Help, pleo is turning on the CD player

[hi_robb]

Hi girls / guys,

Has anyone experienced their pleo causing problems with other electrical items?

I got a pleo last night from Hamleys for our daughter and hatched him at lunchtime today

He's dead cute etc. but he seems to be sending a signal every now and again (I'm guessing via IR) which is causing my CD player to start playing. If I leave the CD player playing, it then after a while pauses, probanly when it receives the next signal.

Now I can turn the CD player power off, which obviously solves the problem, but I'm owndering if anyone else has experienced this and can it be fixed?

The cd player for info is a Unison Research Unico

Kind regards.

Rob

[tachyon]

yep, mine's been known to mess with our DVD recorder. I just make sure to keep him away if we're recording anything important.

[pleoWhisperer]

Pleo's IR port does send out a signal on a regular basis, and it is akin to the signal from a remote control. So, depending on the device, pleo's nose will do it!

[Themiles]

Pleo remote control sounds actually like a cool idea. I haven't had any problems yet, but now that I know I wanna try it out.

[PleoPet]

FWIW: The Pleo uses a variant on the "NEC" IR protocol.
http://www.sbprojects.com/knowledge/ir/nec.htm
Also called "Japanese Format". It apparantly is used by many Japanese manufactured TVs/DVDs/VCRs etc.
However the device codes should make it harder to match. Pleo uses device codes in the $55 -> $59 range (and maybe others). Depending on the model, your Pleo might get lucky ;->

If the TV/DVD/VCR is older, it may be using an older/simpler encoding, and the Pleo IR signals accidentally matches (sometimes a new TV remote can accidentally trigger an old device)

No easy fix, other than to block the IR sensors on the TV/DVD/VCR when playing with Pleo.

[hi_robb]

Hi Pet,

The CD player certainly isn't from a cheap range. The US dollar price of it at the mo is about $3000. I think I've just been a bit unlucky unfortunately. I had a amplifier which clashed with the same cd player a while ago, but the manufacturers were very good and changed the IR codes being used which solved the problem.

Just glad it isn't the amp he controls as if he turned the volume up on that he could potentially blow up 5k's worth of speakers :-)

It's not a great issue really. However, I'd swear that the pleo looks at me then the cd player when he does his stuff. Impossible I know but it just goes to show how well Uglobe have done with the emotional attachment side of things with him. Our house is already treating it as a pet somewhat and it was really only bought a cool toy for our daughter.

Dave


FWIW: The Pleo uses a variant on the "NEC" IR protocol.
http://www.sbprojects.com/knowledge/ir/nec.htm
Also called "Japanese Format". It apparantly is used by many Japanese manufactured TVs/DVDs/VCRs etc.
However the device codes should make it harder to match. Pleo uses device codes in the $55 -> $59 range (and maybe others). Depending on the model, your Pleo might get lucky ;->

If the TV/DVD/VCR is older, it may be using an older/simpler encoding, and the Pleo IR signals accidentally matches (sometimes a new TV remote can accidentally trigger an old device)

No easy fix, other than to block the IR sensors on the TV/DVD/VCR when playing with Pleo.

[PleoPet]

> The CD player certainly isn't from a cheap range. ...but the manufacturers were very good and changed the IR codes being used which solved the problem.
It is possible that they adapted the existing NEC/JapaneseFormat remote/remote design. If they are still in business, they could change the NEC address code to something else (stay away from the $5x range), but that requires an update to the remote and the TV/DVD/VCR/CDPlayer.
If it is a random collision with a different format, even that won't work
So it goes back to covering the IR receivers or turning off the main power
BTW: Green tip-o-day: turning off major components at the wall or power strip is a good tip to reduce the 'standy' energy drain.

[teodora]

Hi Pet,

The CD player certainly isn't from a cheap range. The US dollar price of it at the mo is about $3000.

Dave


that "dolar" range was about codes sent by IR, meaning hex value :D

[CritterFan]

This brings me to a new question. Has anyone tried to use their IR remote control for other devices with the Pleo, to see what it would do?

We used to have a remote control for the cable box that one of my Furbys responded to. I forget what she did, I think she started to sing. Apparently, that remote spoke Furbish. :)

If Pleo can 'talk to" the CD player and cause it to play and pause, then what happens when you send signals from the remote control to Pleo's nose IR sensor? Maybe he'll treat it like another Pleo and respond. :)