I have three hdtvs and I want to put them all in one sports viewing room but don't know how I would connect them to be able to view different games. One is a larger plasma and the other two 32" LCDs.

What do I need to do, and buy, to set this up correctly? I only care to have audio from the main screen.

I eventually want to bring in a couple more tvs so I want to make sure whatever I do can be expanded to accommodate this.

I currently have one Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD digital cable box, Yamaha receiver, 7.1 Bose speaker setup, Sony Blu-Ray player, iPod dock, and slingbox with the new Logitech Harmony 1100 remote.

You have cable right?? I think you can get a splitter and run a coax to your other two tv's. However they won't be in HD. They standard video connection though.

Thanks for your help.

Yeah I have cable. I used that approach during the Olympics with 2 tvs and it worked out alright, but I had to physically change the channels of the second tv by walking up and touching the buttons as the cable remote obviously would not control it. My main tv is made by the same company so if I attempted to change the channel with the tv remote it would change my main tv's channel and everything would get all messed up and that was annoying too.

What I need help with is figuring out if I need a cable box for each tv to make this work? I think of the ESPN Zone or any good sports bar for that matter that has several games on at once. I want to make that happen on a smaller scale at home, with good equipment, but not at an exorbitant cost.

I also just got a new mini computer that I am going to use to drive two smaller screens alongside my three hdtvs to show stats from games or news headlines. Not sure if its possible to use a remote to turn on a little mac mini computer, I might have to do that manually. Any help is appreciated!

The way ESPN zone and the places like that do things is to have a certain number of either cable boxes or satellite receivers which then are linked into the same number of modulators. The HD modulators are not cheap at all, and much more expensive than what you are planning on spending.

The best solution would be to get Dish Network (and perhaps DirecTV I think) where the receiver can be set to a specific remote address. I have three receivers in my house right next to each other, but on different addresses. Each of the receivers has a very good RF modulator (in SD of course), to send the signal to every other TV in the house.

If you get Hd receivers, and set them to different remote addresses, you can feed three different HD signals to the three TV's.

The cool part is that the additional receivers are only $6 per month, so you can really have three distinct HD or SD channels on three different TV's in a single room.

As to the MAC computer, get a good wireless keyboard. There are some out there that will work over 100 feet away using radio waves instead of IR. They cost around $150 or so.

Reed

Thanks for the input Reed! By the way the photos of your place are incredible! I'm really jealous!

What is an hd modulator? Do you have a link? Never heard of it.

Do you or anyone reading this have a link for a good wireless keyboard like you mentioned? Can a wireless keyboard turn on a Mac mini? It's my first Mac.

I think I can get more cable boxes here for $5 each per month so that's not horrible. You think that's my best bet?

Out of curiousity, I was at a place the other day that had a screen that looked just like yours but there was no projector that I could see. Do you know how that would work? It was on a thin wall so there might have been something behind it but I've never heard of a rear projector like that. Just curious!

Thanks again Reed!

What is an hd modulator? Do you have a link? Never heard of it.A HD modulator is a device which takes an High Def video signal and modulates it to a Tv channel just like your local TV station does. I have never seen these for less than $1000 as of now.

Do you or anyone reading this have a link for a good wireless keyboard like you mentioned? Can a wireless keyboard turn on a Mac mini? It's my first Mac.Does the Mac Mini have bluetooth? If so, you can use the Mac wireless keyboard and mouse. As long as the Mac is not too far away from the keyboard, it should work. Otherwise, there is a company called gyration which makes long distance wireless keyboard.

I think I can get more cable boxes here for $5 each per month so that's not horrible. You think that's my best bet? The only problem is that typically cable company boxes cannot be set to different remote addresses so if you change the channel on one with the remote, you change the channels on all of them. You can sometimes fix this issue by putting a tube in front of the remote sensor, so that you need to be completely in front of that box, and place the boxes a few feet apart. Not as slick as have different remotes for each box, but do-able. If the box has good buttons on it, then that could work also.

Out of curiousity, I was at a place the other day that had a screen that looked just like yours but there was no projector that I could see. Do you know how that would work? It was on a thin wall so there might have been something behind it but I've never heard of a rear projector like that. Just curious!Rear Projection is not popular on a large scale screen because you need a log distance behind the screen in order to display a large screen. But it is typically used in areas where ambient light is around. The other thing could be that the projector may have been installed in the opposite wall, and there might just be a small hole on that wall to let the light out. In fact I saw one installation where the projector was mounted in another room, and the person had install a small picture frame with good quality glass, and the projected image went through that glass. That makes the room install cleaner, and also means that there is no noise from the projector in the viewing room.

Thank you for the compliments about my basement. I have worked hard to build it.

Reed