DSub-15 Connection For a HT "Jack Pack" (1 Viewer)

[Jay Mitchosky]

I'm planning to include a "jack pack" in my home theater to allow connection of a laptop PC (on random occasion for PowerPoint presentations). It will include L/R RCA audio inputs, a LAN connection, and a DSub-15 VGA video connection. I would like to terminate the connections with a product such as Leviton's QuickPort system, which includes wall plates...



...into which you insert your required connector(s)...



Images courtesy of SmartHome.com

Most if not all of you are already familiar with this product for your own theaters. Trouble is I can't seem to find a VGA connector. So...

1) Can anyone reference a wall jack solution with a DSub-15 VGA connection.

2) What type of cable is used for VGA?

 

[JustinG]

hmm I don't think I've ever seen something for vga. You might be looking at making a custom cable/plate solution from parts at like radio shack. You could get a monitor cable and hack it up and solder the wires (using a wiring diagram from the net) to the connector in the plate.

Also, can you explain a little better how this will connect to your a/v equipment? Is the video going to a projector and the audio going to the receiver, a la the laptop will be in your seating area and the connections at the seating? Audio will route thru the walls to the receiver and video will go up to the projector?

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

There will be a run to the equipment room, both audio and video, where they will connect to the receiver and video processor respectively. At least that's the plan.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Jay could you not just use an s-video connection from the laptop to watch power point shows etc? That would be a lot easier to switch at the pre amp and wall plates.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

That would definitely be easier, but the S feeds I've seen from laptops have looked pretty lousy.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I know you can buy RS232 ports from RS so we could probably figure something out for you if you can't find a commercial product. Let me know and I'll see what I can come up with for you.

How is this run going to get switched or will it be the only VGA run to the PJ?

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

I'm considering the iScan HD as a processing solution. It has a VGA computer connection that would receive the run from the theater jack pack. My hope is to run a single DVI cable from the processor to the projector. This is all subject to change pending my final equipment selection.

The other thing I may end up doing is going the HTPC route for DVD playback, in which case I would have the computer resident in the equipment rack complete with IR control from the other room. But I'm trying to not limit my options. It's cheap and easy to install the jack pack now during construction.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Jay i sent you an email to the hometheaterforum account.

 

[JustinG]

This is kinda what I was getting at. The VGA cable has 10 wires you'll need to solder up on the back of the connector. You could take a vga cable bought at a store, hack one end off, and solder the wires onto the connector.

Or, without going to that extreme, you might be able to do this with 2 gender changers.

Come off your laptop with vga cable to the plate. The plate will have a gender changer built into the plate. In the wall, you connect another cable to the back of the plate and carry that to your equipment.

Depending on the equipment side connector, you might need another gender change.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Well I'll be damned...

http://www.panamax.com/Literature/PD...ct%20Sht-1.pdf

This is a great solution that I stumbled across in the new gear section of the latest Widescreen Review. The VGA module solves my problem for a computer audio/video connection. A data module is available for LAN. And a couple of A/V options exist as well.

Perfect.

 

[JustinG]

very nice!

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Pricey but nice

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Have to see what Creative (a local dealer) charges but that's not bad considering there's no other option that I've seen. I'm not into cobbled together solutions, plus this has some nice power protection. So it looks like a good way to go. The price certainly adds up depending on which modules (and how many) you select. Actually, it's a pretty good hose-job considering Panamax could have provided a single module with both computer VGA/audio as well as LAN for high-speed internet connection. That configuration in a single module makes a lot of sense. As it sits you need to buy two separate modules to achieve the same thing. Likewise their configurations for A/V are a little whacked. You can only get analog audio with one module (the component if I recall), but not with the S-Video. And none of these modules offer a digital audio configuration. But given it is a plug-and-play solution I guess these can't be ruled out.