Multi-zone IR - Anyone using the Xantech 795-20?

[sic0048]

Here is a little background on my situation. I am building out my parents A/V system currently. I'm using CQC to control most devices, but want to use plain IR remotes as the interface at all TV locations. There are 7 definite TV locations and perhaps 2 more TV locations will be added at some point. What I need is a way to capture the IR signals at those locations and output them to my USB-UIRT which acts as a gateway between the IR system and the CQC system.

Currently I have 2 IR receivers hooked up in parallel to a single zone Xantech block. There is a single emitter which is stuck onto the USB-UIRT receiver. This system works fine right now, but my concern is what might happen when we start to add more IR receivers.

My biggest concern is that there might be times where someone is trying to use the remote at the same time in two different locations. There is also the added chance of interference the more IR receivers I add to the system. So my thought is to add a Xantech 795-20 Multizone block to the system.

I guess my real question is this.... If the block receives an IR signal from more than one zone at a time, will it output those commands in a logical order? For example, if the block receives an IR signal "AAAA" from zone A and "BBBB" from zone B at the same time, is it smart enough to output "AAAA BBBB" to the common emitters or will it jumble the signal up like "AABABBAAB"? The manual says something about "The 795-20 utilizes active isolation devices for elimination of internal zone-to-zone crosstalk as well as high speed amplification to the common output ports for operation with a wide range of IR controlled products," but I wanted to verify what that means.

Thanks,

 

[Dumetre]

While I cant help with your specific question I can tell you that when I was trying to figure out how to do the same thing I decided to do a single connecting block and emitter/receiver per zone. I decided to go that route so that I didnt have a single point of failure that would result in the whole system going down. What happens now if you have an issue with CQC, the box it is on or the USB-UIRT? If you separate the IR remote control from the CQC control you have a backup should something go sideways on you.

Here is a little background on my situation. I am building out my parents A/V system currently. I'm using CQC to control most devices, but want to use plain IR remotes as the interface at all TV locations. There are 7 definite TV locations and perhaps 2 more TV locations will be added at some point. What I need is a way to capture the IR signals at those locations and output them to my USB-UIRT which acts as a gateway between the IR system and the CQC system.

Currently I have 2 IR receivers hooked up in parallel to a single zone Xantech block. There is a single emitter which is stuck onto the USB-UIRT receiver. This system works fine right now, but my concern is what might happen when we start to add more IR receivers.

My biggest concern is that there might be times where someone is trying to use the remote at the same time in two different locations. There is also the added chance of interference the more IR receivers I add to the system. So my thought is to add a Xantech 795-20 Multizone block to the system.

I guess my real question is this.... If the block receives an IR signal from more than one zone at a time, will it output those commands in a logical order? For example, if the block receives an IR signal "AAAA" from zone A and "BBBB" from zone B at the same time, is it smart enough to output "AAAA BBBB" to the common emitters or will it jumble the signal up like "AABABBAAB"? The manual says something about "The 795-20 utilizes active isolation devices for elimination of internal zone-to-zone crosstalk as well as high speed amplification to the common output ports for operation with a wide range of IR controlled products," but I wanted to verify what that means.

Thanks,

 

[sic0048]

Well I emailed Xantech and got a very quick reply. Here is what they said.

, the commands depend on when they are sent. The first command will be sent when it hits the block. The second command would be sent when the first one is finished. If both commands are sent at the same time, it will be the command that gets there electrically first.
The isolation that you are mentioning is between the zone emitter outputs, not the common. This means the zone emitter outputs will not have any crosstalk between them.

It sounds like the 795-20 will work exactly how I need. I just need to make sure IR signals from multiple zones do not get mixed together.

 

[dpilati]

Argh. I have the block and you can have it. The problem is interference. Unless you pay the $200 each for interference resistant receivers, you will likely have problems with interference. I tried the $100 plasma resistant receivers and they don't work with my equipment. They are supposedly adjustable but I couldn't get them to work and Xantech customer support, while nice were less than helpful. They just pushed me into the $200 item. I have an LCD TV and an LED and CFL's, but even with masking, shutting off CFL's - I just can't get even 2 receivers to work together. One works fine but I can't imagine hooking up all 4 zones.

Don't do it....That is my advice unless all your TVs are CRTs and all your lights are incandescent and you have no sunlight.

I've wasted so much time and money on this that I want to share my experience - however unhelpful it is.

Go RF (although I haven't tried this yet).

 

[felixrosbergen]

Thanks..dpilati... i had been concerned about interference but didnt know it could be that much of an issue.

For LED tv's do they still produce interference?

I'm still contemplating the whole setup myself and not excited at all about trying to make it work. 3 TV locations or 'zones' here.