I’m looking to create a home cinema set up, I already have two play 1’s, a Roam, and a Play 5.
I’d like to mount the projector on my ceiling if possible, so ideally I’d be able to broadcast video from my laptop to the projector wirelessly, and audio from the projector/laptop to the sonos system.
Two questions:
Which product I can purchase (playbar?arc?beam?) to use with a projector in this manner?
What properties would the projector need to have?
Thanks for your help.
+18
Hi
Welcome to the Sonos Community! Apologies for the delay.
Which product I can purchase (playbar?arc?beam?) to use with a projector in this manner?
You could use any of our current Home Theatre products: Arc, Beam, Ray or Amp. Our older devices (PlayBar & PlayBase) would also work - follow the advice below for Ray if you choose to get a discontinued product second-hand.
Ray only accepts an optical input, so you’d need to connect it to an optical output either on the laptop (you’ll probably need an external USB sound device) or to the projector. The rest use HDMI-ARC (or also eARC, in the case of Arc and Beam) to get their audio, but also come with an optical-HDMI adaptor.
It really depends on where you want the devices, and where you’re willing to have cables. If you choose Arc, Beam or Ray, they need to be positioned below the screen, which means you’d have a long HDMI/optical cable crossing the room from the projector. I would personally recommend Amp, as it can be placed near the projector/laptop and you just need the speaker wires to cross the room, which are cheaper and usually easier to hide/route. If you don’t already have a pair of passive speakers, however, getting a pair would add to the cost. Soundbars in general don’t go well with projectors due to the distance between them, but if the cabling isn’t an issue for you they’re a valid option. Arc would be the best option if Dolby Atmos Sound reproduction is a priority for you.
For any of the devices mentioned above, you can wirelessly bond the two Play:1s you already have to act as surround speakers. You can also add a single Sub Mini, or either 1 or 2 Subs.
What properties would the projector need to have?
HDMI-ARC is needed for Arc, Beam and Amp, but as mentioned, Beam and Arc also use eARC. Ray requires S/PDIF optical and the others can use it with an adaptor. I’d recommend eARC for Arc and Beam (Generation 2).
Just in case you were thinking of doing so, you cannot connect Sonos products via HDMI to a computer and expect to hear sound. They must be connected to a display device that provides ARC/eARC, or something that mimics one.
I hope this helps.
I would avoid trying to send video to projector, or audio to Sonos, wirelessly, if at all possible. You can get short throw projectors now that are placed at the front of the room that may work for you. If not, then you can use some wireless HDMI products, but there are limits to what you can achieve with that, and you’ll introduce some delays. Depending on what you intend to watch, you’re better off buying a cheap streamer that you can connect directly to the projector, rather than use your laptop.
As far as the audio goes, I wouldn’t do anything wireless as far as connecting the source (laptop or whatever you use) to Sonos. You can get optical extractors pretty easily to extract optical output from HDMI, but that won’t give you atmos audio, if that’s what you’re interested in.
+23
The PJ needs to have ARC or eARC support (rare) or optical output (not as common as it should be). Or the laptop needs to have optical output (also rare).
For this and other reasons, Sonos is seldom suitable for use with PJs.
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