I currently have a single IR blaster which is driven by an Avant. I would like to add a second, so that I can have both a DTD and a Satellite decoder connected at the same time (one on SAT, the other on V.AUX). As I'm planning the layout at the moment, can anyone tell me: are the IR blasters available with a variety of cable lengths, or do they all come with the same length?

Mark

Bang & Olufsen have an IR-Y adaptor part number 7229212. The two jack sockets are colour coded, one is chrome the other is gold. This enables you to differentiate between STB (V.AUX) and STB (SAT).

The Bang & Olufsen emitter cables are a standard length but I'm sure that you could source other lengths from Xantech possibly?

Hope that helps.

Opman

Oh! I didn't realise that the outputs were different. I'd assumed that the two emitters simply went in parallel, so I would need (for example) to avoid having two Humax boxes, but instead have a Topfield and a Humax, to avoid the control signals getting mixed up. If the splitter provides different signals to each emitter, that problem goes away.

Do you have any experience of using non-B&O IR blasters? I've noticed that a few people make them, but have little idea of what is compatible with what.

Mark

deaddruid:

Oh! I didn't realise that the outputs were different. I'd assumed that the two emitters simply went in parallel, so I would need (for example) to avoid having two Humax boxes, but instead have a Topfield and a Humax, to avoid the control signals getting mixed up. If the splitter provides different signals to each emitter, that problem goes away.

You can have two boxes that are the same, you just need to remeber which is configured to V.AUX and which is SAT/DTV etc.

The splitter is simply a jack plug adaptor with two sockets on the back.

Opman

Surely not! If the same signals go to each box, then I need to ensure that they have different command sets, to avoid them responding to the same commands. Otherwise, when I tell one to record channel 2, the other will also record channel 2.

Mark

The IR transmitters are quite low powered. If you just tape them over the receiver as usual so there's no direct line of sight, the other box certainly won't see the wrong transmitter.

I think that the confusion here is over the Y adaptor. Does the STB-C output have a "mono" jack socket (two connections) or a "stereo" socket (three connections). If the former, then both boxes will get the same signals. If the latter, then they can have separate data.

I had thought the Avant output was of the former type. Is it actually of the latter?

Mark

I see what you mean, I didn't think of that and have no first hand experience.

I checked one Avant service manual at random, and it specifically mentions a stereo jack, and the wiring diagrams show two separate signals, so I'd put my money on that it will work. You should be able to confirm that in practice even with just a single STB and no splitter; it should only respond to either SAT or V.AUX even if you configure the same STB type on both.

Good point. I'll give it a try tonight.

Mark

I can testify that this works as long as your Avant is a 32" version. The 28" chassis doesn't allow two STB to be connected.

Opman

PS can anybody tell me what size pictures I should be uploading?

Opman:

PS can anybody tell me what size pictures I should be uploading?

There's no hard limit I guess, but if you keep the width to some 720 pixels or below, the dreadful horizontal scrollbar won't be needed.

Thanks for the exact answer to the problem - I think it was indeed a 32" RF manual I found on the site

It's a 32" RF VCR, so this all looks good. Thank you all for being so helpful.

Mark