General Forum

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

gilbera — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:12:02 GMT

I am just trying to understand this post, as surley i agree for the first TV that the IR blaster is installed in it will control the DVD.. But if you go to TV 2 in another room that TV will think the DVD player is local too it as you have told that TV DVD is in X port (i.e where you have plugged the HDMI) and will not use TV one's IR blaster to send the control to the DVD player as surly it will try and us its own?

Or am i missing something?

Andy

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

symmes — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:02:21 GMT

While the application could end up being NA only, your contribution has been great. It opened my eyes up to possibilities I had not come close to considering. Rather like some Apple threads that have, over time, made me really appreciate that direction. Thanks.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:48:18 GMT

BeoLife,

Though this thread originated on the General Forums, it might be better suited to the North American Forum. In all honesty, I can't predict what will and won't happen through anything but a BeoSystem 3 or one of its variants. These are the only products I've verified this setup with, and aside from the BeoVision 8, it's the only system in our current lineup.

My knowledge extends only so far as, "oh, hell, that worked!" Though this idea was originally suggested from HQ. I would be interested to hear if Keith can enlighten us on what exactly is happening within the BeoSystem 3 that may not be happening in a 7000 or BeoSystem 1 or 2. I think if this thread is going to be of any use to the wider BeoWorld audience, we need someone from Europe to chime in and verify that they can make this work and why or why not.

I would recommend before we go any further that anyone who wants to experiment with what we've discussed prove concept before pulling any baseboards up!

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

beolife — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:16:10 GMT

I wonder if Keith Saunders the technical guru will pass comment on the solution that trip is proposing

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

Beeanowefreak — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:02:50 GMT

Hey Trip,

I think the pond is making all the difference here. Over her we baslically have 5 channels that transmit (an analog) signal on certian frequencies, and B&O use 'another' frequency (that we can set) to transmit any and all linked pictures to your linked TV. We do have digital here, not sure how thats goes into the mix though!

So if I hit DTV (Sky) up in my bedroom, the picture gets sent over the coax at the link frequency, and the audio gets sent over the ML. This would also happen with the AppleTV if the picture was downscaled to 480p. One thing to note though, is you can only distribute one thing, so if someone else in another room wants to watch AppleTV, then the Sky will be switched to AppleTV, as it's all sent on the same frequency.

SkyHD is a Satellite service, and in order to distribute it you need to connect the SCART to the beosystem 3 as the Scart is a SD signal, the HDMI is also connected to the Beosystem so you get HD on the local TV (Beovision9).

If the AppleTV also had a composite out, then this would be easy and you'd simply connect it to distribute it. But I tried it again last night just to make sure, and I'm pretty sure the Beosystem does nothing with the signal, which is why it doesn't work.

Again, not an expert, but this is my understandning.
F.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

beolife — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:06:47 GMT

Hi Trip

Well I happen to have the a similar setup, my Sky+ TV box is connected to both a Avant (Master) & a Beosystem 2 (Slave) via there own inputs I.E RGB to the avant & S-Video to the BS2, both Registered as STB in there menus. They are also linked via ML& Beolink with a Beosystem 7000 actually doing the sound duties for the Beosystem 2 until I get some active speakers.

Now if I turn off the BS7000 IR eye by changing the option to 0 then I cannot control the sky box at all even though it is all connected via ML which means that the IR signal are not sent parallel ( note I do not have the PUC connected at all from the BS2 it is only connected at the avant as this is where the STB is, the BS7000 does the control as it is normaly set to option 2 so that it reacts to all commands so that I get sound from the avant)

Now if I remove the STB in the menu of the BS2 then that makes it available as a link source , so if I then call up DTV(STB) via the Beo4 it swithches on & I can control it as normally (remember that there is no PUC lead connected from the BS2 at all only at the avant)

So unless I have done something wrong then this solution will not work as the control will need to be engaged & controlled either as a Link product or with IR PUC leads from every TV connected back to the source.

So without telling you how to suck eggs I would test this out for your own peace of mind.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:53:04 GMT

Q: I currently have a Sony television connected to my BeoSystem 3. I am going to replace it with a BeoVision 4. I have ML run throughout the house connected to Active & Passive Kits.

Is there a way to have the Sony TV connected to the BeoSystem 3 in a link room and gain access to the HD sources?

A: Theoretically yes, though it wouldn't be as streamlined since there is no Bang & Olufsen PUC connected to the Sony. In the scenarios we've been discussing on this thread. We've been taking advantage of a property of ML wherein commands issued onto the network will act at all points through the network. You'd be able to pipe the signals in, but no way to control them.

