>I tried this, and abandonned it - the big problem
with IR
is the lack
>of feedback and poor reliability.
Lack of feedback can be an issue but they are
solutions for that, if it is absolutely necessary.
> - IR is generally way, way
less
reliable than X-10 - affected by
> sunlight, line of sight
obstruction
There is no such issue in a house... maybe
outside.
You can controll all the devices from one room using a single source of
infrared
(LED)
>- IR signals are corrupted if they originate from two different
>sources simultaneously (e.g. user picks up remote at same time as
PC
>sends command). This can't be detected automatically.
I intend to use my system mainly for remote
home
management, then this is not an issue. Even if in the same room, the
infrared
command usually is sent several times so it is a very small chance to
interfere
each time.
>- It is impossible to determine the status of the controlled
device
> when using IR (agreed, for most X-10 devices too, but the control
> model for X-10 works better, with all commands driven through a
> single interface in my environment, so I at least know the
notional
> state of all devices)
Yes, but this gives IR a lot more flexibility.
You
can command electronic equipment by X10 and then an X10/infrared converter,
but
you must pay a lot more for this and there is no evident
advantage.
> - Lack of discrete control codes for all products with IR makes
> robust control very difficult (devices end up operating on
> an
"inverted" basis, toggled on when they should be off or vice
versa)
Allmost all IR controlled devices have
separate
Power On/Power Off codes, even if they are not implemented on the supplied
remote. For all my equipments, from several manufacturers, it was like
that. You
must make some research, but with my application is something very easy to
be
done. You can generate any command you want.
>Be interesting to see if you fair better though!
I am too.
:-)
Dan
P.S. I'm not an X10 standard oposant, but as I
have
not the opportunity to get some X10 devices for my house, I decide to do as
much
as possible using infrared. The Infrared Remote Manager application is not
intended to be used solely for IR signals, but for X10 and radio signals as
well(soon RF, X10 when I'll succed to get one PC interface and one HA
inteface). This is the main advantage over the similar products. More, you
can
define your own protocols. A simple one is the HA protocol used in my
configuration file, which is extremely easy to decode and can provide 6
digital
outputs.