Home audio & video forum: IR interference from LCD TV

I recently had AT&T U-verse cable installed, and I discovered the same IR interference noted by others in this forum. I had to hold the remote within inches of the receiver box for it to work. I found a very simple solution to this problem. I took a toilet paper tube and spray painted it black inside. I then positioned the tube with one end over the IR receiver window on the box and the other end pointed towards me. From then on the remote works perfectly. I can only assume that the tube blocks all extraneous radiation from hitting the box, and only the IR signals from the remote go into the tube.

Thanks for what has to be the most inelegant solution to a really frustrating problem. It's ugly but it works!!!!

I installed a new Toshiba LCD in our bedroom. The TV is on the wall opposite the bed and the cable box is on a shelf, along with a BR player, just below the TV. Glad to see a lot of people with the same issue because I thought it was something specific to my gear. I moved the cable box forward on the shelf, which helped some, but didn't solve it. Now, I just turn the TV on 1 minute before the cable box. After a minute, the TV doesn't interfere with the IR signal any longer and the remote works perfectly. I haven't yet tried turning off the Power Saving mode. This solution is interesting. I wonder why the Power Saving interferes? I know that the TV consumes a bit more energy with the setting OFF, but curious what the TV need to do when this setting is ON?

I have had a similar problem. i just replaced my samsung 32in with a sony 46 bravia , as soon as i turned the cable on with the tv , i canged channel . the cable box then ran through all 800+ channels and back to the orignal channel i started from , or it just froze all together. if the tv was off , i can contol the cable box(scientific atlantic 3000) no problem , but as soon as the tv was on it was a mess . try to control volume , it went all the way up ofr down then from . i tried reprogaming remote with tv and cable codes. no luck . i switched the remote ( have same cable box upstairs) no luck . called comcast , no luck there . covered I.F. reciever on box with electrical tape . same problem , i then moved cable box in other room just enough to control from a distance . everything fine now . i guess i can buy a universal remote converter box , but i already spent 1500 $'s . i can live with it this way .

I've tried the "turn the energy saving mode off" route, it didn't work. I've tried moving the cable box a foot or two, and it didn't work (I don't have the freedom to move the box into another room). Toilet tissue tubes didn't work. Coat hangers wrapped around my remote didn't work. I tried wearing a tin foil hat, it didn't work. I tried throwing a pich of salt over my left shoulder while walking backwards then using the remote, and this didn't work. I found I just need to wait one minute after turning the TV on, then everything works fine. My problem is, I can't wait 60 seconds. I need immediate channel-changing gratification.

I too have had the same issue that everyone is reporting on my Sony XBR 32 inch. I had Mediacom replace my cable box, three times and the remote twice. Same issue. Finally the tech supervisor they sent said that LCD television's emit a "Red Haze" that interferes with the reception signal on the cable box. I now have the cable box behind the television on the floor on its side. So much for being able to see the message alerts and the clock (which I don't really need). If anyone comes up with a great solution, please let me know!

I had 2 engineers come round and look at my LCD (40" 2007 model) that was causing interference on both my Philips DVD player AND my Western Digital HD box.
We played with the settings and found that it's NOT the energy saving function. The 100% effective workaround is to put the backlight to 7 or ABOVE (on the 1 to 10 scale) when the TV is turned on (and for the first 5 minutes). We turned down the backlight and the remotes weren't working, turned it up again and the remotes worked, turned it down and they stopped working!!!
SO IGNORE all the other settings! When you turn up the backlight the interference / signal blocking my remotes went away completely!!!
(my guess is that when the backlight is low (i normally have it on 3) the TV still has to warm the LCD panel - but whatever its warming it with when the backlight is not on high is giving off this IR radiation blocking remotes at certain frequencies. When the backlight is high then there's no IR radiation).

The engineers are still going to report this as faulty to SAMSUNG HQ and admitted there was a fault.
And the reason why some panels "may appear to have worse picture quality" when people get their TV back is because the inverters (items powering the backlight) are for most models DIRECRTLY CONNECTED TO THE LCD PANEL. Therefore you cannot replace just these inverter things (the cause of the problem) without replacing the LCD panel component itself!!!

If they want to replace the whole panel - i'm going to live with this annoyance by:
1. simply having a bright picture for the first 5 minutes or
2. shielding the censor from the tv with a spare DVD box and holding the remote an inch from the censor (the other work-around!)

I tried everything. I had limited success from a couple of the posts ideas. I found the best solution for normal operation came from the smoked glass cabinet door. Two layers of black lawn trash bag in front of my Cable Box IR receiver element. Sounds cheesy but it beats standing on my bed, moving my box in the hall, buying a new TV, or a IR signal amplifier. It worked for me I hop it works for you. You want to block the IR nose out but not your remote signal. Use different layers of trash bag to act like a filter. You may have to use more layers; you may have to use less.

reason problems seem worse at low power settings is the way panel backlighting (especially the CCFL type) is powered down. All panel backlights emit infrared light. (Its impossible to design something that emits only the visible light you need, and nothing else.)
Since they are not dimmable by itself, the TV regulates the panel backlights by strobing them faster than you can see. (2 milliseconds on, 4 ms off, etc is kind of like a bulb at 1/3 power) as it so happens, many IR systems have a similar coding in terms of off-on sequences. To make matters worse, the drive frequency of LCD panels is often in the same range as the carrier frequency of remote IR systems, so if your DVR has poor frequency selection (i.e. listens at a lot of different wavelengths) and your TV emits light in a strobing pattern (low power setting) your DVR may think its receiving commands and not be able to read clearly the remote IR commands.

I set the backlight to Max on my sony KDL52V4100 and it solved the problem. Now my disk network remote works perfectly with the TV on. Hope this helps others too.

I bought a new Panasonic TCP50G25 and could not get the Comcast remote control that came with the HD Digital box to control the box properly just like others have described in this forum. After several calls, three replacements of HD Digital box, and a visit by Comcast Technician the problem remain unsolved. The technician told me it's an interference with the TV, and the only solution he suggested was to move the box away from the TV. After I stumbled on this forum, I reset the Picture (Contrast, Brightness, Color, Tint, Sharpness etc.) back to default settings and that instantly solved the problem. The remote control now works perfectly. So if you are having a similar problem I will suggest you try and change the settings of your picture - try different settings, and see what works for you. Goodluck!

I had a Scientific Atlantic cable box that was totally useless for 5 minutes after turning on my Toshiba LCD, but I recently traded my box in for one made by Cisco. It works perfectly. No IR interference. Life is good once again!

Try the Next Generation Remote Control Extender. Not the prettiest of things but it works well.

http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-Remote-Control-Extender/dp/B000C1Z0HA

I recently traded my Scientific Atlantic cable box for newer Cisco box (which has HDMI) and this has solved my IR problem. Not sure what's different in the Cisco box, but it fixed the problem.

just bought a pan. 50 plasma causing ir int. with my remote, read 2pgs of solutions, some helped a little, but i st[ll needed a gunsight on remote to make it work. then i tried a piece of black weed control mesh, the fiber kind, not the plastic sheet with perforations. used one layer taped over the cablebox, worked alot better, tried 2layers, didnt work at all, blocked the signal completely, you will have to adjust to your needs. wonder if some of that plastic sheets used to tint car windows, one or several layers depending on darkness of tint wouldnt work