[straubse]

I have a rather large wall of components since I have a 36" wide TV, two component racks (one for Home Theatre and one for Stereo) and speakers for both systems.


My wife has put up with it long enough, but she's getting ansy for me to consolidate. My idea is to move the Home Theatre reack into the closet which is directly behind where the component rack currently resides. I think it would be easy enough to put it in there and run the wires through. I have some concerns with air flow and I'd need to do some testing to ensure it is sufficiently ventilated.


My question is in regards to how to control the receiver, cable box, VCR and DVD player. I think the solution will involve a universal remote, but how do I get the signal into the closet when none of my component support anything but IR?


One thought I had was to put an IR receiver in the main room and then somehow get that to communicate to an IR sender that is mounted directly across from the front of my component rack in the closet. This is where my knowledge of this stuff runs out. Can I purchase such a setup? Is there a more advisable way to do this?


Any help is greatly appreciated as I know many of you are HT gurus w/ lots of experience doing this stuff.


Thanks!

 

[digiphotonerd]

Quote:

One thought I had was to put an IR receiver in the main room and then somehow get that to communicate to an IR sender that is mounted directly across from the front of my component rack in the closet.

As is often the case in this forum, there are many options. I'd recommend starting by checking out the various Xantech options, beginning with the "Hidden Link" kit .

 

[straubse]

Thanks for the reply and getting me pointed in the right direction! I'm sure this has been covered many times before, but I was not even sure where to start looking. Which explains why my searches didn't turn up anything relevent.


The kit looks good, but I wonder if anyone else could chime in that has done something similar or even implemented this kit before. Lessons learned etc.


Thanks!

 

[MrRob]

Try just doing some research on the Web for "IR Repeaters". I am in the same situation. There are a lot of companies that sell these items and there are a huge variety of options. Sounds like you are at my level and are looking for about 4 components to be controlled by one remote.


this may help - http://www.smarthome.com/irsignals.html


I am not condoning them - have no connections - but they explain what you need. There are many others.


Rob

 

[straubse]

MrRob,


Thanks for the reply. My trouble was finding a starting point. I didn't even know IR Repeater is what I should have been looking for.


Like the poster above suggested, I tried that company and also found Niles. Both look great with Niles appearing to have more stylish pieces for my application.


The link you put in there sounds great too. I'll read that one tonight.


Thanks!

 

[hometheaterguy]

I did it, (hid my components). It is less distracting because the LED's and LCD displays are out of view. All you see is film. And yes, it improves the WAF. Infrared wired repeater systems are straight forward to wire. It can be connected in five minutes. Time is needed to retro CAT5 from the connecting block to the receiver, (main IR wall plate eye). Let me know if you need detailed instructions on wiring and installing it. In your scenario I would would go with IR over radio.

 

[Ripper]

I have a quick question along these lines - I am putting a receiver, vcr, and Dish 510 in a cabinet and plan on using xantech Hidden link and a 789-44. There will be two rooms (two hidden links) that will have control. I am thinking of using Cat5 for the IR cables, and was wondering if you put the CB12 devices in the wall single-gang box and run a cable out of the wallplate to the Hidden link, or if you use a 8pin Cat5 connector at the wall plate, and run a cable from there to the CB12.

Also, do you connect the wire pairs together on the Cat5 to yield a 4 conductor cable, decreasing the AWG, or is it reliable at just using four of the wires and tying back the remaining four?

My apologies at all of the questions, but I am about to run my cabling to the rooms, and have purchased the Xantech stuff, but I am interested in how others are connecting the devices to the wallplates.

Thanks!

 

[hoog23]

You shouldn't need to double up the wires.

 

[straubse]

hometheaterguy-


Thanks for the offer to help. I may take you up on that once I get further along in the process. I think it will be a great project and not too technically challenging.


Thanks again for all the help!

 

[D_B_0673]

Home theater MX 600 IR/RF remote

Surf Remote Control sells at good price. Ask for Mike, He is a forum member

 

[straubse]

Using the MX-600 is a great idea. It certainly would be simplier to setup and I'd get a sweet remote out of the deal.


The one drawback I can think of would be that a Niles/Xantach solution would allow for more configuration options if my needs change, or if I want to add another room to the system.


Thanks for the help.

 

[TomB]

Just a quick question on these infrared repeaters... Is there a noticeable delay using them? I mean, the signal now has an additional electronic path to take to get to the receiver, via the 'repeater' setup. Will we notice it being slower than the direct use of the remote?


Thanks in advance....

 

[tvtech1]

Quote:

Is there a noticeable delay using them?

They have roughly the same delay that you see after flicking on a light switch and actually seeing the light.

 

[TomB]

Thanks, tvtech1. I only ask because I have a B&O surround sound system that will control multiple devices, and it has to do some 'processing' to determine what I/R code to send based on the device that is selected at its remote. This incurs a tiny delay, which is sometimes noticeable and sometimes not... As long as it is simply passing the I/R signal through, I guess that a delay would not be added...


Thanks again!

 

[CJO]

Most of the IR repeaters will not work with B&O since it works at a different frequency than most IR systems! There are some repeater systems (Xantech makes one) that are made to work at the different freqency (455 kHz) and I think you might be able to add a resistor to make the others work, though I've never done that myself. You also could run into a problem if your equipment runs on a 2-way IR system like some of the Sony equipment.


Unfortunately, you will also run into the same problems if you try using an RF remote in either of these situations. Try searching for B&O and IR and see what you come up with.

 

[TomB]

Right, CJO, I know that the B&O and other remotes/IR are different. The A/V piece I have from B&O is the Beosystem 1, and it has its own remote 'eye' to carry the B&O IR to it... However, we have found that the B&O remote is really only a partial solution. It does most of the functions of the discrete devices, which are useful for every day stuff, changing the volume/channel/recording etc, but some of the special functions of the remotes are easier on the original remote, in particular our HD Tivo. We will use the B&O remote (two, actually, one at my wifes chair one at mine) 90% of the time, but will occasionally want to use the REAL remote for the Tivo or DVD player, and that's where the 'other' IR repeater comes into play. We have a small table with a drawer between our chairs, and the non B&O remotes live there for times when we want finer control over something. What I REALLY need to control with the original remote is the Hughes HD Tivo.