IR Repeater - anyone ever set one up?

[CCM]

Well, the wife decided to replace all the bedroom furniture with these huge wardrobes from Ikea and rearrange our bedroom.  Since she got rid of the dressers, we lost our tv stand.  We just had an old 20" tube tv.  So I told her due to all of her changes we now need to get a flat-panel tv to mount on the wall.

I'm looking at a 32" LCD, probably an Olevia or Vizio.  Anyway, my issue is that we want a clean look in the bedroom so I don't want the wires from the cablebox showing and I want to put the cable box in another room.  Has anyone set up an IR repeater and, if so, how well does it work.  Or would I be better off going with an RF remote setup?

The RF is probably much more expensive, so I'd prefer the IR repeater route if it works well.

[ChadTower]

The 32" Olevias are totally worth the price, especially for a small dark room like a bedroom.  I have one in just that situation and it is great.

If you don't want wires showing how are you going to power the TV?  Or get video from the cable box in another room to the TV?  Seems it would be much easier to just put a piece of furniture in front of the TV to hide the wires and keep the cable box somewhere close by but hidden.

[CCM]

Circuit City has the Olevia on sale this week for 499.99, I may jump on that.

Well, for the wires, the other side of the wall where I'm going to mount the TV is the closet in the office/spare bedroom.  I was thinking of drilling a hole straight into the closet on the other side and running all the wire thru it.  I could set up an IR repeater and keep the cable box in the office closet.  There is an outlet right out side the closet in the office, so I can run the power to it.

I am also considering a solution like this for the power:

http://www.panamax.com/products.cfm?group=22&sec=detail&id=221&ly=h

http://powerbridgesolution.com/aboutpowerbridge.html

[ChadTower]

Spiffy.  You'd better make damn sure you're not going to move that TV.

The Olevias in that price range are usually HD monitors, not HDTVs.  They don't have tuners.  That's what I have.  I haven't actually used a TV tuner in years, though, so it doesn't matter for me.

[CCM]

yea, if a I ever have to move it I'll have some serious wall patching to do.... 

Here's the tv I'm looking at:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/OLEVIA-32-LCD-HDTV-232V/sem/rpsm/oid/163702/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I'm not concerned about built-in tuners either as it will be hooked up to an HD cable box.

[ChadTower]

That has a tuner... one spot in that desc says up to 720p but down below it says 1080i.  Double check that before buying.  I have the 332h myself.

That makes a fantastic gaming monitor and works well as a PC monitor too.  I've done both and it's great for each.  Makes a brilliant XBMC monitor, reading comics on it is really cool.

[Samstag]

Has anyone set up an IR repeater and, if so, how well does it work.

The only setup is physically installing it.  There's no configurization necessary, at least one the ones I've used.  Just plug them in, point them in the right direction, and you're done.  I'm not using any now, but I had a set from X10 I was using to control several systems on the other end of the house and never had a problem.

[ChadTower]

I had one and got really intermittent results until I figured out that people kept walking in the path of one of the repeaters and blocking line of sight.

[boykster]

don't listen to chad when it comes to electronics, he'll just tell you it will break and not be worth the money 

My entire house is wired with a custom IR distribution system, so I can give you some real-world advice.  I like your idea of having what I call a "zero footprint" AV installation, simply a display hanging on the wall with all the equipment hidden away.  It sounds like you're on the right track for getting source cabling to your display (from behind, or run cables thru the wall).  It is against code in most if not all cities to run a power cord through an enclosed space, so  for power I like to install a recessed outlet behind the display so even the power cord can be completely hidden. I generally install what is known as a clock-hanger outlet

http://www.kyledesigns.com/product/S3713-BK



to give some room for the plug, etc.  Not necessary, but adds a finished touch.

as for IR distribution, the best solution is made by a company called Xantech, but there are several good options out there.  you basically are going to need a simple distribution block with a single IR target, and multiple emitters (1 for each device you want to control).  The emitters are cheap, the distribution blocks are reasonable, but the IR targets can be expensive.

Here's a good inexpensive all in one solution:

http://www.smarthome.com/83608.html

here's a much more expensive kit that includes a plasma proof IR sensor (why its expensive):

http://www.smarthome.com/81206bk.html

here's a similar kit with a standard IR target:

http://www.smarthome.com/8120kb.html

You can shop around and get better prices than smarthome - try worthdist.com but smarthome has a great selection and you can get a feel for how they work.  You can also piece together a kit.

I would DEFINATELY stay away from X10 stuff for IR.  I use some X10 stuff for PLC based control, but mostly have moved to other branded PLC stuff since X10 is so flaky.

[ChadTower]

Someone has to balance boykster's "the solution is to spend $4000 on a setup that can be functionally duplicated for $200".   

[boykster]

nah....IR distro won't cost you $4k....$2k mebbe 

Personally, if i was setting up a single room with IR distro, I'd get the last kit I linked.  It's $99, uses good solid components, and can be easily expanded if your needs ever grow. 

My IR system is a DIY solution that actually uses very inexpensive IR targets (got them from some closeout place for $2 a pop), a central control unit that isn't in production anymore (I have 2 spares in case this one dies), xantech ir emitters, and some custom software I wrote.  Total cost for 8 zones of IR distribution (production gear) is less than $200.  An all Xantech solution with less functionality would run over $1k.

I'm also great at getting super deals on gear off of ebay.  I try to find sellers that have no clue what they're selling and buy dirt cheap. The centerpiece of my video distribution system, an Extron Matrix 50 12x8 matrix switch (12 sources routed to as many as 8 displays independantly) retailed for nearly $4k, I got it off of ebay for about $600 BRAND NEW.

 

[JackTucky]

Listen to Boykster.  He's not Chad.

=J

[CCM]

boykster, thanks for the info!  I'll check out those links. 

[boykster]

np, if you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me or post em here.  Other brands to look for (that are compatible with xantech) are Buffalo Tech and Niles...

Also, that Panamax power solution is very neato, I considered it for an install but went a different direction.  Look into the content expansion modules they sell too, you can use the same knockout to provide power as well as video/audio.  Its a bit spendy, but makes for a super clean installation.

[NightGod]

Back when I first got DirectTV (1998 or so), I used to use a simple DirectTV branded IR repeater I got from Radio Shack or Wal-mart for about $30 and it worked perfectly. Simple little affair, just plug in the two little pyramid shaped devices and yer set. If I had any clue where they were, I'd sell it to you dirt cheap, but I stopped using them about four years ago, so they're likely buried in some random box somewhere.