The PlayStations are my partner's so I don't really know - think there's something that only runs on the PS4 or maybe some old game saves that can't transfer across? My own PlayStation experience ends with the PS2 back when transferring a game save involved moving a memory card!
People always laugh when I send 2 cables down each route but this is the reason why, redundancy and future use. Great video, can't wait for the 8k matrix to come down in price as 4k 120hz is needed in this house.
Yeah, I've never really understood why people would only run one cable to each point - the cost of cable is minuscule compared to the time it would take to run an extra cable in after the fact once the walls and ceilings are all patched and decorated! I even have things like a couple of CAT6 cables sitting in the walls behind light switches from when I was doing some lighting upgrades - I already had access opened up to get new cables down to the light switch so decided to run some CAT6 in while I could. I'm not using it currently but it could be an absolute godsend if I ever wanted to install some sort of PoE wall control panel.etc.
@@DJBlu2003 yes their are desperate railways for redundant connections :) when laying cable it's a cheaper cost to lay 2 cables because the contractor wouldn't charge extra and only for the extra material. If you have them come out again the call out fee and installation fee is many many more times expensive then the material.
Would love to see a full home automation system tour as it is currently, showing how everything works and talks to each other. I’m also curious about the way you’re using node red and home assistant! It’s been cool to see the home automation get better and better almost every week! 😊
This is definitely something I'd like to do now that I'm doing a fair bit more home automation stuff and the system is finally getting a bit more "polished" - I have a few more things to finish off first but will hopefully get around to it at some point early next year.
The thing I admire is the consistency, this system looks solid, no random out of sync power/HDMI source issues, which will make is simple for all end users. The wall touchscreens also add to the user friendliness. Really excited to see what you plan to do with the remotes moving forward. I have a Harmony remote that I love, but is getting a bit long in the tooth now, as it cant support newer devices without fiddly work arounds.
I too have harmony remotes, and i guess i would place the hub near the box (where ever that is ). Because the system has IR blasters it should send the ir over the cat6, or RF from the remote to the hub and send the commands almost straight to the devices. I thing i would have at least 2 hubs near the box😂 and so IR blasters would not be needed imho...
Excellent delivery of technical information. Average joe won't realize how useful this video is without basically cable and network knowledge. Keep the videos coming! Great work.
Fantastic video! This is almost exactly the end goal for my dream home setup! Nice to see a super well explained, extensive video on a realistic, practical ultimate dream home setup that doesn't use unnecessarily enterprise gear! Top job!
I would really like to see how you created that cool UI for your in-wall touch screen. I currently am using an old android tablet but it doesn't look nearly as sleek at that UI you've got.
If you think you're gonna chill in front of the tv with this guy, think again. You'll be spending you time on the whole home tour learning how to turn the tv on. In all seriousness, well done.
So i gave you a thumbs up as soon as i saw the note about skipping ahead, i didn't skip, but love that you offer it before you ask for the usual request that comes at the beginning of most videos these days. Like all I've seen of the usual persons video is their splash screen and their intro, and in supposed to like that? Nope! But this started great, and I'm looking forward to the rest of you video
This seems like just the solution I was looking for to move my PC out of my office. My PC gets my office so hot during the summer months. I can put my PC in the basement and just run the display through this, so cool.
@@jaydevchhagan I'm well aware that the controller and console communicate via Bluetooth (it has a max communication distance of 33 feet and walls in between can prevent communication all together depending on what walls he has in the house drywall, brick ect ...but in his video his ps4 is a significant distance away from his controller when he's in all the different rooms of the house. So how does he remedy that problem.
Wonderful. With ESPresence, could you attach an input to you (rather than a TV) in Node-Red (or whatever) and have it switch the output to wherever you are at any given point?
Just something to note, I recently saw a video of someone who tore down a PS5 because of overheating issues. It was stood upright, and the liquid metal acting as the thermal paste for the APU had pooled to the bottom creating a hot spot in the middle where there was no longer any liquid metal. The person in the video recommended having the console horizontal, despite Sony saying it can be stood vertical, to avoid future issues
Really isn’t the point of the system I guess. For my use case (having all tvs in the house the same for football) it makes sense. But being able to game on any tv just won’t work
I'm glad to see the box is compatible with Cat5e cables, given that's what my builder installed throughout my house. I currently only have one 4k tv, so this may fit the bill.
Great video. The one thing I didn’t quite get is how are you controlling the input devices from the other rooms? Are you able to control them with that rooms tv remote?
I appreciate the hard work and time that went into making this video. Could you tell me where the wall plates you showed us came from and what brand they are?
Have you though about use presence detection to make the screen follow you, I mean. You are watching sky on living room but you go without turning off to the kitchen and hass turn on the tv on the kitchen and show you what you are viewing in the living room or where ever you were. This seems interesting while you are watching a cooking recipe, live streaming or whatever in your computer. You could do this to go to the bathroom without being worry about loose something on the tv 🤣 I would do that if I had this system, seems very cool. This wasn't possible a few years ago at that price when I have looked about it :) Nice job!! Congrats!
I definitely could although if I had presence detection I'd likely only really use it to turn off TVs in unoccupied rooms. I generally limit my use of completely interaction free automations and prefer to manually control things through remote controls, wall switches and touchscreen panels. Automations look cool, but they can end up being a pain if they end up being triggered when you don't want them. As an example, if I set something up to automatically turn on and off displays based on room occupancy I could forsee an issue where, for example, my partner could be sleeping in the bedroom while I'm up late watching something in the living room but realise I've left my phone in the bedroom and go in to get it, the last thing I want is the TV turning itself on! Sure you could then amend the automation where the bedroom TV only turns on during the day, but then you'll hit that one day where someone is ill and goes to bed during the day only to find the TV keeps turning itself on. With my setup, if I were to walk into the bedroom and want to switch on Sky, it's just a couple of button presses on the touch screen located next to the door.
