How Do I Connect …? - Technology Tutorial - Tutorial

Home Office Computing, July, 2000 by Gregg Ramsay, Lisa Rogak

Hooking your entertainment components up to a home network is easier than you think

YOU'VE PROBABLY READ ARTICLES describing the smart home of the future--a place where all your computing and entertainment components and appliances connect to a single network and integrate seamlessly to provide applications and services the likes of which we've just begun to imagine. But such stories may prompt you to look around your own home and wonder whether any of these devices can be connected today. For the most part, the answer is yes.

You can connect a standalone or networked PC to your TV or VCR; view DVD movies playing on one networked PC on another, or on your TV; or enhance an audio experience by hooking your stereo up to your PCs or TV. Or you might envision creating something more complex, a Frankenstein-type intelligence center in which your PC controls the individual components, letting you program your VCR or stereo recorder to tape certain programs, or whatever else you can dream up, without leaving your chair.

Although making your own computing/ entertainment connections is possible and relatively affordable, it's a little like shoveling the sidewalk during a blizzard: You can do it, but it's probably best to wait. New technologies, such as Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play and Sun Microsystems' Jini, should soon help to make the smart home a reality. Nevertheless, even if you're willing to wait a year or two for the technology to develop, it's uncertain whether it will work with the equipment you have today.

So if you're game on cobbling together something usable now, we'll show you what is and isn't doable. We've laid out four categories of home entertainment products--audio, video, TV, and gaming--and broken down each section by a wish list of tasks. Where applicable, we also provide a heads-up on technologies in the works that will make connecting easier, should you decide to wait awhile.

Last, before you head to Radio Shack for cabling or tuner cards, make sure your plan makes sense. The sound quality of your PC speakers is likely poorer than that of your stereo speakers, and it your networked PC is to be the brains of your house while you're away, you'll have to remember to leave it on. Moreover, when it comes to the specific kind of network, you'll want to use a wired LAN, since wireless transmissions are slower and signal interference may cause sound and video degradation.

AUDIO

I want to connect my stereo to my networked PC. You can't, yet. But you can listen to audio CDs through the speakers on your computer by inserting a disc into your CD-ROM drive and pressing Play on the Windows Media Player, and you can listen to AM and FM radio stations by installing the Cadet AM/FM Data Radio tuner card in your PC ($40; ADS Technologies, 562-926-1928, www.adstech.com). Note that you'll probably also want to upgrade your PC speakers. You could conceivably do away with your stereo altogether.

If you're considering buying a new stereo in the next few months, though, look for one that's equipped with an IEEE-1394 connector, which will let you plug an IEEE-1394 cable into the component and the other end into your computer. However, the technology suffers from a distance limitation of 33 meters (about 100 feet), which may make connecting the stereo and PC difficult if each is in a separate room. Also, if you're averse to stringing wires, consider the first option.

I want to connect my TV to my stereo through my networked PC. To hook together your TV and stereo, you'll need to connect an audio cable from the Audio Out on your TV to the Aux In on your stereo; the RCA cables are available in varying lengths from Radio Shack ($10 and up) and other electronics stores. Or, if you're handy with a soldering iron, you can make your own cables in any desired length.

To bring your PC into the mix, you'll need a video card installed that's capable of accepting a TV signal. If yours doesn't, consider the ATI Rage Fury Pro series ($179; ATI Technologies Inc., 905-882-2600, www.ati.com), or Diamond Viper 770 ($130 standard, $179 ultra; S3 Diamond Multimedia Inc., 800-468-5846, www.s3.com). Another consideration revolves distance--the farther the TV is from your stereo, the fuzzier the signal will be when it comes through your PC.

If you can wait a little while, you'll have the option of buying a new stereo that supports the much-delayed Home Audio Video Interoperability (HAVi) standard. Developed by Sony, HAVi uses the IEEE-11394 specification to connect audio and video devices together and relies on the PC to handle the installation and configuration. With a HAVi-compliant stereo, you first connect it to the PC and then to the TV, and the computer automatically loads the necessary drivers.

VIDEO

I want to play DVD movies on my PC and view them on my TV. You'll need to run an S-Video cable from the computer's video card to the TV. Most S-Video cables have a PC connector (round with seven pins) on one end, and both S-Video and RCA connectors for video (usually yellow) and audio (usually red or black) on the other. If you can't string cable, consider beaming the movie from PC to TV with X10.com's DVD Anywhere 2000 ($70; 800-675-3044, www.x10.com).