Ticking ALL the High Def video 1080p "boxes"

[wappinghigh]

My appols if I go over some prev ground-but setting up the ultimate High def multi room video distribution with C4 as the backbone would require the following...please correct me if I am wrong!

1/ HDMI. Yeh I know...due to the HDCP (high bandwidth digital content protection) you are basically captive . Since as far as I know 1080p is not supported over component (certainly if one is playing blueray disks from the studios) Also I can't seem to find a DVD or Blue ray player that will upscale to 1080p over component. I know there are "strippers", but might as well just get on with it and go with HDMI :/

2/ Therefore one needs a HDMI matrix switch. There aren't that many, but is there one out there (even 4 zones), that has an RS232 driver for C4? How about the new Gefen HDMI over cat5, or Audio Authority HMX-144 4x4 HDMI or Videostorm HMX44 HDMI matrix's? All have Rs232 but are they supported by C4? eg I don't think neopro has an HDMI switch yet, and the C4/Sony doesn't do it either.

3/ Sending HDMI out over long cable runs seems to be a problem right now. Certainly HDMI cables longer than 4-5 meters aren't recommended by video experts I know. But that problem is solved with Cat5 baluns that can do HDMI using 2 x Cat5 cables. So all you need is 2 spare cat5 cables running out to each of the high def TV zones. There is even a balun that will do HDMI over 1xcat6.

4/ A netgear EVA 9150. A C4 driver seems available. Supports 1080p over HDMI.

5/ Icing on the cake would be a Panasonic Blueray DVR recorder. This also has a HD tuner and does HDMI 1080p.

So pulling it all together.

Centrally placed 1/ blueray DVD recorder 2/ Netgear EVA 9150 3/ HDMI capable cable box 4/HC 300

all connected into an HDMI matrix switcher with HDMI out via cat5/6's per zone

then running HDMI cable from the baluns at the other end into the TV's

No longer a dream, on paper it all now seems possible, but can it actually be done?

[zaphod]

Why not just distribute your content via ethernet. Rip your BR DVDs to a PC server and then use the EVA 9150 (or Popcorn Hour or Sage extender or Linksys Media Center extender or Xbox360) as the source by your TV. Then you have no need for video distribution, just for network distribution via Cat-5/6.

And with what I am proposing you can also have a cetrally located TV server that acts as your PVR and distribute all of your TV, both Live and Recorded, to your extenders located by your TVs. This is the model that I am currently using with a PC server and five clients able to display any content from my server.

To continue to use C4 with everything you may need a controller at each TV but that gives you other advantages and would likely be much cheaper than the HDMI matrix switch solution.

[wappinghigh]

Zaphod. Thanks for the informative reply. I'd love to go down this route. If I could put it all together! In fact I manage music this way via Sonos. But running networked video like this a totally different animal IMHO. Here is why I think this way.

1/ The TV/media moguls have a stranglehold on TV content (certainly in my part of the world anyway). All out best content comes via subscription based cable. This is a closed system.

2/ The Movie/hollywood guys now have a stranglehold on hidef content. I thought you were unable to ripp blurerays movies , and get them to play 1080p using a media player.

In any case I'm mac based. Sure sage TV might be a "part" solution for free to air and internet TV, but what to do about the rest of TV and high def movies?

If I could get my hands on 4-5 hidef 1080p AppleTV's I'd set them up tomorrow like you say...but alas.....they are currently only 720p and wont even do surround sound!

In any case this doesn't solve problems 1 and 2

So that is why I'm thinking video matrix switch. And HDMI for the reasons of my previous post. Sure I'd love all TV/movies/youtube/"whatever other video content out there", to be picked up/stored in an organized library/then distributed via a cat5/6 network.(like Sonos) ....all via a convenient 2 way driver C4 based interface...but I can't see this happening right now.

Mr Chows XBMC solution is as close as I've seen to this Nirvanha, but it still can't cope with problem 1 and 2. You're still going to need other "content" devices. So a switch to distribute these to different zones seems the only way to go....

[thecodeman]

Problem 2 can be resolved with Mr. Chow's XBMC solution on the pc along with some other "select" software. I will be attempting this as waiting on the 9150 is getting old.

[zaphod]

@wappinghigh

There is a tuning device called the Hauppauge HD-PVR that has component inputs. It works with SageTV, BeyondTV and other software to record HD from a cable or satellite box. This requires an IR blaster and external boxes which is not 100% ideal but I think it is worth it. It essentially reencodes that analog from the component outputs into a digital file but the quality is almost imperciptible from the original file.

There is also a firm which can modify your satellite box to give it a working firewire output that works on all channels.

I have two of these HD-PVRs connected to my SageTV server along with an OTA HD tuner card allowing me to record two HD cable shows and one OTA HD show simultaneously. And Sage runs on Windows, Macs and Linux. The only issue is that I believe that Mac use of the HD-PVR is still in beta.

Windows Media Center can do most of this as well and apparently the HD-PVR may be supported by Windows 7 when it is released shortly - not that you care since you are a Mac person.

There is software called AnyDVDHD which allows you to rip BluRay to your hard drive - void where prohibited by law (I believe this is what thecodeman is referring to) but I am not 100% sure that it is even illegal to create your own backups. I don't know if this is available for the Mac OS but Macs now run Windows as well, don't they.

[wappinghigh]

Zophod...after endless hours trawling the web, considering the options, I've come to the conclusion that you're approach is correct!!

You are right...who needs a matrix switch...?

I've come the full circle..and it was thinking back to my beloved Sonos, when I saw the light. You see, I originally purchased the Sonos to AVOID an expensive/difficult to controll/centralized style multiroom AUDIO distribution product...

....so why do the same with a video matrix??...particularly when HDMI seems such a pain to run long distance right now, and blueray is just a marketing ploy by the studios...why not just send out the digital video files via cat5/6 to the zones and "play" then out there..

Thanks for tips:)

[ILoveC4]

Yeah, if you don't mind a box at each TV this is easy stuff.