Help with understanding IR blasters and cabling

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corksta

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#143082 2-Apr-2014 20:03

We're in the process of building a new house and we're going over the electrical plan. One of the things we're looking at, as suggested to us, is wiring an IR control cable from the media room which will house everything (Sky, Roku, Apple TV, etc) to the master bedroom, but I have a few questions:

1. Does this mean that from the master bedroom we can watch/use anything as if we were in the media room itself, therefore meaning there's no reason to buy a second Apple TV, decoder, etc?

2. How does that then work with a remote control? We use a Harmony One at the moment.

3. If everything is connected to the receiver in the media room, does that mean that needs to be on at the same time or should signals pass through to the bedroom?

4. Am I right in thinking that we'd then need a HDMI cable also run from the media room (the receiver?) to the master bedroom to connect to the TV?

Thanks very much, just trying to get my head around it all and Google wasn't too much help!

Dunnersfella

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#1017512 2-Apr-2014 20:35

1: Yes, if you're happy to watch the same content in both rooms, and aren't hoping to watch another channel etc.
2: The IR blaster system basically controls equipment that's situated in another room, so it'll work just as you would expect. Check feedback on the Harmony forums to ensure that there are no issues with delay / compatibility with your IR system. But, all things being equal, you should be fine.
3: Yes, the receiver is effectively the hub of your home... and as I'm assuming you're using a 'HD Zone' or second zone for video and audio in the bedroom? Or will it be via an HDMI matrix type scenario?
4: Yes, via an HD Zone output, or, if you're using an HDMI scenario?

corksta

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#1017545 2-Apr-2014 21:42

Dunnersfella: 1: Yes, if you're happy to watch the same content in both rooms, and aren't hoping to watch another channel etc.
2: The IR blaster system basically controls equipment that's situated in another room, so it'll work just as you would expect. Check feedback on the Harmony forums to ensure that there are no issues with delay / compatibility with your IR system. But, all things being equal, you should be fine.
3: Yes, the receiver is effectively the hub of your home... and as I'm assuming you're using a 'HD Zone' or second zone for video and audio in the bedroom? Or will it be via an HDMI matrix type scenario?
4: Yes, via an HD Zone output, or, if you're using an HDMI scenario?

Thanks for your reply. I will be putting a projector in the media room so I'll be getting a new receiver with 2 HDMI outputs, but if I'm going to be running HDMI to the master bedroom then I'll need a splitter? I can't quite figure out what the difference is between a splitter and a matrix switch?

Dunnersfella

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#1017552 2-Apr-2014 22:13

If your receiver can only output video into the second zone, you're wasting your time.
However, if the receiver can output audio AND video into the second zone (typically called the HD Zone) it'll be as simple as running the HDMI cable to the second zone.
Most of these receivers can only produce 2 channel audio in the 'HD Zone'... but you should be fine in a master bedroom! Plus HD Zone's allow you to run two different HDMI sources at the same time, and that's quite cool (MySky in one room, Apple TV in the other).

marmel

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#1018277 4-Apr-2014 09:41

I have used one of these for two years with no problems at all:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5704&seq=1&format=2

You can watch any of the four inputs on any of the four outputs at the same time. Doesnt take long to use up four inputs either with Sky, BluRay, Apple TV PC etc.

If the run from your media receiver to your bedroom is too long to run an HDMI cable just use two runs of Cat-6 with an HDMI balun at either end. I built my house 2 years ago and everything is distributed this way, HDMI baluns are cheap from Monoprice and the benefit is when the HDMI standard is changed (which they are talking about now to allow for 4K HD) you just need to change the baluns. If you run HDMI cables everywhere through the walls they will be useless at some point. Two runs of Cat-6 has plenty of bandwidth so it should future proof you for some years to come.

Dunnersfella

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#1018299 4-Apr-2014 10:13

A good balun is good... a dodgy balun is a giant pain.
When running Cat 6, I would run x 3 to every room, two for video (future proofing) and one for data.

marmel

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#1018301 4-Apr-2014 10:19

Dunnersfella: A good balun is good... a dodgy balun is a giant pain.
When running Cat 6, I would run x 3 to every room, two for video (future proofing) and one for data.

I've used the Monoprice baluns with no issues at all for going on three years now. I had one at my old place for testing before we built our new place.

I ran 4 runs of Cat-6 to each room and sometimes multiple runs to one area depending on where I might want the TV. Two for HDMI, one for data and one for IR.