Newbie question

[Dave56]

And quite possibly a stupid question...

I have a nightmare at home. Two 722k's, a 400 disk DVD carousel, and a Roku.

I would LOVE to not have all the remotes and be able to watch various programs where ever, and she would like to be able to watch the same thing all over the house when I'm not home.

The only commonality between all four units are HDMI and AV ( Red, White, and Yellow ).

The TV inputs are all over the place. The LR had multi HDMI and a mix of AV inputs. Two little ones have one each RF, HDMI, and AV. The BR has AV, RF, and two HDMI.

And at this point every hair I have is turning grey trying to come up with a solution.

Currently everything is running an various RF channels and each room has a handful of remotes.

I have entertained the idea of moving the almost 300 disks in the carousel to a terabyte server, but can't seem to come up with any better solution with that in the mix instead.

HELP!

 

[harshness]

An HDMI matrix switch might get you where you want to go but that depends largely on what "all over the house" means.

If you mean more than a couple of ancillary TVs including some HD or UHD models, your probably looking at a QAM modulator and those are pricey. If you can get away with SD, a RF modulator off of your AVR might work.

Remote control may or may not be handled through apps where I would highly recommend looking at a Logitech Harmony Hub/Companion.

We need some base level requirements for the spousal unit's viewing.

 

[Dave56]

Yeah, I figured it was going to be a bit spendy to get it wife proofed. All though that is a bit of an oxymoron in itself. She has a hard enough tome keeping the remotes clear even though none of them look anything like the other besides the two Dish remotes. I've at least got her trained to change the address of the remote to what she's watching. I tried two remotes marked with colors way back when, but when she doesn't get the response she's looking for she starts going nuts on the cancel button. A few too many of my shows being canceled, "But I didn't do it." and I took the second remote away and made her learn to change addresses.

I'll keep the Harmony in mind for the future. I had an old Mono QAM, like 20 years old, So I'm familiar with that route. Wasn't sure about the remote situation and the Harmony looks like a viable solution. Of course when I get her to agree to something it will probably be long out of date.

Any thoughts on the DVD server? The carousel is about seven years old and is not something that can be purchased in a newer model. One of these days I'm going to have to pry open the case and rescue all my DVD's when it dies.

 

[harshness]

Any thoughts on the DVD server? The carousel is about seven years old and is not something that can be purchased in a newer model. One of these days I'm going to have to pry open the case and rescue all my DVD's when it dies.

How are you connecting the DVD carousel to your AVR? My Onkyo can send an up-converted Y/C connected device out through HDMI (I do this with my LASER disc player). I'm not sure what the audio options are.

Monoprice sells a box that will convert Y/C and RCA Stereo to HDMI if your AVR can't pull it off. You would need a flexible AVR to retain surround sound at the main TV -- one that input video via HDMI and audio from a separate audio source (TOSLINK or coax).

Monoprice Composite, S-Video, and HDMI to HDMI Converter and Switch with HDMI PAL NTSC Support - Monoprice.com

(the above links to an "open box" product that is half the price)

Amazon has several similar converters that are reasonably priced and similarly capable (stereo only).

I use Y/C in this case to represent S-video mini DIN connections.