@@camerongray1515 Yes, some automations can be a pain I agree but you could have a shortcut to activate the automation and only use it when you want until all tvs are turned off. Well I like this kind of crazy automations just for fun (about creating them) 🤣🤣
Very well explained. Particularly the pitfalls. So effectively if you want to install the HDMI version, you would need to have separate point to point cables in a star configuration for each input or output. You could, for example, have the Freeview Box and the CD Hard Drive Recorder. Would each room be able to select its own TV channel or music track? Am i understanding correctly?
wow simply amazing job well done. I must ask though regarding the PS4/5 how are you sharing the play controllers when the source device is in another room and the controller signals are not over cat?
A thing I’ve been considering is having a 4K capture card and small board computer to stream my inputs over the network. I don’t need to worry about latency or quality too much though. Did you look at solutions like that? “4K” capture cards are very cheap now!
I just learned from another video that cat6 also does 10gb but only up to 165 feet. Seem like the better way to go for price and the thickness of the wire helps on install.
Glorious setup. One thing I want to understand, uf I don’t have the custom IR blaster or ability to customize the remotes, how would we switch inputs on the Matrix from a different floor?
Another fantastic video!!! Also I like that we get to know a little more about your personal life. I did not know you had a partner. I know from personal experience that it can be hard to find someone to put up with my technology habit.
This is why I'm pretty particular around having smart home stuff that is relatively unobtrusive - physical light switches, AV system controlled by regular remotes.etc. That said, it does make for interesting tech support calls when I'm out and "the light switches have stopped working and I can't turn the lights off and need to go to bed"
I had a 4K over RJ45 extender kit, in 4K it was ruining fine text in GUI with some smearing, as such unusable for desktop use. Switched to an optical HDMI cable for the same run.
Yeah optical is the way to go since you can also run multiple things over the same wire (more HDMI cables, USB, etc) through multimode, though it gets expensive quickly. Beware theres a lot of people selling really overpriced "fiber HDMI" cables, its much more economical to make your own if you can find the right optical converter for your needs.
@@hugevibez yes I got one of those pre-made ones. From Aliexpress they aren't that overpriced. And I doubt I could find a HDMI to optical and optical to HDMI converter set that would end up cheaper for a 15m distance.
While fibre iself is cheaper than an active optical HDMI cable, the converters definitely aren't - not sure how active optical HDMI cables are overpriced. The reason active optical cables are cheaper is that they tend to use multiple fibres in parallel for data transmission so that each fibre is carrying a lower data rate and then also use copper wires for things like CEC and ARC. On the other hand, converters to send HDMI over a single fibre have to send the full bandwidth signal down a single fibre along with CEC/ARC in the opposite direction. I've also seen the "LightOptics" HDMI to MPO fibre products which look interesting - they use a special multicore fibre cable with an MPO connector and are much lower cost than a generic HDMI over fibre converter but still have the advantage of being potentially upgradable unlike a complete active optical cable.
It’s called hdmi matrix. Control4 does that. Also this is just a network hdmi extender switcher. We use Extron in our control that does this with touch screen control. Your local college does the same in their classroom. Cresteon does the same.
@RobCowie The PS5 controller works fine over the distance, it's not that huge. The PS4 struggles which isn't a huge deal although I plan on looking into USB over IP systems to handle that in the future.
Subscribing for the teardown. Haven't seen the insides of any of these things. Are you sure it isn't using HDBaseT? Been comparing these kinds of devices for a while and Orei mention it in their marketing. Maybe it's only the brand new products from them, or maybe it's a licensing thing 🤷 Anyway, thanks for the detailed vid. Helping me loads figuring out what to buy.
Blimey Cameron, with the way you cut holes in the walls and ceilings I really didn’t think I you lived with anyone 😂. That’s a clever device though, definitely solves a problem as you can’t really run HDMI cables, plus are they even fire resistant etc to the required standards like Ethernet cables can be? Good video.
I would like to see the home assistance setup video.... thats like epic... also one question. how do you control apple tv or ps5 from other rooms.. the controllers r not connected to ır are thye?
great video, the only part I don't understand is with the ps4, 5 . I am guessing you want to play games, how do the controllers work from that far away?
I also have a receiver that doesn't need the power itself to work when plugged in, but I was wondering if I'd get a better experience if I did plug it in as well. I'm using it for a pc to my living room tv and resolution of 4k/60
Apologize for the ignorance, but if I am understanding this correctly. In theory I could plug my cable box in to this device and then run HDMI over cat6 to several tvs in various locations and display the cable box? If so that is brilliant!
I’d love to see more info on those android touchscreens and how you like them. Especially how they work in a bedroom setting in terms of not adding ambient light into the room room during the night.
I made a dedicated video about them here: th-cam.com/video/bDWiQ2xNsTg/w-d-xo.html. For bedroom use, the displays only remain on when the lights in the room are turned on. They also have a proximity sensor so they turn on automatically whenever you walk past and if the lights in the room are off, they will turn off again after a time period has elapsed.
It would be great if that unit had the capability to recognize those ir button presses and use them to trigger input changes and hdmi cc so you could do most of that control without having a home server
Great video, i've been looking for a product like these for months. They already offer a 2x2 HDMI 2.1 compliant matrix, hopefully they'll offer more options similar to the one you have soon.
