Topic change: What do you think of my setup?

[Hamsnibit]

I'm looking for some av cables for some of my consoles so I can hook them all up to one TV. I need rca cables for 3do(not sure if there are any), saturn, and some solution for atari 2600 and colecovision. I'd love some advice from people who have hooked up multiple systems to a single TV. I'm talking like 12 or so systems. using s-video, rca, rf, etc.. What is the best solution. I already have 2 of those pelican 5 system selectors laying around. Should I hook those into video 1 and 2 and then have a rf switch for the older stuff? Any advice would be great. I'm about to start hooking up the TV and surrond system tomorrow and would like to start hooking up my consoles soon.


I thought I would change the topic now and see what everyone thinks of my setup. Any suggestions or criticisms?

[cyberfluxor]

I suggest going to Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Circuit City (or whatever respectable companies are around your area) and look at your selection. I use a 6-switch AVI, 2-port IR unit that does the trick. I generally don't have more than 5 systems hooked up at a time so it's fairly decent. In your occassion search for good models and brands in your area and find the ones with the most ports. Be sure not to spend money on junky brands found at EBgames or GameStop, they suck! It's bad enough you have some Pelican ... crap.

[nate1749]

eBay is where I get certain av cables from (e.g. saturn), but 3do uses regular rca cables.

As for setups, I recommend getting auto-sensing a/v selectors and daisy chaining them. They only make 4 port auto sensing selectors (take rca and s-video - for manual they make up to 8 I believe), but if you connect 4 auto sensing hubs to the main auto sensing hub, then you have can have 16 systems.

I currently have 2 auto sensing hubs daisy chained (for a total of 6 systems) and when I want to add more I will just keep buying the auto sensing selectors. It's also great because I just keep them behind the TV so you never see them or the HUGE mess of wires that is surrounded by them. I'm also using 2 different brands (ge and some other brand) so daisy chaining seems to work just fine.

You could do the same thing by using the manual button press ones, but what a nightmare.

Nate

[Hamsnibit]

Yah, I have the button press ones now. I guess I'll look into the cost of auto switching ones. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Kid Ice]

It sounds like you have two regular video inputs and one RF. I would do two switch boxes (one for each video input) and daisy chain the RF. If you happen to have an S-video input on your TV you can add a switch box for the newer systems. The 3DO has an S-video output...one of the nice things about the 3DO is it just uses regular cables that you can get at Radio Shack (unlike Nintendo and Sega systems).

[Hamsnibit]

Well, I just bid on a lot of 50 av cables on ebay. I figure what the hell, I'll use them eventually. I also just bought two of these: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2619248 I hope they are good. I guess I'll put off doing all of this till i get everything in. Thanks for all of the suggestion.

[nate1749]

Yeah that's the same one I bought off eBay (for I think it was $13 + $9 s/h = $21 total). It says it's 6 ports, but I only use RCA so it's really only 4 for me (since they have 2 more that are s-video only). That is the one that is daisy chained to my GE one (which cosmetically is a lot nicer, but they don't sell it at target anymore and I can't find it online).

Oh I was wrong about my setup too, I have 7 available (3 on the original + 4 from the one that's daisy chained, well technically 9 if I used the s-video).

Let us know how it works out for you.

Nate

[Hamsnibit]

Well, I just got the system selectors in, looks like they should work good, I won the box of 50 RCA cables on ebay. $30 shipped is a awesome deal! The cables won't be in till Wednesday, and I really need to order s-video cables for the saturn so I can use it on the s-video slot on the selector. I'll start working on some of it today and finish up next weekend. I post some more about it then, and maybe some pictures. Thanks again.

[Trebuken]

Shouldn't have read this thread. Now I have to get those automatic system selectors...

Anyone find a good selector for RF. All I have ever found are three system switches at radio shack (think I could use 8 or 9, depending what I hook up).

Later,
Trebuken

[Trebuken]

Double Post.

[Trebuken]

Shouldn't have read this thread. Now I have to get those automatic system selectors...

Anyone find a good selector for RF. All I have ever found are three system switches at radio shack (think I could use 8 or 9, depending what I hook up).

