HDMI: Spitting, Switching, Networking Questions

636 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by ntxVol
ntxVol
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First, I am building a man cave in my shop. I am almost finished with the framing and about to begin wiring. I have had this loose plan in mind for how the A/V would all work but wanted to make sure before going too much further.

When I dug the electrical for the shop, I went ahead and laid 2 Cat6 and 2 RG6 drops in conduit from the house. We have DirectTV satellite service with one DVR and two mini receivers for a total of 3 satellite sources. I am also planning on adding an OTA antenna to the mix.

I plan to wire 4 spots for TVs with power, cat6, RG6, and HDMI back to a central box in a wall. None of those HDMI runs are particularly spectacular and are relatively short(20ft max). Initially I will probably only have 3 TVs but that gives me some options for placement. I am taking the mini receiver and TV from the master bedroom for one source, no problem there. I would like to extend the other two using and HDMI -> TCP/IP. There are a few options on Amazon for these extenders but I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with them or has any recommendations as to how good they are.

Gofanco

MiraBox

J-Tech

TreaLin

Since all these HDMI connections would be in a central location I was considering one of these HDMI 4x4 switch matrixes. The thought being I could use the 4th output to run to an AV receiver to switch the main audio and connect a streaming device to the 4 input. Plus be able to swap sources between TVs easily. Anyone have any experience with something like this?

TESmart 4x4 Matrix


Gofanco 4x4 Matrix


Now about splitters. Most of those HDMI extenders don't have a built in splitter and reviews on splitters seem pretty mixed. I have another HDMI drop I need to run to our back porch, which will be off of the DVR in the family room as well. That one will require a splitter so I was wondering what recommendations anyone may have for one of those things.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Aero95
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AG
Years ago I got a 2x2 splitter/switch from monoprice along with an HDMI->cat5 kit. I ran cat5 from my living room to my kitchen (thru the basement ceiling) to feed a kitchen TV with my Dish Hopper or PS3 for bluray. Works great, and no extra monthly charge for another box in the kitchen.
RK
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AG
i had been looking at the monoprice 4x4 matrix, but that TESmart is 2/3 the price and has good reviews. I just ordered one to test it out along with one of these extenders:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019MADOS8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

if everything works out ok, i'll get a few more extenders and be on my way. hopefully will be here this weekend. will let you know.
aggieforester05
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AG
HDMI splitters are universally garbage in my experience.
ntxVol
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That's what I get from reading the reviews, was hoping someone had a recommendation for a good one.
aggieforester05
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AG
ntxVOL said:

That's what I get from reading the reviews, was hoping someone had a recommendation for a good one.
I think the problem is the way HDMI works. I don't remember the specifics, but there is two way communication between the devices. So when an HDMI output device is connected to a TV or monitor, the TV or Monitor reports specifications back to the output device, which send out a signal processed for the exact resolution and other specifications for that TV or Monitor. When you start trying to split the signal into two different devices, you run into problems. I had one that worked pretty good for two months and then I started getting blue noise all over the screen. The other two I bought didn't work at all. I ended up enabling the onboard graphics card on my computer so I could run the fourth monitor independently off of that card and just mirrored the screen from windows.
RK
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AG
Both devices I ordered work as advertised (for now, anyway). This is over a 100' Cat 6 run. Running the matrix off a harmony hub.
ntxVol
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Thanks for the update, I'm still a couple of months away from pulling the trigger.
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