Re: Sending Computer Video display around the house.

["paul gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

Nick,

I have done something very similar to this. It was originally my intention
have a PC actually in the living room, right next to all the rest of the AV
gear. In practice however, I found that the fan noise was too noticable
(most of the time it's asleep thanks to APM, but when running in full use,
the noise was very audible), so I moved it down into the cellar (just
underneath the AV rack).

Fortunately, I then only had to take cables though a wooden floor, but many
of the issues will be the same.

I decided to use one of the new Matrox G400 "dualhead" graphics
cards, that
have two VGA outlets on one card, one of which can become a TV out socket
(S-Video or phono, via a short flylead). Using this card meant that I could
have a display on the TV in the living room, as well as a locally attached
monitor next to the PC. I used a 3-metre S-Video lead, and a 3-metre mini
jack to twin-phono lead from the soundcard to the Amp. (both cables are
high
quality, gold plated "audiophile" leads - the two cost me £87
together!)

I am also using one of the infra-red keyboards that are now available, but
find this less than ideal. - Obviously there is the requirement for
line-of-sight to the IR receiver, but I also find the mouse operation
rather
awkward (the response isn't great) - I find my self overshooting all the
time, and constantly nudging the "mouse" very gently to try to
get it where
I want. (It's a thumbpad thingy built into the corner of the keyboard). I'm
considering changing this for a "Logitech cordless desktop Pro"
outfit,
which uses radio instead of IR, but I can see this having a slight
disadvantage as well as the advantages of overcoming the above, namely,
that
if I abandon IR, then I can't use a learning URC interchangeably with the
keyboard... Also, there is the purely aesthetic considerations that my
current IR keyboard is:
a) black. - matches all the rest of my AV kit, and the decor.
b) integrated. - no need to pick up a seperate keyboard/mouse.
c) compact. - It is smaller than a full size PC keyboard.

The logitech one on the other hand, is exactly like a
"traditional" desktop
keyboard & mouse arrangement, just cordless, which I can see as a
problem in
this environment. (anyone ever tried to use a normal mouse on their leg?,
or
the arm of a sofa?)
What I would ideally like, is a cordless trackball, but I have yet to find
one. AFAIK, no such beast exists. (anyone care to correct me on that
point?)

Using this arrangement, I find both the picture quality on the TV, and the
sound quality perfectly acceptable. There are some obvious caveats of
course, like you're never going to get as good a display on a TV as on a
proper SVGA monitor, but resolutions up to 800x600 are perfectly usable on
a
TV for most purposes. (Just don't try doing DTP on it!), and the Matrox
card
allows different resolutions on the two displays anyway...

I've taken all my cables direct between the two units, passing through the
floor, so I can't say anything about S-Video faceplates. I prefer to have
as
few breaks in the cable as possible anyway, so even if faceplates were
available, I would still have done it this way, as the PC display suffers
enough already from being "downmixed" to a TV display, so I
wanted to keep
the signal path as clean as possible.

One other thing you might want to consider is USB - if possible, use it! -
I
only had to run a single 3-metre USB cable from the PC back to the living
room, whack on a USB hub, and its as easy as pie to locally plug in any /
all of my USB peripherals, which include a couple of Sidewinder joypads, a
Sidewinder steering wheel, a Zip 250 drive, and a Pace Webcam. I'm also on
the lookout for an external USB CDROM or DVDROM drive to go into the lounge
as well, to avoid having to run down to the cellar to put the CD in for
whatever game I want to play...

(Very annoying thing that - most modern games demand that the original CD
be
in the drive to play the game - even if you do a "full" install,
- I think
that a lot of them do it as a form of copy protection...)

It's certainly quite impressive playing Quake Arena on a 43" screen
with
Dolby Surround sound blasting out from all around me!

Hope this helps!

Regards.

Paul G.

>
>I would be grateful if someone could help me with the following
>problem.....
>
>At present I have a PC situated in my spare room, and wish to send the
>video
>output to the main AV system next door. The reason being so that I can
use
>the
>internet, play some games and eventually add some of the various uses
that
>HomeVision can offer, but from the comfort of my sofa. I don't want to
move
>the
>PC into the next room as it then can not be used in the spare room when
>someone
>wants to watch TV.
>
>I have a TV-out facility on my PC, so is it as simple as running the
audio
>and
>visual cables through my living room wall... and then also getting
>Infra-red
>mouse and keyboard that I have seen advertised (of course coupled with
the
>obvious IR transmitter) to control the PC functions. Ideally it would
be
>nice to
>fit an s-vhs and audio plate to both sides of the wall, rather than
just
>feed
>wires through.. is this possible, does such a plate exist ?????
>
>Is there a better way to do all this?? - although I would rather not
setup
>a LAN
>unless it is really the only alternative.
>
>
>Any help is appreciated
>
>
>Nick
>
>
>
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