I have a dedicated home theater in a family room as well as an audio distribution system for the whole house. The audio distribution system can be controlled via keypads on the wall in each room. These keypads can in turn be remotely controlled by IR emitting mini-remotes. So the (lengthy) question is:

Can I run an IR extension wire to each keypad (in the form of a CAT5e cable) from some sort of IR extender box in the home theater room, program my home theater universal remote so that while watching a movie in the theater...and suddenly deciding to take a swim...I can hit the "Pool Patio" button I have programmed on the remote, and have a signal get sent to the keypad at the pool patio to turn on the music there?

Seems doable but not sure if I can send an IR signal so far (as I am thinking the IR extension cable to the pool may be upwards of 75 feet)...

ADDED:

Perhaps using this IR emitting block:

http://www.smarthome.com/8193.html

Does not specify how far emitted signals will travel however...

I have extended some IR extensions from a URC MRF-300 about that length with just cat5 cable alone. Works fine and the customer has no issues with it. Hope that helps.

I have the Hidden IR repeater (http://www.smarthome.com/59500.html). It works well now, but I wanted to warn you that I did have trouble when I tried to extend the receiver eye to around 30' using CAT5e. It just wouldn't work, even though I confirmed the cable was correct. I then ran RG6, and that worked fine to extend it. Others have had success with CAT5e, but I'd recommend RG6 just in case.

Guy