Two weeks ago I had Directv replace one of my two HR20’s with a Genie HR44/500 and added a Genie Mini C51-100. These are mounted in an equipment rack in my control room for my whole house AV system (Russound CAV6.6), and are controlled by IR repeaters. The HR44 is not responsive to the IR signals sent through the IR repeaters, so I am having to carry the new RC72 remote operating in RF mode only around with me to different rooms when I need to operate the HR44.Not satisfactory. I need help/advice in troubleshooting the problem to determine what isn’t working properly.
The HR20s worked well with the IR Repeaters and the Russound control panels. Always 100% responsive. The remaining HR20 is still working well. And the new Genie Mini also responds properly with the IR repeaters.But the new HR44 responds very intermittently (maybe 5% of the time) and only when I aim the IR remotes at an angle to the IR remote on the Russound. I should note that the IR remotes I am using are several different ones including Directv RC32, RC64, Harmony One.
So there appears to be something different about how this HR44 is operating.
It appears the blasted signal may contain more noise that the HR44 sees than did the older systems.If a signal from both the blaster and the remote are aimed at the HR44, it makes no response at all. Like the blaster is saturating the IR receiver in the HR44. I tried adding various resistances in series with the blaster lead (as recommended by Russound for the HR20), but it didn’t help as it did with the HR20. I also tried the blue painter’s tape, but that didn’t make any difference.
I also tried a device Russound made that goes in series with the IR blaster lead that filters out the 40KHz component and only passes the 56KHz component. Apparently the Russound takes an input signal and sends it out at both carrier frequencies for some reason. They developed this device for problems encountered with satellite receivers other than Directv ones. Thought I’d see if it helped, but no difference.
Also, if I use any of the remotes directly to the HR44, it works better, but not 100% of the time.Sometimes it only responds if I wait 5 seconds before a second keypress.
The frustrating thing is that I don’t have any way to diagnose the problem by looking at the difference in the signals of the pure remote vs the blaster output to see what might be present that is interfering with the HR44’s ability to decipher the IR codes.Is it low signal, large signal that saturates the receiver, noise that saturates the receiver, wrong frequencies of modulation, or what. I have a scope, but no detector to see what IR light is coming out to compare. Any ideas on the diagnostics?
I would like to try a different Genie HR44 to see if this one has a defective IR receiver, but am not sure how to get Directv to do that. I called the trouble desk, but she had a hard time understanding what an IR repeater was. She said I should go to Best Buy and ask. But I will also check with some Home Theater people I know to see if they have encountered any similar problems.
I checked this forum and saw a couple other people with very similar problems. One solution was the blue tape, but another’s issue was never resolved. Has anyone else encountered this problem?