posted
Okay... my DVD player is acting up. But I have a perfectly good one in my computer. And I have a flat screen TV (courtesy of Woot) that can operate as a monitor.
The problem is that they're two floors apart.
What I'd like to do is drop a cable from the top floor to the basement (*), and rig up some sort of splitter so that I can toggle between my monitor/keyboard/mouse upstairs, and my TV with a different keyboard and mouse downstairs.
The TV has a 15 pin VGA port on it and a VGA audio in plug. So if I can get a couple of cables that are... yeah, about 60 feet long, I can connect up this way.
Here are my issues:
[ul][*]I don't want to have to unhook my monitor and stuff from the computer and hook the other cords in every time I want to use the computer downstairs. I'd like to be able to toggle between them. I know there are gadgets for hooking two computers to a single monitor/keyboard/mouse, but I don't know of anything that'll do it the other way around, with one computer toggling between two sets of output devices[*]I'm not sure if what I need is just a 60' long monitor cable. You know, or several cables with connectors. I also don't know if a cable that long won't degrade the signal to the point where this turns into a pointless exercise. Is there such a thing as an amplifier that I could stick in the middle somewhere to boost the signal if 60 feet is too much?[/ul]
Any help would be muchly appreciated.
_____________ * Through the laundry chute, actually.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
here is a VGA splitter/amplifier that says it'll extend the signal 200 feet. No experience with this kind of hardware but I think if you put one of these behind your PC upstairs it'll probably do the job. Same site sells 75 foot VGA cables.
However, you're looking at the need to split/switch the output (monitors) AND switch the inputs as well. You need a KVM switch (well, I guess just a KM switch ) to use a different keyboard and mouse downstairs. You can either look at KVM extenders - which I've read are usually expensive - or look at extenders for the keyboard/mouse connectors. There are USB extenders that should reach that distance.
Edit: here's an example USB extender that uses CAT5 cable.
I kind of doubt you'll get a total solution for less than a low cost DVD player.
Edit 2: I don't think you'll have trouble running audio signal that distance but the quality of the audio may depend on the impedance and shielding of the audio cable that you use.
posted
Our school uses something like this to split video between the over head projector and the desk top. You want a splitter that has it's own power source or the signal strength will be too weak.
Go to yoru local computer shop and ask them if they have one where you can manually turn off the second device without unplugging it.
The splitters have a cable going form the tower to the splitter, and then it has two ports where you can plug in monitors, projectors, and anything else that connects to VGA.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
You can probably get a DVD player for less money than this project will cost. But, then you wouldn't be able to surf Hatrack on your couch.
Posts: 212 | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks, I'm going to try this. And yeah, it'd be cool to surf Hatrack there. Cooler yet to work there (I work out of my home).
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Keep in mind that a splitter is going to send the same VGA signal to both devices - so if you want to use the native resolution of your downstairs monitor, your upstairs monitor will need to support the same resolution or you'll be in for some pain changing the resolution when you change monitors. Or you can just accept a non-optimal resolution on one or both of the monitors by using the minimum resolution supported by both.
I can't seem to find an actual switch, rather than a splitter, that also amplifies the signal. There are passive switches which would work with a separate repeater/amplifier for the output to your downstairs monitor. (The advantage of the switch would be that if the monitor 'tells' the PC what resolutions it supports, the switch can pass this signal back for the connected device. A splitter wouldn't be able to do this if the two devices support different resolutions.)
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Keep in mind that a splitter is going to send the same VGA signal to both devices - so if you want to use the native resolution of your downstairs monitor, your upstairs monitor will need to support the same resolution or you'll be in for some pain changing the resolution when you change monitors.
Oh. I hadn't thought of that.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Actually, you can get a small Linux box capable of driving a setup like the one you describe for about $250. I'd recommend doing that, because dealing with a split VGA signal over KVM (at 60', at that) is likely to be a painful hassle.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Actually, my partner pointed out to me on the way back from open house night at Tova's school that we have a laptop that I got after my grandmother passed away. I haven't been using it, but I could hook it up to the TV. So I may try that first.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
) to use a different keyboard and mouse downstairs. You can either look at KVM extenders - which I've read are usually expensive - or look at extenders for the keyboard/mouse connectors. There are USB extenders that should reach that distance. 
