Posted: 10/30/2015 3:13:24 PM EDT
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My wife and I purchased a home with a media room in it about 4 years ago. It came with a media computer (outputs optical audio, 2 channel audio, HDMI, and coax). It also came with a full surround sound stereo. The computer and projector are in the back of the media room, and the stereo system is in the front of the media room. There is a small box that the optical audio plugs into and then there is cable run across the inside of the ceiling that drops down behind the built-ins to put the signal into the back of the stereo.
So when we moved in, I ditched the computer; it was running really slow, which is a damn shame because it was a very nice feature packed PC. I bought a box the lets me plug in multiple HDMI sources with matching optical audio sources, and this then feeds the projector and the box the runs the audio to the stereo across the room. When the Xbox One came out, I fished an 50ft HDMI across the ceiling (took about 2 hours) to put the HDMI back to the selector box and into the projector, and then put the Xbox One on top of the stereo and just plugged the audio in right there. SO fast forward to now. I want to watch movies off my Windows 10 laptop, but it's not streaming the video to my Xbox One like it's supposed to. I'd love to be able to plug my laptop into the media system directly, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how would be the best way. I'd certainly like to avoid fishing any more wire through the ceiling! It was a royal pain in the ass! My laptop outputs audio through the HDMI, but I'm not sure that HDMI/optical selector box will split the audio off of the HDMI and output it to the corresponding devices optical output. The laptop has HDMI and a headphone jack on it. Is there are relatively cheap but effective product out there that will let me add my laptop to the media center? Pics to show off my favorite room! 
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I'm not sure if I'm following your question correctly or not, but I have something like this in my system:
http://www.amazon.com/Hds-tek-Switch-1-out-Intelligent-1080p/dp/B00OHHT5SA/ref=sr_1_10?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1446429188&sr=1-10&keywords=HDMI+switch Do a search for HDMI Switch and see if anything meets your needs. My setup entails one HDMI cable run to the TV through the ceiling from another wall. The rest all plug into that switch. The switch detects power from the source I turn on and automatically gives me that signal. My cable box is "always on", so it is set for the lowest priority. That means that anything else I turn on overrides the signal for the TV and goes to that. Switch it off and the cable comes back on. ETA: After reading what you wrote again, check this out: http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-501BN-Premium-wireless-adapter/dp/B0049SCB2Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1446429478&sr=8-2&keywords=hdmi+switch+with+optical+out |
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Quoted:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61BJEcnPXIL._SL1500_.jpg Better description than what I can write! This particular one (the second one I linked above) also has an optical out, so it pulls the audio signal out of the HDMI cable and routes it to your audio receiver. Damn! I got excited for a second, but I don't think that second one outputs optical audio. If it did, that would have been perfect! |
| Sounds like a new receiver that can handle multiple HDMI inputs would be the simple solution, no? I think having inputs at the back of the room is more trouble than it's worth. Maybe a little rearranging so that receiver, xbox, dvd player, etc. are all at the front of the room--then you just need an HDMI cable to get signal to the projector. |
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Quoted:
Sounds like a new receiver that can handle multiple HDMI inputs would be the simple solution, no? I think having inputs at the back of the room is more trouble than it's worth. Maybe a little rearranging so that receiver, xbox, dvd player, etc. are all at the front of the room--then you just need an HDMI cable to get signal to the projector. I think you're right. It'd be a lot more practical to move everything up to the front of the room and send it to the projector on the one HDMI that's run through the ceiling. |