# Help a Newbie with Connection Diagram



## sda272 (Nov 2, 2012)

I am new to the complex part of home theater and audio/video distribution. Up to this point, I have only had one room to worry about, and therefore, everything was straightforward. Now I am in the process of figuring out how to distribute audio and video through out the house and I am getting very confused on the best way to run the wiring. I would really appreciate it if someone could take a look at the diagram and give me constructive feedback. I'd like the household to be able to watch different sources at the same time which is why I went with the matrix selectors. As for HDMI between the matrix selectors and the displays, I am aware that I need to take into account the length of run and decide whether HDMI over CAT is a better alternative. I will address that when I get the design ironed out so for ease of illustration, I showed everything from the matrix selector to the displays as HDMI with the knowledge that the cable type could change. Pick away......and thanks in advance for your help!


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## madmachinest (Aug 11, 2012)

Welcome to the Shack sda272. Although your question is beyond my experience there are plenty of knowledgeable people here who can help.


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

Welcome aboard sda272. That is going to be quite an impressive setup.

Cheers,
Bill.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Welcome to the complex part of home theater and audio/video distribution! Nice job on the diagram - makes it easy to see what you're talking about.

Your current HDMI distribution seems to limit the sources that can be viewed in certain locations. For example, I think you will only be able to view the Blu-ray or Apple TV on the "Workout TV". Additionally, I do not think you will be able to watch the Blu-ray and Apple TV simultaneously on two different outputs from the 4x4 matrix. For example, you could not watch the Apple TV in the Den while watching the Blu-ray on the porch.

It might also help if you could arrange your diagram by physical location of the components. Are all 4 sources located in the same spot? Are both HDMI spitters in the same place? Have you already purchased all of the equipment shown in the diagram?


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## BD55 (Oct 18, 2011)

His 4x2 matrix goes into his 4x4 matrix, so he should be able to get media from the Bluray and Apple TV to everything else besides his workout TV, right?


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

BD55 said:


> His 4x2 matrix goes into his 4x4 matrix, so he should be able to get media from the Bluray and Apple TV to everything else besides his workout TV, right?


Yes, but not necessarily both at the same time on different TVs is what I'm saying. If I understand his diagram correctly.


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## sda272 (Nov 2, 2012)

You are both correct that the 4x2 goes into the 4x4 which I thought would allow me to see the Apple TV or blueray on all the sources. All the of the gear will be in one cooled and ventilated closet with wiring run to all the displays which are in various parts of the house. I guess my question is why would one not be able to use the Apple TV and blueray at the same time on different sources? Is it because it is a single input into the 4x4 matrix? If that is the case, is there a different way to accomplish the task of being able to watch ANY of the input sources on various displays at the same time? I have not purchased anything yet because I want to plan it out so that it will work prior to doing that. The reason I went with the 4x2 and 4x4 matrix is because of the reasonable pricing at monoprice vs. getting one matrix that will do it all, but cost a fortune. Since it sounds like I won't be able to do the Apple TV and blueray at the same time, I think I could live with (especially since it saves $$$) that because they both stream movies, etc. over the internet so I would only need one of them at a time. So, if I accepted that particular limitation, my only other question in regards to the 4x2 matrix is how do I get the remote to pick the 4x2 matrix as the source from the 4x4 matrix and ALSO pick which source (Apple TV or blueray) from the 4x2 matrix? Or, is that even possible, so I would physically have to go pick the source from the 4x2 matrix prior to being able to use it? 

The other thought I had was to get rid of the 4x2 matrix, route the blueray through the 4x4 matrix, and hook up the Apple TV directly to the Onkyo 818 so I could at least get audio (which will be the main reason for using it) to either the den, the porch, the garage, or the master bedroom. Would that idea work? Then any video use of the Apple TV would be limited to the den, which I could also live with if I am going to be saving lots of $$$'s. 

I really appreciate the feedback to this point!


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

sda272 said:


> I guess my question is why would one not be able to use the Apple TV and blueray at the same time on different sources? Is it because it is a single input into the 4x4 matrix?


Yes. If you run one output from the 4x2 to the 4x4, the 4x4 will only be able to see one (Apple TV or Blu-ray) at a time, which means the same will be true of anything connected to the outputs of the 4x4 matrix.



sda272 said:


> The reason I went with the 4x2 and 4x4 matrix is because of the reasonable pricing at monoprice vs. getting one matrix that will do it all, but cost a fortune.


A 4x8 matrix would be ideal, but yes I see those cost a ton more than a couple of 4x2 or 4x4. Another option would be to split each of your source HDMI signals and get two 4x4 switches. Run all four sources into each matrix. That would give you a total of 8 HDMI outputs, each capable of viewing any source at and time. This would cover all of your viewing locations. I could probably put up a sketch if that would help.

With that many splitters and switches you start running the risk or degrading the audio/video signal, especially if you have any long distance runs. HDMI over cat5 might help. There might be better ways, but I'm thinking they would be a good bit more expensive.


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