iEye Captain Icon    Infrared: iEye Captain's infrared settings window

Learn how iEye Captain detects almost everything you need, and which options you need to pay attention to.

To access the infrared settings inside iEye Captain, choose "Infrared Export Settings" from the Tools menu.


Setting up and testing iEye Captain's connection to the infrared hardware:

• First, verify that your device is selected in the radio buttons at the top of the window. If they are grayed out, it means that iEye Captain was not able to detect the infrared device, and you will need to ensure that your infrared hardware and software is set up correctly.
• Select your set-top box's component in the "Component Name" popup menu if it is not already selected.
• Select your set-top box's "enter" button in the "Enter Button" popup menu if it is not already selected.
• Hit the "Test Fire" button to see if iEye Captain is communicating properly with your infrared device. Try 123, 456, 789, and 890 to ensure that all digits fire properly.
• If you find your device is sometimes missing one of the digits in the sequence, you may have to increase the time in between firings to a number higher than 7. If it is always missing a certain number, you may have to go back to your infrared software and re-learn that digit's code.


Now that the connection has been set up and tested, you will need to set up the settings for the "Infrared Trigger" events. Triggers are script files that tell the infrared device to change the channel. These are set up in a "Trigger Calendar" in iCal, which calls these scripts at the exact time they are needed.


Setting up the infrared trigger calendar settings:

• "Change Channel X Seconds Before" lets you indicate how many seconds before a schedule that the script will trigger the channel change. Because it may take a 5 or 6 seconds for the script to change the channel, you may want to indicate a value of 6-10 seconds. You probably want to experiment with a test schedule to ensure the settings will not cause the previous show to be cut off, and yet will change the channel in time.
• You can select either “All non-tuner schedules” or “Selected schedules only.” The first option will create a trigger event for every enabled schedule with an input source of “Composite” or “S-Video” that has a channel other than zero. This is the most reliable option, as hitting “QuickIR” at any time will create a fresh calendar with all your infrared triggers.


The other infrared options are explained in the iEye Captain manual.

If you wish to see a comparison between the IRTrans and the ZephIR, click here (external link).

For more information about the IRTrans, including saving USD$27 with a bundle deal, click here (external link).

For more information about the ZephIR, including saving USD$20 with a bundle deal, click here (external link).