MX-900 Remote Controller

The following diagram shows the MX-900 in action.

Regular remotes use Infrared "light" to control the TV, DVD, or other units. These devices should have an Infrared receiver, in order to take the signal from the remote. Usually there is an area on the face of each unit, marked with the IR logo. That is where we need to point the remote to turn the unit on or to change the channel.

If we decide to put our Cable Box or Surround Receiver away, into a media cabinet, the regular remote will become useless, since the Infrared signal, just like the regular light, can not pass through the cabinet's walls. So unless we want to keep the cabinet doors open every time we want to watch TV, we need to find a way to make it work.

This is when the Wireless Universal Remote becomes really handy. The radio waves from the remote are able to pass through the cabinet walls. There is just one little problem. Our Cable Box or DVD player does not "understand" the wireless signal, since it was designed to receive commands from it's Infrared remote only.

In order to make this work, we need something which can understand the radio signals from our remote, and then transforms that signal into Infrared and sends it to the Cable Box or DVD player. This what the MRF-260 Base Station is for. To carry the Infrared signal right where it needs to be, we are using IR Emitters or flashers.

The MRF 260 has 6 infrared outputs where we can connect the flashers. Then using a small piece of adhesive, we can stick the flasher on to the device, above the area marked with IR. Some devices, like the Denon DVD players with a CI (custom Installation) logo, have a dedicated IR input. In this case we don't need to stick the flasher onto the DVD's face, we can simply connect the base station to the IR input of the DVD, using a connector cable.This method provides much better reception, too.