spun4621 wrote:See what I mean? 
I'm trying to say that the headphone jack on the laptop is the most standard sized one (at least to me). MP3 players, cellphone jack, etc. The one on the receiver is a larger diameter...so either way I need some sort of adapter. What size is the larger one then?
Also, maybe some techies can help out with this...
I have a D-Link wireless media player, DSM-520 http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=438
Anyone else out there have this or an idea if I can get internet radio to stream on it? If I could, I wouldn't need to to do this whole laptop rigging project.
Thanks again. I love my woot boys.
If it's an audio *input* jack on the *front* of your home theater's amp, if it's female, and if it's larger than the 3.5mm female on your laptop that is used for earphones, then it *IS* a 1/8 inch female jack and it will be labeled, "MIC" or "Microphone." It is meant for "studio-grade" components such as stage mics, musical instruments such as electric guitars and keyboards, BUT NOT HEADPHONES! You see, a 1/8 inch female jack on the front panel of any consumer or home audio/video entertainment system's amplifier/receiver is MUCH MORE likely to be an audio output jack, and labeled "HEADPHONES." A 1/8 inch female headphone jack is MUCH more commonly found on the front of amps/receivers than 1/8 inch *input* jacks.
Anyway, if your home theater's amp is mid to high-end, your MOST PROBABLY looking at a jack for high-end or studio-grade headphones. If it's a VERY high-end home theater amp, then it most likely would have two 1/8" female jacks on the front panel, one is for audio input from studio-grade microphones, electrically amplified musical instruments such as guitars, sound sampling synthesizers and keyboards, mixing board outputs, karaoke machines and mics, etc.
The most common size standard for stereo sound porting on desktop or laptop computers (and their accessories, such as speakers and gaming systems or their accessories), MP3 players and recorders (and their accessories, like docking stations and ear pods), as well as portable cassette players and recorders. Boom boxes sometimes use 1/8" female ports for audio input jacks (microphones) and audio output jacks (headphones), but more often they too use 3.5mm for either or both. I have seen boom boxes and karaoke machines that have both sizes for audio input and output on their front panels, but they are rare and/or very high-end or [pseudo] studio-grade.
All headphones *used* to use the 1/8 in plugs/jacks before the Walkman came out, but now usually only mid to high-end consumer electronics and professional or studio-grade equipment (such as amps, headphones, microphones, instruments, public address systems, editing and mixing boards, etc., still use 1/8 in jacks, and 1/8" is the preferred/common standard for stereo sound for consumer and professional music production, network TV and radio, sound and movie studio applications, as well as theater and stage sound work.
In other words, if your Sony is a mid to high-end model, if the jack[s] are on the front panel and larger than 3.5mm, then yes, they're 1/8 inch jacks.
HOWEVER, there are two types of those. They are either audio input or output, but not both. If there's only one such port on the front of your amp, then it's an output port 1/8' jack for headphones. If there are two, then either both audio outputs for using two sets of headphones simultaneously, or a little more common when having two 1/8" jacks on the front panel of a high-end consumer grade amp would be one for audio input (microphones, frequency generators, musical instruments, etc.) .
As long as yours is for audio input (microphones, etc.), you can use it for what you want with both a cable with two 3.5mm male ends and a 3.5mm female to 1/8" male adapter, and both are common and very low cost, like if you pay more than a few bucks each, then you didn't look around.
As for the other thing... The D-link appliance you have is EXACTLY what this woot does, only it does MUCH more...like, transmitting both normal and high-def audio AND video from your computer, from network sources like file servers and printers, from several types of digital memory like flash and thumb drives/cards, from MP3 players and recorders, from digital cameras, DVD players, PVR's, etc., etc., all of which this woot CAN NOT DO, and that's to mention nothing of all the neat software apps the D-Link has, e.g., TV-on-demand, a free online TV listings service, etc.
In other words, your D-link appliance DEFINITELY does the simple thing you mentioned, i.e., stream audio from online radio stations from your computer to your home entertainment system...and this will do all of the above wirelessly.
Just look at that D-Link thing this way: simply put, it is for wirelessly transmitting ANYTHING you can see and/or hear on your computer to your TV and/or home entertainment system, including components in your entertainment system like PVR's, VCR's, etc.
The most you'll need is some cables, e.g., an HDMI is almost mandatory (i.e., if you wish to fully utilize the full quality and/or features for both the sound and picture that are provided and commonly utilized/available on/from your computer, e.g., from your computer's hard drive or from online high-def music and video sources that are becoming a little less rare lately, and you wish to do so in order to utilize the full capabilities of your home theater system.
send that to your home theater, which is probably capable of utilizing much of those "higher than normal" stereo audio and video signals).
Other wise you'll only need regular stereo RCA cables , i.e., IF normal signal content is all you wish to transmit to your home entertainment system (in which case, no matter how good your home theater and TV/video display, you will only see and hear "normal" grade audio and video).
Btw, remember that almost ALL video and audio files in use and/or available digitally from anywhere these days are STILL using "normal"/"regular" grade audio and video encoding schemes, so for the most part, all of the stuff that comes off the Internet (like radio stations or streaming video, which are both almost always WAY WORSE THAN REGULAR TV AND RADIO STATION'S FROM NORMAL SOURCES, i.e., over the air or from your cable company) AND even most of your own media files that you currently have on your computer's HDD will be AT BEST "normal-grade" audio and video. Therefore, any cabling capable of more than "normal" grade applications, i.e., better than "regular"/"normal" RCA/stereo cables (like HDMI, DVI, S-video, component video, digital audio such as optical cabling, etc.) are really hardly ever needed, at least not for a while yet.... not until source material of such quality as to match the very high capabilities of both your D-Link transmitter and your home theater becomes more commonly available and/or used. On the other hand, HDTV, HDDVD's, and very high-end photo and video creation and editing WOULD be exceptions which MIGHT make it necessary for you to use the cable interfaces that can send the quality of your high-quality source media files from your computer to your D-Link, so that your D-Link can use it's full capabilities to wirelessly send your high-quality media files to your Sony entertainment system, which had the capability of handling such files. If the latter is the case, then you are among a rare group, like about one in a thousand ppl who have a real need for ANY media equipment above AT MOST "normal grade." Again, a portable FM receiver and ear pods commonly available for way less than $10 is like hundreds of times "higher quality" than ANY streaming radio or video that's going to be sent over the Internet FOR A LONG LONG TIME! In other words, to get media files off the Internet which are of a high enough quality to even come close to being able to match the quality of media your equipment is capable of utilizing, well a standard TV or VCR grade two hour movie would take 6 hours to download on a FAST Internet connection, a DVD grade 2 hour movie would take as much as 2 times longer, and the grade your equipment is capable of playing would take 2 times more time...like 30 hours on a dial up connection, and about 12-15 hours to download a 2 hour movie and features on the fastest of connection speeds.
Good luck.
