# Slingbox IR Emitters and HR10-250



## gq91355 (Apr 21, 2003)

I'm curious how others with the HD TiVo are setting up the IR emitters on the Slingbox. Since the infrared is on the bottom part of the TiVo front panel, I ran both IR wires under the unit and have both emitters side by side facing the infrared, about 2" away. Amazingly, the response time is disappointing. 

I would appreciate any input from other HR10-250 owners on your Slingbox set-up. Thanks!


----------



## RossoNeri (Nov 26, 2005)

Can you wuanlify disappointing?

I have the same setup but with an SDDVR40: SB on top of Tivo with both IR's underneath facing the IR rcvr, maybe 1/2 inch away. It's no where near the response time with the remote, but is only about a second or two.

To be honest, I don't think it's the set up. I suspect it a combination of:
Internet lag/latency between SlingPlayer and the SB
the SB firmware processing the commands and relaying to the IR emitters
the actual emmitters themselves and the signal they send.

I don't have tremendous experience with IR blasters, so I don't know if the last one is a huge impact. Just my guesses, though.

If it can be improved, I'd love for someone with more experience to correct me


----------



## Talman (Sep 4, 2003)

I have the same setup but one emitter on top, one on bottom. They work fine, there is button lag when watching over the internet I suspect due to general latency of the Internet/coding and sending the signal and the fact that you are watching a buffered video stream vs a realtime stream(ie what you see is slightly delayed behind what the tivo is actually showing at any given time) So if you have 3 or 4 seconds of buffer that is how long it will take before you see that the remote command that you sent went through. To test this watch a regular tv in your house at the same time as the slingplayer and notice the time difference between the two. 

For me it takes maybe 2 whole seconds to realize the remote commands. This is from a laptop on a mobile phone broadband connection in another city.


----------



## Morris Herman (Feb 25, 2003)

gq91355 said:


> I'm curious how others with the HD TiVo are setting up the IR emitters on the Slingbox. Since the infrared is on the bottom part of the TiVo front panel, I ran both IR wires under the unit and have both emitters side by side facing the infrared, about 2" away. Amazingly, the response time is disappointing.
> 
> I would appreciate any input from other HR10-250 owners on your Slingbox set-up. Thanks!


Have you tried to use the Control Mode when you are issuing IR commands and want faster response? The Control Mode gives priority to IR commands vs the streaming video.


----------



## gq91355 (Apr 21, 2003)

RossoNeri said:


> Can you wuanlify disappointing?


By "disappointing", I mean that sometimes the commands don't take at all and I have to try multiple times (e.g. the Select and TiVo buttons). That's the big problem and it seems like I have the emitters in an ideal position. I certainly take the Internet lag/latency factor into consideration but I also expect one attempt at a command to work. A 2-3 second delay is OK; multiple attempts is not OK.

I really want to like this thing!


----------



## Fluffybear (Nov 10, 2000)

This was a discussion I saw over at Slingtalk.com a couple of months back. 

One person suggested mounting the IR emitter on a paint stick and placing the paint stick under the unit, this allowed the emitter to be moved to the desired distance. With my slingbox, I have placed the IR emitter on the top of the unit and have had no problems..


----------



## bpdp379 (Feb 25, 2004)

Do a search at remotecental.com and you will see that it is not just the SB. Most IR relay systems have a problem with the HR10. It is very particular about where it wants the emitter to be placed.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

The HR10-250 is notoriously slow with the current software. When using an IR repeater with any device, it's always a good idea to program a slight pause between each button push. Sometimes the IR commands are transmitted faster than the device can respond to them so they need to be spaced out. I've had to do this with every device I've ever used with an IR repeater and it always worked for me. You may have to experiment with the pause time between button presses before you get the device to function properly.


----------



## xsirenonthe101x (Jul 10, 2006)

I also have the emitters on the top and bottom of the IR receiver. Works fine. On my lan, the IR commands get sent to the box almost instantly. When I'm away from home the commands take about 2 seconds to get the commands to the physical unit. Usually I'm able to hit a bunch of keyboard shortcuts for the sling player software and what I want the HR10-250 to accomplish, is already done by the time I get the video stream. 

(I say usually, because sometimes i get that annoying "Make a daily call soon" message which screws up my process. I'd put in all the KB commands and 20 seconds later ill see the make daily call message.. pain in the a**)

For example: When i start my slingplayer, (my HR10-250 is on standby mode, and outputting 1080i for my HDTV) 

Once I connect, i hit on the keyboard: M (DirecTV) --> UP Button --> UP Button ---> L (Live TV) --> G (Guide)

What that does is turn my hr10-250 on, change the output format from 1080i to 480p, goes to live tv, then opens the guide. 

I enter these commands generally in about 2 whole seconds, and then wait for the video stream to catch up. Otherwise all that would take like 30 seconds if waiting for the visual confirmation that the IR commands were sent. 

My HR10-250 used to respond alot slower, but a few months back I did a "Clear and delete everything" and now its running great 4 months strong, and is loaded with content.


----------



## RossoNeri (Nov 26, 2005)

Okay. I don't have that problem. My commands will queue up (as it's apparently designed to do) but I don't think I've ever needed to reenter commands that didn't take.

Did you double check that you're using the correct remote control settings?


----------

