[lifterguy]

I'm thinking of taking advantage of the black Friday sales and buying a new HD set for the family room. Currently I have a 622 connected to my HD set in the living room. I use the RF output to feed the other TV's in the house and generally operate the 622 in single mode. (Same program on every TV.) If I get an HD set in the family room, I would like to extend the HD output to that room - about 80 feet. My living room set has component and DVI inputs, and I am currently using the component output of the 622 to feed the living room set. I have never used the HDMI port on my 622. As I see it, I have several options for using one 622 with two sets:
1) Get an HDMI to DVI cable and Optical audio cable for the living room TV. Then run 80 feet of component cable to the new family room TV.
2) Keep the living room TV the way it is, and run a long HDMI cable to the family room TV - but I'm thinking this might require installing a signal amplifier, which could add another $120 to the cost.
3) Get a $150 component video signal splitter & amplifier and feed both sets with the component output.
Option #3 is the most expensive, but given the problems others have reported with the HDMI output, I'm guessing it might be the most reliable. I'm also not sure how long a run I can have with either component or HDMI cables before the signal becomes unusable. I'm planning to buy inexpensive cables from Monoprice.com. Any thoughts or advice - especially from anyone who has already done this?

 

[Bill R]

I am planning on doing about the same thing (having the 622 feed two rooms via component feeds). I already had a composite feed and L/R audio to the second room and I just have to run two more cables to switch to a HD feeds. I use standard RG-6 cables with RCA to "F" adapters. The cable runs are about 74 feet (50 feet between rooms with 12 feet foot cables from the wall plate to the 622 on one end and 12 foot cables from wall plate to TV on the other end). I am using a Radio Shack 15-1941 (composite, component, audio, price is $69.99) 4 port distribution amp. One component output (5 cables) will run to the second room where I am planning on replacing a 24" SD TV with a small (26") HDTV. Here is what I am using the distribution amp for: One component output port feeds a DVD recorder. Another port feeds the second room. I can use the third component output to feed the TV in the room that the 622 is in but right now that TV is hooked up via HDMI. Another port (just composite, L/R audio) on the distribution amp feeds a VCR (I still need to be able to record some satellite delivered stuff on tape for a neighbor who can not get the CW and doesn't have a DVD player). This is already working on in the second room with a composit signal. I just need to run a few cables and get the new TV (black Friday special?).

 

[Bradtothebone]

Monoprice has a 100' HDMI cable with equalizer for $95 - might be worth a try. See Here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024003&p_id=2803&seq=1&format=2&style==

Brad

 

[lujan]

I'm doing the same thing with an HDMI splitter because I always watch only one TV at a time. My two TVs are pretty close together (on the other side of a wall) so I don't know how it would work with a long HDMI feed. The HDMI splitter used to cost a lot but I think they have come down quite a bit.

 

[lifterguy]

Monoprice has a 100' HDMI cable with equalizer for $95 - might be worth a try. See Here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024003&p_id=2803&seq=1&format=2&style==

Brad

I missed this when I was looking at the monoprice web site. That's a good find. Thanks!

 

[lifterguy]

I am planning on doing about the same thing (having the 622 feed two rooms via component feeds). I already had a composite feed and L/R audio to the second room and I just have to run two more cables to switch to a HD feeds. I use standard RG-6 cables with RCA to "F" adapters. The cable runs are about 74 feet (50 feet between rooms with 12 feet foot cables from the wall plate to the 622 on one end and 12 foot cables from wall plate to TV on the other end). I am using a Radio Shack 15-1941 (composite, component, audio, price is $69.99) 4 port distribution amp. One component output (5 cables) will run to the second room where I am planning on replacing a 24" SD TV with a small (26") HDTV. Here is what I am using the distribution amp for: One component output port feeds a DVD recorder. Another port feeds the second room. I can use the third component output to feed the TV in the room that the 622 is in but right now that TV is hooked up via HDMI. Another port (just composite, L/R audio) on the distribution amp feeds a VCR (I still need to be able to record some satellite delivered stuff on tape for a neighbor who can not get the CW and doesn't have a DVD player). This is already working on in the second room with a composit signal. I just need to run a few cables and get the new TV (black Friday special?).

