Rechargeable Tv Remote Control

Review by H. Mclaughlin : Works Better than I dared hope

I love having all my AV equipment out of sight in an AV cabinet- and this gizmo is what makes it possible. I ordered one on the strength of the glowing reviews, and was pleased to find that it works exactly as others have said. I can control the AV equipment from literally anywhere in my house. Also, in my own use, I found a few unique things I hadn't seen mentioned in other reviews. First off, in the tight space of my AV closet, the unit didn't send signals perfectly to all my equipment- probably because it needs to be located a little farther away from the devices than space inside the cabinet would allow. I solved this by adding the "3Eye Triple IR Mouse Emitter" (which is 3 separate IR bulbs on a wire, you stick over the IR ports on your AV gear, then attach to the mini plug on the Remote Extender). Voila! With the direct connection to my devices, this thing never misses! If you have trouble, and can't locate the RCE far enough away from your gear, or there's interference in the IR signal, try the 3Eye device, it'll likely solve the problem. (Note: The RCE comes with a single IR cable, but it can only control one device). Then I had another challenge arise- I have an audio receiver located almost 50 feet from the AV closet, in another cabinet. I wondered could I run an IR emitter cable that far, and have this control that device also? (And of course, without giving up control of the AV closet devices). The answer: YES! The Remote Control Extender only has one minijack, but a simple $2 dual-headphone adapter jack that you can get at any electronics store works to make it 2 jacks. More of a challenge, I wondered would the IR emitter work via the dual adapter with the triple Eye, PLUS attached to 50 feet of headphone extension cable with mini-jacks. The answer: YES! So little signal strength goes through the cables, that you can extend modestly long distances, adapt with a splitter, and run as many IR bulbs as you need off the same mini jack, with no loss of IR performance. So I merely ran the long cable through the wall to my stereo cabinet, plugged both IR emitter sends into Remote Extender (via the adapter), and now my universal remote controls literally EVERYTHING- even devices over 50 feet apart- with just this one extender! This is a product that simply WORKS, and works well. An amazing product for the price. If you're looking for a way to hide all your AV gear and still be able to control it, and even if you need odd control options that require extended IR cables, this is the gizmo that will handle it!

Review by esanta "esanta" : Best kept home theatre secret

Although I have been a home theatre enthusiast for close to twenty years, I had never heard of the Next Generation Remote Control Extender; it was inexpensive enough that I figured it would be worth a try, but did not have very high expectations; all the competing solutions are much more expensive and require some sort of external stick-on transmitter for the remote, so how good could this possibly be? I just installed it in a new inexpensive remote I purchased (Sony RM-VL600) and it works spectacularly well. I was suspicious of the range, but was surprised to discover that it works throughout my entire house. The principle is simple: you replace one of the batteries in your remote with a clever little gadget that picks up the RF signal as you press the keys and transmits it to the base station, which converts it into infrared signals that are blasted to the component you want to control. The transmitter is shaped like a AAA battery; a part of it is hollow so you can stick a 2/3 AAA-sized battery into it, which lets it serve the dual function of transmitter and battery. The package comes with two of these rechargeable batteries and one AA sleeve for remotes that use AA batteries. The receiver base is shaped like a flying saucer and about the size of a coaster. It is powered by a small wall DC power adapter. The bottom hides a door under which you will find a battery trickle charger with two slots, one AAA and one 2/3AAA. This lets you keep the spare 2/3AAA battery always charged and ready to go. There is also a sensitivity switch for "special cases". The dome contains a blaster that you point at the device to control; in the back a jack lets you connect a remote blaster (supplied) if you need to control a second component out of reach of the base. After having serious problems with other RF remote extenders costing several times the price of this one, I'm thrilled to have found an inexpensive product that works so well. Highly recommended.

