Question

Connecting Playbar to Projector on Opposite Sides of the Room Using Apple TV and Wireless HDMI Extender

  • 28 July 2015
  • 6 replies
  • 5583 views

I would like to set up a home theater system in my new apartment using my Epson Digital Projector, an Apple TV and a Sonos Playbar. 

The set-up would be used primarly (i) to play content from my laptop using the Apple TV's "Airplay Mirroring" function, with video coming through my Projector and audio coming through the Playbar and (ii) to play Hulu/Netflix/etc. content directly from Apple TV, with video coming through my Projector and audio coming through the Playbar.

The problem that I am running into is that I need to have the Projector and the Sonos Playbar on opposite sides of the room.  Specifically, the Projector needs to be behind my couch and the Playbar needs to be in front of my couch, and I do not want to wire them together because doing so will ruin the aesthetics of the room.

The only set-up that I have been able to come up with that would conceivably allow me to have a Projector at the back of the room synced with a Playbar at the front of the room is the following two-step solution:

(1) connecting an Apple TV, which I will place at the front of the room, to my Projector, which will be at the back of the room, via a Wireless HDMI Extender; and then

(2) connecting my Apple TV and my Playbar at the front of the room via the units' respective optical ports.

Would this set-up work?  That is, will it allow me to play content from my laptop as well as from the Apple TV with video coming through the Projector at the back of the room and audio coming through the Playbar at the front of the room?

If so, would there be any lag time between sound and image? 

Additionally, is there any way to achieve my desired end result - playing the same content through a Projector and Playbar at opposite sides of the room without wiring them together - without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for a Wireless HDMI Extender?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.  This issue has been bedeviling me for some time.

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6 replies

Userlevel 3
It can work, but bear in mind it has limitations,most products the broadcast range top out at roughly 50 feet/15 meters, unlike HDMI over twisted pair, wireless HDMI tends to degrade image quality, signals are prone to unpredictable interruptions, just like any wireless signal, if possible I would recommend doing the HDMI extension with CAT6 (Twisted pair) brands to look for Geffen, octava. Bear in mind Apple TV only supports Full HD (1080p), the audio delay is unknown in a wireless setup, but you can compensate a bit with the playbar and also the main reason I recommend a Twisted pair extension over wireless!
Userlevel 3
You have as well HDBaseT products that are spilling over in to the consumer market, if you are in the UK/Europe have a look at www.hdanywhere.co.uk, HDBaseT is a HDMI Twisted pair extension solution
Cross-posting from a new topic I started in the hopes that someone can please help me figure out the nightmare of trying to set up my SONOS to play sound from my laptop:

Using the AudioEngine D2 Wireless DAC with SONOS Playbar - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!

I have been trying for **WEEKS** to figure out a way to get laptop sound to play wirelessly through my SONOS Playbar so that I can watch movies via my laptop and digital projector (which are hard-wired via HDMI in the back of my living room) with the sound coming out of the Playbar at the front of my living room without any noticable latency/lag/delay.

I thought that I had finally found a solution when I first learned about the AudioEngine D2 Wirelss DAC (see: http://audioengineusa.com/Store/D2-24-Bit-Wireless-DAC), which purports to have a latency of less than 20ms.

I just got the D2 today and plugged the Receiver into my Playbar via the optical connection (there is nothing else plugged in there since the whole goal here is to use my laptop/projector in place of a TV). I thought that simply plugging in the D2 DAC Receiver would work to set this up, but the SONOS set-up seems to require that whatever is hooked up to the Playbar via the optical input needs to be a TV. Nothing that I have done so far has worked to get the sound from my laptop playing through the Playar via the D2 DAC.

I am really desperate here, and if I can't figure out a way to get this to work, I'm going to have to return both the D2 Wireless DAC and my SONOS Playbar and revert back to the pathetic experience of having the sound for my otherwise awesome home theater set-up come out of my crappy laptop speakers. If anyone can help me figure out a way to get the Playbar to play sound via the optical input coming from the D2 DAC Receiver, I would be immensely grateful!

Thanks!
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
I can understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish as I have a projector in my basement home theater with the projector and AVR in the back of the room and the screen in front (obviously). I realize that you said you would want a wireless connection to the PlayBar, and I am interested to see if there is a solution.

But my gut tells me that you are asking way too much of the various technologies to work in sync, without hiccups, and in a user-friendly manner. I would expect you'll have sync and dropout issues constantly. My experience with AirPlay and AirPlay Mirroring, on a strong network with wired AppleTVs is OK at best. And oh, just wait until there is a software update to any 1 of the components.

Isn't there a creative way to run a long digital optical cable, which are very thin, across/around/over/under the room? Snug against the baseboard? Under carpet? Up the wall and over the ceiling? Down into the basement and back up again?
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
It looks like the AudioEngine DAC would be set up as an additional audio device on your computer. As a result, you'd need to make sure that your operating system is sending the audio signal to that, and not out the HDMI connection instead. Check the Sound control panel and see if your AudioEngine DAC is selected as the default sound device.
I realized my response was wrong