kryten
Established Member
OK, time for a major revamp of a/v stuff and remote control - not sure if this should be here or in DIY forum.
My pronto broke some time ago and I bought a Harmony900 as a replacement, but its RF performance is pathetic and doesn't work outside the living room, so I need another control mechanism.
Also, we're redoing Bed1 and Ensuite so will be putting a 40" TV in the bedroom and replacing the old 15" portable in the en-suite with a 22" widescreen. An RF feed and composite input won't look good on a 40" TV!
Sources are all in separate cabinets in living room (so I could RF control the SkyHD and Sky+ boxes separately):
SkyHD, Sky+, PopCorn Hour C200 (DVDs and BluRay) plus Games consoles: PS3, XBOX360, Wii.
Currently all the above sources have Video outputs connected into a Lumagen HDQ whose output feeds an Octavia HDMI splitter which then feeds the two display devices in the Living Room and I have profiles setup for 720p output (for Sony VPL60 Projector) or 1080p (for 40" Sony TV) on the Lumagen.
In addition, the composite output of SkyHD is fed into a Keene CAT5 system to send composite+audio over CAT5 and an aerial feed is looped through offering poor quality viewing of SkyHD or Sky+ elsewhere in the house.
All audio is fed into an Arcam AV9 - mostly using Optical/Co-ax (but no video so its Video switching is unused).
I also have a Sonos system for audio and am happy keeping that.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to watch any source elsewhere on any TV with the ability to remote control the source from that location.
However, I do NOT want to end up with a reduction in quality of the picture/audio on the main screens in the living room. Also, I could probably get away with viewing only the SkyHD/Sky+ and Popcorn at other locations though I really do need a way of controlling the SkyHD/Sky+ another way as the Harmony is useless.
My other zones are:
Conservatory - currently fed via Component from SkyHD box only (plus aerial) but the box is on its way out and most no longer have component output
Kitchen - Keene CAT5 only
Office - aerial only
Upstairs:
Bed1 - Keene CAT5 and aerial (SkyEye use to control SkyHD box using original remote)
En-suite - aerial only (audio fed to ceiling speaker)
Bed2 - aerial only (plus own Sky+ box)
Bed3 - no link - (own Sky+ box)
So, am open to suggestions on what to do. Getting additional CAT5 runs done is possible though we have recently decorated so won't be too popular (I guess a cable pulling system might be an option to help with that). I have ethernet everywhere and using managed Cisco switches in most locations (2960s) but I'm confused on how the HDMI over IP systems work.
I guess the entire upstairs could be fed as 'one' as we would rarely watch different things on those TVs - one of the CAT5 runs goes upstairs through the loft so I could feed a signal to the loft and split it there to distribute to the entire upstairs.
There are various AxB matrix switches about, but I'm worried about controlling them and the whole system being wife/kids friendly.
No fixed budget - am happy to pay out for a systems that works if it gives me a good quality picture and sound throughout the house, plus a working remote control from all rooms!
I'd prefer to install myself as I'm a fussy bugger and want to know how everything works if I need to change it, however I am really busy so might be looking for someone to do the install...
My pronto broke some time ago and I bought a Harmony900 as a replacement, but its RF performance is pathetic and doesn't work outside the living room, so I need another control mechanism.
Also, we're redoing Bed1 and Ensuite so will be putting a 40" TV in the bedroom and replacing the old 15" portable in the en-suite with a 22" widescreen. An RF feed and composite input won't look good on a 40" TV!
Sources are all in separate cabinets in living room (so I could RF control the SkyHD and Sky+ boxes separately):
SkyHD, Sky+, PopCorn Hour C200 (DVDs and BluRay) plus Games consoles: PS3, XBOX360, Wii.
Currently all the above sources have Video outputs connected into a Lumagen HDQ whose output feeds an Octavia HDMI splitter which then feeds the two display devices in the Living Room and I have profiles setup for 720p output (for Sony VPL60 Projector) or 1080p (for 40" Sony TV) on the Lumagen.
In addition, the composite output of SkyHD is fed into a Keene CAT5 system to send composite+audio over CAT5 and an aerial feed is looped through offering poor quality viewing of SkyHD or Sky+ elsewhere in the house.
All audio is fed into an Arcam AV9 - mostly using Optical/Co-ax (but no video so its Video switching is unused).
I also have a Sonos system for audio and am happy keeping that.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to watch any source elsewhere on any TV with the ability to remote control the source from that location.
However, I do NOT want to end up with a reduction in quality of the picture/audio on the main screens in the living room. Also, I could probably get away with viewing only the SkyHD/Sky+ and Popcorn at other locations though I really do need a way of controlling the SkyHD/Sky+ another way as the Harmony is useless.
My other zones are:
Conservatory - currently fed via Component from SkyHD box only (plus aerial) but the box is on its way out and most no longer have component output
Kitchen - Keene CAT5 only
Office - aerial only
Upstairs:
Bed1 - Keene CAT5 and aerial (SkyEye use to control SkyHD box using original remote)
En-suite - aerial only (audio fed to ceiling speaker)
Bed2 - aerial only (plus own Sky+ box)
Bed3 - no link - (own Sky+ box)
So, am open to suggestions on what to do. Getting additional CAT5 runs done is possible though we have recently decorated so won't be too popular (I guess a cable pulling system might be an option to help with that). I have ethernet everywhere and using managed Cisco switches in most locations (2960s) but I'm confused on how the HDMI over IP systems work.
I guess the entire upstairs could be fed as 'one' as we would rarely watch different things on those TVs - one of the CAT5 runs goes upstairs through the loft so I could feed a signal to the loft and split it there to distribute to the entire upstairs.
There are various AxB matrix switches about, but I'm worried about controlling them and the whole system being wife/kids friendly.
No fixed budget - am happy to pay out for a systems that works if it gives me a good quality picture and sound throughout the house, plus a working remote control from all rooms!
I'd prefer to install myself as I'm a fussy bugger and want to know how everything works if I need to change it, however I am really busy so might be looking for someone to do the install...