I have a couple of questions regarding MCE, and thought it might benefit from
explaining my current setup.

I have a Sky STB, connected to Tivo in the living room. Viewed via a DMTECH
26" LCD. This setup will remain unchanged, and is my primary point to watch
TV. I don't use the sky remote at all, using the Tivo remote and a Tivo IR
Blaster to change the channel on the STB. Works perfectly fine, very please
with it.

In the bedroom I'll have my MCE PC and monitor. The room is currently
getting refurbed, and it's my intention to route av cable and my ethernet
connections away under the floor to elliminate as far as possible the wires.
I want to contuinue using Tivo in the main room to watch TV, but in the
bedroom I'd like to be able, when desired to change the channel on the STB
using the MCE remote and extender. This is most probably at night when no-one
is watching TV in the living room. My initial thoughts were that I therefore
needed to run the IR cable all the way through into the living room and
attach to the STB. Is this correct? If so, will this not impair the operation
of the STB while using Tivo as I'll have to stick the end over the IR
reciever on the STB.

Sorry to be so long, but the more I think about it the more I come to the
conclusion that the MCE and STB need to be in the same room? Say it aint so?

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 06:30:27 -0800, JerDev <JerDev@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

Your conclusions are correct. The MCE system & STB need to be fairly adjacent as
you need to run the video & audio cables from the STB & the IR blaster cable to
the STB.

--
Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur

Many Thanks for your reply...

If the only contraints are location, can this be solved my simply providing
longer cables? My av cable output from TiVo will be routed under the floor
and connected to the PC, this works currently very well. Would I be right in
saying that if I could source a long enough extension cable for the IR
emmitter to run it from the PC, under the floor into the other room and to
the front of the STB, then it would still work? If this is so, then obviously
my next question is whether anyone has any idea where I could buy such a
cable (or the type of cable?).

"JerDev" <JerDev@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:14CFF5F5-029F-4CDC-9ABD-5CE5062D8333@microsoft.com...
Another option might be to replace the IR emitters with a SkyEye device
www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeye.htm. This would let you connect your TiVo
and MCE PC directly to the STB doing away with the IR emitters.

You could then run a standard coax cable from your STB to the bedroom and
use that to get the IR signal from your MCE PC to the Digibox - still using
your AV cables to get the better picture on your MCE PC.

The SkyEye appears to be based on a TV-Link device which is designed to
control a Sky STB from a different room. This may be more reliable than
trying to send a raw IR signal over a long cable run.

Thanks for the link, skyeye is axactly what I need. Already been across and
ordered it. Much appreciated.