Multiple USBUIRT's

[qball4]

colin,

It WILL work. Add the routing commands to the IR database and adjust the scenario's commands in the webadmin. The other method is too ugly to offer here.

I have an RT8 and it works great, but since you need to feed it the correct code to select the output first, it wouldn't really work in this situation. This is especially important when more than one device is being controlled at the same time. Since I don't think rndinokc is already using a zoned ir system, control is probably being done either on-screen or on a mobile/web orbiter. Either way, the hybrid has no way of knowing what routing code to send to the RT8 to begin with since it can only be assigned to a single room. Plus, an RT8 runs $150, the RC68+ programmer is another $100, so it's a $250 investment for a workaround that is kind of a pain.

Get the other MD's. It's cleaner and will give you so much more functionality than an independent hybrid.

:Matt

[rndinokc]

Thanks for the ideas.  I think I will end up with MD's in each room.  The problem I have is that when I designed the house I was not aware of LMCE.  I took the expensive route and ran component cables to nine rooms from the central media closet.  Sounds crazy now but I hate to abandon $2000.00 worth of cable.  Not to mention I will have to run some Cat 5 to some places where there are none now.  I think I can use the componet cable for Live HD content somehow.  I can put a MD in every room and have one LED emitter in the room and a LED emitter in the media closet to control the satellite box.  Unfortunately, the audio is a question too, since the speaker cables for the rooms are also routed back to the media closet.  I guess I could just use the audio from the MDs to the TVs without utilizing the wall speakers which are routed to the closet.  Confusing?  I will make a diagram of what I have.  In addition I still dont have a working remote for my satellite boxes.  Man this stuff is fun but taxes the mind.  Again thanks and I am open to any suggestions.
Randy

[qball4]

Are there receivers for each room in the media closet? How many coax/component/cat5 cables do you have run to each room? Was the goal of your original setup to have no visible external hardware?

:Matt

[colinjones]

Well you could centralise your MDs and then use the cabling to distribute your AV, but you would be better to have the MDs in the rooms for quality reasons

[rndinokc]

Yes, in the beginning the idea was to have no visible components in any of the rooms.  A very clean install.  Now with nice little goodies like the revo etc.  that is not an issue.  I think I will go with the media directors in each room and run an IR cable back to the closet to control the receiver and the satellite STB.  I have fours STB's in the closet so I have been thinking of having two controller by MD's in the rooms and maybe having two MD's in the closet with their only purpose to control the STB's and record video.  I guess I could get 4 more STB's and have one for each TV.  Therefore I would have a total of 8 STB's which gets a little pricey every month.  I think the 4 kids rooms could maybe get their video from a couple of  HDHomerun's on the network.  Man this thing can fry the ole brain.  I guess the nuts and bolts of the thing is how do I get 8 MD's to work with 4 STB's and have access to the 4 different satellite channels?  Any ideas?  Again thanks for your input.
Randy

[qball4]

There are a number of factors involved. A wiring diagram of your house would be a huge help - # of component, hdmi, coax, and cat5 going to each room, types/resolution of TV's etc. If you have 8 tv's, you might want to consider a few distribution amps. They're normally $150+ but you can find some good deals ($20-60) right now on ebay for Calrad 40-934M units pulled from all the Circuit City stores that closed not too long ago. If you have some tv's that don't have component inputs or don't have wiring run to those rooms, you can always use modulators over coax. If you want to centralize the MD's, you will need to have either hdmi run, use hdmi over cat5 baluns, or use HDFury2 HDMI->Component converters. If you want to use 4 MD's for 8 tv's you will definitely need the distribution amps and the HDFury2's (best price at Monoprice.com).

:Matt