A little help with my gaming set up if

CORaven

This is my PC and xbox set up. I spend far too many hours in front of it every week - be it listening to music, playing a few games or just killing time. It's great, but with my new job I have and will have some extra money that I want to dedicate to improving it and making little irks I have with my current set up be less annoying. I must warn you, it is a bit complex.



I would really appreciate any view points or suggestions you could provide as I do not really know what I am doing.

Firstly, here is what I have (as shown above):
- 22" monitor (VGA input only)
- PC (VGA output, 3.5mm audio output)
- Xbox 360 (VGA output, RCA/Phono audio output)
- KVM Switch
- Mini Mixer
- Keyboard, mouse, 2 xbox controllers
- Turtlebeach Wireless headset
- cheap PC headset


The KVM switch allows me to use the one monitor and one keyboard for both the xbox and the PC. Usually used for controlling two PCs switching back and forth I found it usefull for my set up.

The mini mixer I use for controlling the audio of my set up. I only use headphones and when I am on the xbox I like listening to music from my PC and keeping an ear out for any messages I recieve. Having the mini mixer allows me to listen to both at the same time which is something I value.
Going into this mini mix, I have the sound from the PC coming through a 3.5mm jack and the sound from the xbox through two phono cables. Coming out are a 3.5mm (to my cheap headset) and phono which goes to my TB headset transmitter (phono to 3.5mm cable).
I can adjust the volume of each source on the mini mix and each headset has an overall volume control.

So in a nut shell, gaming set up and a rake of wires beasue I won't buy an extra screen and I won't use speakers.
I like it, but after a year of use there are flaws with it that are bothersome and I think it needs improving. Please provide any info you have as I have found that not many people have taken this route and it would be nice to have a sence of direction where I am going, esspecially on the topic of my sound options.
What is important is that I end up having wireless headphones, sound for both PC and Xbox through them, and that I only have one screen. It all seems strange, but these are the things I as a gamer and PC user want.

What I think is wrong with my set up.
- I want to remove the wire between my headset and my controller.
- Headsets
- Xbox controllers
- Mini mixer is faulty
- XBL chat Vs PC game chat (a PC gaming question)

XBL chat wire
That wire is a pain in the ass. If I need to leave the desk for a minute, I need to either take the headset off, or bring the controller with me. I would rather a wire going from my controller to the xbox than one to near my face.
My plan:
A bit of a work around. An Xbox 360 PC Headset Adapter Kit will put the voice audio coming from the controller through my mini mixer insead of directly to the headset. My headsets microphone output will be split to xbox and PC so it will be usable on both. It has the advantage of opening my options of using any PC headset for my xbox gaming, and I can use the mini mix to control all sound sources indivually [PC volume, Xbox game volume, xbox game/party chat].
The big disadvantage I see is that I will have a cable going from my controller to my mini mix and another to my PC. This will not have an impact as I will be switching to a wired controller, so it is nothing some tape cannot fix. Also, I need to think of a way of turning the mic to the PC or xbox off when not needed.
Is there a better way of approaching this?

Headsets
I love my Turtlebeach headset. I do not think it's too heavy, it blocks out a good level of noise around me and it has a good wireless range. It is not surround sound, but it is not something I care about. What is wrong with it is the fact that its microphone cannot be used for the PC, which for me is a big let down.
I bought the other headset for €40, but I have complaints about feedback through the mic. I do want a wireless headset to do both xbox and PC, not to swap back and forth.
My plan:
I am thinking of getting a new wireless headset that will accomodate both. In particular a Razer Chimera as they look really good in reviews. If I use my idea for the XBL chat wire, I will be able to use any PC headset. Is there any decent headsetset out there that you would recommend (wireless, non USB)

Xbox controllers
I have two wireless controllers and a few battery packs. Both controllers are overly worn and the battery packs seem to have shortish life spans. My main xbox controller's thumb stick has the rubber padding worn off, the neutral deadzones are off and the mic port is gammy.
My plan:
A nice new controller - wired.
I was looking at the Razer Onza, but I have heard many complaints about they regarding their lifespan. So in light of this I am think of going with the offical wired xbox 360 controller and weighing it down to match the weight of the wireless one. Is there any better options, maybe other third paty controllers that you would reccomend?

Mini mixer is faulty
Yup. A pillar of my set up improvement plans is borked, kind of. One of the outputs has no right hand side sound. It works with the other port, but this limitation means that I cannot use speakers in the odd occasion I do want them.
My plan:
By a new one sometime down the line. Any recommendations on a particular one? Or should I take a different approach entirely to my audio set up? Maybe I should be looking at surround sound for my headphones?

XBL chat Vs PC game chat
The odd ball issue. I am more an xbox gamer, but as my PC library grows I am playing more and more PC games now. What I have noticed is that Xbox voice chat is fantastic. Playing some gears of war and some dumb ass is talking too loud, boom - I can adjust the volume on the fly without the game sound suffering as there is a seperate channel for game's sound and chat.
PC is a pain when it comes to this as both game and voice volumes seem to be mashed together. I have to go to the settings and change the volume controls and then adjust my headset voulme.
I am missing something?

Thank you if you made it this far through the madness. I have a heck of a habit of over complicating things so no doubt I could mitigate half of these problems with something simple. If I missed it, please let me know.

Thanking you,
CORaven

yimrsg

You're looking for a fair bit dude but from reading of what you've written you're seem to need 3 things.
1) wireless headset compatible with pc and xbox
2) amp with volume control to power headset
3) joypad

I can't offer much on advice what headsets or joypads are good but one things I really like are the astro mixamps.

It's got lots of possibilities and the fact it can make wired headsets wireless could be of particular use for you, also it's compatible across multiple systems means you could build your setup around them.

CORaven

yimrsg wrote: »

You're looking for a fair bit dude but from reading of what you've written you're seem to need 3 things.
1) wireless headset compatible with pc and xbox
2) amp with volume control to power headset
3) joypad

I can't offer much on advice what headsets or joypads are good but one things I really like are the astro mixamps.

It's got lots of possibilities and the fact it can make wired headsets wireless could be of particular use for you, also it's compatible across multiple systems means you could build your setup around them.

Thanks Yim, but I am looking for a lot of things. This is kind of a project I will be doing over time so I am trying to figure out what way I am going to go.

The Astro Mix Amp looks like a solid piece of kit. However I do not think it transmits the microphone wirelessly. So if I were to use a standard headset, I would need to have a cable from the headset to the PC. Unfortunately this is something I am try to avoid.

*edit*
effectively I am looking for a headset that sends the sound from the microphone back to the wireless transmitter. I think the Razer Chimera does this, but I am not sure. On the look out for any that does.