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View Full Version : Remote Problem with Dish ViP222 Receiver and new HD TV


Pongo435295
02-16-08, 01:02 AM
I have gone through THREE Dish ViP222 receivers for various problems until the technician finally arrived and replaced the three rebuilt receivers Dish had sent through the mail with a brand new one.

One problem remains that has both me and the technician and his coworkers perplexed. He tried four different remotes with the new receiver and they all would not work just like our remote did not work with the other three receivers.

Please allow me to explain - when the receiver is first turned on, the remote will not work for about 10 minutes from a normal distance (1 foot to 12 feet). HOWEVER, if you place the remote very, very close to the infrared eyes on the Dish receiver, the remote will work just fine. And after about 10 minutes, the remote will work from anywhere in the room. The same response was received by the other remotes the technician had with him - they would work 2-3 inches from the infrared eyes but won't work anywhere else in the room for about 10 minutes from any further distance from the infrared eyes on the receiver. We don't have any special lighting (we turned all lights off at night and in complete darkness, the remote continued not to work until the "10 minute" warm up period. That is the same response we have gotten with every receiver we have had (we are on our fourth receiver - there have been other problems as to why the others were replaced).

A curious item - the technician seems to think that our Sharp Aquos 46" HD TV is putting out some type of interference. Don't laugh. He MAY be right.

Last night after watching a 2-hour DVD, I turned on the Dish receiver for the first time that day. Expecting the usual 10 minute delay until the remote would start working, I was very surprised that the remote worked instantly and continued to do so.

A little more testing showed me the following day that the remote still had the 10 minute delay if the TV was turned on and then the receiver. Turning the receiver on first made no difference.

Am I going crazy here or can a TV interfere with a remote? If so what is my Sharp TV doing for 10 minutes that prevents my Dish Remote from working? It is not the remote (with new batteries) that is the problem as multiple remotes have been tried with the same failure.

I wish I could answer the obvious question - did the problem occur when the new TV was installed - I just can't say 'yes' for certain. I think the answer is 'no' but I cannot be sure.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide. Dish Network does not seem to have an answer.

Sorry this is so long - just wanted to get all the details out so I don't sound completely crazy.

gary s
02-16-08, 02:39 AM
I don't have an answer for your problem but apparantly my almost 90 year old mother is having the same problem with her 721 (not 722) remote.

She kept telling me it was doing this but I guess by the time she would tell me and I would get to her room to check it out, the remote would be working just fine. She always said that after a while the remote would magically start working.
I thought it was an operator malfunction. I guess not.

wje
02-16-08, 05:45 AM
Do a search on the forum. This was discussed in the past, but I don't remember the details. The short answer was apparently yes, some TVs can interfere with the remote.

I thought it was generally plasma displays, which emit a lot of IR from the screen when running, but something about Aquos also rings a bell.

HobbyTalk
02-16-08, 08:57 AM
Some LCDs can interfere with your IR remote when they are first turned on. You can try changing the freq. on the remote or you may have to get a 2nd RF remote to use for TV1.

Pongo435295
02-16-08, 09:51 AM
Not paranoid here, but IF my 46" LCD is causing my IR remote not to work during that 10-minute window, what precisely is it doing to render the remote useless? Am I and my family being irradiated by something from that TV during that period? And if it is that LCD, why doesn't the interference continue? Why does it stop within a 10 minute period?

You have my curiosity piqued here as well as wondering whether Dish Network has an answer for this problem. They have RF-based remotes. Would they work with my ViP222? Or will Dish just laugh away the problem as they have done so far?

And, yes, the frequency on the IR has been changed several time from the default Channel 1. Good idea but it just has no effect here.

THANK YOU for your valued thoughts!!! If there are any references to LCD Sharp Aquos HD TVs causing problems, please pass them on here.

Kent Taylor
02-16-08, 10:35 AM
Not paranoid here, but IF my 46" LCD is causing my IR remote not to work during that 10-minute window, what precisely is it doing to render the remote useless? Am I and my family being irradiated by something from that TV during that period? And if it is that LCD, why doesn't the interference continue? Why does it stop within a 10 minute period?

You have my curiosity piqued here as well as wondering whether Dish Network has an answer for this problem. They have RF-based remotes. Would they work with my ViP222? Or will Dish just laugh away the problem as they have done so far?

And, yes, the frequency on the IR has been changed several time from the default Channel 1. Good idea but it just has no effect here.

THANK YOU for your valued thoughts!!! If there are any references to LCD Sharp Aquos HD TVs causing problems, please pass them on here.

wje suggested you do a search of the forum. Sounds like a good suggestion.

Pongo435295
02-16-08, 01:46 PM
I did look here and elsewhere before posting here. I didn't want to bother people if there was already an answer posted.

I did not find anything that was on point or that answered my subsequent questions.

Thanks...

CABill
02-16-08, 02:08 PM
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=LCD+IR+remote&hl=en&num=20&btnG=Google+Search&as_sitesearch=www.dbstalk.com&safe=images should give you others with IR being generated by their TV when initially powered on.

DISH does sell 6.2/6.3 UHF Pro remotes so that you can control TV1 via UHF and not be bothered by the IR coming from your TV. It isn't a DISH problem, it is your TV putting out IR that interferes with the IR used on TV1.

Pongo435295
02-16-08, 10:08 PM
THANK YOU, HobbyTalk and especially CABill!!!

With your search criteria for Google, CABill, I was able to FINALLY find the pesky answer to what many people were blaming was caused by sunlight, reflection off the TV screen, operator error, etc. You pointed me in the right direction as to the WHY such a crazy thing was happening with the remote. KNOWING the WHY helped me to greater understand HOW to correct the problem.

Thanks again for your very positive and on-point reply. You solved the problem!!!

DBSTalk is a wonderful place to find answers to problems that people elsewhere were not able to understand, much less resolve.

HobbyTalk
02-17-08, 10:08 AM
OK, what was the final solutoin?