Paging Global Cache Users

[kertofer]

Hey guys, I am looking into using the Global Cache stuff as IR control for my Media Room so that I can interface it with HomeSeer, but I am a little unclear on a couple of things wrt the different Global Cache models. I see the iTach family or IR blasters has 3 IR ports, so I assume it can control 3 devices. I have 4 in my room (PS3, 360, Receiver and TV) and possibly adding a cable box down the road to make it 5. I am not really sure what makes the GC-100 better than the iTach considering to control all of my devices I would need a GC-100-12 or 2 iTachs, 2 iTachs being cheaper. In all my other rooms that I may want to use these in down the road a single iTach would be plenty (One room has just a TV and cable box and the other has a TV, Cable box and DVD player), unless there is a reason to use the GC-100-06 instead?

Can someone help me out and give me a little dish on why I should look at going one way or the other?

 

[signal15]

Hey guys, I am looking into using the Global Cache stuff as IR control for my Media Room so that I can interface it with HomeSeer, but I am a little unclear on a couple of things wrt the different Global Cache models. I see the iTach family or IR blasters has 3 IR ports, so I assume it can control 3 devices. I have 4 in my room (PS3, 360, Receiver and TV) and possibly adding a cable box down the road to make it 5. I am not really sure what makes the GC-100 better than the iTach considering to control all of my devices I would need a GC-100-12 or 2 iTachs, 2 iTachs being cheaper. In all my other rooms that I may want to use these in down the road a single iTach would be plenty (One room has just a TV and cable box and the other has a TV, Cable box and DVD player), unless there is a reason to use the GC-100-06 instead?

Can someone help me out and give me a little dish on why I should look at going one way or the other?

You should be able to control more than 3 devices with the 3 port box. For example, IR codes sent for one brand of TV should be ignored by another. I don't have one yet. I would contact the manufacturer to see what they say. The limitation of the GC-100 is only one connection at a time. So if you have multiple iPhone users with iRule, then this might be a problem.

 

[kertofer]

Yeah, I am leaning towards the iTach WF2IR as long as I can get it setup to run all of my devices. As much as I would like to have a separate emitter channel for each device the only way to do that is to either buy 2 of these or get the GC-100-12 which seems like overkill if I can just use a splitter/IR blaster to accomplish what I want. My needs are pretty simple in this, I want to be able to setup a scene in Homeseer so that when I trigger the scene it turns off the overhead lights, turns on a couple of small dim lights and then triggers the GC unit to turn on the home theater devices and setup my options for me. Then use my HSTouch devices as a remote control for the devices.

Sound doable?

 

[tmbrown97]

One real easy way to look at it - when you use your remote in a room, it doesn't make everything go haywire. A lot of times you can get split emitters that take one plug on the jack but have 2-3 emitters on the end that you can stick to 2-3 separate devices.

I haven't played with any of these yet so I could be completely wrong in how I interpreted things... but I've done some IR repeating and things like that in the past so I'm used to how that works... this is on my list as I want a way to sense if the downstairs TV is on, and if so, turn it off when I hit the "downstairs off" button - and maybe something similar in the Master when you press the "Master Exit" button on the wall.

 

[apostolakisl]

I have the wf2ir and it works very well.

It has three ports allowing you to specify which port you want any particular command to be outputted to (you have to specify this when you learn the code). Only one port can have the blaster, the other two will have low power ir.

The standard GC units have inputs/outputs. If you only need IR, you don't need the other models. Also, the wf2ir has a built in learner, the other models require that you spend another $100 on a learner.

It isn't too tough to set up but will take a while if you want to teach it a lot of codes. Once you learn the codes you will need to enter them into something capable of outputting them via tcp back to the unit. I use my ISY99. I write programs so that when I push Insteon buttons around the houase it will do things to my AV stuff.

 

[kertofer]

All valid points, I have a Universal remote now that runs macro's to set everything up and it works properly. This tells me that Work2Play is dead on, there are not overlapping IR commands in my separate units. This being said what I will probably do is use one of the separate lines for the TV, one for the receiver and then hook up a blaster to port 3 which will be split to relay commands for the other devices (PS3, 360 and Cable Box) since they are never used all at the same time.

Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[apostolakisl]

Chewie,

I just read your second post. I don't know why you want one dedicated emitter output for each piece of equipment you have. If they are all in the same cabinet, the blaster will get everything. If you have two of the exact same device, use the low power emitter and put one on output 1 and the other on 2 sticking the LED IR emitter directly to the equipment IR "eye". Each of the low power emitters has a double end on it so it could be stuck to two devices (but not if they are using the same IR commands, must use separate outputs for this).

When you learn the code you specify which of the three ports you want it outputted to. It is very simple to change that setting as you will quickly realize which term it is in the command code and can be manually changed (just change a 2 to 3 or whatever) without having to relearn the code.

Just be prepared to teach this thing all of your IR codes. You won't find any libraries, and if you do, please let me know! There is a software download that converts other code formats (Hex) to their style, but I found it to be more work than just learning them. The only thing I don't like is volume control, I have not figured out how to output IR for variable amounts of time (as long as you hold a button) for volume up/down. You can get different lengths of output, but each time you send that "code" to the itach it sends it for the length of time it is programmed for. The TCP just sends the predefined length each time. You could teach it multiple codes for volume up (for example) with each one being for a different amount of time, but that is not very practical.

 

[tmbrown97]

Idle curiousity - I saw something indicating that each of the 3 ports could be set as either a sensor input or an IR output... That seemed to indicate that it could accept sensors such as a video sensor or light sensor or other; is that true? If so that'd be the ultimate - be able to detect if the TV is on first, then know if I'm turning it off or not.

 

[apostolakisl]

Idle curiousity - I saw something indicating that each of the 3 ports could be set as either a sensor input or an IR output... That seemed to indicate that it could accept sensors such as a video sensor or light sensor or other; is that true? If so that'd be the ultimate - be able to detect if the TV is on first, then know if I'm turning it off or not.

It is true, but I have no idea how to work it. The finer points of this unit are way over my head. Here is the API, if you can understand it!

http://www.globalcache.com/files/docs/API-iTach.pdf

I think most of these features are to be used by an application that you would buy and would include directions on how to hook it up.