IR Ext/Serial in port

[BuffaloC4]

I have a arris cable box that has a 3.5 mm port labeled IR ext/Serial in. I hate IR emitters so I’d like to utilize the 3.5 mm female.

 

What protocol would this use? I don’t have anymore serial ports. 

 

Thoughts/opinions?  

[daerai]

That might be an IR sensor input.  It allows you to place an IR sensor on the TV and route the wire to the cable box mounted behind the TV.

Have you tried the Comcast/Xfinity IP driver?  I've used it a couple times with great results.  Not sure if your cable box is compatible, but it's worth checking.

[crazybuppie]

It is for direct IR, not serial - despite the labeling.

Some cable companies disable the port altogether. We have spectrum around here and i am able to control boxes via this port with a custom cable and IR driver.

From another post i made:

Quote

 

The DCX3200-M has a port on the back labeled "EXT IR IN/SERIAL" that, in our case, is able to be used by the Control system.
The Arris IR jack is a TRS connection that provides 5v for an external IR receiver, and the Control4 IR output is a TS (mono) connection. 

Custom cables were made (see attached photo). 

We used the Scientific Atlanta 3250HD driver, as those are the codes used in this area. 
The driver was edited to turn off the IR carrier signal obviously, but the boxes didn't control until the "Steady State at +5v instead of 0v (rare)" box was checked.

 

 

hope this helps.

 

[therockhr]

On 6/4/2019 at 10:43 AM, crazybuppie said:

Some cable companies disable the port altogether. We have spectrum around here and i am able to control boxes via this port with a custom cable and IR driver.

What kind of cable did you make? Would this work for the Cisco cable boxes that Spectrum uses?

[crazybuppie]

I can only confirm that this works for the Arris/Motorola DCX3200 on Spectrum. Different cable companies and STB manufacturers do things differently.

the cable is a 3.5mm with TRS on one side and TS on the other, wired as shown. i chopped up an aux cable and a C4 IR emitter and soldered together to make the pinout as you see above.