This product is only hdmi 2.0. It can achieve only 4k 60 hz. There arent currently any hdmi 2.1 cabable broducts out there. Atleast reasonable priced. Best u can do is using hdmi 2.1 extender with 10+15 meter hdmi cables and separate cable for usb if needed.
Hello Cameron, thanks for the awesome video! Been looking at this matrix for a while now and haven't got one yet as there isn't really an in depth review like this anywhere but this is really good, will you be doing a video on the home assistant intergration at any point? would be excellent if you are going to!
Great video and apologies for the noob question but if you're PS5 is in the living room, how do you play it in the bedroom? Same for Sky TV... do you use any remote or need another receiver?
Good question - I do sometimes miss the ease of making changes (now needing to go into a switch CLI to reconfigure a port which I used to be able to do from an app on my phone) however on the flip side, it's allowed me to have a lot more flexibility vs the relatively locked down features of a UDM. Of course, this isn't my first time using non-UniFi equipment so I absolutely knew what to expect.
I'm curious as to why each of the end-point boxes have a DC power input when they are fully capable of receiving their power through the CAT6. Perhaps it's used only when flashing FW via that micro USB.
I suspect it's just so the same receivers can be sold as part of other systems that don't provide power over the cable. I've also seen systems (where you just have a single transmitter/receiver pair) where the power is provided over the cable but can be fed from either the transmitter or receiver device, I suspect these may also do that - let you feed power into a receiver to pass power to a transmitter over the cable, albeit not with this particular matrix switch transmitter.
Awesome video! Thanks! Wondering if this would work with a PC. I have a pretty noisy PC which I would happily move close to my rack. Not sure how would I fix the “keyboard/mouse” variable this case 😊
It definitely would work for video from a PC, but for a PC you'd probably be better looking at an HDBaseT kit that can also carry USB. Probably wouldn't get the matrix switching functionality of this system, but you'd be able to send HDMI and USB (albeit USB 2.0) over a single CAT6 cable.
from the hdmi matrix, do you suggest using hdmi over ethernet if you have long distance? because the longer the HDMI cables the more likley they will burn out due to higher energry output. Just curious as I am planning to build one like ur system for home.
Why have your opted to put reciever and sources in living room rather than in your main cabinet? When I rewired my home, I put everything in a central cabinet and ran all my CAT6A runs to that point AND also ran coax+HDMI+speaker-cable from that point to each room - which gives you a CAT6A+COAX+HDMI+speaker-cable home run for each room.
Centralising everything is great if you have the space, however I live in a 2 bedroom flat with very little storage space - I can just about fit a wall mounted comms rack, but not much more than that.
Thank you for such a detailed video of our HDMI Matrix Switch. Please feel free to contact us if you would be interested in reviewing our other products.
Another way to explain the Cat6/Eth confusion. It's using the CAT6 cable in a electrically completely custom/proprietary way for video directly and not networking.
Am I understanding your Matrix to AVR setup correctly? You have Matrix HDMI 1 OUT to AVR input (CBL or SAT or similar) - but labeled it Matrix? Then AVR OUT to main room TV?
@@camerongray1515 Thank you! This is the only tutorial I have seen on how to connect to an AVR that does not have a dedicated audio our from the matrix. I purchased this matrix for my unfinished basement setup months ago and am just now setting it up and have had difficulties until this explanation. Much appreciated!
With regards to the PlayStation sources, how do you manage to play PS from any of these rooms other than where the PlayStation is located? Isn't signal strength of the controller to the unit an issue?
Would a tripple monitor 1080p setup work through something like this? At best it would be kind of flexible in number of screens as I have one office with tripple 1080 screens, one with dual 1080 screens and two single screen 4k TVs in seperate rooms. What would be some keywords I would want to research?
I'm not too bothered about the PS4 so haven't tested it yet, but the PS5 controller reaches fine as standard. Failing that, the plan would have been to use some sort of USB over IP system or an HDBaseT system that could transmit USB and HDMI over the same CAT6 run to have the controllers plugged in over USB in the bedroom and then connected through into the console over USB.
@@camerongray1515 You could get a u.lf high gain antenna, luckily both ps4 and ps5 are not soldered so you can extend it as well. Btw regarding power issue, you could power on PS4 using a faulty controller and solder the pins to an esp32 chip to simulate button press to turn on from powered off state.
Great vid, got a few questions How well does it cope with multichannel audio (DD, Atmos, Multichannel PCM) Why didn't you use the zone 2 output on the receiver instead of running each device through the matrix? Isn't there potential for loss and issues doing this? I am very interested in what you are going to use for a remote control! Since Logitech discontinued harmony I can't find a decent competitor that has all the features.
Multichannel audio is something I need to test out more - I've found a couple of sources where outputting Dolby audio won't give sound on my old office TV but the bedroom TV will happily receive Dolby without issue and likewise the office TV has worked fine with other Dolby sources. Generally though the stuff I'm watching in other rooms, especially my office is just Stereo so it's fine. As a solution I could probably set up something to alter the EDID presented to the device based on which TVs are outputting. Or, in the case of my office TV, I could get an HDMI audio extractor that's capable of extracting an analogue stereo signal from a Dolby HDMI feed and then feed that analogue signal into the TV's 3.5mm input (that it has for connecting PCs since it's from an era where DVI was commonplace). Bit of a hack but it would work! I suppose the most universal solution could end up being to use Dolby compatible soundbars for TVs that can't handle the Dolby signals natively since they're getting pretty inexpensive nowadays. As for using the Zone 2 output - on my receiver the Zone 2 output is audio only, the second HDMI output just replicates the main zone so I'd have needed a more expensive receiver to do this. This would also mean that I'd be able to watch one source in the living room, and one source "everywhere else" btu wouldn't allow me to say watch one thing in the office, and another thing in the bedrooms since they would both be being fed from the same Zone 2 output. Not too worried about the reliability - it does introduce another point of failure, but at least for my living room TV, it's not re-encoding the signal or anything so won't alter the quality in any way. As for the remotes, I'll be using the Sofabaton U1 and U2 remotes - not remotely comparable to the Harmony (RIP) - they're more just universal remotes with a nice screen for selecting a device using a friendly name and with decent button remapping capability and basic macro type functionality. They absolutely aren't perfect, but, for the price, they'll do for now while I continue to keep my eye out for a true Harmony replacement!
