If i have a dual hdmi video card in my computer can i treat the monitor and projector as dual monitors and drag programs and media players between the two?
**yes.
and if i go that route should i get a sound card with optical out to run to the home theater receiver?
**does your motherboard already have an optical out port? if so you dont need to add a soundcard.
Receiver I guess i would need a dual optical input for both computer and directv?
**depends on how you plan on hooking everything up. if you plan on having both the pc and dtv able to use either monitor via hdmi switches and both audio signals going to the receiver via spdif then yes. another option might be to run both audio and video through the receiver if you can get one with dual-hdmi outputs and if you can control the inputs to those outputs via the receiver. read this post i googled in a few minutes to read more into this:
http
/www.avsforum.com/t/852812/any-dual-hdmi-output-receivers
Speakers
Recommendations? Brand?
**i use a pioneer vsx-30 receiver with a 5.0 klipsch quintet IV set and a 450w klipsch subwoofer in a 12x14 room and they sound great. i have had great luck with the receiver and speakers and they were all easy to set up. both are also built well and i plan on keeping them for a good long time.
Correct that bookshelf are better? I can easily add backing in walls for shelves. Should i wire for 7.1 to be safe? Is it also true to have speakers at head level for best result or higher/lower?
***hard to say which are better. bookshelf speakers can be more powerful which does not make them better. you need to look at the quality of speaker instead of just the type. for comparison...would i want a set of klipsch bookshelf speakers? of course i would. i would love to have a set of floorstanders but my budget and space constraints did not allow it. i spent $1300 on my 5.1 satelite speaker set as is.
***you might not need shelves. you can buy brackets to hang bookshelf speakers and that will look visually better than putting shelves up i think. your choice. it might be a good idea to make sure you have a good area to secure them though.
**you have two options. wire in place or run conduit and pull the wire later. personally i would take the latter option as it gives you greater freedom and allows for future expandability. i would definitely put in a wall box for the LF, RF, LR, RR, LS and RS speakers. depending on where you place the C speaker you might want a wall box or not. since you will be using at least 5.1 you can put a faceplate with two bananna clip plugs on all but the surround speakers (the extra ones found in 7.1). you can cover these with faceplates if you dont use them. i would place enough boxes behind the receiver for the faceplates needed for 6 or 7 pairs (12 or 14 bananna plugs) to go to the receiver. you might also want wallboxes for hdmi cables from the pc to the receiver depending on where you place it. i will assume the dtv box will be under or above the receiver so you should be fine. it would be a good idea to either run conduit from the boxes to the ceiling (if using a drop down) and route the wire above with a junction box which makes it very easy to set everything up or to put a junction box or two in opposing walls and cover them up with faceplates when you are done.
personally...i'd use a drop ceiling as it hides junction boxes and cables and saves you the trouble of painting/priming/drywalling a ceiling. your call.
Is it also true to have speakers at head level for best result or higher/lower?
**generally yes, speakers should be about ear head level when sitting and should be evenly spaced around you. since the cables will all be different lengths you will be running a calculation on the receiver to make up for this (you attach a microphone to the receiver and place it where you want to sit). once it accounts for this (and sets a delay in the sigals) everything should sound perfect.
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now.. how did i set my system up?
*bought the receiver, speakers and subwoofer
*bought speaker wire, conduit, electrical boxes, wallplates, bananna clip ends.
*ran conduit and placed wallboxes.
*fished speaker wire and connected it to the wallplates
*set receiver and speakers in position
*made up short speaker wire leads with bananna clip ends for the speakers i used wall plates for and leads with one end as a bananna clip (for receiver side) and twisted ands for the speakers for speakers connected via an under the desk cable tray. (bananna clips didnt work so well for the speaker connection on my model)
*plugged everything in
*after trying to understand the manual and remote (i still dont know what half the buttons do!) i ran the onscreen display (the reason i bought a $500 receiver, i get an OSD built in), plugged in the microphone and ran the speaker calibration program.
if you ignore all time routing conduit, putting faceplates in and making cables.....i set up my system in under an hour from plugging everything in to watching my first movie with new speakers.
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