IR Blaster on Dish 508

[Ron Barry]

Does the Dish 508 have an IR Blaster and if so how does it work with a VCR? Does it pause the VCR when you hit pause? Does a IR blaster even come with the 508. I am wondering how well a VCR integrates with the Device.

[Mark Holtz]

The IR blaster on the STB basically sends a signal to the VCR to start and stop recording. I have been able to get this to work on a Sony VCR, but not two Toshiba VCRs.

The remote on the 301/50x can be programmed to control your VCR.

[Ron Barry]

When does it send the signal? What triggers the start/stop? When you press pause does it pause the VCR?

[Steve Mehs]

Hi WeeJavaDude, Welcome to DBSTalk :hi:

When you go to set a timer, you have the option to set a VCR timer as well as the PVR timer. When it's time for the show to begin the box will send out the signal and tell it to record, when the shows over it will tell the VCR to stop the tape. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to hit pause during the recording. I never use the IR Blaster other then by doing the test recording.

[Mark Lamutt]

The IR blaster will ONLY start and stop the recording on your VCR. It will not power it on or off, and it will not send other commands to your vcr. You can pause the video on the 508, and that pause will be recorded onto your vcr. You can't control your VCR *through the IR blaster*, but you can control your vcr with your 508 remote by setting the remote up to work with your vcr. Make sense?

At least, that's the way the IR blaster is supposed to work. If you were to put your 508 and VCR facing each other, I'm sure that the blaster would work flawlessly, or if you were in a room that the back wall was close enough to your recevier and vcr, then it might work reliably. But, I have never been able to make it work well. The back wall in my room is 30 feet away - too far to bounce the IR signal off of back to my VCR. If your back wall is 10 feet away, you may be able to get it to work.

To make it work, you first have to set up what kind of VCR you have in one of the Setup menus. Then, set a VCR type timer, and when the timer fires, the 508 will send an IR signal out to start your VCR recording. When the timer is done, the 508 will send out another IR signal to stop your VCR from recording.

[gcutler]

VCR IR Blaster, I used to know what that was, but TiVo and 508 made me forget :D

[tampa8]

I use the IR EXTENDER and that works flawlessly. The 508 (and 4900 plus some other models) will start and stop the VCR but the VCR must be turned on for the 508 to start and stop the recording. As a poster said, when you pick a program to record you will be given the option of the PVR or VCR and the rest at least for me is automatic.

[Jacob S]

How come is the IR Blaster able to start and stop recordings yet not able to turn the vcr on and off?

[sorahl]

software feature that is lacking. :(

[DarrellP]

Because the only codes it sends is "Start Recording" & "Stop Recording". It's basically a dumb thing. You MUST leave your VCR ON for this to work. I always set my VCR's timer along with the STB's timer's so it is a failsafe operation, as I've had the IR blaster not work on several occassions, so I don't trust it.

[technical guy]

The receiver can't turn the VCR on because it doesn't know the state of the VCR. The ON/OFF condition is a toggle - ON - OFF - ON - OFF ... If the VCR is already on the IR blaster signal would turn the VCR off. Then the record signal would not get received.

[Jacob S]

Yes but wouldn't it be better to at least have the functionality to turn the VCR on and off in that you at least have a chance of turning the VCR on if you forgot to? They could even have a choice of turning the VCR on or off or not doing so.

[Mark Holtz]

Read technical guy's post carefully. The set top box has no way of determining whether the VCR is on or off. You are assuming that there are seperate IR codes for "Power On" and "Power Off" when, in fact, the only code the VCR recognizes is "Power".

Or, to put it another way, your STB is blind.

[Jacob S]

I know that it has no way of knowing whether the VCR is on or off. What I was trying to say is this, I will give you an example. Lets say that it does not have the power on/off blaster command just as we have it now. You forget and leave the VCR off, you would miss the recording. If there was the command to turn the VCR on then it would not miss the recording. If the VCR was on and the command came it would turn the VCR off, unless they put an option in the receiver to turn off the VCR on/off command.

More than likely the VCR is going to be off because most people do not leave their VCR on all of the time. Some of the older VCR's would wear the head out by spinning continuessly. This would help save those. The newer ones sping down by themselves after five minutes or so.

I think the VCR power on/off should at least be an option to turn on or off.