Review by R. Chase : Great accessory - but some quirks

Pros: I primarily intended to use this with a Harmony 768 universal remote (4xAAA) and, once I figured out the idiosyncrasies, it has worked great & how I'd hoped; from anywhere in my apartment on more than a dozen components that make up my complex system, and with just as quick and reliable a response as with the direct original remotes. I don't even need to extend the telescoping antenna on the receiver (RF-receiver/IR-relay), and just lay it horizontally flat against the "saucer", which is placed in an inconspicuous location with nearby line-of-sight to my IR components. Although I don't need the "eye extender" cable (since I have no components hidden in cabinets or out of line-of-sight for the receiver), I did test it. I was surprised how well it worked even from several feet from component IR sensors, regardless of its directional orientation. I imagine that the optional "triple-eye" accessory, selectively oriented in a cabinet rather than attached directly to individual sensors, could probably emit enough IR to control quite a bit more than 3 components & maybe as many as a dozen? Even an optimally placed single-eye could possibly supplement the receiver if there were several components in the same location but out of direct line-of-sight from the receiver. Cons and idiosyncrasies: It comes in plastic "bubble"-container packaging. Fortunately, the package edges can be peeled apart without requiring a "machete" or damaging the product, but it still can't be fully resealed. Of course this style packaging makes it unlikely you'd be able to return it if it didn't work out for you, which is a major reason manufacturers use these insidious packages. It can be a bit quirky, depending on the remote with which it's used. I tested it with close to 20 original remotes as well as several universal remotes, AAA & AA battery usage. Most worked just fine, but I experienced the following issues: - Harmony 768, universal remote (4xAAA); sensitive to which battery location for the transmitter (lower 2 battery chambers, farthest from 768's IR emitters, seem to work best); on occasion it suddenly stopped working until I spun the transmitter a bit inside the battery chamber - whether this was due to poor contact or an orientation issue, I don't know. - HTM MX-500, universal remote (4xAAA); no response from the receiver, & with transmitter/battery in slot "1" the remote doesn't even "turn on" (ie, can't be used with this universal remote.) - Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U, D-VHS (2xAA); no response on the receiver or otherwise when used with the original remote *OR* with the Harmony 768 sending HS-HD2000U commands (ie, won't control this component - A/B/C settings on the receiver made no difference.) Other: - be sure to observe the feedback LED on the receiver. If it responds to your remote, you're likely good to go. (I first tested this with the Harmony 768, and until I determined its idiosyncrasies, had *no* response. I can see how someone could quickly conclude this doesn't work.) - some components don't respond as well (or even at all for one of my components) when both the remote's IR and the receiver's IR is beamed to the component at the same time. When I'm in a line-of-sight location with the remote, I have much better response when I point the remote away or cover its IR, restricting it to sending RF to the receiver. When I'm *not* in a line-of-sight location with the remote, it makes no difference where I point it, as I'd expect with RF transmission. - The receiver's IR beam strength & coverage seems typical to other IR remotes. If you're using receiver line-of-sight rather than via directly attached "eye(s)", it may take a bit of trial and error to find the best convenient receiver placement location and direction to operate all your system components. - the receiver's power adaptor *may* have to be plugged to a different outlet to avoid interference from other components plugged to a power strip. - The aspect ratio of the Amazon product-image is width-stretched (actual "saucer" seems smaller than perceived from the Amazon image); you'll see the proper proportion in images at the NGHP web-site. - I primarily use NiMH rechargeable batteries on my remotes, but wherever I ran into issues I also tried using standard alkalines. Battery type never made any difference in my testing results and all had full charges. - check the NGHP web-site FAQs, where it recommends such things as charging the batteries 24-36 hours before using the 1st time (which I did for these test results.) You *may* find that the mini-battery charges somewhat faster when it's in its dedicated charge slot than when in the charge slot for the combined mini-battery/transmitter. - mini-battery charge seems to be lasting similar to the "normal" rechargeables, so far, but I've only had this for a few weeks. It's still going on the 1st charge and quite a bit of usage. - Yes, the instructions were written by someone whose 1st language is likely not English, but they're still quite understandable & easy to follow. - This product is so useful for me that I bought a 2nd as a backup. Both exhibited the same quirks.