Noob question. (1 Viewer)

[JonGMH]

I have a new home and the basement is pretty much finished. I have decided to purchase a projector (most likely an Epson 3100e) and a 106" screen (fixed).
I have seen an offer for a set of Harmon Kardon speakers (5.1) and an Onkyo A/V receiver for $449 which seems an excellent price.
One main question; we have three small children who will also have access to the room and therefore speakers will have to be wall mounted and the hardware hidden from view. Seeing as the standard remotes will be IR, does anyone know a method for controlling the Blu-ray (Samsung with built-in wi-fi) and the Onkyo amp if they're hidden behind a covert cupboard door.
I know that a wi-fi dongle can be purchased for the Onkyo but would this let me use a universal remote (U/R) to control these or are U/Rs IR too? I do not have an Appl product to control it so any Apps would need to be non-Apple.
Any clues as to how to control these units from out of sight?
If you need any more info, please let me know
Cheers
Jon

 

[Todd Erwin]

Welcome to the forum!

The Logitech Harmony 900 Universal Remote comes with an IR Blaster for that very purpose. It emits the signal via RF to the IR Blaster in the closet, which then sends the IR signals to the components in the closet.

 

[schan1269]

Xantech IR control.

 

[JonGMH]

That's great. Thank you both for your responses. You have solved me a major headache. Now to acquire the gear and then the fun starts

 

[schan1269]

By the way...there is no wrong choice in picking coax(Xantech) or IR blaster(what the other option in this thread is).
Xantech(if you read their website) is used in extremely large buildings where IR blaster would obviously not work.
So, in short, if you only have a "couple" of items to be hidden then IR blasting will work. But if you are building a closet where an entire rack of equipment is going to be...IR blaster may not have enough "field of spray"...