I have a dedicated home theater. ~20'x15'

Mitsubishi HC-5000BL 1080p Inorganic 3LCD Projector mounted ~15' and directly over the 2nd (back) row of seating. The IR sensitivity is weak and will not accept a bounce off the screen from it's own remote.

The equipment rack is to the right side of the screen, typically within the standard IR radius, so no trouble with IR.

I have a 4scene, 3zone Grafik-eye lighting controller near the theater entrance in the back of the room. Screen is on the opposite wall, front of the room. The 2nd row of seats are on a riser for unobstructed line of site view of the screen. This row of seats blocks a line-of-site path to the lighting controllers IR sensor.


______________________________________________
|________PROJECTOR____________________________|
|_____________________________________________|
|_____________________________________________|
|_____________________________________________|
|G-EYE_____ROW2______________________________|
|BACK______ROW2____________ROW1_____________|SCREEN
|__________ROW2____________ROW1_____________|&RACK
|__________RISER____________ROW1_____________|FRONT


Is there a cheap, clean, and easy to implement IR repeater/redirector solution so that when pointing IR remotes at the screen, they will also be recieved by the projector and the Grafik-eye? I think if a had an emitter mounted up high above the screen, it could achieve line-of-site to the Grafik-Eye.

Thanks,
DB

Also have JAMO THXUltraII 7.2 speaker system, Denon 4806CI THXUltraII receiver, Sony PS3, Sony 400DISC DVD Changer, HTPC, Marantz RC5000 for now.

After doing a bit of research. I'm thinking about a X10 Powermid setup. Hopefully, I won't have a RF saturation problem with the receiver and transmitter both sitting in my equipment rack. I just wish I could find the IR receiver and Blaster in the same unit for cheap. I don't need the RF, but for less than $50 its the cheapest solution I have come acrossed so far that appears as if it will work.

DB

You can easily and quite cheaply distribute IR signals to where you need them. I used the following setup:

IR Reciever in the front wall: http://www.smarthome.com/8130W.html
IR Distribution Block hidden in my rack: http://www.smarthome.com/8191.html
IR Emitters stuck to the front of each device: http://www.smarthome.com/8170s10.html

Here is the Insteon (X10 compatible) stuff I have.

Here is the starter kit. It includes two 600Watt wire-in switch/dimmers, two RF Access Points and a tabletop controller. The access-points are basically RF transmitters and bridges to bridge the gap between one leg of your 110 to the other leg of your 110. This fixes one of the biggest problems X10 had, getting from one leg to another.
http://www.smarthome.com/2492.html

Here is the additional 1000Watt Dimmers I bought for my main lights. Just like the 600 watt versions, only higher capacity http://www.smarthome.com/2476dh.html

Then I have this sitting back in my rack with one of the IR emitters stuck on the front of it. It basically will receive IR signals and send X10 signals.
So once I get my room all set up, I can prgram my all-in-1 remote controll to operate my lighting in the room.
http://www.smarthome.com/4040.html

Sconner,

Thanks for your thoughts. My problem is that I can't string an IR emitter 15 feet from my rack to my projector or 17 feet from my rack to my Grafik-eye lighting controller. I want to relay the IR signal wirelessly to these 2 devices as they are outside of my rack.

Thanks,
DB

Oh, gotcha. Yea, the most I'm pulling off between the distribution block to the emitter is 10feet. I tried splicing one to make it about 20feet and it didn't work. The only option is daisy chaining the distribution blocks I guess? And then it isn't cost effective. Good luck!

sconner

I ended up buying a set of the X10 Powermids as a very inexpensive interum solution. I set the IR receiver / RF Transmitter in my rack at the front of the theater. I set the RF receiver / IR transmitter on top of my projector hanging from the ceiling near the rear of the theater. I connected a dual IR transmitter through the jack on the RF Receiver / IR transmitter. I pointed one of the IR transmitters toward the Grafik-eye (~5') and the other directly onto the projectors IR receiver. The solution works flawlessly!!!

I still want to upgrade my remote. Maybe for birthday in November or Christmas. I want something that can be operated single handedly for most functions, I want a higher contrast display than my old Marantz RC-5000, and color would be nice too. I definately want variables this time around, so the URC 810 and 980 seem like logical remotes to look at. I want the remote to be solid. I'm always afraid when my Marantz slides off a chair or arm because it weighs alot and has a pretty big screen with a fairly lightweight plastic. The URC remotes look like they are put together well and have good protection around a somewhat smaller (but much nicer) LCD.

I am sure I will do lots of research and money will be a factor. I would like to keep under $500 for sure and the lower I go, the easier it is to justify to my better half.

Thanks,
DB

You might not have any luck with the Grafik Eye, I have a similar layout, and am finding that the GE is realy fussy about the IR being pointed right at it, and the range from the IR emitter to the GE only works from a couple feet away. I am just in the process of trying to get this all working well with a Harmony 890 remote and RF extender. I have posted a couple questions on this forum and hope to hear from someone with some experience with the equipment I have.