What's new

Remote not working for HD Cable Box (1 Viewer)

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
First off let me list my Home theater in the case that anything could possibly be causing this problem.

Harmon Kardon AVR 230
Bose Acoustimass 10 speakers
Sony 43" HDTV 4:3
Xbox 360

Not the best system but I'm new here and this forum would probably of greatly influenced my buying decisions and will from now on.

My problem is that my Motorola, HD, dual tuner, DVR box remote has had issues since I have had the box. At my old house the box was about 3 ft away and to the left of the TV and receiver. The receiver sat underneath the tv on the stand that the TV sits on. The shelves are glass if that possibly matters. At the old house the remote worked decent but sporadically would have to press multiple times before it would kick in.

Now I have bought a new house. When I set up the Home Theater I decided it would look better to have the cable box on the shelve above the receiver, located under neath the TV. After everything was wired I noticed the remote for the box wasn't working, as I got about 2 inches away it worked. I called Insight and they sent someone out. He didn't understand why it wouldn't work but decided to pull it out and position it away from the TV and receiver. It worked fine, so I out it over in the A/V stand to the right of my TV. There it worked great if you were on the right side of the TV, however from the left( crossing the TV and receiver) it would barely work and needed multiple presses before anything would happen. So after 6 months or so I decided to switch places with receiver and cable box and clean and organize my wires.

After the switch the remote began not working again from any where but 2 inches away from the Box. After smashing the remote against the floor I called Insight and set up for them to come and fix it. The tech switched out my box and remote, still didn't work unless very close. The tech tried pulling the box out a bit from the shelf so that an inch or so is hanging over the glass shelf. We could get it to work about four feet away and then she told me " well the remote have a certain range and off she went.

After she left I noticed the remote also controlled my TV without me programming it, just pressing the TV button. Then I had my wife stand in front of the TV to block the TV's remote sensor, and the remote for the cable box would work from anywhere. By the way my lvingroom is 19ft long and 4 ft is not enough range, also the remote works the TV from anywhere also.

So I just need some input and Ideas from you guys on what I should do. Insight dosn't care. It took about 2 hours for me to clean and move all my equipment and wires but would only take minutes to move the box now. The only problem with that is that everything would be on my A/V stand and the $200 matching stand I bought for my TV would be only for looks and look bad with nothing underneath it. I believe that the TV, or glass shelves must be causing the interference, since moving the receiver had no effect. Pleas help. Thanks.
 

mylan

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,741
I have this same box through Charter cable and I have noticed that the remote is extremely directional. I have mine behind a steel black mesh salamander cabinent and I had to hold my arm up and point it down at the box. I dropped the shelf it sat on about six inches and I have no further trouble. If anything gets between your remote and the eye, in my case my ottoman or my feet, it would not work.
Make sure the remote has been programmed to operate your tv. You could be turning the box off when the tv comes on and vice versa.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
I don't use the Box remote for thew TV, just that I noticed it will work with it. I will however try dropping th ebox to the bottome shelve a few mor inches away from the TV. I post the results. Or could it be because it is to close to the floor already, and I did notice that the remote MUST be pointed directly at the box to work no matter what, thanks.
 

mylan

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,741
You need to use the cable box remote to change channels on your tv unless you have it programmed to operate the cable box/DVR because when you connect the box you tune the tv to channel 3 or 4 and leave it there.
You can use the tv remote to adjust color, etc. just let the DVR do everything else. Since the DVR remote has all the functions, I don't know why you wouldn't use it.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
you misunderstand, the cable box is HD therefore it is hooked up through component cables. I only use the TV remote to change the video input on the TV, and that function is programmed into my reciever remote. Also the DVR and the cable box are one in the same, its cable not satellite, so I have dual tuners, HD, and DVR funtions all in the same box under control of the same remote. Also the box is what changes channels not the TV, and as sson as my wife finishes watching Y+R I will try moving the box to the bottom shelf.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
All right I just moved it to the bottome shelf and no change. It must be the TV interfering with the remotes signal. Why in the world would a cable box interfere with the device it was designed to interface with? Any comments are welcome.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
I have traced the source of the problem....it is interference from the TV, must be infared. My TV is a rear projection. I used a lid to one of our rubermaid storage boxes we had out to cover the bottom half of the TV, basically just the speaker area were the power button and 2 leds light, and access panel for manual funtions are at. I still don't understand why it would be interfering with the remote signal from the cable box. Help please.
 

mylan

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,741
No, I didn't missunderstand, I was under the impression you were trying to change channels with the tv remote, which would get the DVR remote out of whack. You said

I have the same Motorola DVR as you.
Make sure the tv is on the same input as the DVR is connected, like input 5, not "antenna" since it will have no component connections on its ins/outs.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
Sorry Mylan, were are not on the same page. When I said I don't use the box remote on the TV that meant that I only use it for changing channels through the cable box. Also the inputs are not in question but thanks for the input. A freind from Insight has told me he encountered LCD TV's that blast infared out of the screen nd interfere with the remotes infared. Why then they don't go RF like a Dish's remote is beyond me.
 

JeremyErwin

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2001
Messages
3,218
It sounds very much like a (3rd party) replacement remote is in your future. Have you considered a Harmony?
 

mylan

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,741
No, it appears we were not, I apologize. You can't imagine how many times i've gotten a call with "my so and so is broke" and it turns out to be something simple and operater error related. I tried to approach your problem the same way, simple first, then...go from there.
I have heard of some early plasma tv's with this problem but never an older model Sony set, perhaps a good universal remote is in order here. In the mean time, a piece of electrical tape over the tv remote eye should suffice. I would imagine the reason behind not going RF is cost, it seems to be a $200 option on most RF remotes, the Harmony 890 Pro being one. I guess the DVR/cable vendors figure only a small percentage of sets are affected and, unfortunately, yours is one.
On the plus side, now sounds like a good time to go widescreen;)
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
Very right Mylan. I Bought theis Sony about 4 years ago, so it is outdated. However I don't want to make a habit out of spending $2,000 every four years on a TV. I have however been looking at Sony's new 42" widescreen. Thanks for the help. I can't put tape over the remote sensor because it is'nt visible, it must be hidden behind the cloth of the speaker grill, and it is'nt removable. I also use the TV remote to switch betwwen the two component videos, and turning it on and off. My friend at Insight is working on it, but for now I going to google Harmony. Thanks guys.
 

Chad F.

Agent
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
26
All right, finally its fixed and working perfectly. The friend that is a Tech for Insight sent another tech down to see if there was anything we were overlooking. He shut the TV off and the box remote worked fine, proving my friends theory that the TV was blasting out infared signal that interfered with the remote for the box. Then we tried moving the box to different spota and found that as long as it was above the bottom half of the TV it worked great. So I moved it to the last remaing shelf on my AV tower, also occupied by my reciever, PS2, and Xbox 360. Now the stand under my TV is empty but I'm sure my wife will come up with something that looks good to put under there. Maybe a nice bra. HA ha.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,712
Messages
5,121,145
Members
144,147
Latest member
cennetkaralowa
Recent bookmarks
0
Top