We’re not sure why [Roteno] prefers to have his TV and cable boxes not face him when he’s sitting on the couch, but to each their own. You may already see many problems with this setup: discoloration from LCD viewing angle, difficulty playing Wii, oh and most importantly – not being able to change the channel with his IR remote. [Roteno] was lucky enough, however, to have an IR remote input on the back of his cable box. All it took was a 3.5mm jack and a spare IR receiver and he was back in business. Sure it’s not as technical as some of our cable or IR hacks and we would like to see someone try this who doesn’t have as easily accessible IR input on the back of their cable box. But either way, here’s one more step to never having to leave that couch.
i found this helpful, even if it doesn’t fit other people’s definition of a ‘hack’, i’ve always seen those ports and wondered what i would need to make use of it.
I didn’t notice a TV in those pictures, projector setup maybe?
I cant see anything where it says the tv doesnt face him…
I have a bunch of these IR inputs with 1/8″ stereo jack connectors on them lying around… they came with my media center computer for its remote / usb receiver setup. Making his own probably cost more than finding one and ordering it, but I agree that it’s taboo to tell someone they should have just bought something when they could make it, so kudos.
And his tv obviously faces him, it’s the devices that are oriented in such a manner that he can’t aim at the receiver the way it is.
He sure loves! his exclamation! marks! Just reading the text made me all excited! Wonderful!
Not sure if it would work very well…..but wouldnt a mirror also work?
nitpick alert:
it’s “to each HIS own”
Simple and Effective !
He’s right when he said “Poor Soldering Job”
im with jero, a mirror would have worked depending on what kind of angle(s) and where the box was. I mounted a STB on the back of a plasma and just used a mirror at a ~45% angle. Worked fantastic
@andrew
nitpick alert:
females exist
@octel
“their” is grammatically incorrect since the antecedent is a singular noun. Therefore you pick one gender of the pronoun and stick with it. Or you can do the ugly “his/her”. But that’s just nitpicking.
Btw this is stil pretty cool. And maybe he didn’t want any mirrors hanging in his room or some other good reason. Just thought i’d put it out there.
It’s a nice quick project, useful to some people who may never have known what those ports were for.
And as far as the nitpicking: Settle down children, “their” is also acceptably used as a third person singular pronoun (replacement for his/her) in this situation, because “own” itself is an indefinite pronoun (it’s singular /or/ plural, to fit the requirements of construction). While “his” is the more common form of the idiom, it’s certainly not a sin, grammatically speaking, to substitute “their”.
New to hack a day, how do I see more than just the introduction?
Click things… Always clicking, clickety click click
(green links)
I have the same issue Roteno has. I found his project to be very helpful and was able to complete the process even though I am not technical. My project was not as clean as Roteno’s but it still works. Verizon should take notice!!!
Far from a hack. Those can be built from a 555 timer and a IR receiver. as to why… Most people don’t think a rack of gear is “pretty” so closed doors are desirable. and most people that make real money have all that gear in the basement in the Video/Audio distribution system rack. But then they dont use IR extenders but real automation gear.
He is simply using a poor dudes IR distribution.. Xantech has created this stuff and sold it for decades…
Thank you farthead. My A/V gear is in its own room at the back of the “TV room”. I have some purchased and some homebrew solutions to allow me to control the gear. Funny I do still find myself pointing the remote at the screen though ;)