Later,
Trebuken

[GameSlaveGaz]

I too am posed with the problem of hooking multiple systems to 1 TV. However, I know the solution, it's just a matter of actually finding and buying such. Right now, I have 9 consoles and only 5 of them have A/V wires. 4 of those systems are hooked up to my TV via a (go ahead, tell me it's crap) Pelican brand 5-system selector. The 5th console, my XBox, is hooked up to the AV input (Aux 2) of my VCR because when I hooked it into my selector every game I played, I get a loud buzzing on bright screens. I checked all the connections and nothing was loose or plugged into the wrong port or anything, and none of my other systems that are plugged into the selector do that, and when I plugged my XBox into the VCR it didn't do that at all. It's only mildly annoying because whenever I wanna play an XB game or watch a DVD I have to do MENU, SETUP, SOURCE, AUX 2, EXIT but it's better than playing a game or movie with the sound all the way down, right?

Anyway, my other 4 systems I only have RF switches for: My NES, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. Ever since my dad ran the cable for my room when we moved her 7 years ago, I've had moderately bad TV reception and had to watch TV through my VCR to get a clear picture anyway, and if I daisy-chain all four RF switches I get a really snowy picture. Right now, only my NES is hooked up and I'm missing playing my Genny. it's a pain to unhook and rehook RFs and I tried tolerating the poor picture to daisy chain all four switches but it only lasted a couple of days. I got a 3-system A/V selector because it was clearanced out at my TRU when it was still open for 98 cents, but that's certainly not going to be enough. I'm going to have to get another 5 or possibly a bigger one. I know where I can find A/Vs for the 4 systems I need them, but I'm holding out, hoping to find all of them at Game Zone or a similar store one day or in a lot on ebay so I don't have to pay separate shipping and handling charges. The only reason I haven't solved this problem yet is cheapness. I don't have a lot of money, so I don't want to be buying separate $5-$10 A/V cables and pay another $2-$5 for shipping for all 4 consoles. And last time I was in Game Zone they only had current generation A/V cables.

I like the sound of those auto selectors. How much do those usually set you back? Right now, the manual push-button ones aren't too much of a problem because I have a small room and I have to go over to the entertainment center to load the game and turn on the system anyway, but it would be verrry useful in my future game room and I would like to keep them in mind.

[Trebuken]

I too am posed with the problem of hooking multiple systems to 1 TV. However, I know the solution, it's just a matter of actually finding and buying such. Right now, I have 9 consoles and only 5 of them have A/V wires. 4 of those systems are hooked up to my TV via a (go ahead, tell me it's crap) Pelican brand 5-system selector. The 5th console, my XBox, is hooked up to the AV input (Aux 2) of my VCR because when I hooked it into my selector every game I played, I get a loud buzzing on bright screens. I checked all the connections and nothing was loose or plugged into the wrong port or anything, and none of my other systems that are plugged into the selector do that, and when I plugged my XBox into the VCR it didn't do that at all. It's only mildly annoying because whenever I wanna play an XB game or watch a DVD I have to do MENU, SETUP, SOURCE, AUX 2, EXIT but it's better than playing a game or movie with the sound all the way down, right?

Anyway, my other 4 systems I only have RF switches for: My NES, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. Ever since my dad ran the cable for my room when we moved her 7 years ago, I've had moderately bad TV reception and had to watch TV through my VCR to get a clear picture anyway, and if I daisy-chain all four RF switches I get a really snowy picture. Right now, only my NES is hooked up and I'm missing playing my Genny. it's a pain to unhook and rehook RFs and I tried tolerating the poor picture to daisy chain all four switches but it only lasted a couple of days. I got a 3-system A/V selector because it was clearanced out at my TRU when it was still open for 98 cents, but that's certainly not going to be enough. I'm going to have to get another 5 or possibly a bigger one. I know where I can find A/Vs for the 4 systems I need them, but I'm holding out, hoping to find all of them at Game Zone or a similar store one day or in a lot on ebay so I don't have to pay separate shipping and handling charges. The only reason I haven't solved this problem yet is cheapness. I don't have a lot of money, so I don't want to be buying separate $5-$10 A/V cables and pay another $2-$5 for shipping for all 4 consoles. And last time I was in Game Zone they only had current generation A/V cables.

