722K intermittent IR remote failure

[MrPink]

Hi, guys:

New to your place. Came over here because I am also a new E* custo having been with 'ol Dave for 12 years. Dave messed up my billing for the last time last month, and that's why I switched.

Anyway, I have a spanking new 722K, which I so far like (though not as much as my DTiVo- it's rather clunky in comparison).

But I have a weird, weird thing going on. This has happened twice, and I will watch again tonight to see if it happens again. The 722 seems to get into a mode where it just doesn't see IR commands at all, though it will still respond to the UHF remote. The first time this happened, I was trying to set up my channels list (Ugh. I see that NO ONE has gotten this right from a usability standpoint, even after all this time. Who writes this code, anyway?!?). The receiver became slower and slower to respond to commands, and then stopped completely. The UHF remote continued to work. At first, I thought something had gone wrong with the IR remote. Oddly, a reboot did not help much- it now responded to the IR remote again, albeit laggy. The next morning, all was well.

Well, fast-forward to last night. I'm fooling around with this thing again (I've been out of town), at about the same time (8PM, PDT), and it quits responding to commands, yet again. The UHF remote worked a couple of times, and then... it doesn't work any more, either. About five minutes later, all is well again. Today, it's working fine.

This is bizarre. I don't have enough data points yet to get on the phone with Dish, and was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with their receiver? There are no neighbors or interference issues at work here, in case anyone is thinking along those lines.

Anyway, nice to be here, looking forward to visiting now and again.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

I have been seeing a lot of problems with the 722k IR remotes, and don't rule out interference yet. It seems to be very susceptible to interference compared to other remotes/models. Does your TV by any chance adjust it's brightness based on the amount of light outside? Many HDTVs have been showing to interfere with the IR and sometimes some simple changes to the back light settings can help. How about some CFLs (Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs) that might get switched on around that time (not neccesarily just in the room you 722k is in). I have not seen it personally, but have heard stories about CFLs in different rooms interfering with the IR remote as well.

Worst case scenario, if you can't seem to figure anything out that works, call customer service and tell them that you have an interference issue with your IR remote and TV and ask them to send you a 21.0 UHF TV1 remote (it can actually be either TV1 or 2, but you want to make sure that you get the key for TV1). This will solve pretty much any interference issues you are having with the IR.

Best of luck, this one can get aggrivating.

 

[daveray]

Hi, guys:

New to your place. Came over here because I am also a new E* custo having been with 'ol Dave for 12 years. Dave messed up my billing for the last time last month, and that's why I switched.

Anyway, I have a spanking new 722K, which I so far like (though not as much as my DTiVo- it's rather clunky in comparison).

But I have a weird, weird thing going on. This has happened twice, and I will watch again tonight to see if it happens again. The 722 seems to get into a mode where it just doesn't see IR commands at all, though it will still respond to the UHF remote. The first time this happened, I was trying to set up my channels list (Ugh. I see that NO ONE has gotten this right from a usability standpoint, even after all this time. Who writes this code, anyway?!?). The receiver became slower and slower to respond to commands, and then stopped completely. The UHF remote continued to work. At first, I thought something had gone wrong with the IR remote. Oddly, a reboot did not help much- it now responded to the IR remote again, albeit laggy. The next morning, all was well.

Well, fast-forward to last night. I'm fooling around with this thing again (I've been out of town), at about the same time (8PM, PDT), and it quits responding to commands, yet again. The UHF remote worked a couple of times, and then... it doesn't work any more, either. About five minutes later, all is well again. Today, it's working fine.

This is bizarre. I don't have enough data points yet to get on the phone with Dish, and was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with their receiver? There are no neighbors or interference issues at work here, in case anyone is thinking along those lines.

Anyway, nice to be here, looking forward to visiting now and again.

What TV do you have? Some LCDs create IR interferance you could check AVS forums for your set to see if others are having problems with IR interferance.

 

[InHouse]

Ran into this issue as a TC, setup TV1 to use UHF Remote and all is well. What the problem for this customer was when they turned out the lights the IR remote would not work whatsoever. Flip the light on and it worked fine. After changing TV1 to use uhf no more troubles. No idea what or why but got the customer happy again. I also am curious as to what the true issue is.