@@camerongray1515 Thanks for the response! I was wondering with the audio, does it pass through all formats to the receiver? I would be worried about losing multichannel and Atmos content with it. Take it there's been no issues with HDCP? I looked at the Sofabaton but they seem kinda limited, no dock which is a mad omission, ugly UI, and I don't know how much a company like that will be around in the future to offer servers (if it is needed). What I would ideally want is a remote control that I can just connect with Zigbee and use home assistant, but sadly it looks like no one makes anything like that. I will be sticking with my Harmony as long as I can.
Very cool. Maybe I missed it. But unless you want to use the consoles purely as a mediaplayer, controller with an IR remote, you also need some way of sending the ps controller signal to the playstations?
The PS5 controller does actually reach fine wirelessly so just using that for now. If range was an issue then the plan would have been to look into either a video distribution system that can also carry USB, or use a separate USB over IP system to allow the controller to be connected with a USB cable in the bedroom and then carry the USB signal through to the living room and into the PS5 so the controller would work wired.
Are you outputting 4K, because when I try and do 4k, I get flickering. If I set my output to 1080 it is fine. I’ve tried multiple HDMI cables and Ethernet cables.
very detailed review of the device! something I'm also looking to purchase. I'd love to see how you integrate this device to your smart home. by the way, when you say this device is loud, how loud does it actually measure?
Very interesting. I'm looking for a similar solution but for both USB & HDMI so that I rack the games consoles away in a cupboard but still play them from any TV.
You'd definitely be able to do that, not with this system but you can get HDBaseT transceiver sets that can handle USB alongside HDMI although you'd also need to figure out a way to switch the USB connection between your devices (that said, you can get USB switch boxes with IR remotes so that could be an option). There are also USB over IP systems that I want to take a look at at some point. With this current setup, I'm fortunate enough that the PS5 controller has such a good range that it seems to work pretty reliably from a couple of rooms away as does the Sky remote, although the Apple TV remote's range is absolutely dreadful!
Last time I looked into this was many years ago and it sounds like the technology has caught up now. I previously tried with KVM type solutions but found that they were usually specifically for keyboard / mouse and not generic USB. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll do some digging about HDBaseT. My wife will be happy that all the "ugly consoles" will be put away out of sight!
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just wondering why the ps4 and 5 at the same time? digital only ps5?
The PlayStations are my partner's so I don't really know - think there's something that only runs on the PS4 or maybe some old game saves that can't transfer across? My own PlayStation experience ends with the PS2 back when transferring a game save involved moving a memory card!
@@camerongray1515 Great video. I just picked up a similar hdmi/Cat6 distribution hub myself. Would you consider sharing your node-red flow?
For a newbie to this it seems really alot.
Would this work with cat5 as well?
People always laugh when I send 2 cables down each route but this is the reason why, redundancy and future use. Great video, can't wait for the 8k matrix to come down in price as 4k 120hz is needed in this house.
Yeah, I've never really understood why people would only run one cable to each point - the cost of cable is minuscule compared to the time it would take to run an extra cable in after the fact once the walls and ceilings are all patched and decorated! I even have things like a couple of CAT6 cables sitting in the walls behind light switches from when I was doing some lighting upgrades - I already had access opened up to get new cables down to the light switch so decided to run some CAT6 in while I could. I'm not using it currently but it could be an absolute godsend if I ever wanted to install some sort of PoE wall control panel.etc.
Who's laughed at you for that
No one laughed at you for that... It's standard practice
@TheHenmistro So all those data centres have 1000s of redundant ethernet cables? Everyday is a school day.
@@DJBlu2003 yes their are desperate railways for redundant connections :) when laying cable it's a cheaper cost to lay 2 cables because the contractor wouldn't charge extra and only for the extra material. If you have them come out again the call out fee and installation fee is many many more times expensive then the material.
Would love to see a full home automation system tour as it is currently, showing how everything works and talks to each other. I’m also curious about the way you’re using node red and home assistant! It’s been cool to see the home automation get better and better almost every week! 😊
This is definitely something I'd like to do now that I'm doing a fair bit more home automation stuff and the system is finally getting a bit more "polished" - I have a few more things to finish off first but will hopefully get around to it at some point early next year.
The thing I admire is the consistency, this system looks solid, no random out of sync power/HDMI source issues, which will make is simple for all end users. The wall touchscreens also add to the user friendliness.
Really excited to see what you plan to do with the remotes moving forward. I have a Harmony remote that I love, but is getting a bit long in the tooth now, as it cant support newer devices without fiddly work arounds.
I too have harmony remotes, and i guess i would place the hub near the box (where ever that is ). Because the system has IR blasters it should send the ir over the cat6, or RF from the remote to the hub and send the commands almost straight to the devices. I thing i would have at least 2 hubs near the box😂 and so IR blasters would not be needed imho...
Excellent delivery of technical information. Average joe won't realize how useful this video is without basically cable and network knowledge.
Keep the videos coming!
Great work.
Fantastic video! This is almost exactly the end goal for my dream home setup! Nice to see a super well explained, extensive video on a realistic, practical ultimate dream home setup that doesn't use unnecessarily enterprise gear! Top job!
