Hello From Canada

[aksor]

Hello From the Great White North

Here is my plan for my Igloo


I have been mostly gathering some items:

Switchlinc 2way X10 dimmers and relay switches (to be installed) from eBay got a great deal from someone who just upgraded their setup.

I also purchased an Ocelot along with two Secu-16 modules(sitting on my workbench), a leviton x10 phase coupler/amplifier(installed), Intermatic whole house surge protector (installed).

ChannelPlus 3024 2 Channel Modulator (installed) along with 3 chanelPlus IR targets over coax, I also purchased two RCA Video/Audio switchers(eBay) that I moded and its now controlled by the secu-16 trough hsGirder, Homeseer, and girder 3.3.

I also have a few indoor and outdoor x10 motion detectors and some IR outdoor cameras along with a MUX and dedicated DVR(not installed).

The two RCA video switches provide a two zone output to the ChannelPlus Modulator.

For Audio distribution I'm Planning on using my Yamaha RX-V557(Have) dual zone receiver + AMP-200 (Need to purchase) along with a Denon AVR2805 (Have) dual zone receiver and some A/B speaker switching for the Patio. Will add more AMP-200 (Need to purchase)amps as budget allows.

I have been playing with Homeseer 1.7 along with Girder 3.3 and Netremote 1.x and J-River MC (I know I need to upgrade!)

I'm using girder to translate IR signals from my PVR remote control to control my other devices as the PVR has a lot of the most used buttons on it and my wife uses it all the time.

I also have a USB-UIRT interfaced to girder to send out zoned ir.

Homeseer is used to send X10 using a CM11 and events and talk to girder and netremote. But I'm planing on ditching it and going to girder 5 and Netremote 2.


Main zone will be the family room using the Denon AVR 2805 Receiver, along with a 57" Hitachi CRT HDTV, HD-PVR, PS3, Wii and two Sat receivers. (7.1 Surround)

Zone 2 is the Living room that has a JVC CRT 27" tv and an XBOX running XBMC for videos and recordings (Zone 2 output on Denon)

Zone 3 is the Master Bedroom 20" JVC CRT tv and XBOX running XBMC (Main Speakers on Yamaha)

Zone 4 Patio (not really a zone but shared with the family room speaker B from Denon)

Zone 5 Bathroom (shared with Master Bedroom Speaker B from Yamaha)

Zone 6 Kids room (Zone 2 on Yamha trough AMP-200)

Both receivers will have 2 feeds from J-River MC for Sirius Radio, Internet Radio, and MP3's

I will eventually have dedicated zones as time and money allows!

I'm trying to work with what I already have to keep the cost minimal as I'm on a small budget but I got so many ideas!

Here is a drawing of my Video distribution

Here is my plan for the Audio Distribution

I also have a description on the RCA video switcher mod here

RCA Video Switcher mod

Thanks for reading http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif

Laz

 

[Monk]

That is pretty cool..... I am completely new to video distribution - so pardon me if this sounds dumb! What would it take to make a setup like this to switch HD video - or does this one do it already?

 

[aksor]

Hi

My need to distribute HD is not a priority as both upstairs TV are SD TV's.

Eventually I will have to ditch this design and go HD.

As for you there are other options to distribute HDTV signals.

You could get a component or HDMI switcher and feed the output into a component balun to run the signals over CAT5e cable to the desired room and have another balun to convert it back to HDMI or component format.

Other options would be to have a couple of XBOX 360's as a VISTA Media Center Extender or a D-Link Media Center Extenders.

That is pretty cool..... I am completely new to video distribution - so pardon me if this sounds dumb! What would it take to make a setup like this to switch HD video - or does this one do it already?

 

[Monk]

You could get a component or HDMI switcher and feed the output into a component balun to run the signals over CAT5e cable to the desired room and have another balun to convert it back to HDMI or component format.

Just Googled around for a "Balun". What a concept - I saw a couple for like $50. Do they work well? I did a search on the board here and didn't get any result on the single word.

 

[WayneW]

Just Googled around for a "Balun". What a concept - I saw a couple for like $50. Do they work well? I did a search on the board here and didn't get any result on the single word.

