Multimedia system (2 computers, receiver, projector)

[vector07]

Hi, looking to deck out my dorm room with a nice multimedia system. I'd like to know a few things: is this possible, and if so, how?

My roommate and I both want to be able to play movies from our computers projected on to the TV projector, AND we'd both like to be able to play music on surround sound. We both have TV-out capable video cards and audigy (1) sound cards.

In terms of speakers, all I have is 3 sets of very nice boston acoustics computer speakers. So my first question is, is there any way to plug the computer speakers into the receiver? (speaker details: all 3 are computer->sub->satellite systems, all analog, 1/8mini jack to 1/8mini jack)

So, assuming I can get those speakers connected to the receiver, I want each computer jacked into the receiver. From my "research" so far, all I need to do is get a mini-jack to double rca plug...is that correct? Can both my roommate and I both jack into the same receiver, and be able to select whose computer the sound comes from?

Again, assuming the last part is doable--what now? How do I get a) two computers video to the projector, and b) how do I get the sound on the video to play through the receiver?

I'm sorry for the length of the message, but because its so complex I havent been able to find the answers online! Thanks in advance.

 

[ekÆsine]

My roommate and I both want to be able to play movies from our computers projected on to the TV projector

all you need is a video card with composite output (also known as RCA) or SVideo. you would plug this into your projector. my win2k instructor had this in his moe and he projected the movies onto a white wall...ingenious.

is there any way to plug the computer speakers into the receiver? (speaker details: all 3 are computer->sub->satellite systems, all analog, 1/8mini jack to 1/8mini jack).....From my "research" so far, all I need to do is get a mini-jack to double rca plug...is that correct? Can both my roommate and I both jack into the same receiver, and be able to select whose computer the sound comes from?


yes just get the mini audio to RCA connectors and a pair of RCA cables for each computer or output device. connect these from the sound card output to the receiver input. on a sound card the output is the one with a hole colored green.

yes you can use the same receiver. most receivers have connections in the back to plug in a bunch of devices. you just use buttons on the remote or receiver to switch between which input you want to use.

this is actually pretty simple stuff. just ask somebody who has hooked up a receiver before to help you. all you need to tell them is that the green hole on the sound card is the sound output.

you should also know that they make RF wireless devices that you can use to connect your computer or whatever else to the receiver. this just saves you the embarrassment of having tons of wires everywhere. radio shack or any electronics store have these, ask the salesclerk

 

[vector07]

What about the speakers? From what I've seen (granted, which isnt much), most receivers have speaker outputs as follows: rear output, front output, subwoofer. The problem is that my systems cannot be hooked in with each component separate. There's a mini-jack to mini-jack cable to the subwoofer, and from the sub there's a "control cable" (looks like a ps2 plug but has a few more pins--possibly proprietary?) that goes to speaker satellite 1, and from sat 1 there's another cable to sat 2.

As far as I understand, a receiver acts as an amplifier--but in my case, so does the subwoofer for the satellites. So can I not use a system like this on a receiver? or what? If I can do this, what should I do? Another analog cable to dual rca?

Thanks for the response before, you've helped me alot so far!

 

[JELL-OE]

It should work, i have done this with my system. I could help you through the receiver bit, but it would make things easier if you could give me the specs on it, like make & model, etc. It actually works quite well...

 

[vector07]

I havent purchased a receiver yet. The speakers are Boston Acoustics "Digital Media Theater" speakers (no model name/number).

I guess my question is.. don't most receivers have speaker wire knobs for speaker output, not rca jacks or analog jacks?

 

[JELL-OE]

Well, um, the way i read that, your bassicly saying that all there is on the back is the speaker output jacks? Rong, you need some way to get the signal into the receiver to play on the speakers. There are normally 3-5 input jacks for various devices using Analog inputs. Then sometimes you have digital inputs, 1-3, w/e, i have 3 on mine... When u get a receiver (i recommend panasonic sa-he70) what ever it may be, just in case, check to see how many input/output jacks there are in the back. Im not talking about the terminals for the speakers. If there are more than 1, which there should be, your fine. When you get it home, take the 3.5mm to L&R RCA Y adapter, which is like, MAYBE $5, put the 3.5mm jack into the soundcard output, and take the left and right rca connectors, which will be colored and just connect into back of receiver, on tv or cd, w/e. Then when your done, just switch the receiver to cd or whatever you plugged the computer into, and play some music. Thats how you do it...

Now, the knobs on the back, connectors or w/e, there should be speaker ones, could be knobs, could be something you put the wire into and clamp it down. Then for the inputs, there are the rca, or digital, the digital, there should be a little door type thing, flat, not sticking out. i think you know what the rca is... hope that helps... And rca and analog or pretty much same thing.

Wow, i wrote alot.

-edit-

Now that i rewread that, just skip the first 2 sentences...

 

[vector07]

That helps, but you didn't answer my biggest question! I understand now how to connect the computer to the receiver, makes sense. HOWEVER: I want to connect my computer speakers to the receiver. Every receiver I've looked at has speaker inputs that ONLY ACCEPT speaker cable, not minijack or rca. Are there receivers that do take minijack/rca instead of speaker wire; and if not, can I mod my speaker cables into speaker wire?

 

[vector07]

I got my question answered elsewhere. If you're interested... it is NOT possible to connect an all in one powered sub/sat pc speaker system to a receiver. The components have to be separate, and moreover, the sub for example cannot be self powered. Thanks for the help anyway, appreciate it.

 

[ImAnAardvark]

well the sub can be self powered, it just depends on what receiver you get, my receiver has an extra pre-amp output specifically for powered subs.
If you want to use those speakers for the system, and don't care if you have to separate them from their miniplugs, you can simply cut off the mini plugs. All speakers, have two wires, even if it looks like just one wire, it's two wrapped in one outer insulator, or more likely, it's two wires that are just bonded to each other, which is easy to separate, you just pull the wires apart a few inches down the middle after cutting off the mini plug, then just strip off some of the outer insulator. Then you can connect them to any standard receiver, just like any speaker. Just make sure you don't overpower the speakers. Also, you will need to make sure all of the speakers are plugged in at the same polarity, positive to positive, negative to negative. It doesn't matter if the negative speaker wire is plugged into the positive speaker-out terminal, as long as all the speakers are connected that way. If you have one speaker with positive wire to positive terminal, and one speaker with positive wire to negative terminal, the sound will be out of phase, and not sound quite right. If the wires are not color coded, you can open the speaker case to see which wire is which, or use a THX optimizer, found on many DVD movies in the options or sound menu. From there, you can check the polarity of each speaker.