Connecting your Laptop or Desktop to your existing sound equipment!

[customations]

I have done it! And it works great! Here is how I did it....

CONNECTING AUDIO:

Every PC has a headphone jack. Thus, I bought a cable from RadioShack that converts input from a headphone jack to RCA connections. I beleive they also make them available in S-Video.
Plug the headpone jack into you headphone output on your PC. Plug the corresonding RCA jacks into the input on you sound equipment. Voila! You have sound, and in excellent quality.

TIP: When you import your songs into Hoster, it is defaulted at 96. By increasing the file size, your quality gets better, just make sure your hard drive space is available.

CONNECTING VIDEO:

This is a specialty item you will have to purchase, it is called a "PC to TV Scan Converter"

This allows you to connect your PC to your TV. Your computer's video card MUST be able to support TV OUT functions. On a laptop, most have a VGA serial output to connect another monitor. The scan converter uses the VGA output and converts it to either RCA or S-Video connectors. You can then connect either RCA or S-Video to your TV. If your TV is older, and does not support either connection, only coaxial (cable), you will need to also purchase a RF Modulator, which converts the RCA signal to cable.

Gadgets for this, gadgets for that, but the outcome is AWESOME!

Your local video store should have ALL these items. RadioShack in particular does. They are a bit more expensive there, so eBay is always my alternative.

Feel free to email me for more detailed instructions.

[fairway01]

How do you tie in mics (at least 2)?

[bobcox- with the Lord]

all sound goes through your mixing board, so plug your mics in like you always did. Bob

[songpony]

Also, if your computer has S-video output, you can avoid the converter that converts a VGA signal - an RF modulator is still needed if you're connecting to TV(s) via coax. Instead of using the headphone jack, I opted for a USB audio device (from M-Audio) - I was getting "noise" through the headphone jack that I don't get via USB, and the audio signal seems to be stronger. The output from that device still uses a 3mm stereo plug (just like the headphone jack on a PC), so connecting to the mixer is the same. Instead of using RCA cables to connect to the mixer, I use 1/4" jacks and plug into a stereo channel on the mixer - I can then use the channel faders to control music volume just like I use them to control each mic's volume. Just some other options...