All these daggone wires!

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Herschie
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Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

All these daggone wires!

Postby Herschie » November 22nd, 2017, 10:14 pm

There are many problems that seem to arise with gaming: classic games looking terrible on new tvs, life getting in the way, old games that don't work anymore. There's a list. Sure, it's all worth it. But now, I can't be the only one here who has this issue: messy wires! I have hooked up in my Video Game Room (VGR):

1) N64
2) Gamecube
3) Sega Master System
4) Colecovision
5) Playstation 4
6) Xbox
7) Gamecube
8) Sega Genesis
9) Switch
10) Dreamcast
11) Atari 2600
12) NES
13) Playstation 2
14) SNES
15) Wii U
16) Xbox 360

So yeah, you can say that I have quite a bit. Sure, I'd can Google, but I'd like to hear about some of the things that you guys do to help control wires and make them look neat. Do those sleeves from Home Depot work? Zip ties? I'm trying to figure something out here!

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 23rd, 2017, 9:31 am

I have a bit of a birdsnest but do have a few suggestions.
For the power, I have three of these things. That way I can only switch on the console I'm currently using.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Pc-100A ... merican+dj

I also have a pair of Pelican switchboxes. These are hard to find now, but make it easy to hook up eight systems at a time.
I also have a receiver with HDMI ports which I use to hook up my modern systems.

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Atariboy
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby Atariboy » November 23rd, 2017, 1:23 pm

Are the outlets on that spaced far enough apart for big AC adapters?

If not, how do you work around that?

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 23rd, 2017, 8:14 pm

Use short extension cords.

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Retro STrife
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Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby Retro STrife » November 26th, 2017, 5:44 pm

Go wireless! I did a ton of research into game rooms when I was creating mine last year in my new house. I was hoping to steal some great ideas from other game rooms, but instead, I more often found myself ditching those ideas and trying my own. When it came to wiring, I found most ideas to be inefficient for my purposes and, for some of the worst offenders, really ugly. The strategy always seemed to be "how can I get everything plugged in and ready to go with the flip of a switch"? If you have 5 or so systems, that's the way to go, but it's much harder for 15, 20, or 30+ systems. Inevitably, there are consoles that you don't use (so their wires are just wasting space), and there are times when you want to add or remove systems, and the mess of wires can make that very difficult. You tried to make things faster, but having everything hooked up together often leaves you spending 10 minutes figuring out which wire is which. If you want to move anything, forget it. So I removed wires entirely for a more streamlined look. For me, here's how my main wall of consoles looks:

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As you can see, no wires at all. At first glance, it might seem like a hassle to play any of the systems, but I find the opposite to be true, and I'll explain why below (hint: surprisingly, the closet might be the most important part of my gameroom...).
First, a few systems that I commonly use are almost always hooked up (PS3, a Genesis/CD/32x combo, and my Messiah NES). [Note, newer systems are down in my living room instead.] There's also an empty spot on the bottom right of the TV stand for another long-term system, if I decide to add one. Then there's a spot to the left of the TV for whatever I want to play that day. In the mood for some Nintendo 64? Ok, let's grab it off the wall and set it next to the TV, on the left there. Now we go to the closet.

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IMG_6830 (small).jpg
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As you see there, I found this great set of draw organizers, and they just happen to fit my closet perfectly. The drawers go chronologically by system, so I know right where to go for the N64 draw. I grab my controller, memory pak, rumble pak, etc, from that draw. Then hanging on the back of the closet door is another organizer. From there I have labeled ziploc baggies with the connectors-- I grab my N64 bag there, which has the TV and power connectors. Literally it takes me 30 seconds to do all this--from grabbing the N64 off the shelf, grabbing my controller and connectors, and plugging in the connectors. Cleaning up is super easy too, just doing the reverse to put it all away.

I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I think it's a method well worth considering, especially for 10 or 15+ consoles. To me, it looks cleaner, and the time to get a system up and running is actually faster sometimes than swapping wires or having tons of switches controlling everything. Cheaper too. I'm a messy person and this way forces me to keep it organized.

ESauce
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby ESauce » November 26th, 2017, 9:31 pm

I like your system Retro Strife. I actually take it even further. I’ve got a 7 month old crawling around and can no longer just have 20 systems hooked up to a tv. So, I bought a bunch of clear plastic storage bin and put each console, along with its controllers and cords, into its own bin. They all fit nicely stacked in my closet and when I want to play one (which I assume I will one day again have time for), I can just pull out the bin and hook it up. I too find it to be a better system than having everything connected at once.

Herschie
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Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby Herschie » November 27th, 2017, 2:19 pm

Retro, I actually really like your idea. It's ugly having all those systems out. I might give it a try. Helps that in some cases, the a/v cords can be used for multiple systems. For example, the same RCA cable can be used for the GameCube, N64, and Super Nintendo. Same deal with the Genesis and Master System.

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Atariboy
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby Atariboy » January 14th, 2018, 7:43 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Use short extension cords.


I found a six pack of 6" extension cords in the hardware section of Wal-Mart yesterday. Thanks, I didn't realize these even existed.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 14th, 2018, 11:17 am

I didn't even know they were available in that size, but good to know!

matmico399
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Re: All these daggone wires!

Postby matmico399 » January 14th, 2018, 3:34 pm

That’s a heck of a console collection. Question to owners of The Master System. I make pretty decent money but a lot of financial obligations. Is the Master System worth picking up?


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