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Audio visual wiring - RF Remote, HELP!!

dpusa
11 years ago

Hey all

We would like surround sound in our great room, however there is no 'real' place to put the DirecTV box, home theater box etc so our builder suggested running the wires to the coat closet using in-wall conduit. We would have to run HDMI, and speaker wire and there would be Power switches for the TV above the fireplace where the TV would go. Has anyone done this and thoughts if RF remotes work well or not? Suggestions?

Thanks

Comments (10)

  • whallyden
    11 years ago

    Yes, i've done this. Yes, it works. I can't read the room sizes on the floor plan, but RF should work in your situation. The only problem we ever had was a dual channel video baby monitor competing for the same frequency.

  • david_cary
    11 years ago

    Sure - I use RF with a receiver on the main floor and transmitters in the basement and 2nd floor.

    Your real issue might be the distance from the closet to the TV. HDMI has a real cable length issue and I believe 50ft still to be the highest that can get certified for "high-speed". You are probably ok but remember that 50 feet is up and down walls, the out to connect to box and TV, and wire usually can't quite go as the crow flies.

    I would be a little scared what a pro installer will charge you for a 50 foot HDMI run. I've heard $500. You can run baluns and use cat5/6 but baluns don't work with splitters and switches (but that may not matter to you). Baluns can exceed the 50 ft max but they have a cost also...

    I'd also not rely on running HDMI later in conduit. The ends are big and you need to pay extra for smaller cables that would fit in conduit (and be reliable at that distance).

    But this has all been done tens of thousands of times...

  • dpusa
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks all... the help is great!
    We are also thinking of having shelves built in on the wall that backs into the stairs as per the picture. Thoughts?

  • invisible_hand
    11 years ago

    I've been very happy with the Hot Link Xl CAT-5 Ir Repeater System
    A nifty feature is that it uses Cat-5 to the remote boxes.

  • vitiminj
    11 years ago

    monoprice.com has a lot of great deals on audio/video supplies. I'd buy the cable and have the installer use yours. You won't have an issue with it being in the closet either. I actually like this type of set up. Very clean and organized.

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024006&p_id=7697&seq=1&format=2

  • Xclusive
    11 years ago

    Posted by vitiminj (My Page) on Thu, Oct 4, 12 at 11:41

    monoprice.com has a lot of great deals on audio/video supplies. I'd buy the cable and have the installer use yours. You won't have an issue with it being in the closet either. I actually like this type of set up. Very clean and organized.
    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024006&p_id=7697&seq=1&format=2

    ^2

    I was just about to link to Monoprice as well. I got three slim mount TV wall brackets with shipping cheaper than I could purchase one tv bracket locally. I also got a 50ft hdmi cable from Monoprice and it works perfectly. I would have them pre-wire your surround sound speakers as well but you will have to know the location of your TV and furniture. Have them run your wire outside of the conduit so later on if you need to upgrade or add more wire you will have empty conduit to do. While you are at it you should run some wire chases from the 1st floor to attic or first floor to basement as well to make adding wires easier later on. So much easier and cheaper to do it now before drywall goes up.

  • dpusa
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks all - the stair idea did not work as there are also stairs going down to the basement. Back to the cupboard idea!

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    11 years ago

    AV guys wanted to do something similar in our FR but I wasn't comfortable with that so we went with the credenza under the wall hung and are happy with it. We were supposed to have my craft room TV slaved off of the bedroom TV and operated with an RF remote, but they didn't get it to work. Seems Uverse, which we had at the time, requires a different RF thing. We switched to cable now but haven't bothered trying again as I find when I'm crafting, I'm too wrapped up to even listen to TV let alone watch it.

    Also, there was an issue with where to put the sub woofer, so we had a space built into the bench in the breakfast nook where it now resides. Works well and I'm glad I don't have to see it.

  • mcguirev10
    11 years ago

    Baluns do work just fine with switchers and amps, I have a 4000+ sqft home and a 2000 sqft garage with 9 TV/audio drops, all fed through baluns driven by switchers and amps.

    I am using RTI-brand RF remotes and related products for control, although you have to know somebody in the business to program RTI stuff, they don't sell to or deal with the public at all.

    Instead of HDMI, you could also run component (RGB) cables and coax audio, which can easily handle cable lengths of hundreds of feet and you wouldn't need any baluns.

    Also, be aware that an HDTV video signal eats up all the bandwidth on CAT5 -- you will need two CAT5 runs to each location to handle both video and audio.

  • bdpeck-charlotte
    11 years ago

    I installed CAT5 wire to use for an IR Repeater system. Worked great on all but a couple TVs where the CAT5 line had a few breaks. So then I bought this:
    http://www.firefold.com/Invisible-Multi-Room-Remote-Extender-Frequency-418

    Works awesome. About 50ft away and one floor down in our mechanical room and it works fine. Just have to swap out the battery every month.

    I also used Firefold for my in wall rated HDMI cables.

    Brian