Multi-room, IR distribution over co-ax - please help !

[LestatLondon]

Hi,

I have set up (and finally got working) my new home's video distribution system. I got a 4x4 matrix which distributes 1080i (it didnt work for 1080p) video to 4 rooms, from 4 input sources. VERY pleased I got this to work

Sources are located in a room under the stairs
- 1x Sky
- 1x DVD
- 1x MacMini
- 1x (not sure yet, maybe PS3)

And in the four rooms, I got tv's (some plasma, some LCD) with Freesat encoders inbuilt.

When I bought the house, it was wired with one Cat5e cable and one coax cable behind each TV (Wall mounted). The Cat5e is gone (used for video distribution), Co-ax is being used for freesat etc.

RF distribution NOT an option as I have too many breeze block walls between the TV's and the central location for the sources.

Any ideas of what system I should be looking at for co-ax ?


Many Thanks !!!!

 

[logiciel]

Hi and welcome to AVF.
Does that emphatic "not" imply that you've tested some of the types of IR Extenders and found that none work?

 

[LestatLondon]

Hi logicel

Many thanks for the reply !

cc the RF remotes- one of the rooms is located at the other end of the house to where the equipment is stored (L - shaped house). Therefore it would need to go through two external walls, a set of staircases, and a solid internal breeze block wall to reach the AV equipment room. I think I can emphatically say "not" because the external walls have been insulated with foil coated foam.

One of my other issues (which I am looking at a solution to, is mobile phone repeaters.) The mobile phone signal is 4 to 5 bars outside the house, and totally zero inside (because of the foil coated insulation !)

So i think i can safely say RF will not work, and I would need to look at some sort of either
- Wifi or Co-ax based ir solution

I will use wifi bridges all over the house, so pretty confident I can get a wifi signal everywhere - however the wifi based remotes I have seen, seem to be hugely expensive !


Krgds
Lestat

 

[logiciel]

OK Lestat - it's that foil that's doing it - making your house a Faraday cage, insulated from radiation.
"can safely say RF will not work" and "pretty confident I can get a wifi signal everywhere" look contradictory.
The only wired remote control option I know of is the "magic eye" that works over aerial cable for extending Sky TV from one room to another.
I don't see that working on your satellite co-ax cable lines!
There might be some way of converting IR to something that the power-lines could carry around the house, the way you can connect computers.

 

[LestatLondon]

Hi,

Again, thanks for the reply

The reason why I think I can get wifi working is because i will use "bridges" (airport express for example) around the L shape of the house. These work by just plugging into a standard power socket. (this means i can "bend" the signal around the L of the house.

The co-ax i was looking at was "xantech xtra link". Not sure how reliable it is though

 

[logiciel]

The Xantech is a more elaborate version of the Sky "magic eye" that's normally used with aerial-type co-ax cable.
I don't know whether either would work with a co-ax carrying satellite signals.
"Magic eyes" work well enough, and for the extra price I'd expect Xantech to be better.
The other one is new to me and I don't know whether it could handle the RF from an IR/RF/IR Extender the way it handles "wi-fi".
You have an unusual layout and setup there, but an interesting one.
Logi

 

[makitamark]

Xantech 'solutions' get very expensive very quickly.
add up all those ir receivers, ir injectors/extractors, psu's et all and that's before you decide what ir remotes you're going to use in the four seperate zones!
If you're confident you can get wifi around the house you ought to be able to get RF for a remote solution enabled too, even if it means remote receivers.

 

[LestatLondon]

my mistake, i should of said Freeview not Freesat (at each of the local TV's)

many thanks for your help !

 

[LestatLondon]

Hi Makitamark

With the wifi, i will be using AIrport Express "bridges". These basically plug into the wall sockets (which i would have in the hallway) and should bend the wifi around the L shaped hall.

Is there a similar thing for RF ? (ie some type of chain or linked extenders) ?

 

[makitamark]

I have never yet been into a property that it is impossible to run additional cabling in a discrete way.
I would use these
Universal Remote Control Model RFX-250
to extend the range of my remotes RF and would locate them wherever feasable.

 

[logiciel]

my mistake, i should of said Freeview not Freesat (at each of the local TV's)
many thanks for your help !

That's OK, and it makes a lot of difference to what I've been suggesting.
Those cables should take the ordinary "magic eye" things the way that Sky extensions do.

 

[hornydragon]

Can of course use WiFi remotes like Pronto with airports or similar bridges and then RFX unit with equipment....

 

[crowther]

Hi,

I've got a very similar set up.

I went for the Blue Eye gear over CAT5 - worth running that extra cable - only uses 3 wires anyway.
www.irextender.co.uk

Regards
Crowther