Want to set up the ability to use my computer from two places.

[RocketGuy3]

I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but I can't think of a reasonable way to pull this off.

What I want to do is connect my computer to two areas: my desk, which will have a wired mouse and keyboard, along with my computer monitor and speakers; and also my living room, where I would like to put a wireless mouse and keyboard, and have the computer A/V outputs connected to my TV and home audio system.

How can I do this? Is there a way it can be done where switching between the two areas would be as simple as flipping some switch on a box (that would be sort of the opposite of a KVM switch, I guess), or anything like that. What would I need? I thought this seemed like a relatively simple idea, but I just can't think of any decent way to pull it off.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Roguestar]

Why wouldn't a standard KVM do the job? Stick the switch button in one room, when you come in press it and when you leave press it again?

 

[JackMDS]

http://www.42u.com/wireless-kvm-switches.htm

 

[RocketGuy3]

So it can be done with a KVM switch? I guess I was just a little confused because this is sort of the opposite of what I thought KVM switches are typically used for (a single monitor and set of input devices, connected to multiple computers).

I guess all I would need is some male-to-female and female-to-male conversions for the VGA, audio, and USB connections?

Also, I really like the idea of that wireless KVM, but one problem (other than it being kinda pricey) is that it only seems to support resolutions up to 1024x768...

 

[Paperdoc]

Your understanding of KVM switches is correct - they allow one set of Keyboard, Video and Mouse to control any of several computers. Your request is for the opposite.

The key may be in recognizing that your proposed human interfaces are connected to the computer differently. This gives you the freedom to have them ALL working at the same time - you just don't try to use them all from two locations at the same time.

Consider this: suppose you were to place your TV next to the computer. You must add to the computer (if you don't have it already) a video card that sends out either a modulated TV signal on a standard channel (like 3 or 4) OR a set of Composite video and 2-channel audio on standard "patch cords" with RCA phono plugs on the ends. Once they're hooked up, you will see the video images on both the monitor and the TV; likewise the sound will come from both the TV and the computer speakers.

If you send out a TV channel, then at the TV end you might need a small cable switch that allows you to select which TV antenna cable you are feeding to the TV - the regular one with all the commercial channels (often including channel 3 or 4), or the special cable coming from the computer's TV output. Then you merely choose channel 3 (or 4, or whatever) so you can see and hear what is coming from the computer. Technically, one of those signal splitters used to hook two TV's to one cable can be used in reverse as a mixer so that two input cables can be combined into one feed to a single TV, but I do NOT recommend this - you would be feeding your computer's output into the entire cable TV system, over top of existing channels!

If you use the composite video / stereo sound cable system there may be a slight advantage. IF your TV has those input connectors, they usually can be selected (often by the TV's remote control) as the input in place of any channel, so the TV's system itself provides all the signal switching you need. However, there is a limit to the length (and cost) of those video / audio patch cord sets. To reach from one room to another, you may have to use the standard "cable TV" coaxial cable sending a TV channel through.

Now, that takes care of the visual and sound outputs in two locations - they both can be operating simultaneously, and you can simply turn each place on and off as you wish. For the keyboard and mouse, you already have the solution. If you hook up a standard wired keyboard and mouse to a computer, and then add a wireless keyboard and mouse, you will find they ALL work. You can confuse the machine a little by using two keyboards at the same time, but not really. The poor machine just takes it all in and tries to use both inputs as if they were one - can make a real mess of your word processing document! So, you leave the wired keyboard and mouse hooked up to the computer, then install the transceiver for the wireless devices on the computer, and carry them into the TV room. The only problem could be range of the transceiver - can it reach into the other room? One thing for sure - the wireless set will have to be done as radio signals, not as IR signals. I think both types are available - just get the right one. I'd test the range carefully, though, to be sure the signals will work from TV room to computer location.

 

[RocketGuy3]

I appreciate the help, Paperdoc. My concern, though, is that the method of transferring the video signal to the TV that you're describing seems like it would leave the TV with a fairly low res signal. Is there a way to transfer an HD signal that way somehow?

 

[Roguestar]

Uh, sorry, got my wires crossed entirely for your post, my bad.

 

[Paperdoc]

You are right, of course, and that's the fundamental problem with trying to use a TV as a computer monitor. Regular TV's were designed for analog signals with a bandwidth that roughly corresponds to LESS than 640 x 480 VGA resolution. For example, some early home computers (e.g., my trusty old Commodore 64) could output to a TV, but getting it to display 80 text characters in a line was very tough on the eyes. The next steps up are the Composite Video signals most TV's can use now, or S-Video for consumer video signals, which can come pretty close to VGA basic. But anything of higher resolution generated in a computer simply requires more than any normal TV can do. Even with the much-promoted HDTV systems, the highest resolution most of them deal with are 1080 pixels wide, whereas computer monitors treat 1024 x 768 as base-level stuff, and many systems are working now at 1680 x 960 and higher.

The net result is that any video card that puts out your computer's picture as a normal analog TV signal on coaxial cable is going to limit its information to those lower resolutions - OK for videos and animation, pretty poor for spreadsheet work. Even if you can use Composite Video signals, the resolution still is not likely to be better than 640 x 480, and that presumes you can get long RCA-type patch cables with low losses and broad bandwidth. If you have an HDTV and can install in your computer a video card that outputs higher-quality signals (analog or digital) over cables long enough to reach to the TV in the other room, you might get to something like 1024 x 768 computer display resolution. But that's about as good as you'll ever get with such a display.

Now, depending on what you need and the depth of your wallet, maybe you go the other way. Replace the TV with a high-quality monitor capable of high-resolution computer displays, but also including TV functions somehow. Maybe it has a built-in TV tuner, or you could even use a separate external TV tuner that can send a Composite Video, S-Video or HDTV signal over to the new monitor. Definitely not the simple cheap solution we all would wish. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!