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Puerto Rico, San Juan
1 Level
737 Review
64 Karma

Review on Sewell Direct Wireless Repeater Extender by Jeff Strutz

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Nice product and customer service

I ordered this BlastIR Wireless Pro IR Repeater from Sewell to replace another company's wired IR repeater. We put our TV against the wall and try to hide all the wiring behind the walls and/or in a closet. We still have a few cables, but with this product we've been able to eliminate IR wiring entirely. It's a real improvement in both looks and performance over the cheaper wired version we originally tried. The BlasterIR receiver is the room-facing component that receives the IR signal from our remote controls. It's small enough to fit between our soundbar and the bottom of the TV. Its range is great for the size of our room (about 22 feet long and 18 feet wide) and picks up the remote's signal from a side angle that's almost parallel to the TV itself. The receiver is powered by one of the built-in USB ports on the TV (although the unit itself supports either USB or a traditional plug-in option). Haven't used them yet, but Sewell seems to have provided some options to secure the IR devices in their final positions, including some sticky pads and a magnetic pad option. I'm still playing around with the constant placement of IR devices. IR blaster emitter. It is located in a closed cabinet and is opposite the hidden cable box receiver, router and DVR components. It relays the various IR signals received by the IR receiver and forwards that signal to whatever it encounters. I just put it in a closet about 5 inches away from the devices I wanted to control, plugged it in and it worked with no further adjustments. So far, BlastIR works without any problems and with a much better response time of the functions than the cheaper version of IR. We tried it first. The delay time between pressing a button on the remote control and the action on the device I'm communicating with is minimal. The transmitter itself is plugged into a surge protector outlet that supplies power to other devices in the closet. although it could also be powered via the USB port provided. Note: We encountered a shipping issue during the ordering process. The order itself was processed quickly and shipped in a timely manner. However, there was a problem with our actual receipt of the product and the USPS reported it that it was delivered to our mailbox when it wasn't actually there. Regardless, we contacted Sewell directly and they resolved the issue for us quickly with no issues. I would recommend both this IR Blaster Pro product and Sewell itself as a reliable company.

Pros
  • Known compatibility issues with: Yamaha HTR 6140 and Arris DCX 3520E-M
Cons
  • Hard to tell