I am trying to decide which route to go . I am considering eithe to use an HTPC and a centon infinity 4 with extenders to distribute media center to othe television in the house. Or XBMC with a matrix switch and a couple of cable box for TV. I am currently runing a Homeseer server for my lighting and Casatunes for my audio distribution. I am trying to acheive the effect of an Kaleidescape server without the pricetag. Does anybody have any experience or suggestion.
Distribute Video Throughout my house
- Thread starter joeh2056
- Start date
potts.mike
Active Member
Check out sageTV as well.
+1 - If you are looking for a solution for ripped media (music, videos, and recorded TV), SageTV with their HD extenders provides a simple and inexpensive solution. They just released their newest HD Extender called the HD-300. It is only $150. You would need 1 extender at each TV and a central computer that you can use as a SageTV server.
A matrix switch is going to run several hundred dollars used, and then you have all the expense of running cables to distribute the audio/video and IR signals as well. Total solution costs are going to run much higher than the SageTV solution.
A matrix switch is going to run several hundred dollars used, and then you have all the expense of running cables to distribute the audio/video and IR signals as well. Total solution costs are going to run much higher than the SageTV solution.
Well the cables is not a problem as i already have cables run to every room in the house already. I alreade have an IR extender installed so that is not a problem either. I saw A 4X4 matrix switch at Monoprice for $200 that is totaly doable. I look at Sage Tv and it look like to me it is a similar setup to Windows Media Center. I will still need extender in every room and sage dosent support cable card tuner so i would still need some sort of cable box for regular Tv
OK - then the matrix solution might be the best option for you. That is the route I went, even though I do use SageTV as well. But I have all my equipment (including the SageTV extenders) in a central location and disribute it out from there.
Regarding cable cards - you are correct that Sage does not currently support that. However, you can use the Hauppauge HD-PVR to record the component video output of your set top box for Sage. I use DishTV and have a HD-PVR record the output from my STB. The nice thing about that system is that I could always switch to another broadcast provider (like cable), and still use the HD-PVR. Once I got the new STB from the new provider, I simply hook the component outputs to the HD-PVR and I am back to recording HD quality (up to 1080i) in Sage.
Also, the new Sage HD-300 extenders are tiny - about 4" wide x 5" deep x 1 1/2" tall. They can easily be mounted to the back of a TV and hidden out of view. Sage even has an optional IR receiver that you can plug into the extender and mount somewhere that it will pick up the signal from the remote control. Obviously if you are hiding the extender behind the TV, it would also normally be blocked from IR signals - hence the need for the IR extender.
pete_c
Guru
Just purchased the Monoprice HDMI extender (two CAT5/6 cables) wall plates to see how they work for my home office LCD TV.
Very reasonably priced.
HDMI Wall Plates
Very reasonably priced.
HDMI Wall Plates
