Video Distribution Strategies

ccmichaelson

Active Member
I'm about to build my home and I want to keep all my equipment in the dedicated mechanical room. I'm a huge Directv fan but I do not want the receiver/client installed at every TV location.

Has anyone used a HDBaseT unit to transmit HDMI over CAT6? My thought is to place the DirecTv receievers in the cabinet and home run CAT6 wires to each TV location rather than RG6 or HDMI cables. Here's a matrix and receivers from Monoprice: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10914&cs_id=1091405&p_id=10683&seq=1&format=2

What I'm concerned about is how I would change channels if the directv receiver is in basement? Does Homeseer or another home automation controller take care of that issue?
 
Read the fine print on the product you linked.  It includes an IR receiver for each remote location and an IR transmitter for the head end.  You just use your regular IR remote to change channels.
 
You could look into IR solutions, such as those offered by Xantech and others for distributing the IR signal. I'm familiar with the Xantech ones personally. I have a DL85K in my main living room, which distributes the IR signals to an adjacent closet.
 
I believe the majority of the remotes from DTV are now RF; particularly the ones for the additional rooms - past the first one. The most recent installation I did, dealing with DTV, they provided very small client boxes for the additional bedrooms (easily able to be hidden behind a wall mounted TV). In doing so, they basically require RF remotes to get reliable signal to the box. Unfortunately, 1) the RF remotes are pretty low power and don't work well outside the given room and 2) because RF remotes are meant for use with these boxes, I'm not certain that they support IR signaling. 
 
FlyingDiver said:
Read the fine print on the product you linked.  It includes an IR receiver for each remote location and an IR transmitter for the head end.  You just use your regular IR remote to change channels.
 
Verify the functionality of this... the issue with many of these is that the IR signal is a single Zone.
 
What I mean is this...
- Let's assume you have (2) remote rooms
- When you change the channel in one room, the IR signal is distributed to ALL IR emitters, thus changing the channel on all STBs
 
This is fine when you have a myriad sources, but obviously becomes an issue if you are trying to control multiple of the same device (e.g. STBs).
 
drvnbysound said:
Verify the functionality of this... the issue with many of these is that the IR signal is a single Zone.
 
What I mean is this...
- Let's assume you have (2) remote rooms
- When you change the channel in one room, the IR signal is distributed to ALL IR emitters, thus changing the channel on all STBs
 
This is fine when you have a myriad sources, but obviously becomes an issue if you are trying to control multiple of the same device (e.g. STBs).
 
It's not a matrix switch, it's a splitter only.  There's only one emitter, so there's only one zone.  But as noted elsewhere, DirecTV has multiple code sets so you can have multiple receivers.  But then you would need a matrix switch, not a splitter.
 
Based on the OP and idea to centrally install all equipment, I assumed that multiple DTV STBs would be installed and distributed from the closet to multiple TVs throughout the home.
 
Understood about the code sets, but this also assumes that the OP requests the hardware required to do this. As I mentioned above, they do have newer boxes (Genie Mini's - I believe), which I think are RF only.
 
I'd highly suggest meeting with someone from DTV; explain/show them what you want to do so they can specify the correct equipment for the job.
 
The other thing to consider are the other connected components. The DTV code sets can resolve the issue of having only a single IR zone, but you could also have other equipment that is duplicated (e.g. BD players). I'm just trying to point out the issues that I learned about and came across duing a few installations that I've done - it's never a good feeling to begin connecting all the hardware to realize it's not designed like you thought it was... and you need to find and order something else to do the job.
 
The "real" intent of this post was to understand how you experts distribute video throughout your house.  The solution I'm thinking of is installing all DVR's/clients/receivers/blu-ray players/etc. in my mechanical room rack and running CAT6 (probably 2 or 3 pair) to each TV using the HDBaseT technology to power HDMI over CAT6.
 
I'd like to stream movies from Netflix, watch DVD/Blu-ray, watch live TV, etc. to any TV without having any hardware components (blu-ray player, DirectTv receiver) at every TV location.
 
Thx!
 
There is a Cocoontech user here today that utilizes Homeseer and distributed Direct TV.  Not sure how today he is distributing his DTV stuff.  Thinking he started initially going in the direction of using a distributed HDMI switch.
 
Today here stream my video via XBMC boxes.  There is a box by every LCD.
 
These boxes allow me to distribute HD recorded video, streaming video, live HD anywhere there is a TV.
 
I do IR blasting but do not automate it. 
 
They do make HDMI matrix switches which utilize IP or RS-232. 
 
I would recommend one of those over using IR blasting.  (I like RF remotes better; that is me though)
 
Control4 Distributed Video
 
Whole House Distributed HDTV
 
How to install Multi-room HDTV using HDBaseT
 
Distribution is easy today and it getting less cost prohibitive (relatively writing).
 
drvnbysound said:
The other thing to consider are the other connected components. The DTV code sets can resolve the issue of having only a single IR zone, but you could also have other equipment that is duplicated (e.g. BD players). I'm just trying to point out the issues that I learned about and came across duing a few installations that I've done - it's never a good feeling to begin connecting all the hardware to realize it's not designed like you thought it was... and you need to find and order something else to do the job.
Definitely something to consider. I use EventGhost (used to do this with the free version of Girder too) with a USB-UIRT for all of my IR/IP/serial controls for the whole house. The USB-UIRT can be configured for zones to overcome the "same equipment issue." Works well especially since I prefer touchscreen remotes, but you can use different IR codes (like for an old Fisher tape deck) for each device which EventGhost acts upon and sends the real code out of the configured zone. If you are willing to dedicate a device, say a BR player for the theater, another option is to use a zoned IR hub.
 
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