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[kenisdad]

Could sure use a little different perspective on engineering this project- it's been a few years since I set up my x-10 stuff, and there seems to be new choices to work with, that I may need advice on.

Here's what I'd like to accomplish- I'd like to have the act of turning on and turning off the TV in my MBR (and eventually other similarly configured rooms) via IR remote to trigger several x-10 events.

Here's what I've got in place and what I have planned:
- AV Equipment such as multi-room receivers will be in a central wiring/equipment closet in the basement adjacent to home theatre under construction.
- Most wiring throughout the house is home run to this central closet. The wiring includes in-wall speakers to the above MBR and other rooms; 2 runs of Cat5e and 2 runs of RG6 coax to most rooms;
- planning to install Xantech or similar remote IR targets in peripheral rooms to control equipment in basement, piping their audio & video output to the various rooms
- Most of my x-10 operations for lighting & security are controlled with my 9 year old JDS HomeBase controller - I love it- it's rock steady reliable, a cinch to program, works without the PC running after programming.

So I have a lot of flexibility, and a fairly clean slate as I am still a few months away from buying the receivers and other electronics.

What would be cool to set up is to simply turn on the set in the MBR, initiate power up of receiver in basement, possibly power up a Cat5e baluns to pipe audio down to the receiver and direct the audio back up to the in-wall speakers. Turning off the set would reverse the process, keeping us humans from having to remember to power down the basement gear.

I've been thinking of a combination of the Xantech distributed IR control, working with an IR543 minicontroller in the closet and HomeBase programming to actuate x-10 to IR events that would do all that. Workflow something like this: TV & Remote target get the TV "power On" command, TV turns on, an IR signal, via wire, hits the IR543 which spits out an x-10 event that the HomeBase picks up, and triggers other x-10 events, like turning on Baluns power via appliance modules, etc. It would be especially cool if that sequence would also trigger an IR "Power On" output to the receiver (via: I dunno, TBD)

I'm figuring I may need a new remote, although I have some older x-10 enabled remotes that may do the trick _ i.e. UR19A 6 in 1 RF Universal remote.

Any cogent thoughts on this plan would be most appreciated, including "fuggedabouitit, Jim" commentary

Thanks

[HA Dave]

I also use X10.. and audio/video control... with a single IR remote.

In my Home Theater <link I set-up both a IR543 and a MindPower type device just below my screen. The MindPower type device sends the IR info by RF back to my audio/video equipment. This allowed me to point the remote in a natural.. at the movie.. direction. I used the (now old) Harmony/Logitech 628 remote.. although the newer ones (880) would be even better.

If several X10 devices are to be controlled as part of a set-up... it would be best to do that using a macro in the Active Home Pro (CM15A) interface. X10 commands need a little delay between them and can extend the remote pointing time past what would seem/feel normal/natural. By using macros... the IR remote could send a single code which can then trigger (a macro) a series of events (close curtains, dim lights, turn off other X10 devices).

Of course... you can go a little step further and actually voice command your TV or theater set-up using Bill's Voice Commander (with IR control). You can see a YouTube Video sample at my BVC Fan Site.

[DeltaNu1142]

I also use X10.. and audio/video control... with a single IR remote.

In my Home Theater <link I set-up both a IR543 and a MindPower type device just below my screen. The MindPower type device sends the IR info by RF back to my audio/video equipment. This allowed me to point the remote in a natural.. at the movie.. direction. I used the (now old) Harmony/Logitech 628 remote.. although the newer ones (880) would be even better.

I have the 880 and use it in this manner, as well.  I've programmed it with raw codes for "unit code - on" and "unit code - off" as one IR command so I don't have to press multiple buttons to command my X10 gear--the IR543 responds nicely.  I too would recommend the use of macros in the interest of saving transmission time; I've just gone through my [remote software] setup to reduce the time I had to point the remote at my devices; down to probably 1 second from a previous 5 seconds on cold power-up.  Harmony remotes aren't terribly flexible; the customer service reps are able to customize the remote programming and are very accommodating if you can get the right one on the phone.