Next Generation Remote Control Extender
by Next Generation
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List Price: Our Price: $39.59 You Save: $25.36 (39%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Next Generation Remote Control Extender
Customer Review: Beyond my expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
Rarely am I shocked or amazed by am electronic gadget, but this one truly left me speechless.
My situation: I have a Samsung Blu-ray DVD and Charter DVR cable box that I wanted to hide in a cabinet. That way only the flat panel tv is in view. The universal remote that controls everything (from Charter) is infrared. I originally thought I would have to modify the cabinet to let the remote work (glass front door) until I stumbled across this product on Amazon. It had great reviews and now I know why.
There are basically two parts to the setup. One is the transmitter that replaces one battery on the remote. Comes in AAA but has an adapter to make it fit in AA as well. Second part is the receiver shaped like a UFO that can either directly face the devices and blast the infrared at them, or you can run a small wired infrared transmitter in front of the devices and it will blast the infrared code.
My cabinet is shallow so there is not room to sit the UFO part (the receiver) in front of the devices, so I put it in the cabinet and ran the small wired infrared transmitter to the shelf in front of the devices. Doublesided tape holds it there. I do not have it directly facing the devices but rather on the shelf the devices sit on. It works great everytime.
The ease of use cannot be overstated here. There is no remote learning or complicated programming. You simple replace one of the remote batteries with the RF transmitter "battery" provided. That's it. All the remote commands get converted to RF to get to the UFO and then converted back to infrared to control the devices. Brilliant.
Worth every penny. Truly a brilliant design.
Customer Review: Amazingly Simple.. and it WORKS!!
Summary: 5 Stars
When my cable company made it a requirement to have a cable box on every TV I was stuck. I had a TV in the kitchen that was using the signal straight from the coax cable. I needed a way to connect a cable box but had NO room to do it. Then I found the Next Generation Remote Control Extender. It worked out perfectly.
I have a kitchen "Corner Bench" type of seating arrangement. (An "L" shaped bench in the corner for seating). In the corner of the bench unit is a triangular shelf that the TV sits on perfectly. I put the cable box under the corner of the bench unit as there is no way to mount the cable box nearby. Under there it is hidden from view and the cable remote will not work.
N/G Remote Extender to the rescue!! I charged the batteries, put the battery/transmitter unit in the remote control in place of one of the two AA batteries in there. I laid the flying saucer receiver behind the TV and ran the cable for the InfraRed eye behind the bench, down to the cable box. I also set the internal switch in the flying saucer to "A" as suggested for cable boxes. (My cable box is a Scientific American Explorer 4250HD)
Now, every function on the cable remote control works perfectly without even having to point the remote at the TV. It's like magic. Easy to setup, works great. As I have just started using it, I don't know how long the battery in the remote will last, but not to worry, the spare is charging in the flying saucer. A 20 second swap of the battery and I'll be back in business. But I can't imagine the battery will run out quickly even with the heaviest of usage.
One happy customer!
Customer Review: I love it! - UPDATE
Summary: 4 Stars
So much better than the crappy leapfrog bouncer I had before. This thing just works! I don't know how, but it does. I have to agree with all the stellar reviews posted earlier. I have the device inside my harmony remote and the receiver inside a closed cabinet. It transmits signals to all of my devices and works flawlessly.
I'd give it 5 stars except that I'm a little worried about how hot the spare battery becomes inside the receiver unit. It's almost too hot to handle when you take it out, I'm worried it might actually catch fire.
Oh, and wait till you see the manual, hilarious!
UPDATE 9/19/08: Ok, so I did love it but I don't anymore. All of the sudden I'm having major problems with the thing. I tried swapping batteries but it didn't help. First it started repeating commands several times, then it started to send the wrong commands to my TiVo, a down would be a left, now it's only picking up button presses intermittently. I'm not super pleased. I think the problem is that my devices are actually overwhelmed by the IR signals. Too many overlapping and too powerful. I broke out the old-school camcorder remembering that you can see IR light in the viewfinder and discovered that the extender was actually sending out a steady stream of "junk" signal without any button presses. One of my devices actually becomes unresponsive in the presence of this signal, it only works when you cover up it's IR receiver.
I'm going to keep working on it because it still seems like the best option out there but I thought I'd pass along the latest to help you make a better decision.
Customer Review: ByFarTheBest
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first review but since I spent so much time trying to find a unit that does what this one does, I thought I would spare others the time consuming hunt.
My challenge was, that I wanted to be able to control the Direct TV receiver in my house, from my garage which is steel walled and 300 wooded feet away from the receiver. I had been using several RCA model D940 IR Remote Control Signal Senders throughout my house and all worked well, but the extreme distance to my garage was way beyond their capability. Then I discovered this little jewel.(Yes, I was too cheap to buy another receiver for the garage)With the NGHP TX-433(which only claims to work to 100 feet), I was able to extend my remote from inside the steel garage 250 feet to a loft entertainment center where I stuck the IR eye onto the front of the RCA D940, which in turn extended the remaining 50 feet to my Direct TV Receiver. I was, and still am amazed at how well it works from the garage and from other remotes in the house. After all of the grief I went through with trying to get the RCA and a Lorex A/V/IR remote to work, I can't say enough about this product. I just set one up in a neighbor's house (the have DISH) and they are very happy with it, especially the savings.
The only negative thing I must mention is the one many other reviewers have complained about and that is the instruction sheet. It is so poorly translated, that people who are unfamiliar with these gadgets could have trouble getting them to work, especially the charging slots. If not for the instruction sheet, I would rate this a five star product.
Customer Review: Works great in Harmony, Fried like bacon in Dish DVR remote..
Summary: 3 Stars
*UPDATE*
I would like to change my 3 stars to 5. The transceiver unit started working 2 days later.. and hasn't stopped working for 4 days now, apparently it resolved itself. I also need to notify amazon that I will pay for the extra one they sent me, with the understanding that I would send one back! (These things work so well I now own 4 =) )
Also I was able to contact the company that makes these devices just fine, they responded in 24 hours, so I am not sure what people are talking about when they say the company does not respond to their emails.. They are also willing to replace bad units if you ship it to them.
*Old*
Ok so I lied, it certainly does not smell like bacon nor anything else when the transceiver died, but you do have to be cautious. I wish there was a comprehensive list of compatible remotes for this device but I have not found one yet.
The Harmony 550 works flawlessly with this device and so much so that I decided to order 2 more of both!! Downside... less than hour ago I had the genius idea of trying it out in a Dish Network DVR remote for the sake of it, HUGE mistake.. the transceiver is dead to the world and the backup battery does not revive it either.. so I just ate $33. At least they are cheap but it still ticks me off, so I have emailed the company to send me a replacement transceiver free of charge. I will hopefully have a response soon and I will let everyone know how it goes.
If it was not for the transceiver crapping out then I was actually going to give a 5 star review.