IR Blaster's. Why are they disappearing?

[JeffB]

An IR blaster (infra-red blaster) also known as a Cable Box Control is used to transmit an infra-red signal to a cable box to change the channel. This is useful for VCRs and DVD recorders. You can set the recorder so that for example channel 2 is recorded at 8:00 and channel 4 at 9:00. The recorder is capable of changing the cable channel so that both channels can be recorded. In my opinion this feature is of absolute critical importance. I would consider any unit without one to be completely defective by design. And yet, very few to any products have such a feature. Further, in shopping lately, I get the feeling that this feature may go away completely.

I suppose that it is possible to run the cable signal into the recorder directly and to use the recorder's tuner. However, I don't believe that this will allow all channels to be recorded. I am pretty sure that some are encrypted, like Showtime and HBO.
Further the cable signal needs to go to the cable box to take advantage of the programming guide.

It seems to be almost guaranteed that if a recorder has an ATSC tuner then it won't have an IR blaster. So I can record OTA 2,4,5,7,9,11 but there is no help to change the channel for the cable channels. Why or why? There is an LG unit that has been recalled that had an ATSC tuner and IR blaster.

I can't find a single standalone VCR anymore.
All of the VCR/DVD players lack an IR blaster.
A couple of VCR/(DVD recorders) have IR blasters.
However, I have just tried the Samsung and the audio hums through the HDMI.
This leaves only a single Sony unit left for me to try.

I have even looked at SVHS. They all seem to lack this feature even at $1000.

I am completely mystified by this. Why does anybody buy a recorder without this feature? Am I missing something?

Further when ever I asked friends, family and co-workers about this, none of them know what an IR-blaster even is. Is this simply a case of people not knowing what they are missing? Still does this explain why products don't contain the feature?
Is it reasonable to assume that TV watching America doesn't know they need an IR-blaster?

Even the sales people at Circuit City seem to know nothing about the feature.

[bob1029]

I have personally never seen a vcr with an ir blaster. I imagine that this is being phased out with the new digital PVR cable/sat boxes that are comming out. They store the content digitally, so you get no loss in quality, you get instant seek, and precise scheduled recordings. I would talk to your current cable co and see if they have a pvr available.

[brent_s]

I think it's mostly a case of market demand with a little reliability issue thrown in as well.

The non-DVR cable boxes I had over the past several years had multiple internal timers. If you wanted to record the descrambled output, you would simply set a timer on the cable box and a corresponding record program in the VCR.

It seems like my DirecTV sat box back in the mid-90s (pre-DVR ride the dinosaur to work days) may have had an IR blaster for the reasons you described since all recording had to take place downstream. Can't remember ever actually trying to use it.

Now that I think about it, my JVC S-VHS deck, late 99-00 vintage, came with an IR blaster...never could seem to get it to work properly with the DirecTV receiver.

Get the DVR option from your service provider, you'll be much happier in the end. I finally upgraded to an HDTV last year and opted for the TWC DVR at the same time...the DVR is only a $5/month upcharge. We do much more time shifting now than we did before simply due to the convenience of point-n-click to record and playback...no FF/REW to find the recorded show you wanted to watch, worry about the tape being full, or even misplacing the tape you recorded on.

Did you try to troubleshoot the Samsung box? Audible hum is usually the sign of a ground loop. Could have also been a defective unit or cable.

-Brent