Home Theater Hacks

Hack #88. Work around Proprietary Remote Systems

Sometimes you'll find that even the trickiest tricks won't get your remote codes to work correctly. In these cases, you might have a proprietary system that just won't play nicely. Learn how to work around even these problem children of the remote control world.

In the rare cases where you have a component that doesn't respond to any other IR trickery [Hack #87] , you might have stumbled onto one of the so-called proprietary systems of the remote control world. These are products from manufacturers who, for one reason or another, just don't play nicely with programmable remotes [Hack #84] . This is pretty annoying, so here's what to look out for and (in most cases) how to work around the problem.

Sony VisionTouch

Folks with an older Sony receiver who have just purchased a brand-new learning remote might ask, "Why won't my new universal remote learn any codes from my receiver?"

The very first thing you should check is your receiver. See if the word VisionTouch is printed on the faceplate, if the model number ends with G, or if it came with the Air-Egg remote. If any of these items is true, chances are you are the proud owner of one of Sony's infamous VisionTouch (also known as CAV) controlled systems. The short answer to your problem is that almost no learning remote can work with a VisionTouch receiver (nice surprise, huh?).

A longer explanation is that the VisionTouch system uses a 455-kHz carrier frequency which uses a completely ...