Ing... I don't think your way of comparing IR codes is a valid or even useful test.

Clearly some IR emitters are BRIGHTER (stronger) than others. This added brightness helps ensure their commands will travel longer distances. Two candles are visible from farther away than one candle. It has nothing to do with how the remote controls the device. If brightness was the problem, then we could prove it by simply getting farther and farther away from a device until it worked. Since brightness is so variable, it is unlikely that devices are very sensitive to it. The remote has to work within a range of IR brightness (and ignore that brightness) since the remote may vary considerably in how close it is to the device when used.

The speed (frequency) at which an IR code sequence is emitted varies widely and the contents of that sequence can vary wildly. A visual or audible representation of the IR sequence would appear as one or a few "flashes" or "beeps", but is actually a pattern of bits (ON and OFF) of a certain length at a certain frequency.

A device, for example, may be set to look for IR codes coming to it at "X" frequency. When it sees IR sequences at it's programmed frequency, it notes their pattern. The pattern may be 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, whatever, bits long. This pattern can be converted from the binary bits to represent the device type (DVD, TV, VCR, etc.), and a number (usually 0 to 255) that refers to a specific function instruction of the device. The rest of the pattern is for error checking and termination (telling the device that this code stops here).

Devices require some "ONCE ONLY" codes like OPEN/CLOSE TRAY or OFF, and some "repetitive" codes like VOL UP and VOL DN. You press OPEN/CLOSE TRAY for your DVD player and you only want the tray to do one thing, Open or close, EVEN IF YOU KEEP HOLDING DOWN THE REMOTE BUTTON. You hit the VOL buttons and you want the Volume of your TV to keep changing until you release the button.

The "ONCE ONLY" functions may still be sent multiple times by the cinema remote, in an attempt to ensure that the device sees at least ONE of them. Most devices can handle this, simply ignoring redundant commands until a "break" has occured between them. The few devices discovered that work with their original remotes but NOT reliably with the Cinema's commands are getting a cleaner (once only, with a pause) version of the IR sequence from their own remote than they get from the Cinema. The visual or audible representations of these two DIFFERENT IR sequences would appear nearly the same. The difference would not be discernable by the human eye or ear. The BRIGHTNESS would, but the content of the code would not.

As I stated before, my Pronto and the Prontoedit software that works with it allow me to "SEE" a representation of the IR code sequence learned by the Pronto. It is easy to compare these sequences between devices, and between the specific codes for a particular device. Different device manufacturers (Sony, Pioneer, Yamaha, etc.) use different frequencies. Sony is pretty good in its function code set to keep the same codes working the same function in different devices. But other companies prescribe different numbers to the device functions.

In any case, I have often seen two or more very different appearning IR code sequences that still work the same function on a device. When analized, the sequences usually vary ONLY in the number of times the basic minimum pattern is repeated. Codes learned from the Cinema are notoriously LONGER than the "same" function learned from most original device remotes.

I think the Cinema just doesn't have a pure enough version of the IR command for some more sensitive device's functions to work reliably.


Sorry, Ing. Keep trying, though. Between us we'll master the beast.

Dave ;-)