I hoping someone on the professionals forum has an answer to this. I have a centrally located equipment closet driving two home theatres. My RCA DTC100 is on its way to drive my Mitsubishi WT46805 set. The problem lies in getting both HDTV and AC3 audio connected to my Mitsubishi located downstairsa from the equipment rack.

Here's my options as I see them:

Option 1- DTC100 upstairs in the equipment rack, connected to the Marantz amp for audio via Toslink. Run a cable to the Mitsubishi TV downstairs.

Option 2- DTC100 downstairs with the Mitsubishi, connected directly to the TV via VGA to 5-RCA breakout cable. The problem is how to get the AC3 audio up to the receiver upstairs.

Option 3- Move the Marantz receiver and DVD downstairs as well with the DTC100 and Mitsubishi. The problem is that I'd have to re-run speaker wires through the walls again for the main theatre, and it defeats the whole idea of centrally located equipment.

Option 4- (In a perfect world)Find some way of getting AC3 to the Marantz receiver upstairs. Is there a Toslink to RF converter out there somewhere?

Patrick,

Audio Authority makes the products you desire. You will have to run wire but that is always the case when you share share sources among receivers. Good luck and if you need some design assistance let me know.

Being since there is no perfect world, there will always be a compromise with any of the options you have listed.

I have a few questions to ask.

The first question I have is, what is the reason the equipment is in a different location that the Mitsu TV?

Is it because the equipment feeds another system upstairs?

How far away from the Mitsu TV is the rack? (wire length-wise)

And lastly, can you give us a makeup and details of the system or systems, how they are used/designed for use, and anything other information you may feel pertinant to the situation.

Normally, if one could SEE the setup, it would be easier to give suggestions. Thats why I ask for more details.

JJP

Thanks AVGenius. It looks like the two converters there will do the trick. A 977RPO at the DTC100 to convert the Toslink to Coaxial, and a 977RPO to covert the coaxial back to Toslink to cennect to the Marantz.

John,

Yes, the equipment is upstairs to drive two theatres. It makes for a much cleaner appearance in the theatre, with only the Mitsubishi and the X-10 controlled room lighting there. All audio and video wires are in the walls with wall plate connections in the appropriate locations. Here's the setup:

Upstairs:
Marantz SR7000 multi-room receiver
DVD
VCR
All my DVDs are shelved upstairs as well. No room for them downstairs.

Cabling to downstairs:
All speaker wires for 5.1 audio (6 lines)
RG6 for component video (three lines)
RG6 for antenna input (one line)

Downstairs theatre, 50 feet of wire away:
Mitsubishi WT46805 TV
RCA DTC100 HDTV receiver, AC3 Toslink output for audio

All IR is relayed through a PowerMid infrared to RF converter from the theatre to the equipment closet.

Has anyone had experience with this product? It converts VGA to run over up to 500 ft. of CAT5 UTP.

[Link: inlineinc.com]

I am contemplating doing a similar thing. I have an existing DTC-100 that is connected to the Sony VW-10HT 16x9 front projector in a Home Theater and currently shared with a RD Toshiba 35" front view TV that needs to be replaced. I am considering the Sony 40" 40XBR800 since it is going into a very bright room with a two story wall of windows. I have already done the audio part to get DD/5.1 sound to receivers on both floors using an optical splitter and an optical to coax converter.

Once I saw Patrick's question I decided to try out an inexpensive RGB Video Splitter that I had bouht a couple of years ago or a different purpose. To my surprise it seems to work fine with the Sony Projector in HD that is notoriously picky. In my case if I read the spec correctly I will need the RGB to Component converter and it would seem like the RCA VHDC adapter may be better than the Audio Authority in that it is reported to have a horizontal position adjustment. I know that the horizontal position problem has been fixed for one TV by software changes to the DTC-100, but it would be nice not to have to change that setting back and forth (if they would be different)and view both TV's simultaneously. I am also wondering if this may be an issue for Patrick with two different HDTV's. BTW, my wire length is 20'.

So my questions are:
1. Am I correct that the XBR series do not have RGB inputs?
2. Has anyone ever used the DTC-100 with the Sony XBR series HDTV's and are their any comapatibility issues?
3. Any one see a flaw in using the video splitter that in it's spec says it will go 210 feet.

Links at the bottom to the equipment that I mentioned.

-Jon

ATEN VS-94 Video Splitter
[Link: kvm-switches-online.com]

RCA VHDC300 RGB to Component
[Link: abtelectronics.com]

Toslink Splitter
[Link: tigerdirect.com]

SP-OPTICAL-COAX
[Link: soundprofessionals.com]

They do not have VGA or RGBHV inputs, but do have a component input for HD (I believe it is Video 5). So you will need a VGA or RGBHV to component transcoder.


Haven't seen any on the setups I did.


Not that I can see.

JJP

Maybe this could work, DTC 100 located with all other A/V gear, VGA out to a VGA A/B swith box,to an RCA VGA to component video adapter box, then into your receiver component video switcher.( if it will pass HD signal) Now retro in a quality RGBHV mini 5 coax cable to downstairs, then terminate with BNC's.On the yellow & white conductors use 4 BNC to F male adapters, Then use the Dual coax to S-Video adapter kit made by MIT for your VIDEO 1 input. They come in packages of 2, They work great on runs over 250ft for s-vid on RG6. ( 50ft on mini coax should not be a problem). Now use 6 BNC to RCA adapters for the R-G-B component HD input.

Unfortunately, the Marantz SR7000 does not support component switching. Optimally the Mitsubishi WT46805 is the best way to switch inputs, I just need to get the HD signal to it. It sounds like to easiest way to do this is to keep the DTC100 local to the Mitsu, connecting via VGA to 5 RCA BNC cable and BNC/RCA adapters and running the audio upstairs to the Marantz. This way I'm only pulling one line of RG6 for the Toslink to Coax converters instead of 5 lines for VGA to Coax. By the way, the VGA to Cat5 converters I suggested earlier are WAY too expensive.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions! You guys are great, and it's terrific to have this resource for research. Thanks again!
Patrick Fern (soon to be HDTV enabled)

Patrick,
you are right: this is an incredible source of information with lots of us ready to pitch in and help.

We also learn a lot ourselves, even though we do a lot more of this and come here as experts by experience who know we also have a lot to learn. For instance, i have found that I will learn from listening to the solutions my clients come up with; since they have not figured out a way to do something, they often come up with an additional way that I can add to my repertoire.

I was surprised just now to see that you started this thread over at the TV, SAT and HD forum as well. I was surprised only because you had not mentioned it, and I thought I would take this opportunity to ask all of us who open threads in two forums to mention that in the first message.

You see, I responded to you on the other forum the other night. When I opened this thread today, I wondered what was wrong with the site that my message was not here.

I also learned something from one of the responses over there. It is a good idea to open the thread in two forums, but please tell us that you are doing it so that those of us who visit some forums but not others can look at the other responses and benefit from them, too.

You're right. Sorry for the faux pas, and thanks again for all the assistance.

I've used a couple of the optical to coax converters that jarmstrong lists above. I bought identical units a bit cheaper from parts express ($17 each) and they work great. The optical to coax seem a little more sensitive to the incoming signal strength, but also work

[Link: partsexpress.com]

[Link: partsexpress.com]

Hey Thanks Mick! I ordered them just now along with my BNC to RCA adaptors. Now I'm all set!

My thanks again to everyone. Man, I'd love to do what you guys do for a living. Maybe someday, then I can justify all the toy-buying as work related!

Patrick