simonsez Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 I seem to recall there used to be a kit, which I am pretty sure was a 2450 that included a sensor that could detect if an LED turned on. It was like a a typical stick on IR emitter that you would affix over an LED indicator on a device and you could detect when that led turns on or off. I can't seem to find it anymore, but I was pretty sure it did exist. I spoke with my local Insteon reseller who knows the product line really well and even they said they recalled this kit but couldn't find any details about it and suggested it may have been discontinued. Anyone remember this kit? Or is there a sensor available that can accomplish this? I want one for my cable box that is hooked up to a MythTV installation. My local cable company likes to push down updates without any prompting. After updating the box is powered off, rather than just rebooting it and letting it return to the state they found it in which in my case is always. For MythTV this results in a recording of nothing but a black screen until I notice it and turn the box back on. So I thought back to this device to solve this problem, but can't seem to find anymore. Simon
Techman Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 How about using a Synchrolinc which could monitor the current draw of the cable box http://www.smarthome.com/synchrolinc-insteon-2423a5-power-synching-controller.html
simonsez Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 How about using a Synchrolinc which could monitor the current draw of the cable box http://www.smarthome.com/synchrolinc-insteon-2423a5-power-synching-controller.html Hey Techman ... I totally forgot about this device, but yeah this should work! Plus it's relatively inexpensive. Thanks for the suggestion. This will be on my next order of toys for sure. Simon
Brian H Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Yes I also remember both the Low Voltage and Light Sensor Kits. The Light Sensor Kit used the Smarthome 8013 http://www.smarthome.com/light-probelinc-led-and-light-detector-probe.html The Low Voltage Kit used the 8015 http://www.smarthome.com/digital-low-voltage-probelinc-low-voltage-power-detector-probe.html I know the 8015 was made for an older Smarthome Device and never worked correctly as the 1/8" stereo connector was not wired correctly for the jack on the I/OLinc. I reversed engineered the connections and did have an 8015 work OK on an I/OLinc. I would guess the 8013 also had the reversed signals on its 1/8" jack.
MWareman Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 I think there was also a device that could detect an audio or video signal that could be used in this application as well. Personally, I gave up on the cable box to feed my MythTV by using two HDHomerun Prime boxes and cable cards. I haven't looked back! (cheaper too - Comcast give a credit for not using their cable box that's more than the monthly cost of two cable cards).
simonsez Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 Yes I also remember both the Low Voltage and Light Sensor Kits. The Light Sensor Kit used the Smarthome 8013 http://www.smarthome.com/light-probelinc-led-and-light-detector-probe.html The Low Voltage Kit used the 8015 http://www.smarthome.com/digital-low-voltage-probelinc-low-voltage-power-detector-probe.html I know the 8015 was made for an older Smarthome Device and never worked correctly as the 1/8" stereo connector was not wired correctly for the jack on the I/OLinc. I reversed engineered the connections and did have an 8015 work OK on an I/OLinc. I would guess the 8013 also had the reversed signals on its 1/8" jack. I knew I wasn't crazy ... thanks for the links! Looks like they were discontinued as my re seller thought (AARTech.) I notice both have extremely low ratings as well so even if they were available maybe the suggestion of using the SyncroLink is a better way to go. Simon
simonsez Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 I think there was also a device that could detect an audio or video signal that could be used in this application as well. Personally, I gave up on the cable box to feed my MythTV by using two HDHomerun Prime boxes and cable cards. I haven't looked back! (cheaper too - Comcast give a credit for not using their cable box that's more than the monthly cost of two cable cards). You're preaching to choir here. I would love to get a HDHR Prime. I actually have two of the HDHR ATSC tuners for two separate antennas. They work great. However my local cable provider (Rogers in Canada) is the worst. They want people locked into their set top boxes. They do not support cable cards, and I'm sure never will. Even DNLA is disabled on their boxes, and I'm sure they'll never enable it. Wouldn't want a customer watching content he recorded using the box rented from the provider, and the content access purchased from the provider from some other TV in their house. Heaven forbid. So it's just not an option for me and I'm stuck with my HDPVR. Having said that it works extremely well except for the issue of the updates and shutting down my box. At some point I'm sure the component connections will become "unsupported" so that they can close this hole. I want choice in what I device/software I use for consuming content I pay for; rather than being locked into someone else's garbage platform. Case and point their current PVR offering was recently upgraded so you now get 1TB of storage. Yawn! Wake me up when it's more than the 12TB of storage I currently have on my MythTV PVR. Simon
MWareman Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 I had a cable box and hdpvr prior to the home runs, and the component out was shut off. I had to use a device that pulled from HDMI, told the box there was a protected content path then sent the content out a component link (an HDFury). It was designed to be 'permanently affixed' to the receiving device to be license compliant, but it served me well prior to the prime devices. http://www.hdfury.com/hdmihdcp/
Brian H Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 The 8015 didn't work correctly with the I/OLinc if you connected it to the 1/8" sensor interface jack. As it was incorrectly wired to work with it. It was originally made for an earlier Smarthome device. If you cut off the 1/8" plug and wired the cable to the terminal block. It could work. I also found if used on AC over a few volts. It violated the reverse voltage specification for the Optocoupler in it. That could be why the kit had low ratings. It didn't work correctly.
Recommended Posts