Best IR/iTach options

I am very impressed with your application and it's ease of setup and use. Some time ago I tried to set up a competitor's application and became quickly disenchanted by the complex "rules" req'd for even a few devices.

Now I have my three basic DirecTV receivers all working well and two AVRs (Yamaha and Onkyo), I need to order at least two iTachs for two of the rooms, probably three to include the bedroom, maybe four if I decide to control the kids TV room.

Because of the need for all these iTachs I would really like to use a more "portable" IR but I use an iPhone 5 (lightning connector). I read about the L5 end of life.... Is there any chance a better portable IR solution may be able to replace the L5?

Assuming the answer to a portable blaster is "NO" then I'm a bit overwhelmed by the other iTach options. Don't really know which is "best" ...I can almost certainly reach most of the stacked components with an ethernet cable, but the Theater projector is on the ceiling in the middle of a room (kind of far from the "rack). Starting with the most complex Theater room I would like to control -

Yamaha RX-A1010 AVR (seems to be working great with IP Control)

DTV receiver (seems to be working great with IP Control)

Panasonic PT-AE2000u (IR, but I belive it can work with serial)

ButtKicker Amplifier (IR)

X10 Lighting controls (IR, but I would consider replacing as X10 is flaky)

Windows based HTPC (not sure how this will work with Roomie,if at all)

PS4 (I realize not available at this time)

For the Living Room -

Onkyo TX-NR807 AVR (seems to be working great with IP Control)

DTV receiver (seems to be working great with IP Control)

Visio 65" "SmartTV" I forget the model number but despite being internet enabled (smart) it seems to be missing IP controls, thus I assume IR only....

For the Bedroom

DTV receiver (seems to be working great with IP Control)

Another Visio TV, not smart at all, need IR control

The "kids room" would have -

DTV receiver (should work with IP)

Older rear projection Mitsubishi TV (IR)

Onkyo Blu Ray player (IR)

Some cheap generic DVD player (IR)

Is there an economical way to cover all of these devices?

The L5 company is in fact now out of business, so there's nothing to be done about them.

We're not presently aware of any lightning IR dongles in the market or forthcoming. In general the iTach Flex is now so small and simple that it would seem to qualify as both portable and cheap as well.

Components on ceilings can usually be best addressed either by the blaster pointing to it (the blaster has a roughly 20-30 foot range), or by placing a dedicated iTach WiFi right at the projector location. If you do use a dedicated iTach like that, you could potentially go serial.

If you're interested in more elaborate wiring solutions, there is also the option of consolidating by using inside wiring running CAT5 to a central location splicing in emitters as needed from an IR distribution block. You may be able to reduce the number of iTachs needed that way at the expense of extra effort on wiring.

Thank you.

Thanks, as much as the word elaborate frightens me a bit, I'd like to understand it before I rule it out.

How far can the emitter cords run? what kind of wiring does it use?

i.e. would a central block for the whole home work with emitters running to various rooms?

 

 

Emitter cables can run hundreds of feet. That's one reason splicing them into CAT5 and basically doing inside wiring of emitter cables can work well.

Yes, an iTach connected with a GC-CGX cable to a Xantech distribution block centrally would work fine. However, note that you're then using only one or few discrete outputs. So if for instance you have 5 rooms and each room has a Motorola cable box, that wont work because you need a minimum of 5 discrete outputs. Each iTach is capable of 3 discrete outputs. So the question of inside wiring and the question of how many iTachs you need at the central wiring box are separate.

Thank you.

For your theatre room you could try a wi-fi itach sitting on top of the projector - you won't see it. Use an emitter from port 1 to place over top of Panasonic ir eye which is on front of projector. Use port 3 plus the blaster and aim it at your stack of ir components. I do that and beam to an an Apple TV and older blu-ray player about 15 feet away at a right angle to the projector.

I have a Panasonic PT-AE4000 and a Yamaha RX-V667 in my theater. I ran a trigger from the IR output of the Yamaha to the projector, so an AVR power-on will turn on the projector and off as well. Since all the equipment is in a separate room, this made for a simple install.

I also have an X-10 lighting system (wall switches for ceiling cans). The Lights Off command works but I can't find a Lights On command.

Good luck!

Thanks for the help, I haven't given up yet, but as you may have heard Lansing MI was hard hit by IceStorm2013 on 12/21, we were without power until 12/26, thus remotes controls were somewhat of a useless luxury when heat and survival became priorities.

Thankfully a Spartan Rose Bowl victory yesterday has us returning to a post blackout normal life.

I didn't realize the Yamaha has an IR output, and I'm having a hard time learning about it via Google. Does anyone know if it could work as a blaster to control multiple IR devices? or just a single device? I haven't even seen the IR Output" port...

If I go the way of central distribution through an Xantech distribution block, am I correctly understanding I would wire an iTach into the block and then from the block to the emitters? Thus I'm not sure if it would save me much if any $$$ as I'd have to buy the distribution block and the iTach(s)? and do all the referenced wiring?

Actually the Yamaha's output is a trigger voltage, not IR. My projector has the option to be powered by the state of the trigger.

Stay warm!