IR remote control extenders

Use something IR-transparent for the cupboard door.

Owain

mmm well cupboard door exists and is oak!

what sorts of materials are IR transparent anyhow??

ta jimK

You might find it rather inconvenient trying to remote control items with no visual feedback from them.

well currently said items are so far away that us oldies can't see the titchy displays anyway! The main device to hide is a HDD recorder - with that one all feedback is done thru TV screen. The idea seems popular and well established - I'm just fishing for experiences good&bad with the various products out there.

JimK

If you have a Virgin Media box, then only a limited number of these devices work, as they use IrDA...

If you buy from somewhere like Argos, who offer a no quibble refund promise , then you can always take it back if it does not work well.

Toby...

Not oak!

Some types of smokey glass, mesh, open-weave fabric, etc.

Owain

My video/remote extender has a repeater on the end of a longish wire which you put near the receiver on the HDD recorder. It's just a 1/2" cube of red plastic. The actual signals are sent by radio.

aha - that's the kind of thing I had in mind - what is it please? where from etc?

cheers jim

It was from Tesco IIRC - says 'Philex 27988HSQ' on it but I think it was something more Tesco-y on the original box.

It was definitely a video extender not just a remote extender. It sends the video from the Tx to the Rx using 2.4GHz wireless (which does suffer from interference when the laptop gets between them) and the remote signals get sent back on a different channel and blasted through the extension to the freeview box.

We use it to control the downstairs freeview box from the bedroom TV.

I think it was only £25ish.

here you go. It was an earlier version of this, I think:

As somebody already said, the only thing to watch for is Virgin boxes that use IrDA instead of the usual infra red system - they won't work with it. Anything you can control with a One-For-All type remote will be fine.

Via Longcross?

ah I'm not really bothered about video tx just relaying IR command into the closed cupboard from outside - was imagining a wire from a rx to a tx inside the cupboard, and a power supply - nothing too fancy or involving different rooms at the mo....

cheers JimK

Well you don't *have* to use the video bit...

TBH I haven't seen a remote rx except for things the manufacturer adds. But most things with an 'external IR' socket actually use it to control other things - a VCR changing channels on your TV, for instance.

You could ask on alt.electronics, someone there could probably come up with a wired repeater circuit in no time!

that's true -I'll have a gander thanks

jim