On February 27, 2006 at 00:09, Daniel Tonks said...
The blaster in the extender is more meant for
mass close-range use, such as use in an equipment
closet. Due to this, if the emitters were TOO
powerful they would overwhelm more sensitive devices.
And, on the other hand, some devices have horrible
IR receivers in terms of off-angle or distance
performance. For instance there's something called
"tunnel vision" where the IR sensor on a device
is placed on a circuit board far back into the
chassis and ends up looking down a long tunnel
to the outside world. The further back it's placed,
the less off-angle range and overall sensitivity
it has. I seem to recall a few years ago some
company selling stick-on IR collectors designed
to redirect off angle IR in such cases.
Also, look in the manual - it recommends that
the blaster be placed no more than 16 feet horizontally
or vertically from your components, while the
remote itself is rated to operate from 30+ feet.
Also note that the blaster has emitters pointing
out the TOP - which means if the blaster is sitting
on top of a bookcase as you say it is, you should
really trying having it upside down and hanging
out a bit.
Otherwise, it was really meant to be used with
the stick-on emitters.
1. If the original remotes AND the tsu3000 both work from the same place I want to situate the 6500, I do not believe that the equipment has "tunnel vision." The two pieces of equipment I am having problems with are an Onkyo receiver and a Panasonic DVD recorder.
2. As I believe I stated in my original post, the location I would like to use is only 12-13 feet from my equipment. I have to bring the blaster to within about 5-6 feet before I get a response.
3. I will give the "upside down" a try, but because of point 2, I have little faith that will work. Also, the blaster does control components both above and below the two pieces it does not control.
4. For using only the emitters, the 6500 offers the option of turning off the blaster.
I guess all I am really looking for is whether other folks have had success using the 6500 from in front of their equipment. If others are using it this way successfully, it would lead me to believe that the blaster may be defective. It seems to me that the IR signal is just too weak.
When I researched the product, the on-line manual showed that it could be used this way.