The obvious attraction to a wall mounted television is the sleek and stylized look that is achieved by having the household’s main source of entertainment hung as you would a framed print, rather than placed like a piece of furniture.  Most people who see the advantage to wall mounting also desire a way to relocate the other electronic components in a cabinet, or even a different room.

My cable box and dvd player are on a shelf in a closet that is on the other side of the wall on which the tv is mounted.  It looks great, but my remote controls for these units don’t work through walls.  I knew this would be the case, and planned on getting a programmable remote that uses radio frequency instead of infrared.  I started looking in to it and realized that programmable remote control users have a huge network where users share info and tips on message boards, blogs, etc.  Quick research showed me that this would not be as easy a task as I had hoped.

One of the first things I noticed was that most users of these products have many more electronic components they need to control than I do.  I only need to control the cable box and the DVD player.  There had to be an easier solution which was better suited for my situation.

I started to wonder if I could get some type of device that would be able to take the IR signal produced by my current remotes, transmit it through the wall using a small wire, and relay it to the cable box and dvd player.  Sure enough, these systems do exist.  They are called Infrared Repeater Systems. 

There are various manufacturers of these small devices.  They are composed of an input sensor that takes in the remote control’s signal and sends it, via a wire, to IR transmitters which are placed in front of the IR remote sensors on (in my case) the cable box and dvd player.

The only problem with these systems is that the device is powered by a 12-volt power supply.  This little transformer uses a lot more power than this system requires, and unless you routinely unplug it, it is costing you money, even when not in use.  If you don’t already worry about your power bill, you probably would if you, too, were paying a quarter per kilowatt-hour.  I’ve found some IR repeater systems that are powered via a USB connection.  USBs are conveniently found on the back of most modern televisions, and using a USB device does not cause the tv to draw any additional power.

I’m going to keep looking into these devices.  Once I choose one and install it, I’ll post my experience on gadgetryreport.com.