Home theater setup

Geek Lord

We're getting a condo built soon and I want to take advantage of this fact to plan my living room's wiring.

This is what I have:

• Panasonic SAHE100 receiver (2 component in -> 1 out, 3 toslink + 1 coax in -> 1 toslink out, 3 s-video in, 1 out, multiple audio in/out)
• Panasonic S32 DVD player (component and toslink out)
• Xbox 360 (component and toslink out)
• Gamecube (S-video and audio out)
• Panasonic PT-AE700 projector (one of each: HDMI, component, s-video, composite)
• Samsung 1080p 40" LCD TV (inputs: 2 HDMI, 2 component, 1 S-video, 2 composite, all with their own audio-in, 1 toslink)
• Scientific Atalanta Explorer 8300HD PVR (1 HDMI, 1 component, 1 S-video, 1 composite, 1 coax audio)

Currently connected this way:

• Cable box -> component video+composite audio -> TV
• Xbox -> component+toslink -> receiver
• Gamecube -> s-video+composite audio -> receiver
• DVD -> component+toslink -> receiver
• Receiver -> component + s-video -> projector

I want to plan it so that I have everything but the projector in front of the living room, fishing the video cabling through the ceiling to the projector. It will be sitting on a shelf since a ceiling-mount would be either too high compared to the screen or too tilted.

The TV will mostly be for actual cable (from the 8300HD through component) with everything else going to the receiver and then to the projector. I may also want the projector to display the HD cable through HDMI, with digital sound going to the receiver. Note that this receiver does not convert video inputs. This means I need HDMI, component and s-video wired about 30 feet to the back, as well as 2 wall plates for each (although it looks like monoprice doesn't have s-video wall plates, maybe other places have them).

I guess my ideal situation here is finding a receiver that can up-convert s-video and component to HDMI, does 5.1x100watts. I could then the upconverted HDMI to the projector and keep component output to the TV (I would do HDMI to the TV as well but this disables volume control from the cable box, which I prefer).

I made an ugly PDF diagram, I zipped and uploaded it to Spread-it.com, click here

I appreciate all help given, except negative comments towards my PDF skills (my girlfriend has already covered that :P)

Geek Lord

Hi again everyone. Sorry to bump this but after getting some views but no replies I understand that I need to simplify all of this

I need a receiver that converts my inputs up to component, but preferably HDMI to help keep things tidy. (I realize HDMI up-conversion-capable receivers will cost significantly more, so I don't expect much help on that front)

7.1 sound is not necessary. If conversion to HDMI is not possible, at least a passthrough is appreciated. I would like to keep the cost under 500-600$ CAN.

If this is unreasonable and I absolutely need to spend more money to get what I need, let me know so I can stop searching

embrik

I've always looked to Onkyo for stuff like this, and they have a few promising models. Take a look at this one. They have a few others which are a bit more, but I'm a little rusty on the upconverting thing. I think this one will do it, but could someone confirm? The others they sell (which are a bit more) list upconverting as a feature. (However, the reviewers for this one do seem to indicate that it will.)

Regardless, the price looks to be around $430 CAD from these guys. (Before shipping, of course, but at least they will ship to Canada).

Someone else should jump in and tell me if I'm right/wrong on this one, pls.

Oh, and what I really wanted to mention was - remember to run ethernet cable as well as AV if you can. You'll be glad you did.

Geek Lord

embrik you rock! This is exactly what I'm looking for!

And don't worry I already thought about ethernet. There will be a little storage room next to the entrance closet where the water heater and central vaccuum goes, all main entries will be there (cable and phone) so I am adding 4 ethernet jacks to wire to two of the bedrooms (both are a potential office space) and two jacks for the living room (one front and one back, to allow us to move the room around if needed). This way I keep my voip cable modem and wireless router tucked away in a small room, easily accessed and de-cluttering the computer desk!