Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tim Joost 
I am looking to save a few $$ and to be able to watch my DVR in the bedroom so I am looking to share the signal from my Comcast Motorola DVR between my bedroom and living room. The two rooms share a wall and both TV's backup to that wall. I have been researching this and I know I need an HDMI splitter that supports HDCP. My main question is about resolution. The living room TV is a 60" 1080P Samsung DLP and the bedroom is a 40" 720p Samsung LCD. My understanding is the splitter (I am looking at the one at the link below) will downgrade the signal to the highest signal that is supported by both TVs. Is this still correct if I am only using one TV at a time?
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Actually the distribution amp (splitter) doesn't change the resolution. The source is the only thing that would change the resolution and it does this based on the EDID packets it receives from the TVs. When one TV is connected, the source receives the EDID from that TV and says, OK I can sent out a signal that is compatible with that one TV. When both TVs are connected, the source responds by sending out a signal that is compatible with
both TVs. The splitter didn't do that, the source did. You could say that the splitter facilitated it since it allowed both EDIDs to reach the source but that's about the extent of it. Remember, no matter what you do, only one video and one audio stream can be sent over HDMI at a single time.
In your case using component video and HDMI simultaneously would make sense. Unfortunately, whether you can send different resolutions over component versus HDMI will depend upon the cable box. Also keep in mind that just because a TV (particularly a later model) only shows 720p doesn't mean it can't accept 1080p as an input. You'll have to check the owners manual. Also remember that for a cable box the signal going into the cable box is either 1080i or 720p, so 1080p output from the cable box isn't really buying you anything. If you can output 1080i from component and 1080p/1080i from HDMI then you're getting the equivalent picture quality from both. And yes, unless you unplug the TV from the AC power when you aren't using it, it is possible that the TV is still active over HDMI when in standby mode and therefore the lowest common denominator will still apply even if one TV is "off".
As far as a remote solution, some cable boxes have RF remotes for this reason. If not, you'll have to check for a IR repeater solution that would work between walls. Places like Smarthome sell tons of those. Or try one of the sections in the AVSForum, such as Home Automation, for more information.
Either way, if you have component video output along with HDMI and both are active simultaneously, you don't need a distribution amp (splitter) to do what you want to do.
