[SunTzu]

i've been collecting home entertainment equipment for a couple of years now whilst living in rented accomadation so i've never really installed it properly.

so the time has come to buy a house (which i've actually just found out may have fallen through but we have to put a brave face on these things )
and wire it all properly, because my girlfriend can't stand the wires .

i've been thinking about it and looking at my gear thinking theres got to be some way of rigging it all up so its user (girlfriend) friendly, heres a list of my equipment

nec vt45 projector
xbox (currently used as dvd and media player aswell as games)
marantz sr5200 surround amp
kef kht 2005 speakers
cambridge audio universal remote
tv
pc

i would like to wire it all up so i can watch all av sources through the tv and the projector, listen to everything through the amp and get the most out of all my equipment but with the minimum amount of switches (which is the only way i can think of doing it). i would also like to make it so i can easily add more sources, so i can plug a dvd player in when i get one and my gamecube and other consoles in when i can be arsed to dig them out

i am on a limited budget because of the move but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and much considered also any suggestions to good cableing practices because i want to hide all the wires would be great to

[owain_thomas]

RIght here's a couple of suggestions, with this many variables there are going to be lots of ways to do this but you may be able to avoid switches altogether:

I'm not familiar with the PJ but if it can take a component input you're laughing. simply buy yourself a high definition AV pack for the Xbox, this will allow you to output component video to the PJ, svideo or composite (via scart in necessary) to the TV and optical digital to the amp.

Connect the TV to the amp with analogue connections on a separate input for TV sound. Send a composite signal from the TV to the PJ to watch TV on the big screen.

Sell your cambridge remote on ebay and pick up a second hand (or even brand new) philips pronto. With this you can completely customise the interface and have macros for switching multiple things at once (eg. turn on PJ, set amp to xbox input, select the component input on the amp).

Adding extra items to this setup ain't going to be so easy but day to day it would be very simple to use, very GF griendly.

HTH
Owain

[hornydragon]

similar way but using a harmony remote you can have one button operation for "watching a movie on PJ" and one button for watch TV.... How girlfriend friendly..... i think marantz has video switching??? S-video? use this to switch sources possibly via a scaler iscan ultra/HD to PJ and to TV dual display systems can become very complex and expensive but this will work with minimal loss of quality.............
Then its just sorting kit location and cabling...