Urgent HDTV Setup Advice Please

[Chunky]

Hi everyone

We've just arranged to have Sky HD fitted next Monday, and I have the potential to get some extra wiring done at the same time, so would love to hear advice and suggestions.

The lounge is currently being refitted. The TV is in, the Receiver, Speakers, Bluray, and media streamer are on the way. Sky+ is being replaced with Sky HD on Monday. Our previous setup had Sky+ connected to the TV via Scart, and also making use of the 2 Aerial outputs, which went through the wall and routed round the house to the kitchen and one of the upstairs bedrooms. However, the TV's in the kitchen and bedrooms are now HD capable, so ideally I'd like an HD feed into them.

My design for the new setup would be to have the Sky HD, Bluray, and media streamer routed into the receiver, and have the output from the go to the TV. I also thought I could use some sort of HDMI splitter, so the Sky HD output could go to the other rooms, which would also need an Aerial cable so that I could use a magic eye to change channels.

Last night I was chatting to the wife and she asked if I could put a DVD player in the kitchen so our daughter could watch TV while we're making her dinner. Which then made me think, instead of having the HDMI splitter off the Sky HD, I could have it off the back of the Amp, hence I could use the other 2 TV's to watch Blurays or streaming media as well.

In that case I would need some sort of remote transmitter, although this would remove the need for the Magic Eyes.

Does anyone see what I'm getting at ? Am I talking sense ?! Are there any implications of using an HDMI splitter, the cables from the splitter to the other 2 TV's will be about 14m long each, would the signal degrade ? Can anyone recommend a splitter ? And what about the remote situation, can anyone recommend a transmitter for that ? I was thinking of getting a Harmony One, although if I'm watching TV in one room I don't want to have the volume go up in another so is there anything I could do there ?

Thanks for any help!!!!
Ant

[abigsmurf]

A HDMI splitter will likely be pretty expensive and there will be huge signal degredation on a 14m cable (HDMI typically only goes 5m at most) finding a HD wireless transmitter is your best bet (although be careful that it doesn't interfere with wifi)

[charlesr]

If you are considering cabling and streaming, how about some network cables plumbed in. I have a socket next the TV that goes to the router.

[Chunky]

Thanks smurf, i did wonder whether there would be a fair amount of degradation. The wireless transmitter sounds good, can you recommend any ?

I have a wireless N router which will sit next to the TV, and a wireless USB network adapter for the PC upstairs. How would this help getting an HD signal to the two TV's ?

[smouty]

A simple HDMI splitter ( 1 in - 2 out) can be picked up for less than £100 but a 15m cable run will be expensive due to the quality of cable required. You could put a repeater in somewhere on the longer cable run.

Or you could ask yourself if you need TV/DVD everywhere.

[charlesr]

Don't fall for the Harmony One trap. No coloured sky/freeview buttons! It's designed for the US market! I have no idea why they sell it over here. Or why all the UK reviews rate it to highly - it's like they didn't bother actually using it with their setup and just looked at the feature list.

700 or 900 would be better.

[spinpug666]

I'm running a 10m HDMI lead for my projector, and IMO I've noticed no signal degration when compared to the 1m lead I used when I first got the projector as it sat on a table with the Ps3 beside it.

[smouty]

With HDMI it's a digital signal. It will either work or not.

[Chunky]

So why would I need a quality cable ? I'm not going to buy any old rubbish, but your post implied that the longer the run, the better quality cable it needed.

£100 for a splitter is quite expensive. Is what I'm proposing my best option though, I can't really think of anything else.

Thanks for the help so far guys

[charlesr]

Quality cables will hold the signal over longer distances. If you buy a cheap one for long distance, it just might not work at all. Find out which one spinpug is using!

[ChrisF]

Don't fall for the Harmony One trap. No coloured sky/freeview buttons! It's designed for the US market! I have no idea why they sell it over here. Or why all the UK reviews rate it to highly - it's like they didn't bother actually using it with their setup and just looked at the feature list.

700 or 900 would be better.

I have a Harmony One and it works fine with Sky and Freeview. Wotcha chattin bout willis'? The coloured buttons are on the LCD touch screen.