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Will this IR Repeater setup work?

post #1 of 4
4/21/09 at 3:23pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking to install HTPCs in my media closet for each TV throughout my house, up to 100 feet away. I plan on carrying Video/Audio over HDMI to Cat5e wall plate adapters.

I'm trying to determine the best way to carry the MCE remote signal to each HTPC in the closest, as I'm not familiar with IR repeating.

Do you think the below will work for each HTPC? I'll also use this setup for the Receiver in my closet.

Buffalo IR Block
IR Receiver. I'd use Cat5e cable to run from the TV to the block in the closet.
IR Flasher to connect to the block and go over the IR USB receiver for HTPC.
Power supply for block.

Am I missing anything? Will the above setup give me issues if I have multiple HTPC IR USB receivers close to each other?
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post #2 of 4
4/21/09 at 7:08pm

Re: Will this IR Repeater setup work?

The repeater will relay the IR signal if the MCE remote is IR.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jrwalte
Will the above setup give me issues if I have multiple HTPC IR USB receivers close to each other?
Are you planning on 1 IR repeating system or 4 (1 for each PC)? It is designed to have multiple IR targets and multiple IR emitters. Can you program each remote for a different remote address? Will Harmony remotes work with an MCE PC? You may be able to share the PCs among the TVs. For example, I share three DVR's between two TV's and have the ability to add a 3rd TV to the mix and a 4th source.

-Robert
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post #3 of 4
4/22/09 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 

Re: Will this IR Repeater setup work?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_J
The repeater will relay the IR signal if the MCE remote is IR.

Are you planning on 1 IR repeating system or 4 (1 for each PC)? It is designed to have multiple IR targets and multiple IR emitters. Can you program each remote for a different remote address? Will Harmony remotes work with an MCE PC? You may be able to share the PCs among the TVs. For example, I share three DVR's between two TV's and have the ability to add a 3rd TV to the mix and a 4th source.

-Robert

I plan on one 'kit' per PC. The MCE remotes are IR with an IR to USB receiver. I'm not sure about the harmony remotes. I'm curious about that myself, since I'd rather have 1 remote to control TV power and PC. The current MCE remotes I'm used to only control the PC.

I do plan on sharring one HTPC by splitting the HDMI signal from the PC, but I can't do it for all TVs because I want them to be able to watch their own content.

About your comment about the multiple IR targets. Are you saying I can connect multiple IR Receivers to the block? Just wire them together on the block? This would be helpful with the HTPC that's sharing as I'd only need 1 block and 1 emitter instead of 2 and then just run 2 cat5e Receiver lines into the block from the 2 TVs.
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post #4 of 4
4/22/09 at 1:54pm

Re: Will this IR Repeater setup work?

I haven't looked at the wiring diagrams but I am pretty sure you can use multiple IR targets. But in that case, you would need different IR addresses on each PC.

Harmony remotes can control just about anything. You can even sign up at their site and see if it can control your MCE equipment.

As for splitting, if you are using HDMI then check out the Monoprice HDMI 4x2 matrix switcher. It allows independent selection of 4 HDMI sources with 2 different outputs. I have my Harmony set up to control mine.

-Robert
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