I like the sound of those auto selectors. How much do those usually set you back? Right now, the manual push-button ones aren't too much of a problem because I have a small room and I have to go over to the entertainment center to load the game and turn on the system anyway, but it would be verrry useful in my future game room and I would like to keep them in mind.

Your audio problem sounds like something to do with your power. Perhaps a new surge protector? It's possible your outley is wired wrong as well. Just a guess...

I checked on the auto selectors; looks like about $25+ if you include shipping...I might buy one at a time...

Only easy solution I have is to have my RF systems modded for Composite or S-Video. This is expensive as well...

Later,
Trebuken

[Trebuken]

I too am posed with the problem of hooking multiple systems to 1 TV. However, I know the solution, it's just a matter of actually finding and buying such. Right now, I have 9 consoles and only 5 of them have A/V wires. 4 of those systems are hooked up to my TV via a (go ahead, tell me it's crap) Pelican brand 5-system selector. The 5th console, my XBox, is hooked up to the AV input (Aux 2) of my VCR because when I hooked it into my selector every game I played, I get a loud buzzing on bright screens. I checked all the connections and nothing was loose or plugged into the wrong port or anything, and none of my other systems that are plugged into the selector do that, and when I plugged my XBox into the VCR it didn't do that at all. It's only mildly annoying because whenever I wanna play an XB game or watch a DVD I have to do MENU, SETUP, SOURCE, AUX 2, EXIT but it's better than playing a game or movie with the sound all the way down, right?

Anyway, my other 4 systems I only have RF switches for: My NES, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. Ever since my dad ran the cable for my room when we moved her 7 years ago, I've had moderately bad TV reception and had to watch TV through my VCR to get a clear picture anyway, and if I daisy-chain all four RF switches I get a really snowy picture. Right now, only my NES is hooked up and I'm missing playing my Genny. it's a pain to unhook and rehook RFs and I tried tolerating the poor picture to daisy chain all four switches but it only lasted a couple of days. I got a 3-system A/V selector because it was clearanced out at my TRU when it was still open for 98 cents, but that's certainly not going to be enough. I'm going to have to get another 5 or possibly a bigger one. I know where I can find A/Vs for the 4 systems I need them, but I'm holding out, hoping to find all of them at Game Zone or a similar store one day or in a lot on ebay so I don't have to pay separate shipping and handling charges. The only reason I haven't solved this problem yet is cheapness. I don't have a lot of money, so I don't want to be buying separate $5-$10 A/V cables and pay another $2-$5 for shipping for all 4 consoles. And last time I was in Game Zone they only had current generation A/V cables.

I like the sound of those auto selectors. How much do those usually set you back? Right now, the manual push-button ones aren't too much of a problem because I have a small room and I have to go over to the entertainment center to load the game and turn on the system anyway, but it would be verrry useful in my future game room and I would like to keep them in mind.

Your audio problem sounds like something to do with your power. Perhaps a new surge protector? It's possible your outley is wired wrong as well. Just a guess...

I checked on the auto selectors; looks like about $25+ if you include shipping...I might buy one at a time...

Only easy solution I have is to have my RF systems modded for Composite or S-Video. This is expensive as well...

Later,
Trebuken

[Hamsnibit]

Well, I just got done hooking everything up. Everything is working great. The only problems i had was i couldn't get the Dreamcast to work on S-video through the selectors, though other system's s-video worked fine. I had to switch to standard AV cables. I also couldn't get the turbografx with cd to work through the system selector. So i just hooked it up to video 2 on my receiver. There is only one thing about the auto selectors. During some transitions between levels when the screen goes black they seem to think they are losing singal and turn off, but it's very brief maybe a sec or two and it comes right back on when the level starts. It's doesn't interupt your gameplay though so it's ok. Other than that everything works great. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I'm going to bed now.

