IR Distribution Help

I just finished wiring my new (to me house). Fishing was a fair bit easier than I had anticipated so I'm a happy camper.

I have 4 video zones (Living Room, Master Bedroom, Guest Bedroom, Spare Bedroom). I ran 4 x Cat6 and 1 x RG6 from a centralized location in the basement to each video zone.

An equipment rack in the basement will house the following equipment for each zone.

• Denon AVR-1713 receiver
• HD Cable Box
• Boxee Box

Goal #1 - Control each zone via Irule

To accomplish Goal #1, I'll need something like the Global Cache GC-100 to control older (non IP devices) via iRule.

My question is -- while most of the equipment will reside in basement rack, the TV's are obviously in each room. What is the best way to get IR from the output on the GC-100 to each zone? I believe I can carry IR over one of the Cat6 cables but how would I terminate it in the basement and how would I terminate it behind each tv? For the basement, would I simply splice the cat6 with an IR emitter and plug it into the GC-100 or is there a more elegant way? I have recessed wall boxes behind each TV which can accept keystones so that is a possibility, but is that the best option?


Goal #2 - Control each zone via a regular Harmony IR remote

To accomplish Goal #2, I need to get IR from the Video Zones down to the basement to emmit IR to the devices in the rack.

My question is -- I'll need to at least control 2 devices per zone now, but want to accommodate up to 4 for future expansion. Does that mean I need 4 IR receivers in the Video Zone rooms and 4 emitters in the basement? I've read about the Xantech stuff but am confused about all the options...

And to complicate things even further, the second floor zones will require the use of HDMI baluns. I've chosen the Zektor Solo Cat HD baluns which support bi-directional IR. Would it make sense to use this functionality?

Thanks for any help!

Came up with this drawing.. wondering if anyone has any comments -- perhaps a better way of doing something?

I do have a few questions:

1. I suppose there is no reason why I can't carry 2 IR signals on the same cat6 cable? From what I gather, you need 3 conductors per?

2. I'd prefer one larger Xantech Control block (as opposed to the many 788-44) but I want the support for 4 devices per zone. Anything else out there fit the bill?

3. I'm wondering if there is something to terminate the Cat6 on the GC-100-18R side? The opposite end will terminate on a 3.5mm keystone which I can plug a regular emitter into, but I'd like something cleaner than splicing and taping the other end... suggestions?

Yah, I'll use these in the wall plates in the rooms. However in the basement, where I won't have wall plates (ie. cat6 cable is routed into a couple of 43u racks, I'd like another solution. I could always just cut an emitter cable in half, and splice in the cat6 but I thought there might be something better?