Energy saving bulbs and remote.

[NTLVictim]

Would more than one bulb in an array combine to alter the frequency?

[Nedkelly]

If you get a digital camera and point you a remote at it you can see the infa red .I have tried it on differnt remotes and you can see it as a white light from the remote .If you had the right stuff i wonder if you could look at a energy saving light bulb and a VM remote to see the clash .

[scanner1]

Originally Posted by Rillington

No interference here either. However, this whole notion totally astounds me in the same way that ntl won't work with certain types of television. Not exactly encouraging is it.

I found this when I replaced my old CRT for an LCD tv, couln't figure out why the remote would not respond until the tele had been on for 3-5 mins, then it worked as normal.
The screens obviously give out some form of IR when warming up because when I bought a smaller LCD for the bedroom, in which I have a IR remote light dimmer switch, when I turned the tv on it faded the lights up then down then up and finally off. It doesn't effect any other remotes, I have the older Pace STB, I know this uses a different type of frequency than the newer boxes, maybe they are not affected?

[VirginMediaSucks]

I've found that the Pace box seems to be sensitive to other light sources, more so than anything else. (I have a new one, but my older one had the same issue).

A particular gotcha is if ANY other remote control is stuck in the "on" position.. for example if something is resting on a button or it's just plain faulty. If your Pace box suddenly gets unresponsive, then check for another IR transmitter. (Many mobile phones and laptops have IR as well, this could potentially cause intermittant problems)

As an aside, did you know that the IR bulb shows up on pretty much any digital camera or camcorder, including camera phones? It's a useful quick test to see if your remote is working properly..

[nashmills]

I've managed to get around the problem with my current Pace box. My energy saving lightbulbs have 2 settings, full and half brightness. Using the half brightness setting gets rid of the problem.