522 Receiver, Harmony 550 Remote & IR Extender.. Suggestions/ Recommondations Please

[vette6873]

Not sure if I should've post this here or in the remotes area. Since it involes a DN 550 I put it here....

The situation: We have a 522 SD DVR in our living room. TV1 drives a 27" Sony Wega in the same room and TV2 drives a 27" Samsung HD LCD in our bedroom. The OTA signal is split after the diplexer for TV1 and fed to the bedroom TV(2) via th same coax as the sat signal. We installed a 50" LG HD Plasma, driven by a DN 311, in our sunroom. The OTA signal is also diplexed to this TV. This where we do the majority of our TV viewing. I use a Harmony 550 remote to control the this TV, the 311 and the Phillips surround sound/ DVD player.

We've decided that we would prefer to have the 522 feed the TV in the sunroom, to make use of the DVR, and move the 311 into the living room to feed the Sony. The 522 will continue to feed the TV(2) in our bedroom. The 522 needs to remain in the living room. I can get under the house and do a quick coax switch, which will allow the 522/OTA to feed the TV(1) in the sunroom.

Since I want to continue to control the TV(2) in the bedroom via the DN UHF remote and the TV(1) and associated a/v equipment in the sunroom with the Harmony IR remote, it appears to me that my simplist solution would be to use a wireless IR remote extender to control the 522, which will be located two rooms away. The 522 will be used in dual mode. I've done a great deal of searching and reading here, at the HiDef forum and the AVS forum., but welcome opinions and suggestions as to my solution to our situation and also what would be the best IR extender to use with the Harmony and the 522. (Never realized there were so darn many of them until I did a Google on them....)

Vette

 

[griz_fan]

How much are you willing to spend? Getting something that can reliably send a signal over two rooms might be tough. I've had a lot of success with this device:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-Remote-Control-Extender/dp/B000C1Z0HA/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235666150&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Next Generation Remote Control Extender: Electronics[/ame]

but I doubt it would give you the distance you need. I've seen solutions that, instead of RF, will encode the IR signal, send it over ethernet cable, then decode back to a remote IR emitter. Would you consider running cable to support this?

 

[KAB]

How much are you willing to spend? Getting something that can reliably send a signal over two rooms might be tough. I've had a lot of success with this device:
Amazon.com: Next Generation Remote Control Extender: Electronics

but I doubt it would give you the distance you need. I've seen solutions that, instead of RF, will encode the IR signal, send it over ethernet cable, then decode back to a remote IR emitter. Would you consider running cable to support this?

You should have NO problem with this extender from two rooms away. I can control my connected devices from the other end of the house and upstairs. You might want to search the Logitech forums regarding this extender. I know that the Harmony's have had some problems with some.

HOWEVER, with your new HDTV, have you given thought to upgrading to Dish HD and a VIP 622 or 722?

 

[vette6873]

After a bit more research, I've decided that I definitely need to use an IR to RF/UHF extender, such as the one griz_fan suggested, to eliminate the line-of-site issues. I did a quick measurment and I've got roughly 23ft. between where the transmitter and receiver will be located. I researched the NexGen extender and just as KAB stated, it dosent seem to work with all harmony remotes. Unfortunately I haven't yet found which ones it will work with. I'll do as KAB suggested and search the Logitech forums and contact Logitech to see if they can tell me.

griz_fan: If need be, I will hardwire the extender. I'd prefer to go wireless due to wall access reasons (I ran the RG6 in the wall when I added the sunroom, which sets on a slab, thus no crawlspace access.)

KAB: Upgrading to the HD receiver would be nice. Most of the HD programming we watch is available via our OTA antenna. We looked at the HD programming offered by DN, and at this point very little of what we watch is available. We'll take another look at that in in 6 months or so.....

griz_fan & KAB, thanks for your imput!!!!

Anyone else?