I knew I got old when the first 5 minutes of this video got me unproportionally excited.
I would really like to see how you created that cool UI for your in-wall touch screen. I currently am using an old android tablet but it doesn't look nearly as sleek at that UI you've got.
If you think you're gonna chill in front of the tv with this guy, think again. You'll be spending you time on the whole home tour learning how to turn the tv on.
In all seriousness, well done.
i want this in my life... this device is friggin awesome!!!! i see why a lot of people just don't have the mental capacity to understand how it works.
So i gave you a thumbs up as soon as i saw the note about skipping ahead, i didn't skip, but love that you offer it before you ask for the usual request that comes at the beginning of most videos these days. Like all I've seen of the usual persons video is their splash screen and their intro, and in supposed to like that? Nope! But this started great, and I'm looking forward to the rest of you video
Amazing explanation of the product, what it does and doesn’t do. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this.
This seems like just the solution I was looking for to move my PC out of my office. My PC gets my office so hot during the summer months. I can put my PC in the basement and just run the display through this, so cool.
How do you control your PS4 with your PS4 controller while not being in the same room as the PS4???
Bluetooth?
@@jaydevchhagan I'm well aware that the controller and console communicate via Bluetooth (it has a max communication distance of 33 feet and walls in between can prevent communication all together depending on what walls he has in the house drywall, brick ect ...but in his video his ps4 is a significant distance away from his controller when he's in all the different rooms of the house. So how does he remedy that problem.
@@kevinsono Honestly the entire setup seems overly complicated and does not give much in terms of functionality.
@@kumarp3074it's probably more performant / stable than steam link, but yeah fundamentally it isn't different in terms of core functionality
This blows my mind with the level of integration :)
Bravo. Great level of detail. Good work. May you enjoy it for years to come.
Good video Cameron !! I use these products for the last 5 years and never EVER have issues with them !!
If your girlfriend wants to watch Netflix in the bedroom when you’re at work. That’ll be a 15 minute conversation minimum 😂😂😂
you have no idea how grateful I am for youtube's 0.75 speed ;-) great vid btw
Lolz as I watch at 1.5x
@@D-Khaz nice to meet you mr Flash Gordon "D
So in theory I could rack mount my computers and game consoles and use this thing to use them on any display in my house! That’s a game changer!
Wonderful. With ESPresence, could you attach an input to you (rather than a TV) in Node-Red (or whatever) and have it switch the output to wherever you are at any given point?
I can't count how many great insights for my home automation this video gave me! Thank you so much!
Just something to note, I recently saw a video of someone who tore down a PS5 because of overheating issues. It was stood upright, and the liquid metal acting as the thermal paste for the APU had pooled to the bottom creating a hot spot in the middle where there was no longer any liquid metal. The person in the video recommended having the console horizontal, despite Sony saying it can be stood vertical, to avoid future issues
Cameron what an excellent video. Thank you so much. I am still learning about all of this tech knowledge and I love it. Please keep up the great work.
Really nicely done! I was just wondering (and maybe I missed a part in the video...) how do you handle ps4 / ps5 controllers across various rooms?
Really isn’t the point of the system I guess. For my use case (having all tvs in the house the same for football) it makes sense. But being able to game on any tv just won’t work
I'm glad to see the box is compatible with Cat5e cables, given that's what my builder installed throughout my house. I currently only have one 4k tv, so this may fit the bill.
Excellently explained, just what i was looking for you.
Thank you for producing this, very well done!
Great video. The one thing I didn’t quite get is how are you controlling the input devices from the other rooms? Are you able to control them with that rooms tv remote?
Same question. Do the remote and game controllers work over the IR setup you have?
I appreciate the hard work and time that went into making this video. Could you tell me where the wall plates you showed us came from and what brand they are?
Really well thought out and executed video mate! 🙌 Thanks for doing it! How would you go about gaming on say for example the PS5 on the bedroom TV?
Thanks for the great review of your setup - full matrix is the way to go for HDMI over CAT6. *NICE*
Let alone is this HDMI system awesome. Those little touch panels on your wall are killer
Have you though about use presence detection to make the screen follow you, I mean. You are watching sky on living room but you go without turning off to the kitchen and hass turn on the tv on the kitchen and show you what you are viewing in the living room or where ever you were.
This seems interesting while you are watching a cooking recipe, live streaming or whatever in your computer.
You could do this to go to the bathroom without being worry about loose something on the tv 🤣
I would do that if I had this system, seems very cool. This wasn't possible a few years ago at that price when I have looked about it :)
Nice job!! Congrats!
I definitely could although if I had presence detection I'd likely only really use it to turn off TVs in unoccupied rooms. I generally limit my use of completely interaction free automations and prefer to manually control things through remote controls, wall switches and touchscreen panels. Automations look cool, but they can end up being a pain if they end up being triggered when you don't want them. As an example, if I set something up to automatically turn on and off displays based on room occupancy I could forsee an issue where, for example, my partner could be sleeping in the bedroom while I'm up late watching something in the living room but realise I've left my phone in the bedroom and go in to get it, the last thing I want is the TV turning itself on! Sure you could then amend the automation where the bedroom TV only turns on during the day, but then you'll hit that one day where someone is ill and goes to bed during the day only to find the TV keeps turning itself on. With my setup, if I were to walk into the bedroom and want to switch on Sky, it's just a couple of button presses on the touch screen located next to the door.
