This is what I'm planning to have - will it work?

[Salohcin]

I'm going to have a new entertainment system, and I've planned it out - but I've never done anything like this before and I don't understand most of the jargon, so I'll list the system I hope to have here, for any comments or observations.

It's because I will have Sky HD and a couple of HD LCD TV sets as well as other stuff, and I want everything to be HD - but when the magazines I buy talk about HDMI, Scart, RGB, optical and coaxial digital inputs/outputs, SCAD, AV, S-video, TV tuners, etc, it does get a little confusing.

I propose to have the following:

A couple of Samsung LCD HD TVs - the main one being connected to the Sky HD box, and the second one showing exactly the same thing as the main one (will the second one show in HD also?)

The main TV will have the following - Windows Media Centre (Sony VAIO VGX-XL 100), Sky HD, Sony RDR-HX510 DVD recorder, Denon AVR-2106 AV receiver, XBox 360, PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and N64 (I love retro gaming).

As well as that, I will probably need a VCR in order to use the media centre to transfer material from VCR to DVD.

Note that there are no speakers or anything involved. I won't buy any sound stuff because I'm just not interested in sound quality at all - I'm only interested in the vision.

Ideally, I'd have the AV receiver to switch between all the games consoles, the Media Centre and the DVD recorder (as well as the VCR). I'm likely to transfer stuff from the Sky box to my DVD recorder in order to burn things onto DVD.

The Media Centre will be used for the internet, displaying photos and video clips from the internet and memory sticks and 'lower-end' games.

I know that buying cables separately does help with the sound, but as I'm not using any speakers at all, is it worth me buying it for the picture? Will it improve the picture?

Apologies for making this post look more of a list of components, but if anyone could look over it and give the green light or make any comments and observations or point out a fault somewhere, it would be great.

Cheers.

 

[clockworks]

Getting HD to a second TV could be tricky, depending on the distance involved. Probably the easiest way would be to connect one TV to the component output on the Sky HD box, the other to the HDMI output.
Another option would be to get more Sky HD boxes.
The normal methods of distributing Sky (coax cable from RF2 output, or wireless video sender) will work, but won't give you HD.

If you aren't going to have any kind of sound system, you don't really need an AV receiver. You could just connect everything to the TV, maybe using a video switching unit if you run out of inputs.

Buying better cable will help with the analogue signals (scart, VGA, component, etc.), but is probably a waste of money for digital signals (HDMI, DVI).

 

[Mr Latte]

Multiroom video solution would be easily achievable via SKY HD and component cable duplicating or swtiching.

The problem of course is that the same channel will be displayed on each screen involved which seems your aware of but having to control changing channels from a different room may require additional remote device / senders.

Even in the near future if considering a MCE extender and requirement of some sort of HD compatible PC card input its still going to be cheaper to probably have 2x Sky HD boxes than all the PC hardware, network and MCE equipment that would be required.

Dont get too disheartened of the prospect of a VCR video quality being that good on a HD LCD screen, even if dubbing to a DVD with your 510. Interlaced video pretty much sucks on LCDs due to the de-interlacing and scaling, personally im not impressed by standard Sky etc on my LCD anyways but SKY HD will be a lot better.

It would be best to replace your existing VCR material via a proper DVD source and if required play it through or rip this to the HTPC database.

Having no interest in audio is very weird, 5.1 makes a huge difference to general entertainment, gaming. Also with the new upcoming HD formats the latest DOLBY DIGITAL + will improve audio even further via multichannel inputs and approx 1500kbs data rate putting DVD 5.1 into the shade.

* You can buy a Pioneer all in one home cinema system with 5.1 speakers, digital optical/coxial and includes a DVD recorder for £280.