HDMI Distribution

[13 DJP]

Afternoon Chums

After a little advice please. I currently have my node zero under the stairs with everything routed into my Sony STR-DA3300ES amp, and then out via HDMI to my Panasonic Plasma in the lounge and the sound sent to my Bose Acoustimas 15.2.

In addition I also have the Sky box co-ax outlet routed to an aeriel splitter and sent to the office and kitchen (no magic eye control due to co-ax splitter, but that`s another story!!).

I would like to distribute whatever is playing in the lounge into the other 2 rooms, be it Blu Ray, streamed film via WD Live etc.

Most simple seems to be sending additional HDMIs from the Sony amp output, but it only has one which goes to the lounge!

What`s the easiest and cheapest way to spit the single HDMI output into 3 please? also if sent from the amp via HDMI will it also send the sound?

Budget`s tight at the moment so looking for Maplins finest or alternative.

Am I best in running Cat 5/6 and using baluns?

Cheers in advance
Dave

[Super Slo Mo]

You need a Distribution Amplifier, they come in 1:2, 1:4 etc flavours. Looking around online, the cheapest stuff seems to be around £80 for a 1:4 unit (Farnell).

Knowing how much it costs us to build similar pieces of kit, I'd say that's amazingly cheap, we can't buy the components for that, let alone design, manufacture and test the unit, although to be fair, we use top quality kit as it's designed for Broadcast use, not domestic, and only built in small quantities.

[scottri]

Yep, i did this using a simple HDMI splitter (4 way) and then sent the spilt HDMI over two cat 5e runs to each room using Baluns. Its nothing fancy but its simple, cheap and works.

I used cheap stuff like this from ebay. I figured i'd just chuck them in the bin if they stopped working. Its all been fine so far, hardest thing about it all was terminating my cat5 cables!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/200605065426?limghl...


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-WAY-HD-hub-1080p-1x4-H...


I'm not recommending those specific items by the way (although they look fine to me), they are just similar to what I bought.

Just saw your other question, yes it will send sound (check your amp though). My amp has a 'pass through' option which i had to switch on so that the HDMI single is sent to other rooms even when the amp is in standby.

Edited by scottri on Sunday 28th December 14:19

[VEX]

13 DJP said:

In addition I also have the Sky box co-ax outlet routed to an aeriel splitter and sent to the office and kitchen (no magic eye control due to co-ax splitter, but that`s another story!!).

You can get powered and none powered two way splitters that also pass ir and power for sky eyes. If you can expand why you currently can't I should be able to help.

With regards to HDMI splitting, are you planning to run HDMI cables to the other screens or do you just have cat5/6?

If it is just data cable then cyp are now doing a really neat range of HDBaseT Lite splitters that have HDMI pass through and two rj45 outputs for remote rooms. I have used a couple of the full phat ones that also carry data for smart tv functions.

V.

[13 DJP]

scottri said:

Yep, i did this using a simple HDMI splitter (4 way) and then sent the spilt HDMI over two cat 5e runs to each room using Baluns. Its nothing fancy but its simple, cheap and works.

I used cheap stuff like this from ebay. I figured i'd just chuck them in the bin if they stopped working. Its all been fine so far, hardest thing about it all was terminating my cat5 cables!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/200605065426?limghl...


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-WAY-HD-hub-1080p-1x4-H...


I'm not recommending those specific items by the way (although they look fine to me), they are just similar to what I bought.

Just saw your other question, yes it will send sound (check your amp though). My amp has a 'pass through' option which i had to switch on so that the HDMI single is sent to other rooms even when the amp is in standby.

Edited by scottri on Sunday 28th December 14:19

That looks perfect, cheer fella, I`ll have a look at those links

[13 DJP]

VEX said:

13 DJP said:

In addition I also have the Sky box co-ax outlet routed to an aeriel splitter and sent to the office and kitchen (no magic eye control due to co-ax splitter, but that`s another story!!).

You can get powered and none powered two way splitters that also pass ir and power for sky eyes. If you can expand why you currently can't I should be able to help.

With regards to HDMI splitting, are you planning to run HDMI cables to the other screens or do you just have cat5/6?

If it is just data cable then cyp are now doing a really neat range of HDBaseT Lite splitters that have HDMI pass through and two rj45 outputs for remote rooms. I have used a couple of the full phat ones that also carry data for smart tv functions.

V.

Thanks for the help chum

I have the last but one 1TB Sky box which although it has RF2 output apparently struggles if you split it.

I did have it just feeding the lounge and kitchen only and it worked fine with the magic eye. I then added another TV in the office and changed the Y splitter that was splitting the co-ax into 2 for an 8 way powered co-ax amplifier/splitter and all hell broke loose!!

The lights on the front of the box constantly go beserk but everything seems to work just fine except for magic eye control! The picture and sound is distributed without issue, you just cant use the magic eyes A serious amount of Googling suggested I just had the wrong Sky box and would have to live with it?

I have since tried reverting back to the original Y splitter and just one additional feed, but this will no longer work, it`s as if it`s been broken beyond repair! So I`ve re-instated the amplifier splitter and just settle for having to go to another roomto change the channel!

With regard distributing the HDMI, I haven`t run any cables yet. I have Cat5 and was going to use this for easyness, but could just as well run long HDMI cables if you feel it would be a better bet? I would imagine the kitchen run would be approx` 30m and the office maybe 10m.

[megaphone]

For the magic eyes to work you need a 'DC pass' splitter or distribution amplifier, standard ones don't work. The RF2 uses 9v DC to power the magic eyes. Sometimes the RF2 out goes into 'protect' mode, shutting down the 9v. You need to go into the RF out menu and switch it off, save, then switch it back on and save.