Separate HT room from equipment room

[Kinketsu]

Hi,

I've got an emerging (budget) home theatre room, with the fortunate attribute that my house's main storage room is on the other side of a thick wall.

My plan is drill some holes and isolate a capture/playback/storage HTPC on the far side of the wall, along with the AV receiver and cable box. I anticipate future growth to a second cable box, and potentially other devices.

And so here's the thing: It seems to me I need the IR *receiver* on the HT side of the wall, and the main *emitter* setup on the far side of the wall. I suppose for now I could buy or build an emitter and use the emitter port on the USB-UIRT, but it seems to me that solution fails as soon as I have more than two devices, since the external emitters are low-power, once-device units. Is that right?

What is the best way to set this up cheaply using USB-UIRT? Is it any of the following?

1. I don't anticipate needing more than two zones. Can I connect multiple emitters to the same channel safely? If so, any precautions necessary?

2. Could I attach a second USB-UIRT to the same PC and accomplish this somehow?

3. Or is it possible to create a custom USB-UIRT that separates receive and emit?

Thanks for your thoughts ...

K

[jrhees]

I believe the cheapest solution is to connect multiple emitters to a single unit. With a little effort in making a custom cable (or a stereo-to-dual-mono 'Y' splitter), you can purchase two dual-emitter stick-on cables, which already gives you four emitters. If you need more, there are ways to wire a few more without problems.

-Jon

[Kinketsu]

OK, thanks ... I guess I will rely on the prevaling wisdom that emitters that plug into the back of the USB-UIRT are cheaply and easily made.

(I don't seem to have any other choice within the realm of reasonable affordability, since I haven't managed to find pre-made ones in Canada.)

Is it reasonably easy to reuse 1/8" headphone plugs from cheap headphones for this purpose? If I cut the wire on such things will I have access to a wire that connects to the tip? Or am I better off just to start with a new 1/8" plug (from the local store formerly known as Radio Shack)?

Thanks!

[jrhees]

You can use a cheap set of headphones. The only difficulty there is that some thin headphone cords are difficult to strip/solder/etc.

Once you have a cord/plug, simply wire the tip to the IRLED anode, and the barrell to the cathode.

-Jon