Synced audio ouput on multiple machines? VLC? hardware solutions?

Question

I'm wondering if there is any software or hardware solutions to synced audio or audio and video across multiple computers or devices on a network.

I've seen Sonos, and it might be a good solution, but it's also a very expensive solution.

I'd like to be able to play something with realtime audio output on one PC, but hear it on speakers throughout the house, being it the home theater receiver, or another computer in another room.

I saw a solution using the apple iport express, but the latency was unacceptable for anything other than just music. I'd like to avoid running audio wires with baluns to a bunch of amplifiers scattered all over the place when I have cat5 run everywhere.

Is anyone familiar with using this kind of process for whole home audio? The latency is a big deal for me, if I've got video attached to the sound (e.g. watching a hockey game)

UPDATE

I've since installed several squeezeboxes around the house for music purposes, and hook up a serial controlled Onkyo receiver to my automation system. This gives me a little more flexibility, and in most zones I can get realtime audio from a game by using the multizones on the receiver, and for music I can get the rest of the zones all synced up. The sqeezeboxes will sync with each other (thought there is latency for live events) In the areas where this is a problem (such as watching a hockey game) I've distributed HDMI using a matrix switch to 4 different TV's all which have audio out to an amplifier in that room. Allowing me to have zero latency across rooms for live events that need video.

All in all I appreciate the responses but none of them worked for me. I think the HDMI distribution is by far one of the best for video and audio, and squeezebox is cheaper than sonos for the audio (and there are software players that you can run on any PC with a little tweaking they can sync right up for a many zone home audio solution)

Answer 1

If latency is unacceptable your best bet might be to send the audio around the house through FM or wireless speakers (or even cables) http://superuser.com/questions/29182/how-to-pipe-internet-radio-into-a-tuner/29188

Answer 2

It should be possible to use VLC for this purpose.

See e.g. How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC:

"... we are going to show you how to stream any type of media file from your computer to another device on your network ... Using these techniques you could stream video from your office computer to a laptop plugged into the living room TV and control the playlist with your PDA."

Answer 3

pulseaudio should do that i believe- least thats what the FAQ says

Answer 4

Give Airfoil a try. Yes, it does work best for music, but it can handle any audio output from any application. It does have its own video player app, which will keep the audio/video in sync for video files.

I have speakers scattered around the house attached to either a computer or airport express. I can output sound from any program on any computer in the house, and pick and choose which speakers the sound comes out on. Heck, I've been known to hook up an ipod touch to some portable speakers outdoors during parties too.