I don't think there's a practical way to use the Sony with anything but local sources unless you keep it attached to a BeoSystem 3, in which case it will work just as the other scenarios we've discussed.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

scott451 — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:51:34 GMT

hi,

a couple of comments to keep the fire burning...

one of the biggest differences between the us and france is the precense of cable operators in our lives. in france, the big cable companies dropped the ball and have no real presence on the market.

i, for example, get telephone, internet, and hd tv from internet provider. this means that the cable running around my house is used only for basic television (and i have no cable subscription). my set top box is connected to my adsl modem.

my stb is one of the most important hd devices in my house because it provides hd tv, hd vod, and hd playback from its intergrated disk drive. i hope someday that my b&o equipment will be able to control (at least a part of) it.

with this is mind, i ran second coax cable in my house for b&o video distribution. the cable is hd quality. imagine my surprise when i realized that b&o only distributed sd tv.

it's a little depressing really. i can only hope that technology will sort something out for us someday - and that b&o will adopt some part of the technology thereafter.

thanks for all the good advice,

scott

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:45:52 GMT

Q: Read you article with interest as recently I installed something similar, 1 Sky HD box connected to 4 B&O HD ready TVs via a HDMI switching box this gave HD pictures all round. To gain control I installed a sky magic eye system and on each television stuck the IR blaster on the magic eye.

In your HD Blue Ray scenario how are the PUC ir blasters connected to the HD source?

A: In this scenario, the BeoVisions are all connected with ML & the video signal is distributed separately over CATV runs and terminated in its native format. The peripheral is connected to the PUC with an IR Flasher as it would be if only one television was involved.

As long as the peripheral is registered as the same device on each television (i.e. an AppleTV would have to be called V.AUX everywhere, instead of V.AUX on some TVs and PC on others), then a command issued anywhere on the system will transmit through the ML to the attached TV and to the peripheral. These command will be mirrored one any TVs that tune into that source.

If yours is working, it's probably fine, this would be an option wherein only one television actually had an IR connection to the peripheral and all other televisions used that by carrying commands over ML to the connected television.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:27:58 GMT

Beeanowefreak,

I'm not sure if our being on opposite sides of the ocean affect this problem, since I think it's less an issue of the physical coax cable and more an issue of STBs. For example, here in the states, I can easily run my modem & my cable television off the same physical coax cable, however, if I want to distribute my video sources over that same network using the network of coax that's already been laid in my house (like nearly every house in the US) I cannot choose, say, channel 100 to distribute on since channel 100 already exists on that same frequency. Now, of course, I'm talking about cable TV, which in the US comes through a wire into your house.

If you're using satellite, which is popular here, but less so, it may be different. Is SkyTV satellite?

As for the automatic downscaling, I'm told that the BeoSystem 3 does this, but I could be wrong. Video distribution just arrived this year in the US and so far only in the BeoVision 7 (which is a BeoSystem 3 product here). I have only ever done video distribution as I've outlined in this thread. If it turns out that the BeoSystem 3 will only "pass through" I wouldn't be surprised.

I'd like to hear if anyone from over there has tried anything like this, because it sounds like we may have different infrastructures in place.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:19:27 GMT

Yes, this would work for any B&O television.

Edit: Provided they're ML connected to that control can move around the network

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

Beeanowefreak — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:25:43 GMT

Hey Trip,

I'm not an expert on this, I only know the B&O kit I use. But this doesn't generate any additional traffic over the Coax, it simply distributes the picture (via a beosystem 3 in my case) across the link frequency on the exisiting coax, and sends the audio over the ML...exactly the same as distributing Sky HD to any other room.

As far as I'm aware no HD signal can be sent over coax without downscaling it first...And I didn' think (and neither does my dealer) that the Beosystem 3 did this by default before sending it out...it simply doesn't send it if it's HD...If it did, then AppleTV distribution would simply 'work' by connecting it to the Beossystem, and you wouldn''t need to use the scart output from a SkyHD box to distribute the picture, you could simply use the HDMI.

I'd love to be wrong about all this as it would make my cabling life a lot easier!!...Am I wrong??

Cheers,
Freak.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

symmes — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:16:04 GMT

Would a similar solution work for multiple video driven by BeoSystem 1?

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

TripEnglish — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:21:46 GMT

True, but depending on how many tvs you want to serve, this may or may not be the lower cost option. After 2-3 tvs, the distribution amp is cheaper. It also doesn't address sources like a Blu-Ray player.

Re: b&o hdtv link - how ?

BeoNut1 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:04:46 GMT

I realize that this has been touched upon already, but attaching an Apple TV to each TV (and controlling it through the IR blaster) whilst at the same time using your computer and iTunes software in the background as a media server would serve your purpose (though only at 720p for the time being).