How far can I remote the IR receiver,video,sound?

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From: Dana Cline - MVP (dcline_at_scriptpro.com)
Date: 11/03/04 

Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 14:07:16 -0600

I have a basement office in our new house, separated from the rest of the
basement by a wall of bookcases. This office contains several computers as
well as all of the networking hardware. About 30 feet away from my
network/computers is the TV and Media Center PC, as well as my son's PC.
Right now the only cable from my office to these two PCs is a 50-ft network
cable...the MCE video comes from the wall socket (house was wired for video
but not Cat-5). This works great except for one problem...

The MCE PC (homebrew) is the most powerful PC in the house. Right now all it
does is occasionally record tv programs, or is used to watch DVDs and
recorded TV. This seems like a waste of CPU power. I'd like to move it into
my office so I can actually get some use out of it.

For this to work, I'd need to send the composite video signal, audio to the
speakers, and the USB IR receiver about 30 feet away. I assume that I
wouldn't get too much signal degradation going that distance for the video
and audio, but what about the USB? Do they make USB extension cords that
long?

My new video board has a DVI connector. Currently my TV does not but I saw
an amazing projection TV at Costco for $999 that has DVI in. If I should buy
one of these someday, is it possible to run DVI thru a 30-ft cable? If I
could leave the TV/speakers/IR where they are, and just move the computer
30-ft farther away, then I could hook it to my monitor in my office and use
it for other things...I typically only record a few shows a week, and seldom
keep anything longer than a week or two. I'm beginning to question the whole
need for MCE. We have (sadly) 3 VCRs, as well as two TVs with built-in VCRs,
so I can always record stuff on tape, or if necessary Costco had a DVD
recorder for a mere $129. We also have two standalone DVD players as well as
DVDs in several PCs.

I just hate to see such advanced hardware (Athlon-64 3000, 1Gb) being
utilized at about 5% of its capability, yet I can't use that capability
unless I move it into my office.

Dana Cline - MVP

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