@@camerongray1515 Yes, some automations can be a pain I agree but you could have a shortcut to activate the automation and only use it when you want until all tvs are turned off. Well I like this kind of crazy automations just for fun (about creating them) 🤣🤣
So how do you control the various equipment from the remote locations? You only showed how the matrix was controlled? Thanks
He showed. All are controlled through infrared. @@richardmanford4730
This is great. I would love a home assistant setup video, or better yet, a full home automation setup you have.
Very well explained. Particularly the pitfalls. So effectively if you want to install the HDMI version, you would need to have separate point to point cables in a star configuration for each input or output. You could, for example, have the Freeview Box and the CD Hard Drive Recorder. Would each room be able to select its own TV channel or music track? Am i understanding correctly?
Slick device! Great implementation and presentation! Subscribed.
How do you play ps4-ps5 from another room which has not the PS nearby?
I would love to see a more indept video, especially with the home assistant configuration.
The power saving setup is really nice. Great video!
Great setup only ever seen ip ones didn’t realise do cat cable only versions. Thanks for sharing such detail very helpful
Finally I found a video with what i want and more.. thank you
wow simply amazing job well done. I must ask though regarding the PS4/5 how are you sharing the play controllers when the source device is in another room and the controller signals are not over cat?
A thing I’ve been considering is having a 4K capture card and small board computer to stream my inputs over the network. I don’t need to worry about latency or quality too much though. Did you look at solutions like that? “4K” capture cards are very cheap now!
One problem with that approach is HDCP
@@pineappleroad Most cheap hdmi splitters will strip that out. It’s naughty but surprising how many do it anyway!
I just learned from another video that cat6 also does 10gb but only up to 165 feet. Seem like the better way to go for price and the thickness of the wire helps on install.
Glorious setup. One thing I want to understand, uf I don’t have the custom IR blaster or ability to customize the remotes, how would we switch inputs on the Matrix from a different floor?
Another fantastic video!!! Also I like that we get to know a little more about your personal life. I did not know you had a partner. I know from personal experience that it can be hard to find someone to put up with my technology habit.
This is why I'm pretty particular around having smart home stuff that is relatively unobtrusive - physical light switches, AV system controlled by regular remotes.etc. That said, it does make for interesting tech support calls when I'm out and "the light switches have stopped working and I can't turn the lights off and need to go to bed"
I have a question. Great video but @43:44 you didn't say if you could use the Sky remote to toggle through channels etc?
Nice job. Love the clean look no wires where they should not be.
I did something similar but way less fancy. All my TVs in the house can view the exterior cameras on hdmi 1. HDMI over cat6 is great.
What are you using to make those labels on the cables? And the others? They look good.
great set up and walkthrough. really clever piece of kit
I had a 4K over RJ45 extender kit, in 4K it was ruining fine text in GUI with some smearing, as such unusable for desktop use. Switched to an optical HDMI cable for the same run.
Yeah optical is the way to go since you can also run multiple things over the same wire (more HDMI cables, USB, etc) through multimode, though it gets expensive quickly. Beware theres a lot of people selling really overpriced "fiber HDMI" cables, its much more economical to make your own if you can find the right optical converter for your needs.
@@hugevibez yes I got one of those pre-made ones. From Aliexpress they aren't that overpriced. And I doubt I could find a HDMI to optical and optical to HDMI converter set that would end up cheaper for a 15m distance.
While fibre iself is cheaper than an active optical HDMI cable, the converters definitely aren't - not sure how active optical HDMI cables are overpriced. The reason active optical cables are cheaper is that they tend to use multiple fibres in parallel for data transmission so that each fibre is carrying a lower data rate and then also use copper wires for things like CEC and ARC. On the other hand, converters to send HDMI over a single fibre have to send the full bandwidth signal down a single fibre along with CEC/ARC in the opposite direction.
I've also seen the "LightOptics" HDMI to MPO fibre products which look interesting - they use a special multicore fibre cable with an MPO connector and are much lower cost than a generic HDMI over fibre converter but still have the advantage of being potentially upgradable unlike a complete active optical cable.
It’s called hdmi matrix. Control4 does that. Also this is just a network hdmi extender switcher. We use Extron in our control that does this with touch screen control. Your local college does the same in their classroom. Cresteon does the same.
Great video but i have one question. How you will use for example ps5 since actual unit is far from you? controller will not work from that distance
I think OP's in for a nasty surprise when he tries to play something...LOL
@RobCowie The PS5 controller works fine over the distance, it's not that huge. The PS4 struggles which isn't a huge deal although I plan on looking into USB over IP systems to handle that in the future.
my i ask how can you play the ps4 and ps5 in your bedroom or office? can the it bluster receive the controller signal to the game?
I need to know that same answer... how does hardware that requires bluetooth work?
Modded Warfare vibes......
Thanks for this unboxing and review. I'm looking for something similar.
Thank for this video, it's exactly what I'm looking to do
Will this Orei matrix take 1080i and/or 720P on the inputs. I’ve got a couple of sat receivers that only put out 1080i or 720P for most channels.
this is some cool tech! I have no need for it, but it's cool! thanks for all the details
Subscribing for the teardown. Haven't seen the insides of any of these things.
Are you sure it isn't using HDBaseT? Been comparing these kinds of devices for a while and Orei mention it in their marketing. Maybe it's only the brand new products from them, or maybe it's a licensing thing 🤷
Anyway, thanks for the detailed vid. Helping me loads figuring out what to buy.
Blimey Cameron, with the way you cut holes in the walls and ceilings I really didn’t think I you lived with anyone 😂. That’s a clever device though, definitely solves a problem as you can’t really run HDMI cables, plus are they even fire resistant etc to the required standards like Ethernet cables can be? Good video.
Thanks so much for such a great video! So useful and well explained!
