IR jacks not working?

I have been using a Niles IR remote system with a remote sensor near the screen and an IRB1 broadbeam flasher shining on the equipment rack in the rear of the theater. It was working OK (including the 990), but I "improved" it this evening by pulling out the IRB1 flasher and adding microflashers on the front of each piece of equipment. (Had to do that due to adding some equipment that couldn't see the IRB1 beam, and the IRB1 mounting looked kind of kludgy anyway).

Getting around to the point of all this, I decided to use the IR input jack on the back of the 990 instead of pasting an ugly microflasher on the front of the unit. It isn't working. I also have a microflasher connected to the IR output jack on the back of the 990 which is pasted to the front of another piece of equipment, and that flasher flashes but doesn't operate it's equipment either. If I bypass the 990 with that flasher and connect it directly to the Niles MSU140 it works fine. So... the signal is getting to and through the 990, but is not controlling the 990 and is defective by the time it comes out the 990's IR output jack.

These things almost always turn out to be operator error, not equipment malfunction, so what am I doing wrong? Is the 990's IR input compatible with the low-level outputs of the Niles MSU140?

Need help from someone who has successfully used the IR input on the back of the 990.

The 990's IR input requires an interface module with many IR repeater systems. In my case (Xantech IR system), I would need a 794-10 interface module. My HD cable box has the same requirement, so in both cases I've elected to go with a simple emitter on the inside face of the cabinet door across from the sensor window because it's cheaper.

If memory serves, Niles' system is IR only, the only wired connections on any units being 12v triggers. Like gonk says, unless you want to spend the extra scratch (and you'll need to check with Niles to see if the Xantech module will even interface), the emitters are your best bet.

I run the IR wires underneath all of my units, and since the windows are typically on the bottoms of all my equipment, the flashers are hardly noticable.

Thanks, gonk, I spoke with Steve at Outlaw tech support to see what he could tell me about interfacing to the Niles system which I already have in place. He said that the 794-10 should work as an interface between the 990 and the Niles system unit as well. He gave me the DIP switch positions to use (turns out to be same as Sherwood as listed in the 794-10 manual). Ordered one (plus power supply). I think the connection from the Niles base unit to the 794-10 should be compatible.

I'll report back once I get a chance to play with it.

Works! Worth the $86 (794-10 + 781RG + shipping) to get the stick-on flasher off the front of my 990. Less, actually, as I can reuse the flasher somewhere else.

Cool deal, 3no!

Has anyone questioned why the 990's IR jack requires an interface module? Why didn't they just make it compatible with most IR systems? It doesn't seem like anyone is upset about the need to spend the extra cash to get this to work...

It actually confused the heck out of me initially, because the 950 that I had previously worked fine without one. Likewise, the 1070 and 970 also do not require an interface module. The issue here appears to be the fact that the 990 is based on an existing hardware platform (the Sherwood P-965), and wherever they could they retained existing hardware components. The hardware that Outlaw designed from the ground up in conjunction with Eastech (the 950, 1070, and 970) do not take this approach to the IR input jack. The need for an interface module is one of the few negative hardware traits carried over from the old platform.

It is annoying, but not uncommon considering that wired IR interfaces lack industry standards (at least standards that are adhered to). This allows manufacturers to set up IR inputs that work only with their own equipment, like Pioneer and Sony, however in this case there's no indication that it shouldn't be directly compatible.

Another annoying aspect of this is that, once you've used the interface block to get the 990 to work, the IR output jack is useless.

What if you have a second device that needs the IR interface block (such as my cable box)? All of a sudden I'm wondering if I could put an interface block upstream of the 990 and then send the IR output to my cable box and eliminate two IR flashers.

Sounds expensive! If you're looking to send hardwire IR to both, you'll probably need to send separate outputs from the connecting block to interface blocks for each - that is, unless both happen to use the same oddball signal

That's why I don't have either my 990 or my cable box on an interface module - both require the same one (as best as I can tell, details on the cable box are hard to come by) and I have no interest in buying two of them. If the 990's IR output jack (or the cable box's IR output jack) simply passed the incoming "interfaced" signal back out, though, you could potentially use one interface module for two devices. Just random scheming, though - probably won't ever do it.

I am using the Xantech 794-10 to feed the IR input to the 990, then, I noticed that the Sherwood and Pioneer IR settings for the 794-10 interface module are the same, so I connected the IR out of the 990 to the IN of my Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi and sure enough, now both units are controlled via the rear IR. Suffice it to say that the 990 IR output works, but only with compatible devices.

Also, I originally tried to use a regular IR target/receiver, by my LCD was interfering with it, so I am getting a LCD/CFL tolerant version to try and see if it solves my issue. The first lesson I learned in trouble shooting IR, turn off other "emmitters" when doing the initial install test.

Update to my last post, I got the Xantech LCD/CFL resistant dinky link and hooked up the interface module, success.

Two notes on the 794-10, I did have to ground the GND2 pin to the chassis, which I used the Phono ground for. Otherwise, the Pioneer would not work while the 990 would, but both work with the GND2 pin grounded to chassis. Lastly, the cables from the 794-10 output to the 990 IR Input and from the 990 IR output to the Pioneer IR Input are both 3.5mm stereo.

I am using an MX-800 and was of the understanding that I could take the output from my MRF-200 (that was formerly used for an Ir emitter) and plug it into the 990 Ir input. I expected that I might have to cut the output a little bit by using a series resistor. This is a surprise.

Exactly what does the 990 expect (voltage, current, data format) for an input? What kind of translation does an interface module perform? Is there an interface module for the MRF-200?

The 990's IR input will presumaly need an interface module to work with the typical IR output from something like your MRF-200. Outlaw identified the interface module for my Xantech equipment (the 794-10) for me; they may be able to help with yours as well.