[Hamsnibit]

Ok, I finally got around to adding some pics. My game room pics are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94486836@N00/sets/72157594160135965/

In the family room I have the new systems, which you can see here:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=89477288&context=set-72057594051884186&size=o

[GrandAmChandler]

So what was causing the buzzing sound?

[Hamsnibit]

I thought I would change the topic now and see what everyone thinks of my setup. Any suggestions or criticisms?

[Trebuken]

Cool stuff. I had the same HDTV (black finish) until recently (upgraded).

Thoughts...
Speakers wired into wall = Cool. Seeing the inputs above the TV = Not Cool.

Hide the system selectors if they are automatic (maybe a shelf of games? or systems with wireless controllers above TV?

You can get longer Surge protectors instead of having multiple (you can mount them on the entetainment center even). Twist ties or zipper strips for wires. You may also consider getting the tubing that some computer places sell to bundle wires together that are going the same way.

Setups need more color, add games. Replace sword with video game paraphenalia. Posters? Framed?

Great 'playable' setup. Do you have a good chair?

You seem to need a couple Atari systems...

Build a MAME computer for your widescreen, run it through the stereo...wireless keyboard, mouse, controller...

How much is enough?

Later,
Trebuken

[Slate]

The setups are pretty sweet (And that modeed xbox, what do the mods do?) But seeing the bare area where the wires are exposed above the TV, Not cool.

And you could have the xbox games in a better position. Why not line them up so you can read the titles, And put them in alphabetical order?

[smokehouse]

I once tried the “hooking all the systems up at once” thing and fond it to be frustrating as well as having some signal loss/noise issues. Now I have my systems displayed on a nice side rack and have a single A/V switcher (handles composite, RCA audio and S-Video) and a single RF line (typical Nintendo converter) tucked into the front of my TV cabinet. I get the system I want, hook it up and play it. Once I’m done I put it back on display. The A/V box tucks neatly away and my system stays clean. I also don’t have to get behind my TV anymore which is a HUGE bonus.

You may want to go that route.

[Hamsnibit]

Cool stuff. I had the same HDTV (black finish) until recently (upgraded).

Thoughts...
Speakers wired into wall = Cool. Seeing the inputs above the TV = Not Cool.

Hide the system selectors if they are automatic (maybe a shelf of games? or systems with wireless controllers above TV?

You can get longer Surge protectors instead of having multiple (you can mount them on the entetainment center even). Twist ties or zipper strips for wires. You may also consider getting the tubing that some computer places sell to bundle wires together that are going the same way.

Setups need more color, add games. Replace sword with video game paraphenalia. Posters? Framed?

Great 'playable' setup. Do you have a good chair?

You seem to need a couple Atari systems...

Build a MAME computer for your widescreen, run it through the stereo...wireless keyboard, mouse, controller...

How much is enough?

Later,
Trebuken


I have changed a few things since the pics. Especially in the family room with the big TV. I bought some clear plastic tubing and combined all the wires in it. I also built a stand for the TV to sit on to sita higher so you can't see the wires going into the wall. I have already thought about taking down the system selectors and putting games up there. I might put up a poster or two, but I don't want my room looking cluttered like most game rooms. I want everything to look neat. I actually have 2 good chairs. My computer chair is in the room, and i have a mushroom chair in here also. I'm far from finished. That was just 2 days worth of work getting everything connected. Now the fine tuning starts. As far as the modded Xbox goes, The buttons on the left choose which bios to load and turn the flash protection on and off. The LCD screen on the right shows what is loaded, and when in xbox media center shows memory used, status bar and time bar for the video/audio you are playing. Thanks for all of the the suggestions. Please keep them coming as I'm sure there is plenty I haven't though of.

[Hamsnibit]

Ok, I took the system selectors down and filled the top with nes, snes, and genesis games. I also unchained the selectors because the loss of signal didn't start bothering me till I tried to play double dragon 2. Any time there is mostly blakc on screen it would flick. I just hooked them up to video 1 and video 2 on my receiver. Solved the problem just fine, no more flicker.