What's new

Connecting Computer to HT (1 Viewer)

George Parrish

Auditioning
Joined
Sep 23, 2002
Messages
2
I've been lurking this great site for sometime but now I need some help from the HT Gods. I hope I'm posting in the right place.

I'm a electrician by trade and have a customer building a new house and he wants to play MP3s from his computer through his home theater system. He doesn't own a system yet so right now everything is just pre-wire.

My question is: What wire should I pull from his office to the family room and what do I use for a wall jack? The run is about 25'. Thanks
 

Mike LS

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 29, 2000
Messages
838
That's really going to depend on the computer he uses.

If he's just going to use a basic soundcard then you'd want to run RCA cables and put a left/right RCA jack in the wall.

If he's planning to use a digital soundcard, it'll depend on the specific card.
 

John Parris

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 10, 2002
Messages
235
It'll probably be either digital coaxial or TOS-link optical output from a S/PDIF card if he goes that route... You would have to know ahead of time to get the right wall plate. RCA would be much easier, but I've noticed that a trip of over 40 ft. can get you into a lot of interferance, particularly around higher voltage power areas (washer/dryer, etc.)
 

Vince Maskeeper

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
6,500
I'd personally run two lines of RG6 (well shielded- maybe use Canare LV5CFB) and cap each end with RCA female jacks in a mudring and a panel.

Using this config- you could pass either digital or analog. If you go digital- you'd have a second unused line run- but at least you're ready for future configs.

You may end up neededing a 1/8th inch stereo male to stereo RCA male cable to go from the computer to the wall jack (if analog) or a short RCA-RCA male cable for digital.

I personally suggest 6-10 runs of RG6 to be run from each room to a central area (basement or media room) and you pretty much could patch any possible config of audio and video distribution (send or receive) you need.

-Vince
 

Sihan Goi

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Messages
442
I'd second Vince's suggestion. You might also wanna run a shielded VGA cable or a VGA->BNC cable if you wanna output the PC's video into whatever display he has. If not, he'll have to go to the computer in another room just so he can navigate around the playlist.
 

George Parrish

Auditioning
Joined
Sep 23, 2002
Messages
2
Thanks everyone, Its a short run so I'll use Dual RG6 Quad Shield.

I asked him about pulling speaker wire in the bedrms and he felt it would not be necessary because the computers in each room will be networked together and if one of the kids wants music they can tap the master unit. I'm installing a pull pipe to the attic just in case.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,818
Messages
5,123,871
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top