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Really Freaking Frustrated with my Flirc (but it's not your fault)


Brendan

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So I just got my Flirc today and have been messing around with it.  I'd be super happy with it if I could make it work with my setup.

I have a 55" Panasonic TC-54PS14 plasma TV with a Dell PC hooked to it as my HTPC (I'm using my OEM Panasonic remote to control it).  I have my TV mounted on the wall with all A/V equipment in the closet behind it, all wires are fished through the wall.  The Dell PC is also in this closet so in order for my Flirc to work with Plex, I need to use a 9.5ft USB extension cable to make it so it can see my remote.  Herein lies the problem.  When I have the Flirc out in my living room I get phantom key presses, like, it literally keeps going until I put my hand over the Flirc.  If I open the closet door and hook it directly to the PC it works perfectly, no phantom key presses.  I thought it was the USB cord but this is not the case as I can leave it connected to the extension cable and put it inside the closet and it works fine.  Something in the living room is interfering with my Flirc and I can't figure out what it is.  As of right now, now lights are on in the house but there is some indirect ambient light filling the room which is unavoidable.  I have no other IR devices that I know of and the only thing I can think of that might have some flicker is the TV.

 

I've tried moving the Flirc to different locations but it seems no matter where I put it in my house that's convenient for it to see my remote, it also sees whatever is causing the interference.  I really love this device and would love for it to work since I don't have cable and rely on Plex or XBMC for all of my media.  Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this or how to troubleshoot it?

It's so bad now that I don't even have to press a button to set it off.

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

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I'm the creator. The reason it might be responding to 'noise' is because it may have recorded noise.

If you're familiar with the commandline, do a:

 

flirc_util settings

 

This will spit out a bunch of recorded keys. If you see any repeated recordings, one of them is noise, record it by doing:

 

flirc_util delete_index <index_num from flirc_util settings>

 

This can be fixed, let me know.

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It IS noise.  I've put a few pieces of masking tape over the Flirc and it's getting better but it still does it.  I suspected it may have recorded noise so the last time I reprogrammed it I did so in the closet with the lights off.  You left a few things out of your instructions but I was able to figure it out on my own. Here's a copy and paste of my log.  It looks normal. 

 

  

c:\Program Files (x86)\Flirc>flirc_util.exe settings
flirc_util version v1.2.6 [v1.2.6]
  Firmware: v2.6
 
Settings:
  sleep detection:  Disabled
  noise canceler:   Enabled
  inter-key delay:  3
  state:            0
  builtin profiles: Enable
 
Memory Info:
  keys recorded:  6
  keys remaining: 163
  memory used:    4%
 
Recorded Keys:
Index  hash        key
-----  ---------   ---
    0  D643DDA5    up
    1  5A8E00CB    right
    2  98317117    down
    3  98A06C59    left
    4  569C9742    return
    5  D634A7FA    escape
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I have all CFL or LED lights, but they're not on.  I'm pretty sure it's the plasma.  As I stand closer to the TV (which is also the Flirc) the problem becomes more frequent and to a greater degree  I'm guessing the IR noise is bouncing off of me and back into the Flirc. The only way it works is if I can get the Flirc out of its view, which makes it unusable.  Any solutions for that?

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Yes, I'm in the US.  I think I may have *fixed* it.  I taped the top, bottom and sides of the Flirc off with PVC tape, then put a pair of sunglasses in front of it.  Seems to be working quite well now though it may be too early to jump to that conclusion.

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Well, its good to know (is it?) that i'm not the only one.  I received mine yesterday and I'm experiencing the same problem.  I haven't tried to tape it up yet.  But I'm about to. 

 

Just to post this somewhere, i'm having better luck using a USB2 port than a USB3 for avoid the bootldr issue. 

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Update, sunglasses weren't the fix.  Currently with all tape removed I have the Flirc taped to the wall behind a cabinet.  It works better, about 80 percent.  The down side is I really have to aim the remote at a certain spot and sometimes it doesn't register commands from the remote.  

 

What is it about this device that makes it so sensitive to IR noise?  Just for grins I brought out a few devices I have that run in IR with no problems.  I have a picture frame that uses IR remote commands, the eye bar on my Wii, my Blu Ray player and a HDMI switcher that uses IR to switch HDMI inputs.  None of them even care.  I even aimed them at the TV and bounces the remote signal off of the TV itself.  Is there some way to dial down the sensitivity? 

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It's the algorithm I use. I have something generic enough to capture any kind of signal. This is the downside. I'm really surprised with noise capturing, this is still an issue. When a noise event is triggered, is it just a single click that happens?

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Sometimes, but mostly it keeps repeating until I cover the Flirc with my hand.  If I bring up the keyboard in the Flirc util, I can watch the phantom key presses happen when I take no measures to hide it from my TV.  Certain keys on my Panasonic remote are worse than others.  For example, I had the yellow button programmed as page down and it didn't like that at all.  With that button programmed it would instantly start "paging down" non-stop pretty much 100 percent of the time.

 

The stop key seems to be the problem now.  I'll be watching movies in Plex and they randomly stop.  I keep running the settings in the Flirc util and I don't see anything there that shouldn't be.  For now I erased the stop key.

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I am having the same issues. I've been using my device for about 8 months now and its gotten worse in the past month.  I'm running on Windows 7 and notice random scrolling and clicking.  I've stopped using my device because it's so annoying.  I'm running the latest version (downloaded yesterday) and still have the issues. 

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