Sharing a tower between a Desktop and HTPC in same large room.

[vineswingman]

I have a desk approx 40 feet away from the Entertainment center which houses the TV, audio receiver and currently the HTPC/SteamBox. Right now the HTPC is hooked up via optical to the receiver and HDMI to the TV. Currently use a wireless mouse, keyboard, and x360 gamepad.

Would like to put a monitor on the other side of the room at the desk, for a desktop usage. Looking at a Monoprice 27" 2560x1600 IPS.

My question is: what is the best way to share one desktop between the monitor and TV on opposite sides of a large room? I've considered a 50' HDMI cable, and would be able to run it through the walls, but concern about lag, supporting 2560x1600 resolution and carrying audio to my receiver (it does not have HDMI audio input).

I've also considered a quality wired mouse and keyboard for use on the desk, making me think the tower needs to be at the desk..

I've seen wireless transmitters, and would be able to set this up for a direct line of sight across approx 40 ft, but don't know how well they work, latency, and how I will hook the sound to my audio receiver.

Any ideas I'm not thinking of? I primarily use the HTPC for movies, steam box (for console style action/adventure/rpg games), and music jukebox to receiver.

 

[Sheep221]

The long HDMI cables will work without lag.
The information screens on airports and train stations as well the advertising ones are installed hundreds of meters from computers they are hooked up to.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

My current living situation is a small downtown loft so space is a premium... my HTPC / Gaming PC and two displays are in our living room (since we don't have a separate space for them), and I have the HDMI on my video card split, one end to my monitor (40" LED TV) and the other to my receiver (which ultimately feeds a projector).
The vid card also has a DVI going to the 40" monitor if I want to game on that while my fiance' watches a movie or something on the projector.

I experience ZERO lag on either device and between PC and projector there is 90 ft. of HDMI.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

*Note for gaming and movie sake*
I am able to doe the audio for games out via optical to my headset and video through the DVI
...while XBMC runs off HDMI alone for video / audio


.... but now I've starting using a RPI for all the movie/media purposes (pulling from a library on my HTPC. I suggest going this route.... you can get your media to the desired location with a tiny little RPI and you don't have to worry about running wires or anything like that.