IR signal times

[ksum]

For anyone running A/V equipment with IR commands in and out of Homeseer: Are you using HS to receive a single command and then send a series of commands back to the various pieces of equipment? I am currently using a Harmony 1 remote. It allows me to set a scene, of sorts. For instance, I have a "button" for "Watch DVD" which turns on the tv, then the dvd player, then sets the tv to the proper input. This sounds great, but it takes about 2 seconds because of the time it takes the TV to power up to a state where it will accept the IR input to change the source. If this were an RF remote instead of an IR one, this would be no problem. Thing is, I didn't want the RF remote for various reasons which I believe outweigh benefit.

With all that said, what is the delay between sending a command from the remote, to it being received by the final equipment? Basically, will there be a long wait for the first command to reach the final destination if I am able to send a single command from the remote and have HS send out the appropriate signals to turn on and set everything?

I am looking at options right now. Ideally a IR repeater which could do this and be placed in the cabinet would be best. I just have not been able to find such a beast.

My best,
Karl

[mrhappy]

...With all that said, what is the delay between sending a command from the remote, to it being received by the final equipment? Basically, will there be a long wait for the first command to reach the final destination if I am able to send a single command from the remote and have HS send out the appropriate signals to turn on and set everything?...

I'm not sure I quite follow but are you saying presently the harmony remote sends the signals out like a macro (indeed there was a EU X10 remote that did similar and could send IR & RF commands) but its sending them out too fast for your AV equipment?

I'm only a beginner using HS with IR and only do basic things, but if i've understood you correctly then in answer to your first question I would say the time is dependent on how the remote has been programmed - it may be programmed with a delay or not, in that case its going to be milliseconds at the most.

The way I do it is to deal with the transmission of IR through an event and built in delays, its taken some experimentation to make sure the delay is correct and then does the TV always switch on to the same source input etc.

If you want to use the harmony remote is it not possible to build in some delays by filling it with garbage IR commands? IE

Press DVD button > TV On Signal > 5 x rubbish IR signals that are not understood by any device (giving at least some delay) > Send the TV source change signal > 5 x rubbish again > etc etc

This is how I do it from an event

[ksum]

The Harmony remote does a great job of timing the commands. It even has a setting for the time period between turning an item on and that item's ability to receive a second command. The problem is I would rather send a single command so I only have to point the remote to the receiver for a second, and not a couple seconds. I know it is simple to just point it there until the macro stops running, but that doesn't always pass the babysitter challenge. Especially if you:

• Turn on TV
• Turn on Surround Receiver
• Turn on DVD player
• Set TV Input (Assuming you may be doing other things with the TV than viewing signals from the Surround Receiver)
• Mute TV
• Set Surround Receiver Volume (If your device does not allow for discreet volume levels and you want to do this, the only way is to send a bunch of Volume - commands followed by a number of Volume + commands. No, I would not do this, but have heard of some who do.)
• Set Surround Receiver Input
• Set Surround Receiver Output (It could be that this is multiple commands, depending on your system. You may have been listening to music via stereo as opposed to surround speakers, you may have output to a different TV if it is capable of multiple video outputs and you are using them.)

Turning these all on first allow for the time to be taken up before each can receive the next IR code, but this still all takes time. And since there is no 2-way communication between the remote and the devices, if you point the remote in the wrong direction for a moment, not everything comes on. Not a problem for me, but my wife or 7 year old daughter is then lost.

I am just looking for the time it takes 1 command to go from the remote, through Homeseer, then out to the receiving piece of equipment. Then I can decide if that is too long, or worthy of pursuit. I currently have no need for other actions that can be seen by Homeseer to send any IR signals, so I don't want to spend the time and money to find out this scenario would take too long when running through the PC.

Another option is to find something like an IR "command center" that would take a single IR command and send a macro of IR commands out via emitters to the various A/V equipment. I have not found one of these outside something like Homeseer or this, which apparently uses physical buttons and not IR received signals: Xantech 59010 Programmable Controller

So I am wondering about the timing from initiating the signal at the remote to the first signal reaching its final destination to determine if I even want to try Homeseer. It is a great application for some things, but not all automation tasks. This is my first step in determining if Homeseer might be the answer for my A/V IR needs.

[mrhappy]

...I am just looking for the time it takes 1 command to go from the remote, through Homeseer, then out to the receiving piece of equipment. Then I can decide if that is too long, or worthy of pursuit. I currently have no need for other actions that can be seen by Homeseer to send any IR signals, so I don't want to spend the time and money to find out this scenario would take too long when running through the PC.

Don't take my answer as golden, but from personal experience I would say the delay is about two (maybe slightly less) seconds. This may depend on your hardware (I use the USB-UIRT) and what else your PC is occupied with at the time as it might slow down should you be doing something with the CPU/Windows.

[gelessor]

i just use one, maybe two, commas between multiple commands being sent by Homeseer

[ksum]

Don't take my answer as golden, but from personal experience I would say the delay is about two (maybe slightly less) seconds. This may depend on your hardware (I use the USB-UIRT) and what else your PC is occupied with at the time as it might slow down should you be doing something with the CPU/Windows.

That isn't too bad. Since the PC will pretty much be dedicated to running HomeSeer I think I'll be playing with this. Thank you for the input.