[Bocky]

Hi,

I am looking to put my HTPC and AV Receiver (Denon AVR-3805) in the room next door (not line of sight) to my Plasma. I have a Harmony 1100i remote that I want to use to control all 3 however I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is.

I was looking at the Logitech Harmony IR Extender which seems pretty straight forward (sparky will take care of necessary cabling through the roof) but I'm a bit worried I could experience lag seeing as how the total length of cabling between the receiver and the "blasters" would be around 7-9 metres. What are people's thoughts on this?

Also, I haven't quite worked out what IR device I'll use for my HTPC yet. The HP USB MCE one looks alright but would it be ok to place one of the smaller logitech blasters in front of the HP receiver? Seems like a lot of steps to first receive the signal in the lounge, re-emit the signal in the next room, received by HP receiver then process..

Would I be going about this the right way or does anyone have any better ideas?

[teaguecl]

You are doing it right, assuming you're happy living in the Logitech Harmony universe I wouldn't worry about a 9 meter cable contributing to lag. The signal travels at the speed of light which is 299,792,458 meters per second. So the cable will add 0.00000003 seconds (30 nanoseconds) of delay. If you experience lag, it's the Harmony devices - not the cable.

I've been investigating a similar setup based on the Global Cache IP2IR device. Basically you connect to it over TCP/IP (the "web") and it emits IR signals. Couple this with an iPad or Nexus 7, add the iRule software (or whatever you want) - and you've got a solution that compares favorably to the 1100i.

The HP IR receiver is a good one - but dealing with IR is a bit of a nightmare. On Linux it's handle by LIRC, which is very stable but notoriously difficult to configure. I'm not familiar with Windows, but I'm guessing it's some custom software for dealing with IR. A better solution (IMO) is FLIRC (flirc.tv). It's a USB device with an IR receiver, but it presents itself to your computer as a keyboard. No dealing with IR on your HTPC, just mapping keypresses to the appropriate actions. On linux this means eliminating LIRC, which is a great thing. On Windows, it means one less step in the process, which is also a great thing.

Eventually all our devices will be IP aware, and our remotes will just use WiFi (or some other RF bridge to the network). Until then, we're stuck "blasting", "emitting", and "extending" IR signals all over the place

[artrafael]

The Logitech product page is skimpy on details, so I can't tell if the blaster units are hardwired to the receiver unit or not (your concern about the 7-9 meter cable run). I've used the X10 RemoteSender in the past with good success. Place the sender unit in your TV room and the receiver unit next door and aimed at the IR ports of your HTPC and AV receiver. The sender picks up your remote control IR signals and sends these via RF to the receiver unit, which then converts the signals back to IR so your HTPC or AV receiver will see these as commands from your IR remote. Since the two units communicate amongst themselves via RF, line-of-sight and walls/floors are not a problem. I had my sender next to my second floor bedroom TV and the receiver on the first floor next to the cable TV box and it worked fine.

[beetlesnack]

You have two options, IR extender as you have suggested or RF remote with receiver and IR blaster.

The IR extender or RF mechanisms won't cause lag. However, if you read around the forums a bit you will see that Harmony remotes have a problem with lag when you are setting them up to function as other remotes. Modifying key delay settings may help but not eliminate it. It seems there is no way around this problem, but the slight lag doesn't bother some people.

[teaguecl]

It may not be helpful, but an 1100 (instead of 1100i) will eliminate one step for you. It can communicate via RF to the base station in the next room. However, if you own the 1100i then you probably live in Australia/New Zealand - which means the 1100 isn't available due to the frequencies it uses.

[maddog808]

At my house, the HTPC & AVR are in the coat closet, I have a long HDMI cable running through the attic and walls to my TV, and I use a very nice $70 RF remote kit to control everything:

http://www.amazon.com/URC-RFS200-PowerPa...rds=rfs200

In my client installs, which are mostly doctor office waiting rooms, I put the HTPC in the server closet, and run 2 cat5e cables through the ceiling and walls to the TV. Then I terminate the cat5e cables to this $30 HDMI & IR kit:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...1&format=2

Then I give them this $16 remote to control XBMC:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00224Z...06_s00_i01

Both scenarios work flawless. Just make sure if you use the HDMI/IR wall plate kit, you buy 24 awg HDMI cables for both ends. I have confirmed that this is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to make it work. They are plenty affordable at Monoprice.com.

Good luck!!

[mprassel]

I got one of these a few weeks ago: http://goo.gl/8K1m6

I put all my equipment in a cabinet and this is a truly great product that I use with my Harmony 525. I couldn't be happier.

[ajamils]

I got one of these a few weeks ago: http://goo.gl/8K1m6

I put all my equipment in a cabinet and this is a truly great product that I use with my Harmony 525. I couldn't be happier.

What if I have equipment in different places, will it still work with Harmony? For example HTPC in the closet but TV and receiver in the media room.