24522449


We have two Time Warner Cisco 8742HDC DVRs in the house. One responds to the remote quickly and isn't a problem, but the other one in my man-room has always been sluggish and slow to respond to commands from the original remote, and also when using my URC MX500 or URC R40 remotes. [....snip]

The offending light is coming from your TV. No kidding. To test this, turn OFF your TV. Remote sluggishness will vanish.

 

[RandyWalters]



Quote:
Originally Posted by domino92024  /t/1524059/is-your-cisco-8742hdc-dvr-sluggish-and-slow-to-respond-to-the-remote/0_60#post_24526109


The offending light is coming from your TV. No kidding. To test this, turn OFF your TV. Remote sluggishness will vanish.

The guy who posted the Light Dims trick last year also said it was his Panasonic Plasma TV (i think he had a VT60 or ZT60) that was causing his sluggishness, but when i came across his post i had already previously ruled out my TV as being the cause. I remember seeing other reports over the years that someone's bright TV screen was causing light interference or RF interference with IR sensors and so on so one of my experiments was to run a long HDMI cable to the 13" LCD TV monitor i have on my desk in the far corner of the room and left my 55ST60 Plasma turned off, but it made no improvement in this 8742HDC's sluggishness. This same 8742HDC was also sluggish with the 50GT50 i had before replacing it with the 55ST60 in my man-room.


Alternately, the good 8742HDC in our den works fine underneath our 46G10, and worked fine under the 42PX50 we had there previously. I'd even gone so far as to swap DVRs from room to room a few times last year to see if it was something in the man-room causing the problem, but the good DVR also worked fine under my 55ST60 and 50GT50, and the sluggish one was just as sluggish when it was under the 46G10 and the previous 42PX50 so it's definitely a problem with that particular 8742HDC (which we got over a year after getting the original good one). I'm thinking maybe it's an issue with it's IR sensor.


Nonetheless, i'm just glad that guy's Light Dims trick "fixed" my DVR. My primary DVR in the man-room is my Tivo S3, but i have the 8742HDC sitting right next to it and use it as a secondary recorder, and that sluggishness when i did use it was irritating,