I would like to see the home assistance setup video.... thats like epic... also one question. how do you control apple tv or ps5 from other rooms.. the controllers r not connected to ır are thye?
great video, the only part I don't understand is with the ps4, 5 . I am guessing you want to play games, how do the controllers work from that far away?
I also have a receiver that doesn't need the power itself to work when plugged in, but I was wondering if I'd get a better experience if I did plug it in as well. I'm using it for a pc to my living room tv and resolution of 4k/60
Apologize for the ignorance, but if I am understanding this correctly. In theory I could plug my cable box in to this device and then run HDMI over cat6 to several tvs in various locations and display the cable box? If so that is brilliant!
I’d love to see more info on those android touchscreens and how you like them. Especially how they work in a bedroom setting in terms of not adding ambient light into the room room during the night.
I made a dedicated video about them here: th-cam.com/video/bDWiQ2xNsTg/w-d-xo.html. For bedroom use, the displays only remain on when the lights in the room are turned on. They also have a proximity sensor so they turn on automatically whenever you walk past and if the lights in the room are off, they will turn off again after a time period has elapsed.
Do you notice any increased latency on the gaming devices?
Hello, nice video. Just a thought tho : a schematic would have REALLY helped viewers to understand your setup
can you male video how you use “any” remote or wall panel to change input on matrix
It would be great if that unit had the capability to recognize those ir button presses and use them to trigger input changes and hdmi cc so you could do most of that control without having a home server
Great video, i've been looking for a product like these for months. They already offer a 2x2 HDMI 2.1 compliant matrix, hopefully they'll offer more options similar to the one you have soon.
This product is only hdmi 2.0. It can achieve only 4k 60 hz. There arent currently any hdmi 2.1 cabable broducts out there. Atleast reasonable priced. Best u can do is using hdmi 2.1 extender with 10+15 meter hdmi cables and separate cable for usb if needed.
Hello Cameron, thanks for the awesome video!
Been looking at this matrix for a while now and haven't got one yet as there isn't really an in depth review like this anywhere but this is really good, will you be doing a video on the home assistant intergration at any point? would be excellent if you are going to!
Great video and apologies for the noob question but if you're PS5 is in the living room, how do you play it in the bedroom? Same for Sky TV... do you use any remote or need another receiver?
I’d also ask if you are missing the Ubiquiti gear yet? Now you’ve had a while to use the different brand devices.
Good question - I do sometimes miss the ease of making changes (now needing to go into a switch CLI to reconfigure a port which I used to be able to do from an app on my phone) however on the flip side, it's allowed me to have a lot more flexibility vs the relatively locked down features of a UDM. Of course, this isn't my first time using non-UniFi equipment so I absolutely knew what to expect.
how do you send ps4/ps5 controller signal through this same cable?
So how’s the latency for gaming?
I'm curious as to why each of the end-point boxes have a DC power input when they are fully capable of receiving their power through the CAT6. Perhaps it's used only when flashing FW via that micro USB.
I suspect it's just so the same receivers can be sold as part of other systems that don't provide power over the cable. I've also seen systems (where you just have a single transmitter/receiver pair) where the power is provided over the cable but can be fed from either the transmitter or receiver device, I suspect these may also do that - let you feed power into a receiver to pass power to a transmitter over the cable, albeit not with this particular matrix switch transmitter.
Awesome video! Thanks! Wondering if this would work with a PC. I have a pretty noisy PC which I would happily move close to my rack. Not sure how would I fix the “keyboard/mouse” variable this case 😊
It definitely would work for video from a PC, but for a PC you'd probably be better looking at an HDBaseT kit that can also carry USB. Probably wouldn't get the matrix switching functionality of this system, but you'd be able to send HDMI and USB (albeit USB 2.0) over a single CAT6 cable.
from the hdmi matrix, do you suggest using hdmi over ethernet if you have long distance? because the longer the HDMI cables the more likley they will burn out due to higher energry output. Just curious as I am planning to build one like ur system for home.
Why have your opted to put reciever and sources in living room rather than in your main cabinet?
When I rewired my home, I put everything in a central cabinet and ran all my CAT6A runs to that point AND also ran coax+HDMI+speaker-cable from that point to each room - which gives you a CAT6A+COAX+HDMI+speaker-cable home run for each room.
Centralising everything is great if you have the space, however I live in a 2 bedroom flat with very little storage space - I can just about fit a wall mounted comms rack, but not much more than that.
@@camerongray1515 Ah fair enough - that makes sense. I didn't realise your racking space was small.
Great product ! Thank you for the video.
Thank you for such a detailed video of our HDMI Matrix Switch. Please feel free to contact us if you would be interested in reviewing our other products.
Hi Cameron, are you willing to share your lovelace configuration for your touchscreens please?
I’m planning on getting this for the main reason NVR showing on 3 tvs.
Maybe a device for controlling the NVR via mouse(usb)
Another way to explain the Cat6/Eth confusion. It's using the CAT6 cable in a electrically completely custom/proprietary way for video directly and not networking.
Am I understanding your Matrix to AVR setup correctly? You have Matrix HDMI 1 OUT to AVR input (CBL or SAT or similar) - but labeled it Matrix? Then AVR OUT to main room TV?
Exactly, that's correct! Then all of the devices I want to share to other rooms are connected into the matrix.
@@camerongray1515 Thank you! This is the only tutorial I have seen on how to connect to an AVR that does not have a dedicated audio our from the matrix. I purchased this matrix for my unfinished basement setup months ago and am just now setting it up and have had difficulties until this explanation. Much appreciated!
With regards to the PlayStation sources, how do you manage to play PS from any of these rooms other than where the PlayStation is located? Isn't signal strength of the controller to the unit an issue?
