Building a media room with multiple adjacent TV's on a single wall. Ideally for aesthetic symmetrical visual reasons, it would be best to use the same TV make/model for each TV.

The issue then becomes how can I control each of them independently? i.e. adjusting a setting on one wouldn't change the setting on them all?

The only solution that I can think of is some sort of messy jury rigging on the front facing IR receivers on each of the sets.

What am I missing? what's the best way to achieve this short of just using sets from different manufacturers which have different IR remote code sets (and hoping for no overlap)?

Sincere thanks for any suggestions,

-Joe

...

The issue then becomes how can I control each of them independently? i.e. adjusting a setting on one wouldn't change the setting on them all?

The only solution that I can think of is some sort of messy jury rigging on the front facing IR receivers on each of the sets.
...
Joe,

One way would be to use a Harmony remote that can transmit RF to a wireless RF extender. The extender receives RF control signals from the remote and transmits IR either from an IR "blaster" or more importantly in your case the extender can also transmit IR down individual wires to emitters that can be attached to the IR sensor on each device. (Up to eight wires from four ports.

You could have up to five TVs identical TVs controlled this way - one on each of the four extender ports, and one being controlled by either the remote itself or the "blaster" on the extender.

I have an Harmony 890 PRO, but the 890 itself would work in your application. There are a few other Harmonies that also would work. (The PRO model differs inj color and the ability to control more that one RF wireless extenders - if you have more than five identical TVs lol.)

Sincere thanks for the reply.

So there is no way to accomplish this without attaching the IR emitters to the sensor on the front of each of the sets?

Are you aware of any set manufacturers that include an IR input jack so that the IR sensor associated with the set (and hence all the wiring) could be buried our of sight?

Can I assume the 890 is capable of sending a mix of both IR and RF signals as part of a single sequence of commands to multiple devices?

thanks again,

-Joe

Sincere thanks for the reply.

So there is no way to accomplish this without attaching the IR emitters to the sensor on the front of each of the sets?

Are you aware of any set manufacturers that include an IR input jack so that the IR sensor associated with the set (and hence all the wiring) could be buried our of sight?

Can I assume the 890 is capable of sending a mix of both IR and RF signals as part of a single sequence of commands to multiple devices?

Joe,

The wire really are virtually not visible... I run them behind the gear and tehn under the gear so thew only thing visible from the front is maybe 3" of thin black wire and a small black rubber cover over the IR detector on each piece of gear.

I do not know which TVs come with an IR jack in the rear.

Yes, with the 890 or 890 PRO you can control a device via IR from the remote in the same activity as you control other devices with the RF wireless extender.

Some STBs - My Dish Satellite Receivers - allow you to assign different boxes to different IR addresses. The Harmony can be set up to use the different addresses for each individual receiver. I do not know if there are any TVs with this feature.

Another possible solution (albeit still requiring the IR emmitters) is to use a routable IR distribution block such as a Xantech RT8. This allows you to send an IR command to choose which of the 8 addressable outputs you want to send commands to and then all subsequent commands go to that output (you can also have all on or all off if you wish).

If you already have IR remotes, this *might* be a less expensive solution than having to replace your IR remotes with RF-capable ones. However, the RT8 is somewhat pricey (and you need the Xantech RC68+ remote if you need to learn the commands into your existing remotes). If that's a path you want to go, check out eBay for RT8s... the RC68s come up from time to time too and you'll pay a LOT less than retail for used units. I have both units myself, but haven't had a use for them just yet (I thought I needed them, but in the end my setup didn't require them) so if you're interested in going that route, I may be willing to part with them.