Balun isn't really the right word for this purpose (it is a contraction of BALanced-UNbalanced converter), but there is no single better word to search here or Google for. I am researching some myself and feel your pain. Try searching for sVideo.com, MuxLab, Audio Authority and CE Labs to get started. I don't think monoprice.com offers any, last time I looked.

 

[aksor]

I personally don't have experience using it, but balun is short for balanced to unbalanced your component video and audio is unbalanced but by passing it trough a set of OP Amps you can create the original signal and an inverted version of the signal and transmit it down the Cat5 twisted pairs it also provides a bit of amplification to compensate for the line loss over distance. The receiver is another set of OP Amps that take the signal and its complement and converted back to unbalanced format but rejecting any noise interference.

What happens is basically if noise is picked up by the transmission line between the transmitter it will get rejected at the receiver this is what the call common mode rejection.

A lot of the high end video distribution companies are using it to distribute component video along with stereo audio and Toslink Digital Audio.

I hope this helps

also here is a link to the AVS forum HDTV Signal distribution to multiple rooms

Laz

You could get a component or HDMI switcher and feed the output into a component balun to run the signals over CAT5e cable to the desired room and have another balun to convert it back to HDMI or component format.

Just Googled around for a "Balun". What a concept - I saw a couple for like $50. Do they work well? I did a search on the board here and didn't get any result on the single word.

 

[aksor]

Just a few updates since my last posting My Hitachi 57"HDTV bit the dust the red tube died and was replaced under waranty then the blue tube died and the extended warranty decided to refund my entire purchase price 3.5 years after I purchased the TV! Woohoo.

I went out and got a 52" Sony Bravia 1080P 120Hz this spring.

I also purchased a second receiver really cheap! the previous owner said it was shutting down after 2 seconds! It turned out to be a faulty 5v Regulator supplying the DSP section, it cost me nothing to repair as I had the part in my parts bin.

I also picked up a 19" rack for free and mounted shelving on it to hold two Yamaha RX series receivers and an older RadioShack 100Wx2 rack mount stereo amp as a zone amplifier to one of my Yamaha receivers.

I built 2 indetical PC's encased into mini cube Antec cases, one running Mythbuntu PVR and the other running XP and JRMC as a multizone music server.

purchased a copy of Netremote and 3) Smarthome Touchlinc v4 touchpads


Now I just have to get off my lazy butt and start installing the wall speakers pull cables and install the camera's and touchscreens, and the 2 way switchlinc switches and tie the whole thing together.

 

[drozwood90]

Neat stuff!

I was going to do the same...but decided to just run Gigabit around the house and put a "SageTV" like device on anything that I wanted to watch my movies on.

Much more limited, but all I wanted to do was distribute my movies...each TV has it's own COAX off a splitter.

Really well documented! Keep that up. It will be a pain, but it will be helpful when you are ready to switch to HD everywhere.

--Dan

 

[aksor]

Neat stuff!

I was going to do the same...but decided to just run Gigabit around the house and put a "SageTV" like device on anything that I wanted to watch my movies on.

Much more limited, but all I wanted to do was distribute my movies...each TV has it's own COAX off a splitter.

Really well documented! Keep that up. It will be a pain, but it will be helpful when you are ready to switch to HD everywhere.

--Dan

Thanks Dan

BTW some of you might be interested in this Ebook in pdf format that I came accross called Build your own smarthome. http://www.patchhomeinspections.com/Build_..._smart_home.pdf

 

[Neurorad]

thanks for sharing that ebook, aksor.

But I don't think it's meant to be shared - maybe I'm mistaken. If I was one of those authors I'd be pissed.

Why haven't I seen this book before? Out of print?

Available used from Amazon, but not new.

Heavy on X10.

I see the book is posted on a home inspector's web page, from OH.

 

[aksor]

thanks for sharing that ebook, aksor.

But I don't think it's meant to be shared - maybe I'm mistaken. If I was one of those authors I'd be pissed.

Why haven't I seen this book before? Out of print?

Available used from Amazon, but not new.

Heavy on X10.

I see the book is posted on a home inspector's web page, from OH.

That's where I found it on that home inspector web page so I figured it's free.
Most e-book previews on google have a lot of the pages hidden.