[itr1197]

I'm very confused with how to setup my media closet.

I'm finishing my basement and plan to put my components into a media closet.
I have 2 comcast boxes that I want to share with 4 different tvs 1 box shared with the bar and office and the other one between the BR and playroom. Both cable boxes will be located in the basement media closet. I do have a pair of cat 5e at each tv location. My question, what do I need to purchase in order for me to have each cable box be able to display on 2 different tvs. I know I can extend the HDMI via cat5e to all 4 tvs. and I know that I could only watch the same programming on both tvs. Would a 2x4 matrix do the trick? And how would the IR work if I'm in my BR and the cable box is in the basement? What if I decide to go to the playroom and watch there? Can there be 2 irs for 1 cable box? Also my BR has a denon avr that I use for 5.1, would that pose a problem?

Thanks for your help I'm just so confused.

 

[Joe Fernand]

Look for an HDMI over CAT or HDMI over HDBT Matrix with Routed and Broadcast IR - Routed IR allows you to control two or more of the same device from different Zones without IR clashes, Broadcast IR allows you to control an AVR from one or more Zones.


HDBT is a single CAT solution and whilst more cost than the dual CAT solutions it is very stable - it also offers you the possibility of PoH (Power over HDBT) so no PSU required at the Zone Receiver's.


Other features to look for in a Matrix are - EDID Management, USB Port to allow Firmware updates and loading of Custom Firmware, Fast Switching between Sources, Non-blinking between Zones when you switch Sources and simple Source selection within each Zone.


Joe

 

[AV_Integrated]

Not sure what your budget is, but the least expensive solution may be to get 4 HDBT extenders and two HDMI splitters. If you have two cat-5e cables at each location, you can use one for the HDBT extension, and the other for the IR repeater. You can pick up IR repeaters for about $30 or so from Amazon.

HDBT extenders are about $200 each from Monoprice.

HDMI splitters are about $30 each.

So, for four rooms, it's about $1,000 total, which could prove to be a great deal less than buying a HDMI matrix w/HDBT.