JP1 Remotes

Hi all,
I have two Akai VCRs, a VS-G735 and a VS-G2100EA. The 735 appears to use the NEC1 protocol with device 137 and sub-device 119 (I say appears because I don't have the original remote). The 2100 uses the NEC2 protocol with the same device and sub-device. The problem, as you've probably already guessed, is that both VCRs respond to both NEC1 and NEC2 signals. I've checked the file section and at the R/C forum looking for something that uses a different protocol and/or device number that might work. Some of them use device 125 or 137 with no sub-device, but I don't get a response from either of my two VCRs.
Am I stuck with having to get a different brand of VCR? Is there a way to make it possible for the VCRs to differentiate between the signals?

Unless some smart coding method is forthcoming (nothing would surprise me on this forum) you need to look at a hardware solution since it seems that both units respond to the same actual signals.

Cheap ideas:
You could simply place both units physically apart or facing in different directions but that might not suit your needs. One method that is said to work is to place a polarising filter (you might need to get a special IR polarising filter from a photographic shop and cut it up) over the IR emitter and over each of the receivers such that the filter is aligned horizontally (===) for receiver1 and vertically (¦¦¦¦) for receiver2. You then need to hold the remote vertically to operate one and horizontally to operate the other. Note that this will effectively half the strength of the remote's signal.

Expensive ideas:
Many - most of which are more expensive than a VCR.

It all depends just how crucial it is to you to control two similar VCRs by remote. Unless you're producing or duplicating tapes for a particular reason, now might be the time to think about DVDR.

I would personally be surprised if one VCR really uses NEC1 while the other uses NEC2, I suspect that they both use the exact same protocol.

If you were to send an NEC2 signal to a device expecting NEC1, it would most likely lock up and need to be re-booted.

But to answer your question, unless you discover that these VCRs support some form of unit code, where you can program one unit to respond to unit code 1 and the other to unit code 2, which seems unlikely, your best bet is to replace one of the VCRs with a brand new $50 VCR (or how about this one for $28 shipped).

Thanks for the feeedback, guys.
This is the first time I've tried to control two devices of the same brand and the possible problems didn't occur to me.
DVD recorders in my price range don't have the features that I would want, so I'll hunt around for another cheap VCR of a different brand. I'll check the file section first to make sure that I get one that won't interfere with any of my other devices.
Thanks again.