Help before I go nuts

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bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#74069 25-Dec-2010 20:19

My old mum needs some simplification in her setup!

She currently has 2 x Tv's - one in her bedroom and one in the living room.

The living room has :

1 x TV
1 x Sky
1 x Panasonic DVD/HD recorder

The problem is two fold:

a) She gets confued between all the TV inputs and how to watch sky vs watch a recording
b) She kinda needs a centralised recoding point connected to both TV - this would avoid her having to record to DVD and then take it to her bedroom to watch.

I tied a harmony remote to simplify things for her, but the problem is the off/on is a toggle and if she dont point it exactly the right way and it misses turning the sky box on the remote gets "out of sync" with whats on/off.

So I am thinking of my sky hdi for her or a hdd based recorder but it needs to connect to two diff tvs in two diff rooms with some distance between them.

Interested in possile solutions. I think both have HDMI and Svideo.

Cheers

-Al

darkraid

47 posts

Geek

#421525 25-Dec-2010 20:46

How about an HTPC? Could be costly though.

You would probably need two HTPC's. One that does both server and client (for the lounge) and a client (for the bedroom).

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#421544 25-Dec-2010 22:19

Try programming the Harmony so that Sky and the DVD Recorder are always on. That's how I've set mine up. No problem then with toggling on/off. I only toggle the TV on/off. The Sky box needs to be on anyway when I record a program during the night which I do quite often.

bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#421545 25-Dec-2010 22:22

Not a bad call on that idea.

I am thinking I should buy her 1 x HDD based recorder - the question is how to connect it to both TV's?

How car fan svideo cables go? Or is there a wireless solution? (NON HD)

boby55

1539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#421547 25-Dec-2010 22:24

bigal_nz: Not a bad call on that idea.

I am thinking I should buy her 1 x HDD based recorder - the question is how to connect it to both TV's?

How car fan svideo cables go? Or is there a wireless solution? (NON HD)

Something along the lines of these would work

http://jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=AR1840&keywords=AV+Wireless&form=KEYWORD

bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#421614 26-Dec-2010 10:50

I think I will just suggest she gets MySky HDI with one of these:

http://www.atlona.com/ATLONA-AUDIO-VIDEO-WALL-PLATE-EXTENSION-KIT-OVER-CAT5-UP-TO-1000ft-Sender-and-Receiver-included.html

I have got a bunch of cat5 cable. I dont like the idea of wireless - heard bad things.

Its just a pity that Athlona gear wont carry the remote signal so she can change channel - tho I think there are wireless solutions for that?

Also its a brick house with a concrete floor. bugger bugger bugger, wiring its going to be a nightmare!

-Al

trig42

5810 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#422642 30-Dec-2010 14:38

That solution will work, and MySky is a very easy product for her to use as well.

We have pretty much the setup you are proposing (except the bedroom TV is fed by composite from the MySky, not HDMI). I have a harmony in the lounge, which works perfectly, and the original MySky remote in the bedroom with a wireless IR sender.

You can probably get HDMI cat5 extenders with IR. Check Jaycar.

andrew027

1286 posts

Uber Geek

#426412 12-Jan-2011 09:44

I don't kniow what other hardware your mum has, but everything in my living room (blu-ray player, MySky, PS2) goes through an AV receiver so I don't worry about TV inputs as the TV is always set to the receiver input. i just have to press the right button on the receiver remote for what I'm going doing (CD, BD, Satellite, Game).

And I know it's a low-tech solution, but when I had MySky installed, I had an RF cable run from the decoder to a second TV in the bedroom. OK, it's not a high definition signal, but I only use it to watch premier league matches in bed at 2:00 a.m., or to watch the news when I get up first thing in the morning, so it does me fine.