Metal Jesus wrote:How to CONNECT Your GAME CONSOLES to HDTVs
I love the goatee. You look like a pirate!
You might find my set up interesting...
A while back I decided to split my set up. I have my HDTV upstairs, with more current stuff. And then I have my the basement man cave with a CRT and all the retro consoles.
For my HDTV, I have everything running through an AVR. I don't have to deal with different switchers and changing the TV input constantly. The TV stays on one HDMI input, and I just have to hit a button on my AVR remote to switch between consoles and whatnot. And also, audio is outputted through proper speakers (instead of the crappy TV speakers).
The HDTV setup is mostly for current gen stuff. I have my Wii U, PS3, cable box and DVD player all going through HDMI. But there's a couple of consoles I like to have in both rooms, so I also have a Wii, PS2, SNES and N64 there too. I had a few different ways of hooking those up in the past, but I finally settled on the XRGB Framemeister. It really helps simplify the setup. I modified my N64 for RGB output, so my SNES and N64 share the same AV cable. Then I run my Wii and PS2 through the component input on the XRGB. So the XRGB also kinda works as a switcher.
In the man cave I have a CRT. I decided long ago that I wont bother trying to find a way to have everything hooked up at once anymore. I got tired of dealing with switchers and and a mess of cables. I came up with a system that works well for me. My CRT is currently sitting on top of dresser with pretty large drawers. Above the TV are two pretty long shelves that I built, and all the retro consoles sit on there. But none of them are ever hooked up. In the bottom drawer I have all the AV cables and power adapters. It might seem like the drawer would become a tangled mess of cables, but some how I managed to keep it well organized. And my most often used cables are always on top. The other two drawers house all my controllers and other video game stuff.
Whenever I wanna play a console, I take it down off the shelf and get the AV cables and power adapter out of the drawer. I have a surge protector right under the dresser for easy access, and I utilize the TV's front AV inputs. I know you've said a few times in your videos that you like being able to play any console in a moments notice. Well, I can do the same with my system. It takes me about 30 seconds to hook a console up and start playing. Maybe 60 seconds for console that I haven't used in a while and have to fish the cables out from the bottom of the drawer.
To simplify my setup, I have a number of consoles share the same cables. I have one of those multi AV cables that gives me S-Video for SNES, N64, GCN, PS1 and PS2. What's more, I've been modifying some consoles for standard AV output instead of buying crappy cables. The NES already has standard RCA AV output. I've modified my Saturn and Genesis for S-Video output and my Famicom for composite (the Dreamcast is probably next) so I can use the same set of standard AV cables for all of those consoles. Having less cables to deal with means less hassle.
Like you, I have some pro audio equipment in my man cave. I have a PA with two loudspeakers. For a few years now, I've been thinking about rearranging my setup slightly so that I can have a speaker on either side of the TV, and then run all the audio through my mixer. In addition to improved sound quality, you also get better stereo separation this way.
Anyway, that's my setup in a nutshell. Just thought you might be interested to hear. We have couple of similarities, but a few key differences. Speaking of similarities, I also have a turntable (hooked up to my AVR). And I've seen in your other videos that you cover your consoles with cloths when you're not using them. For my consoles in the basement, I do this too.