 

[MrPink]

Thanks for the ideas. The unit performed correctly last night with no issues. I was not running the HD display, which is another data point. Tonight, I'll try using the display and seeing if that affects the remote operation.

The display is a cheapie Olevia 232-S13 32" LCD. It does not do any sort of ambient light brightness compensation. It's running with the backlight set to its lowest setting (in fact, I had to dig around for the secret button sequence to get into the service menu to lower the backlight more from the factory setting).

I had already thought about the CFL and dimmed-light issue, and those are not a factor, though I will watch out and try to get more facts when this occurs again.

A second UHF remote might not be a bad idea. The one thing that bothers me, though, is that the unit stopped responding to UHF commands as well, once.

Appreciate all the input. I'll report more when I have more.

 

[MrPink]

Well... it's the display. Right now, it's on, and IR doesn't work at all, but UHF does. Turn it off, and IR works just fine. What's interesting is that IR DOES sometimes work when the display is running, I think it might be related to refresh rate.

How interesting. And how unbelievably inconvenient (and bad for Dish!). I guess I get on the phone tomorrow and ask for a remote.

And I guess we add the Olevia to the list of known offenders.

Thanks for the help!

 

[ray44406]

I just had a new VIP722k installed. Remote #1 worked fine for a few hours then quit. Called Dish repair. They said there were issues with Sony LCD tv's interfering with remotes. Dish is going to send a new #2 remote.

 

[rich88]

Ran into this issue as a TC, setup TV1 to use UHF Remote and all is well. What the problem for this customer was when they turned out the lights the IR remote would not work whatsoever. Flip the light on and it worked fine. After changing TV1 to use uhf no more troubles. No idea what or why but got the customer happy again. I also am curious as to what the true issue is.

Ironically, was just talking to another tech about this very thing a few hours ago.

He said our trainer had already looked into it and it is a "known issue".

 

[Awohar]

here's tip, ask the tech agent to look up known product issue on the 722k for LCD tv interference with remote. Once he sees that KPI, he should order you a 21.0 remote to replace your ir remote no charge if eq is still in warranty.

 

[gadgtfreek]

When my plasma was in, I had no issues. Now that its in the shop, Im using a 32" LCD and I noticed every now and then that it takes a few button presses to get the 722k to do anything. I have a straight line of site to the DVR, so maybe the LCD comment has some truth.

 

[garys]

When my plasma was in, I had no issues. Now that its in the shop, Im using a 32" LCD and I noticed every now and then that it takes a few button presses to get the 722k to do anything. I have a straight line of site to the DVR, so maybe the LCD comment has some truth.

In all probability it is LCD tv that is causing interference with the signal until it is warmed up.

 

[JDGJr]

So this is a problem with the light from the LCD interfering with the remote? And the remote doesn't send properly, or the signal is sent and gets messed up?

 

[Awohar]

So this is a problem with the light from the LCD interfering with the remote? And the remote doesn't send properly, or the signal is sent and gets messed up?

To put it best: The remote in the presence of a super bright LCD tv is like shining a flashlight on an object in the daytime.

 

[MrPink]

For me, it doesn't matter if the set is warm, cold, dim or bright, though at some times the remote WILL work, which is why I was so befuddled before.

I'll be calling Dish in the next couple of days to get another remote.

This sure seems like a stupid design oversight- I would bet that most people have LCD displays for their HDTV. The Olevia doesn't interfere with any of the other remote-controlled products in the same room, just the 722K.

On another note- is it possible to switch remote functions so that #1 works #2 and vice-versa? In my setup, I have IR repeated from the two slave sets that could control output #2 (since this was how I ran the DTiVo). If Dish is going to send me a UHF remote that will run #1, it would be great to switch the remaining "orphaned" IR remote to #2, since I could then use the old UHF for #2 and have the leftover one on the repeater to run #2 from the third location. Make sense?

Can it be done?

