My back yard zone is solely controlled with AutHomation. I didn’t want to screw with putting a keypad outside. So no. Mounting key pads is not necessary. There may be one caveat. I have never tried to run a zone with no key pad connected to the amp. I never even thought of it. I simply patched in a key pad and have it sitting on the shelf next to the Russound amp. Later today I’ll try to disconnect it and see of the zone still works. I know from reading reviews that people run the HTD systems with no keypads at all.
Thanks! That’s the only thing that has me wanting the HTD. I have a walk in attic but it’s almost all storage so a few of the rooms are going to be extremely difficult to run cat5 cable to.
I choose Russound over HTD due to the existing Plugin Support. I couldn’t find one completed for Vera for HTD.
Ran about $1,200 with the all 6 keypads. Sonos didn’t work as well since I also have HDMI split to each room for whole home video to match the audio. All entertainment is motion activated inside the house so TV’s and Audio turn on each room with the currently playing program (along with the lights).
The HTD speakers are great though. I bought HTD ceiling speakers for all 4 zones and an inwall sub for the LR. Bought the Stereo Outdoor speakers for the upstairs and downstairs patio. Russound drives them nicely. Keypad is right next to the outside lightswitch for the 2 outside zones. Outside speakers are not motion enabled though for privacy and must be manually activated.
Great price on the Russound! Sounds awesome. What type of video split? There’s two locations in my new place I want to do that. Hadn’t quite worked it all out yet.
No video splitter with Russound.
I used a cheap 8 way splitter, as I only have once central video program playing from the media center that follows you through the house.
My Living Room TV also gets the HDMI feed looped through the XBOX one, so I don’t need to watch the main program if I need a break from the wife’s Sherlock show.
However, if I did want to keep all your AV equipment in a central location (cable boxes, DVD, etc) and have more than once source, you can combine the Russound with Myro + HDMI switcher (expensive):
https://www.myrocontrol.com/myrobridge/
You could use the HDMI switcher alone, but this integration lets you select the sound source via Russound keypad, the HDMI matrix will also switch over the video source as well. Sadly, an 8 way HDMI matrix is $3k plus, so I’ve not invested in this option (again, since my single Media Center plays TV, Movies, Audio (including XM), and Pictures…I really only need one source)
Also with Myro, you can control Itunes or Sonos music (skip forward, play, etc,)
Thank you for the scoop, lots to consider. I’m torn as we have an Arris Gateway + 3 Portals, and old Motrorola 6416 PVR, 3 apple TVs spread across 4 TVs. The Arris system is pretty slick, if you’re not familiar with them, they network over coax. I have two coax & 2 CAT5 (maybe 6) into each location. I generally prefer to wire the smart TVs and the apple TVs. Luckily 3 of those rooms have a Russound keypad & speakers.
Now the 6416 can easily be replaced by another Portal which at least moves the hard drive(s) all into the utility room.
I don’t necessarily need to put the all the Portals into the utility room but at least one.
Where I’m stalled is the cheaper HDMI over CATx require 2 CATx cables, whereas the powered one use one CATx but take room / AC plug.
I think I just talked myself into one Portal in the utility room until I can justify the switch, dump the portal audio into the Russound and not to the myro (I’m saving that for the Sonos). But will socialize with spouse your type of set up!
Just a note, be careful with the cheap HDMI over cat solutions. I know it’s more expensive, but stick with either long HDMI runs (if you can run them, preferably using redmere for runs over 40-50’) or HDBase-T (uses 2 cat cables). I was using one of the cheaper powered ones and it ended up frying one of my HDMI ports on my TV and one on my Receiver (thank goodness my receiver had 2 hdmi outs, or I would have been SOL).
I’m sorry I took this thread off track, but I just wanted to throw that out there really quick.
The Arris gateway looks pretty sweet. May I ask the pricing of the central unit and players? Is it stable with cablecard TV?
While not customizable as WMC, it seems like some amazing technology packed into that box. It even has Zigbee in the spec sheet.
The downside of that device is it can’t play prompts/audio notifications from Vera, act as a Camera Server Hub (like iSpy), or download the latest BBC program from a US bound resident using uTorrent.
Heck please don’t be sorry - great intel. Thank you.
[quote=“SirMeili, post:27, topic:178116”]Just a note, be careful with the cheap HDMI over cat solutions. I know it’s more expensive, but stick with either long HDMI runs (if you can run them, preferably using redmere for runs over 40-50’) or HDBase-T (uses 2 cat cables). I was using one of the cheaper powered ones and it ended up frying one of my HDMI ports on my TV and one on my Receiver (thank goodness my receiver had 2 hdmi outs, or I would have been SOL).
I’m sorry I took this thread off track, but I just wanted to throw that out there really quick.[/quote]
Agile,
Arris I believe stopped selling the retail Moxi gateway sometime ago & now wholesale directly to cablecos. I got a used gateway + 3 portals for $250CAD locked to my cableco Shaw Communications. Retail is more like $350 / gateway $140 / portal.
The spec is impressive but what’s truly sad is like cell phones back in the day most integration features are turned off so no DLNA, no remote recording, etc etc. I truly didn’t want to buy one on principle as the whole set top box / smart TV / console space is a mess. Maybe chrome cast to the rescue, but for me at this price, it fulfills a purpose. SAF and usability is high.
For the other stuff you suggested I have VPNs, media server, & apple TV. And that’s my centralization / usability issue. New house, modern / eclectic architecture, not much space to hang devices! It’s not my highest priority right now as getting the Honey Well Vista 20P and Tuxedo going with POE external cameras, then AD2USB into Vera. TBH I would never have put in Russound either but since it came with house, happy to leverage!
[quote=“AgileHumor, post:28, topic:178116”]The Arris gateway looks pretty sweet. May I ask the pricing of the central unit and players? Is it stable with cablecard TV?
While not customizable as WMC, it seems like some amazing technology packed into that box. It even has Zigbee in the spec sheet.
The downside of that device is it can’t play prompts/audio notifications from Vera, act as a Camera Server Hub (like iSpy), or download the latest BBC program from a US bound resident using uTorrent.[/quote]
@S-F
Any news testing the russound system without using any keypads?
[quote=“therealabdo, post:31, topic:178116”]@S-F
Any news testing the russound system without using any keypads?[/quote]
Yeah. I guess I dropped the ball on that one huh? I’ll take care of that today and report back soon.