Hidden IR System - Home Theater Infrared Distribution System

by Smarthome

Product Details

• ASIN: B000GG8Z1Y
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,874 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 23, 2006

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Couch Potato Nirvana!, April 7, 2007

By 

K. Martin (Westport, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hidden IR System - Home Theater Infrared Distribution System (Electronics)

I purchased the Hidden IR system to hide all of the boxes and cables supporting our flat-panel LCD TV in a closet - leaving just the screen on the wall. Absolutely one of the coolest man-toys ever. My wife is also very happy that I got all of the cables out of the room. A real win-win.

One comment ... you have to aim very carefully at the IR emitter or it will not pick up the signal. This was a little frustrating at first - but I've now got the right angle down and it works most all of the time. I sit about 12' away from the TV, so it might be much easier the closer you are. However, if you are going to be further away ... something to consider. I took off one star for the aiming difficulty. This is something they should be able to fix.

For those who are actually thinking about doing this ... I thought it might be helpful to also relate how I did it. Not being the handiest guy, I can tell you that cuting holes in the wall of my wife's new house (you know what I mean) was not something that I wanted to enter into lightly. Maybe reading about my experience will lower your fear factor just a bit? I hope so. This really is a simple home project that can be done in an afternoon and well worth it.

1) Select Location. The cables connecting the TV and the components are usually only a few feet long. So, you want to place the TV on a wall in a place where you can have the components directly behind it on the other side of the wall. Make sure that you can run a cable line there and have adequate power outlets - either via new outlet or extension cord. We happened to have a pantry on the other side of the wall where we wanted the TV, so that worked great for us. There were already shelves at the right height for the components. For power, I purchased an outlet that screwed into the pantry light fixture, and then connected a surge protector for all of the equipment. I realize that some might say this is not an appropriate load for a 15-amp circuit (especially with the 800 Watt surround sound system) -- but it works for me.

2) Measure Twice - Drill Once. I used a stud-finder ($20) to help find the wall studs for mounting the TV bracket and finding a gap to drill the wallboard holes in. Remember to think about where live-wires might be in the wall when drilling. It would realy suck to hit one! I drilled a small 1/8" test hole first to line everything up on both sides and then came back with a 1 1/2" hole/plug -cutting attachment (easily acquired from Home Depot) to cut the hole through the drywall behind the TV to the utility closet on the other side of the wall. FYI - you might as well save the cut-out circular drywall if you ever need to patch the holes back up. Just butter-up the circle with some spackle and slap it back in the hole. A little sanding and two coats of paint will fix it up good as new. I did think about purchasing wall outlets for all of the connectors - e.g., power, HDMI, etc. etc. However, that would have taken up a great deal of space behind the TV and caused me to cut up a significant portion of the wall, so I passed. I'll leave that level of sophistication for new construction.

3) Run Cables. I then snaked the cables from the closet to behind the TV through the 1 1/2" hole in the wall and connected everything -- HD cable box, surround-sound recevier, DVD player and a laptop. I also ran the IR receiver through the wall and connected it to the TV using the enclosed velcro strips. I pulled the cable slack back through the hole into the closet for a clean look on the TV. You can only see the wires if you put your head right up next to the TV and look behind. Otherwise, you cannot see them from anywhere in the room.

In the closet, I connected the IR receiver into the amplifier box and then connected the IR emitters to all of the A/V equipment. In order to support the wireless keyboard and mouse for the laptop, I also had to run a USB RF receiver that came with the wireless keyboard set through the wall and velcroed it on the back of the TV.

4) Power Up. We turned everything on and tried out the IR remotes - they worked. No problems. Same with the wireless keyboard and mouse.

5) Speakers (the following weekend). I carefully removed the baseboard underneath the TV with a small crowbar. One hint - if your walls are painted with latex paint - score the gap between the baseboard and the drywall with a razor. Otherwise, you run the risk of tearing off some of the drywall paper when you remove the baseboard (learned that one the hard way). Then, we drilled a 1/2" hole to get the speaker wire through ... using a wire coathanger to help fish everything through the wall. We ran the wire around he room to the right spots where we wanted the speakers and subwoofer to be and then cut out space for 'speaker wire boxes' on the wall. I then drilled a small 1/2" hole behind the baseboard at that point and dropped a lead-weighted string down behind the drywall from the new cutout for the speaker box and fished it out of the baseboard hole with a coathanger. Then, we ran the speaker wire up behind the drywall from the baseboard to the speaker boxes and put the baseboard back on. Once connected, we mounted the speakers immediately in front of the speaker boxes. This made for a pretty clean look. There was one spot where there was a horizontal 'blocker' 2x4 between the studs in the wall and my lead-line approach did not work. In that case, I had to make a small cutout in the drywall above the blocker 2x4 and then drilled through it so that the cable could get through. So, an unexpected turn of events requiring a trip to Home Depot for some spackle, drywall and paint. But, no project would be complete without at least a little 'oops' factor.

The net result? I can control all of the devices in the closet from the couch using just two remotes! The only thing on the wall is the TV and small speakers. There are no wires showing anywhere. Very, very cool! With the wireless keyboard and mouse, I can also use the TV for Internet and email access and to control my mp3s. I'm now living in entertainment nirvana.

Hope this was helpful to you.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delivered on basic promise, January 11, 2007

By 

Robert Mclean - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hidden IR System - Home Theater Infrared Distribution System (Electronics)

The product worked almost as advertised, but... the information on the site and packaging says that you can use it on equipment up to 65 feet away, however it fails to mention that you'll need to purchase expensive extension mini-cable (even shopping for a deal it still cost another $50). The IR works well and in the end it met my needs, I just wish they were up front about only having about 12 feet of cable in the box.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neat gadget, September 19, 2006

By 

Edward G. Hass (Torrington, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hidden IR System - Home Theater Infrared Distribution System (Electronics)

I have a flat screen tv mounted on the wall, and all supporting components in a hutch on the other side of the wall. The Hidden IR takes the signal from any of my remotes and rebroadcasts the signal "through" the wall.

I thought the cables were a little short, but I was able to extend the distance using a couple standard RCA adaptors and coaxial cable (shielded cable). This option is not listed in the manual, but it has worked well for me. Also, you have to point the remote pretty focused on the IR receiver port to get the signal through.

The product comes with an LED light that confirms the signal was received, and rebroadcast. I am only using four of the eight rebroadcast emitters, and it works great.