 

[JDGJr]

After a week of frustration, it was time to play last night. Given my 722k in a cabinet beside the LCD, and the LCD on a swivel wall-mount, i angled the TV so its plane was well in front of the 722k - the remote started functioning perfectly (wife operating). Angling the TV back towards normal, the remote stopped working (within 2 seconds)!

the cabinet is about 2' deep and has a glass door on the front, against the front/right corner of the room. I had positioned the 722k near the front edge of the shelves, and angled a bit toward the seating area in the center of the rear wall. When i pushed the 722k back in the cabinet at far as it would go, the remote started functioning properly with the TV at any angle.

Without any remote-specific changes i was able to cause and solve the problem. Seems the 722k is the issue here, and seems to be much more sensative than the 622 was in the same location.

hope this helps someone

 

[stimpson]

After a week of frustration, it was time to play last night. Given my 722k in a cabinet beside the LCD, and the LCD on a swivel wall-mount, i angled the TV so its plane was well in front of the 722k - the remote started functioning perfectly (wife operating). Angling the TV back towards normal, the remote stopped working (within 2 seconds)!

the cabinet is about 2' deep and has a glass door on the front, against the front/right corner of the room. I had positioned the 722k near the front edge of the shelves, and angled a bit toward the seating area in the center of the rear wall. When i pushed the 722k back in the cabinet at far as it would go, the remote started functioning properly with the TV at any angle.

Without any remote-specific changes i was able to cause and solve the problem. Seems the 722k is the issue here, and seems to be much more sensative than the 622 was in the same location.

hope this helps someone

Would you still not suspect the TV. From what I read as long as the 722K is somewhat behind the TV, the remote works. Sounds like the further the 722K is from the front view of the the TV it works. Try setting everything up the was it originally was. Then leave the TV powered down and see if you can turn the 722k on and off, and try again with it powered up. I had a simular problem, but with the TV2/UHF remote not working when my LCD Sammy was on. Turn the display off and TV2 was functional.. I ended up having to add a 4' piece of cable to further the distance of the UHF antenna from the TV. All is good now.

 

[JDGJr]

I completely agree it is an interaction with the TV and the 722k. I don't agree it has anything to do with the remote (except there may be a remote with a stronger signal that'll blast thru the haze of the 722k).

Since my TV and remote (I use a Harmony 880) have not changed when I swapped in the 722k for a 622 that never showed the issue, the culprit has to be the 722k.

All is fine, since i can move the 722k to a location that avoids the problem. I would not have been satisfied by having to replace the LCD or my Harmony 880.

thanks to the members of this forum for suggesting i play with the positioning of my hardware!

 

[Agonizing Fury]

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that the 722k is more sensitive due to the additional capabilities of the infrared port on the receiver. Normal infrared sensors are designed to pick up just one frequency, and they filter out everything else. This helps prevent interference from outside sources (imagine you want to "read" the flashes of a yellow light in a brightly lit room, you could do so easily with glasses that filter out everything but that exact frequency of yellow). With the 2-way communications enabled by the 722k & 222k with the 20.0 & 21.0 remotes, the sensor must have a much wider view of the infrared spectrum (larger spectrum = more bandwidth = better speed). It seems to me that this would also open it up for much more interference from outside sources. Perhaps in a hardware revision of the "k" receivers, dish can put two infrared sensors on the receiver, one for receiving normal remote commands (and is filtered specifically to just the frequency used for dish remote commands) and one for the 2-way communications. The interference that is received from certain televisions would probably still prevent 2-way communications between the dish and the remote, but at least it would respond much better to basic remote commands.

 

[JDGJr]

thanks to the members of this forum for suggesting i play with the positioning of my hardware!

the moved receiver trick stopped being effective yesterday - back to the long wait before my remote starts to be recognized.

 

[drewski]

I've had my 722k for over a month with no remote issues and this just started happening yesterday. The 722k would recognize 2-3 button presses and then stop responding. I tried both my Harmony 880 as well as Remote #1. I didn't try the UHF remote.

No changes to hardware positioning. JVC LCD TV. Soft resets with button on front didn't help (respond to a couple of button presses or no response at all). Hard reset (pull plug) did. Everything worked fine the next time I watched TV, but then today the same thing happened again. Again hard reset made things work.