[fezir]

Now let me start by saying that this obviously wouldn't be a true multi-room setup, but rather a makeshift solution. This design works mainly because it's in a fairly small apartment. XBMC Live will be installed on an Acer Aspire Revo nettop in the living room. All of the media will be stored on a NAS server (which will be a RAID-5 setup with as many large drives as my budget allows, but I digress). Now I want the bedroom TV to be setup as well. Reading these forums has me convinced that an "extender" would not be possible, so I plan to split the HDMI coming out of the nettop to the living room TV and run the other cable all the way to the bedroom. I will also run a USB extension cord all the way to the bedroom so I can use a second remote control in the bedroom. Basically I will be duplicating the screen output from the nettop.

Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

[jpennell]

How far do you plan to run the HDMI cable and are you wanting 1080p at the other end?

With R3600s at just under £150 (plus maybe £30 for 1GB of RAM) - it may not work out much more expensive to have a second Revo - far more flexible too!

[fezir]

I'd say about 30 to 50 feet as just a ballpark estimate, and yes, 1080p is a must. I've already considered just getting a second Revo, but I don't want to maintain 2 separate instances of XBMC.

[jpennell]

You will need to check the specifications of the splitter carefully before buying. 50ft(15m) is a very long HDMI cable without other repeater/amplification technology. Many splitters can only support a 5m cable at 1080p.

I have five XBMC (Revo) installs on the network. I have no requirement for keeping the "watched" flag in sync between them so I copy movies to the central NAS, scan for new content on "my" Revo and then export my Revo's video library back to the Nas from the System/Video menu.

This creates the fanart jpg, thumbnails and an nfo file "caching" the information from imdb.

The other Revos are all configured to update on start - and pull down the new nfo and associated files as they find the new media file.

It works well. If you delete a movie from the NAS - the other Revos delete it from their library on the update too (if you select cleanonupdate in advancedsettings.xml).

And, depending on the condition of your properties wiring, you may find a couple of "homeplug" networking thingies will work for you - many people have bad experience of them.... it really depends on internal factors of your electrical system. Either way, running 50ft of CAT5 will be a lot easier than 50ft of HDMI.

One other thing - I haven't tried them - but my local Maplins has a MCE remote which uses 2.4Ghz not IR - this would prevent the need for a USB extension.

Or maybe look at a video/IR repeater - over that distance, a 5Ghz one may suffice... but you won't get HD or not 1080p anyway (i don't think).

Best wishes.

J

[tim-]

If all of your media is stored on a NAS anyways, why would you not just use a second XBMC box on that TV?

[fezir]

I have five XBMC (Revo) installs on the network. I have no requirement for keeping the "watched" flag in sync between them so I copy movies to the central NAS, scan for new content on "my" Revo and then export my Revo's video library back to the Nas from the System/Video menu.

This creates the fanart jpg, thumbnails and an nfo file "caching" the information from imdb.

The other Revos are all configured to update on start - and pull down the new nfo and associated files as they find the new media file.

It works well. If you delete a movie from the NAS - the other Revos delete it from their library on the update too (if you select cleanonupdate in advancedsettings.xml).

Very cool, I didn't realize you could do that with the libraries. I'll probably do that then. I'll just run a CAT6 to the bedroom from the switch and get it on the network. Thanks for the help!

[tim-]

if you are interested in syncing the watched flag I have written a script that just runs on 1 box and syncs all of the boxes together. More info at

http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65824

I havent spent much time yet on the site or documentation, but the functionality is all there.

[AnalogKid]

Not to mention, you can still utilise some of the HD space from your Revo's too...

The TWO PC's option is far smarter.

[fezir]

@tim- - Thanks for the heads-up there, I didn't realize that existed.

@AnalogKid - Very true, but I feel the space on there is dwarfed by the size of the server. Plus if I store content on one Revo, I won't be able to access it on the other unless the first one is on, so I prefer an always-on NAS.