Possible Media Centre Setup?

[Skillian]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place - I couldn't see where else to put it.

Currently I have 2 PCs - a reasonably high-powered gaming machine up in my bedroom, and a lower powered machine downstairs in the lounge, which I use for music, movies and the odd game of Worms or Peggle.

I'd like to be able to play proper games downstairs too though, so rather than upgrade my whole media centre, I was thinking of running an HDMI cable from the PC upstairs, through the floor and down to my TV downstairs. A wireless keyboard would be used for control.

It would save me money, allow me to play all of my games on my HDTV downstairs and even save the electricity I currently use having two PCs running.

The only real problem i see is that the two screens run at different resolutions so I will have to change that each time I move from the lounge to the bedroom.

Can anyone see any other potential problems with this setup?

[evalf]

I think there's a maximum length for the HDMI cable that you have to take into account. I think I read somewhere that the official supported length was 7m, although some people had success with cables up to 30m. Bear in mind that longh HDMI cables can be extremely expensive as well.

[TAKTAK]

Originally Posted by evalf

I think there's a maximum length for the HDMI cable that you have to take into account. I think I read somewhere that the official supported length was 7m, although some people had success with cables up to 30m. Bear in mind that longh HDMI cables can be extremely expensive as well.

well yes... but it is a big case of YMMV...

a better quality cable will have a lower line attenuancy... and therfore can be longer...

[PeterStoba]

Wireless keyboards don't go through walls either

[TheReaFireblade]

Anything over 20m is usually very expensive, for sure!
But 10m cables are available on Ebay for <£15 - <£20 delivered... and 15m(/50') cables are available for £28 delivered (£15.99 + £12.00 delivery - from Hong kong)

Assuming the two units are pretty much directly underneath/above one another... 10m - 15m should be plenty long enough to reach through the floor of one room to another?
But there are plenty more cables to choose from here though - if necessary.
You'll have to be prepared to pay a lot more for anything longer than 15m, though!


@ evalf: You can use a HDMI Extender - if longer lengths are necessary

[evalf]

Didn't know about the extenders, thanks!

[Skillian]

Thanks for responses guys.

I actually already have a 10m DVI-HDMI cable - it cost me about £15 from eBay and has never given me a single problem.

The wireless keyboard thing is a good point. I think I'm going to have to dangle the dongle through the hole in the ceiling, and I'll have to do that with my 360 controller wireless receiver too.

The other issue I thought of was getting sound both upstairs and downstairs, but luckily I use optical downstairs and analogue upstairs, so it should just be a case of switching the digital connection on or off (through the drivers) when moving between computers.

I received a 10m optical cable through eBay today so I'll probably try putting this altogether this week. I'll let you know how it turns out...

[Bossworld]

Originally Posted by PeterStoba

Wireless keyboards don't go through walls either

Logitech ones do! Got an old one here which seems to work through almost anywhere in the house, got it free years back as part of some business deal but it's fantastic.

Can't say the same for MS keyboards though