The radio shack distribution amp is an interesting option too - It's certainly more affordable than the other ones I had found on line.

 

[Tweakophyte]

I have a key digital component video distribution amp and run both my plasma and my projector off of the 622. Both runs are over ~50ft of RG6, which I had pulled when we did the basement. Both runs are also switched at their respective receivers, then out to another 30ft of composite. To me, the pictures look great. You can get a decent vid. dist. amp for $100-150.

By the way, I convert the optical out to digital coax, too.

 

[sleepy hollow]

I have two HD devices (one TV and one projector) running off of my 622. The projector is actually connected via HDMI from the 622 to a Yamaha RX 2600 receiver and from the receiver to the projector. All equipment is in an equipment closet on the other side of the wall from the projector.

Monoprice HDMI cables are used all the way to the projector. $7 each for the 15 ft cables. Works fine even using two cables through a wall plate for 30+ feet of inexpensive HDMI cables.

Ok, now for the HD TV upstairs in the family room, I used component runs over RG6 quad coax (about 65 ft). Unfortunately I only had 3 RG6 runs to the TV location. But I had a cat6 run to that location available as well, so I bought a toslink to digital coax converter box ($20) and then ran digital audio over cat6 (one pair) using 2 baluns ($20 each). For about $60 I was able to get the audio up to the family room home theater receiver just fine. It all works great.

 

[Sharpinv]

Since the long component cable is cheaper than the long HDMI cable, I put in a 100 foot component cable (monoprice - $38) to feed a second HDTV. Then, wanting just a little bit more, I even put in a component splitter and ran to a third HDTV (the third run was just 15 feet but it might be possible to split to two 100 footers without a boost - I see no difference in picture quality whether the splitter is in or out). It still all works fine with enough signal strength that no amplifier is necessary. One tip - if you put in a component splitter you actually have to have it hooked up to both TV's or somehow the component video signal gets out of balance and you get no video if you just hook up one TV and leave the other component open. Since the splitter is basically an extra connection with loss potential - my assumption is that it is probably also possible to use a component coupler to build a cable even longer than 100 feet that would likely still work OK. Oh yeah, the component splitter (no amplifier) was a whopping $6 at monoprice.

 

[dad2trips]

I'm thinking of taking advantage of the black Friday sales and buying a new HD set for the family room. Currently I have a 622 connected to my HD set in the living room. I use the RF output to feed the other TV's in the house and generally operate the 622 in single mode. (Same program on every TV.) If I get an HD set in the family room, I would like to extend the HD output to that room - about 80 feet. My living room set has component and DVI inputs, and I am currently using the component output of the 622 to feed the living room set. I have never used the HDMI port on my 622. As I see it, I have several options for using one 622 with two sets:
1) Get an HDMI to DVI cable and Optical audio cable for the living room TV. Then run 80 feet of component cable to the new family room TV.
2) Keep the living room TV the way it is, and run a long HDMI cable to the family room TV - but I'm thinking this might require installing a signal amplifier, which could add another $120 to the cost.
3) Get a $150 component video signal splitter & amplifier and feed both sets with the component output.
Option #3 is the most expensive, but given the problems others have reported with the HDMI output, I'm guessing it might be the most reliable. I'm also not sure how long a run I can have with either component or HDMI cables before the signal becomes unusable. I'm planning to buy inexpensive cables from Monoprice.com. Any thoughts or advice - especially from anyone who has already done this?

I did take advantage of the black Friday deals and bought the 32" Westinghouse LCD at Best Buy for my bedroom. Since my two HD sets are far apart (upstairs / downstairs) I opted for a second 622 for the bedroom. Previously this room was TV2 on my first 622. Did not want to give up the DVR capability so I spent the $199 on the 622 versus simply an HD receiver at $99. I'm turning in the 301 model that is now TV2 for the first receiver and also end up picking up an extra room (4 now - TV2 on second 622) for the same price I was paying for 3 rooms - plus the $5.98 DVR cost, but well worth it. Had it installed today.

Tim