DSS receiver/RF capability

[krlv]

I am brand new to the AVS Forum and I would to know where to find a solution to my remote control problem.

Once upon a time there was a Sony SAT-A3 with DirecTV service. I had selected the RF option for the remote as the receiver was located in basement, precisely one floor below the primary TV. All worked well; life was good for six years.

Just moments before the 2004 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament tipped off, the service (both picture and remote signals) became erratic. After hours of walking up and down stairs, calling DirecTV and Sony, unplugging and plugging, removing and reinserting, cursing and praying, and counting to thirty, it came to pass that the option button to select RF from the Remote Control setup screen within the Sony unit had COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED (along with the RF codes), leaving it solely a helpless and forlorn IR unit. According to Sony, "The software has gone bad and it will be $84 to repair it, please."

The DirecTV service had been restored, so I was at least able to move the unit to the primary TV to operate the remote (though leaving the secondary TVs with no signal, as I have a multi-tap switch wired in the basement.) Thinking that 2004 technology must be so much better than 1998 technology, I decided to call DirecTV and replace my Sony receiver with a Samsung SIRS4040 with built-in TiVo service. I did not know that this receiver had no RF capability like the Sony. [I had quickly become hooked on the DVR functionality and decided that I would like to continue the TiVo service, so simply repairing my old unit would cause major withdrawl pain].

I had an All-In-One URC8090 in storage, but discovered that it was manufactured without any Samsung codes (presumably before Samsung began to manufacture DSS receivers.) After a trip to Circuit City, I came home with a pair of $39.99 Terk LeapFrog RF extenders. Several frustrating hours later after positioning and repositioning, they were returned to Circuit City, since they worked about one out of every twenty clicks. The receiver's placement in the basement hadn't changed. Yes, it was adjacent to my phone system control unit, wireless LAN router, and there is a fluorescent light bulb on the ceiling, too, but that never affected the Sony RF capability (which had an external antenna I had mounted just above the unit.) Calls to DirecTV, and TiVo were of no value at all, with the exception of recommending the AVS Forum. No one is willing (or, more likely, permitted) to recommend---or even provide a list---of DSS receivers (w/ or w/o TiVo) that operate on RF, or suggest any type of third-party RF solution.

I would prefer a DSS/PVR combo receiver with built-in RF capability like my good ol' Sony, but would settle for a workable RF extender solution. PLEASE HELP!!!

[The Robman]

While you may have intended this post to go to the AVS forum, you actually posted it in one of the JP1 forums. (JP1 is the process whereby we add new codes to our JP1 compatible remotes).

My advice to a JP1 user would be to simply add an upgrade to the URC-8090 so that it controls the Samsung box and then see if the RF extender that comes with it is reliable enough for you to use it.