Hi everyone,
I'm debating whether I should tackle the task of moving all of my equipment to a remote closet that is on the other side of the home.
The TL;DR of this is: Any advice on overall (very) remote management of all HT/HTPC/Gaming gear?
Some context, I've done this before with a media closet in the back of the room which I could access from behind in an unfinished area. I loved it and it made for a very clean HT with only the front speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer up front.
My initial goal was to run multiple displays for a single computer running virtual machines (Unraid). I wanted to put this HTPC/server in a room near my networking gear and it gave me the thought to move everything into a gear closet.
This sounds great except this closet is upstairs and 2 rooms over compared to the HT. I should note, I am not concerned at all with running the cables. There is relatively good access and I've already run lots of ethernet etc.
My big concern is the practicality of the equipment being so remote.
I've got a Harmony remote with RF which I'm confident will do fine and I rarely need to access the equipment directly.
My speaker and HDMI runs are the biggest concern with wireless devices being the 2nd biggest concern.
As for the audio/video:
As for remote devices:
Overall, I don't want to add any video, audio, or input latency.
Any thoughts or recommendations based on others who have done something similar?
I'm debating whether I should tackle the task of moving all of my equipment to a remote closet that is on the other side of the home.
The TL;DR of this is: Any advice on overall (very) remote management of all HT/HTPC/Gaming gear?
Some context, I've done this before with a media closet in the back of the room which I could access from behind in an unfinished area. I loved it and it made for a very clean HT with only the front speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer up front.
My initial goal was to run multiple displays for a single computer running virtual machines (Unraid). I wanted to put this HTPC/server in a room near my networking gear and it gave me the thought to move everything into a gear closet.
This sounds great except this closet is upstairs and 2 rooms over compared to the HT. I should note, I am not concerned at all with running the cables. There is relatively good access and I've already run lots of ethernet etc.
My big concern is the practicality of the equipment being so remote.
I've got a Harmony remote with RF which I'm confident will do fine and I rarely need to access the equipment directly.
My speaker and HDMI runs are the biggest concern with wireless devices being the 2nd biggest concern.
As for the audio/video:
- My fronts would be furthest away which I'm conservatively estimating around 80 FT which would include the subwoofer.
- The speakers are Paradigm S8s, a C3, and the subwoofer is a JTR S2. It's a 7.4.1 system running dedicated Emotiva amps for most speakers except for to heights.
- The projector will be about 45 foot run and I want to have full 4k 60hz 4:4:4 capability for future proofing. I'm thinking just one of the few HDMI cables proven to work at this distance but would be open to other solutions as well.
- A headphone jack (just incase) would be about 70 ft run.
- I'd like for rarely used devices that require a local connection like an old Nintendo to be able to transmit video to the receiver which would be about a 70-75ft run so this could include RCA, Component Video, and S-Video. I'm not too clear on their distance capability.
As for remote devices:
- Since this is a HTPC, I often use it as my main computer in the home. So it has daily use as a PC and also for movies/TV/Gaming etc.
- I will need to make sure I can get reliable USB extenders to get the mouse/keyboard working.
- Regarding any gaming systems, is it at all practical to have those be so remote? I'm thinking of other items like the Xbox Kinect, hardwired controllers, and even XBOX/Playstation/Nintendo wireless controllers. All would need extensions of some kind.
Overall, I don't want to add any video, audio, or input latency.
Any thoughts or recommendations based on others who have done something similar?
