Problem solving required...

[Chris [BEANS]]

Ok, last year I built a fairly decent PC and recently I was also forced to buy a new LED TV.

The TV is 'smart', but the smart functions suck.
I see the benefits of having my 40 inch LED TV hooked up to a PC for comfy browsing, streaming UFC weigh ins, Netflix etc and even playing pad compatible games and emulatirs on a bigger screen in more comfort etc etc...

To this end I decided to build a PC dedicated to the TV. After a few different specs it seems it'll cost at least £500 and won't be a patch on my recently built PC.
My PC is only about 5 meters away from the TV so I'm thinking of a change in tactics.

Here are my problems/questions:-

The PC has a GTX670 connected to the monitor by HDMI, and the card only has one HDMI out.
If I hook up the monitor via DVI and then get a long HDMI to the TV and set it as a duplicate monitor, not an extension of the desktop, will I lose performance the same as if I were running it as a traditional dual monitor set up?


I have a decent wired keyboard and a decent wireless mouse on the PC, but for sofa browsing I'd ideally be using a small wireless keyboard with attached track pad. Is there any issue with having all connected at the same time? Will this work?


The tricky one is sound. Currently the sound from the PC is a 2.1 speaker system running on a sound card. They all sit on or under the PC desk and it wouldn't be suitable to use them at the same time as the TV as they'd be way off to my left. Is there a quick and simple shortcut for changing the sound output from sound card to HDMI without knobbing about in control panel every time? If it has to be via control panel, is there a way to set up a shortcut direct to that option?


Are there any other obvious problems I haven't forseen?


I appreciate that an afternoons google would answer all these problems, but I'm busy and I trust you guys to know better than google anyway!

Cheers for your time

 

[Uncle Petey]

For the sound, just right click the speaker icon at the bottom right of your taskbar and select playback devices.
You should be fine with using both the mice/keyboards at once. You can always switch off the wireless ones when not in use.

Not sure about the duplicate desktop performance.

 

[hlxbravo]

For the sound, just right click the speaker icon at the bottom right of your taskbar and select playback devices.

Yep, this is how I use my TV audio....for info though, I have to select the HDMI option and make it DEFAULT DEVICE, or is that the norm anyway?

 

[OliverDavis]

For your duplicate display question, it should use no extra resources of your GPU, as it just sends the same frame buffer over both connections, so it renders one frame and sends to both outputs, almost like a built in Y-Splitter, thats controlled with a chip.

You should (With some research) be able to make an elevated batch file, that would swap your default Audio Device with a simple double click.

 

[Chris [BEANS]]

Awesome work, thanks all

Knew I trusted you more than google


Keep em peeled for my forthcoming "how the bloody hell do I make an elevated batch file?!" thread