This may be a extremely stupid question but my electronics knowledge is extremely small my question is ,can i cannibalize old tv remotes and use their IR LED's on arduino?
I would like to build something like a tv b gone clone...
yes you can but if they don't have a modulation circuit inside you have to write it by software.
Otherwise have a look to Vishay products, choose the model with matching modulation frequency you want to emulate, usually 38kHz, and then sending signals it's just a matter of digital.writes