I have a very strange problem that I searched and searched on and cannot seem to find anyone having the same issue. I have a Gefen 4 x 1 DVI switcher connected to a DirecTV HD-TiVo HR10-250, a Samsung 930 DVD, and on Nov 22 an Xbox 360 all going to a 61" Samsung DLP. When ever I hit the down arrow on the remote it also changes the DVI switch to the next port. Before I got the HD-TiVo I had a similar problem with the non TiVo DirecTV HD receiver but the offending button was the number 7. I would just use the remote for the DVI switch to change it back to the correct port. I ended up training myself not to hit the 7 button and didn't have any more problems. I just got the HD-TiVo today and now the down arrow thing (Good news is I can use the 7 now). My immediate solution was to get a mechanical DVI switcher which is on the way but I am a little pissed off that I have what is esentially a $300 paper weight now. I would be willing to get a different brand just to have the remote function but I don't want to get one for fear they all use the same remote scheme. Any thoughts?

Just on the off chance that some of the IR experts show up in this thread, could you post the hex code you're learned for the switch as well as the offending button from the HD receiver?

Sounds like a plan. Here is the down arrow from the TiVo remote that changes the DVI switcher but shouldn't

0000 006D 0000 0022 00AC 00AC 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0680

Here is the actual DVI button from the DVI switcher remote.

0000 00A3 0026 0002 0026 0003 0001 0004 0005 0073 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 000E 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 002B 000E 03F1 00E6 0039 000E 098E 00E6 0039 000E 098E

Funny now that I look at it they don't seem the same at all yet it changes my DVI switcher every single time.

On a seperate note, I posted this same problem on a well known HDTV forum and it was suggested to go in and manually change the TiVo remote through the System Menus. I tried that and changed the remote ID from 1 to 9 and got pretty much the same results. Although some of the remote ID's changed the DVI switcher to 2 and some changed it to 4, go figure. Thanks for the help.

It sounds like your DVI switcher isn't very picky about the IR signals it accepts.

It may be possible to tweak the down arrow signal the Pronto sends so that it still works as down arrow, but doesn't affect the switcher. But that will take better understanding of what is happening now, plus a fair amount of experimentation.

First, several things are confusing me.

You learned down arrow from the Tivo remote to a Pronto and posted that code?

You posted a signal that matches the com3 signal for a Samsung TV, and matches nothing else in my large database of IR signals. Yet you say it is a Tivo down arrow signal?

Does the original Tivo remote down arrow have the effect on the switcher? Or the Pronto after learning that command? Or both?

The signal you posted for the DVI button isn't a good enough learn for me to figure out what it is supposed to be. Can you get a better learn of that?

They were all learned codes except for the discrete ones from my Sammy. The TiVo is the DirecTV HR10-250. I ended up solving this for myself though. It turns out that the DVI switcher is not real picky about the code it receives and the TiVo remote is not real picky about the ones it sends. So what I ended up doing was going through each key on each of the TiVo remotes for all of the remote ID's 1 thru 9 and finding the corresponding keys that did what they were supposed to do but didn't change the DVI switcher. Then I sent the TiVo remote and unit to ID 0 which accepts all codes from the remote. That way my Pronto is sending an accurate signal, the TiVo is accepting it and the DVI switcher isn't changing. For instance I have the down arrow on the TiVo remote from remote ID 2 and the select button from the TiVo remote ID 7 then I set the TiVo unit to accept all codes. That way the down arrow and select button both work but don't change the DVI switcher. Thank God I have this Pronto though there is no way I could have gotten it to work otherwise.

Thank God there are creative people like you to whom such answers occur! I never would have thought of that! And I never write with exclamation points!

Serially, though, I will REMEMBER this approach. What a GREAT IDEA!

I also have Gefen's DVI switcher. When I got one of their earlier production runs, half a dozen or so commands from other components' remote commands would cause the Gefen to switch DVI inputs. I complained and I got an upgraded version. The upgraded version has dip switches in the DVI switcher itself as well as the Gefen remote so that you can have 4 different sets of remote commands to choose from. I selected the one that minimized the chances of the DVI switcher responding to other compoments' remote commands. It's still not perfect, though. For example, the DVI switcher would switch when I send out X10 commands. I spoke to Gefen, and they said that, unlike other "big" companies, they don't "subscribe/reserve" their own band of remote commands. According to the person I spoke with, he said that subcribing or reserving a set of remote commands that are not used by other companies would cost them $$$, so they had to develop their switcher with the possibility that it might respond to other components' remote commands. The dip switch method was their solution for minimizing the chances of this problem from occuring; but, it's not perfect. My solution to this problem is to use an RFX6000, and use IR for the Gefen DVI commands and RF for X10 commands (so my Pronto sends RF commands for the X10, which the RFX6000 converts to IR, which is then received by my IR543 for further X10 conversion).

On another topic, the Gefen switcher has been quite a pain. I got an RFX6500, and I was going to use it to switch my Gefen inputs, but I can't get the Gefen to work when I send commands via RF to the RFX6500.

Also, if I send out RF commands from my Pronto to the switcher, I couldn't get the Pronto TSU7000 to learn the codes perfectly. For example, to reliably switch to input 1, I wrote a macro to send the command to switch to input 2 first, and then to switch to input 1. I can't switch to input 1 directly (at least not reliably). I had to do other workarounds for the other inputs. My Gefen remote commands are in my TSU3000 configuration, which you can find by doing a file search.

The Gefen 4x1 DVI switcher was not cheap. I find it quite irritating that Gefen did not design their switcher to guarantee that it has own set of remote commands that won't overlap with other devices' commands.

Can you post the Gefen commands that you use? And can you indicate what dip switch settings you have?

Thanks.

Radio Shack has, or used to have, an IR controlled antenna A-B switch. About a third of the buttons on a Sony DSS remote would give you A, and a third would give you B.

I hope Gefen is reading this! What they have done is very unprofessional, sort of like when I wrote a long email detailing how a particular interconnection of components causes a cable box to always go to the VOD channel, and I asked them for some specs on just how HDMI devices interact...and a couple of weeks later they sent me a catalog with no technical specs and no prices.

I'm not impressed. These guys are a ten-minute drive from me, and they have demotivated me to care about their product!

Thought I'd revive this thread. I've been using a Gefen 4x1 DVI switcher for about 2 yrs now & have lived with flaky IR behavior and conflicts with my Pioneer TV & DVD remotes. Last yr, I sent the unit in for the firmware "upgrade" and remote fix and received it with NO instructions on how to change the dip switches. Ended up figuring out how to dismantle the box to gain access to the dips. From a manufacturing-engineering perspective, the thing is poorly designed with LED's that extend beyond the edge of the PCB, rubbing against the metal case when re-assembled, with the potential for stress to or breaking the connections.

Frankly, I've given up on it. No matter which dip combo I've tried, one or more Pioneer codes will cause it to randomly change and what's irritating is that it is not predictable.

Anyone have any experience with the AVLinx switchers sold by HDTVSupply? Or any other suggestions to replace the Gefen?

I will not buy another Gefen product (unless no other alternative). IMHO, not a very professional company despite the favorable AV magazine reviews. Should be better alternatives out there; the Zektor line, for example, looks like much better products.

ss9001