Would a tripple monitor 1080p setup work through something like this? At best it would be kind of flexible in number of screens as I have one office with tripple 1080 screens, one with dual 1080 screens and two single screen 4k TVs in seperate rooms. What would be some keywords I would want to research?
I'm transmitting 4k over cat 5 HDBaseT for about 40 feet without any issues. House was built with cat 5 in walls.
Wait, how do you solve controller range for both ps4 and ps5?
Did you change it to a higher gain u.lf connector antenna like the other guy did?
I'm not too bothered about the PS4 so haven't tested it yet, but the PS5 controller reaches fine as standard. Failing that, the plan would have been to use some sort of USB over IP system or an HDBaseT system that could transmit USB and HDMI over the same CAT6 run to have the controllers plugged in over USB in the bedroom and then connected through into the console over USB.
@@camerongray1515
You could get a u.lf high gain antenna, luckily both ps4 and ps5 are not soldered so you can extend it as well.
Btw regarding power issue, you could power on PS4 using a faulty controller and solder the pins to an esp32 chip to simulate button press to turn on from powered off state.
I made some IR send/receiver devices with just a D1 Mini (ESP8266) dead cheap.
Great vid, got a few questions
How well does it cope with multichannel audio (DD, Atmos, Multichannel PCM)
Why didn't you use the zone 2 output on the receiver instead of running each device through the matrix? Isn't there potential for loss and issues doing this?
I am very interested in what you are going to use for a remote control! Since Logitech discontinued harmony I can't find a decent competitor that has all the features.
Multichannel audio is something I need to test out more - I've found a couple of sources where outputting Dolby audio won't give sound on my old office TV but the bedroom TV will happily receive Dolby without issue and likewise the office TV has worked fine with other Dolby sources. Generally though the stuff I'm watching in other rooms, especially my office is just Stereo so it's fine. As a solution I could probably set up something to alter the EDID presented to the device based on which TVs are outputting. Or, in the case of my office TV, I could get an HDMI audio extractor that's capable of extracting an analogue stereo signal from a Dolby HDMI feed and then feed that analogue signal into the TV's 3.5mm input (that it has for connecting PCs since it's from an era where DVI was commonplace). Bit of a hack but it would work! I suppose the most universal solution could end up being to use Dolby compatible soundbars for TVs that can't handle the Dolby signals natively since they're getting pretty inexpensive nowadays.
As for using the Zone 2 output - on my receiver the Zone 2 output is audio only, the second HDMI output just replicates the main zone so I'd have needed a more expensive receiver to do this. This would also mean that I'd be able to watch one source in the living room, and one source "everywhere else" btu wouldn't allow me to say watch one thing in the office, and another thing in the bedrooms since they would both be being fed from the same Zone 2 output.
Not too worried about the reliability - it does introduce another point of failure, but at least for my living room TV, it's not re-encoding the signal or anything so won't alter the quality in any way.
As for the remotes, I'll be using the Sofabaton U1 and U2 remotes - not remotely comparable to the Harmony (RIP) - they're more just universal remotes with a nice screen for selecting a device using a friendly name and with decent button remapping capability and basic macro type functionality. They absolutely aren't perfect, but, for the price, they'll do for now while I continue to keep my eye out for a true Harmony replacement!
@@camerongray1515 Thanks for the response! I was wondering with the audio, does it pass through all formats to the receiver? I would be worried about losing multichannel and Atmos content with it. Take it there's been no issues with HDCP?
I looked at the Sofabaton but they seem kinda limited, no dock which is a mad omission, ugly UI, and I don't know how much a company like that will be around in the future to offer servers (if it is needed). What I would ideally want is a remote control that I can just connect with Zigbee and use home assistant, but sadly it looks like no one makes anything like that. I will be sticking with my Harmony as long as I can.
Very cool. Maybe I missed it. But unless you want to use the consoles purely as a mediaplayer, controller with an IR remote, you also need some way of sending the ps controller signal to the playstations?
The PS5 controller does actually reach fine wirelessly so just using that for now. If range was an issue then the plan would have been to look into either a video distribution system that can also carry USB, or use a separate USB over IP system to allow the controller to be connected with a USB cable in the bedroom and then carry the USB signal through to the living room and into the PS5 so the controller would work wired.
Are you outputting 4K, because when I try and do 4k, I get flickering. If I set my output to 1080 it is fine. I’ve tried multiple HDMI cables and Ethernet cables.
very detailed review of the device! something I'm also looking to purchase. I'd love to see how you integrate this device to your smart home. by the way, when you say this device is loud, how loud does it actually measure?
Interesting system and a clear video 👌🏼
How does gaming controls work from different rooms? Bad signal?
Very interesting. I'm looking for a similar solution but for both USB & HDMI so that I rack the games consoles away in a cupboard but still play them from any TV.
You'd definitely be able to do that, not with this system but you can get HDBaseT transceiver sets that can handle USB alongside HDMI although you'd also need to figure out a way to switch the USB connection between your devices (that said, you can get USB switch boxes with IR remotes so that could be an option). There are also USB over IP systems that I want to take a look at at some point. With this current setup, I'm fortunate enough that the PS5 controller has such a good range that it seems to work pretty reliably from a couple of rooms away as does the Sky remote, although the Apple TV remote's range is absolutely dreadful!
Last time I looked into this was many years ago and it sounds like the technology has caught up now. I previously tried with KVM type solutions but found that they were usually specifically for keyboard / mouse and not generic USB. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll do some digging about HDBaseT. My wife will be happy that all the "ugly consoles" will be put away out of sight!
Transmitter and receiver must connect directly or can go thru network switch?