The ugly side of TV

[susandennis]

And, no, this is not a programming statement.

I liberated the TV partners (1 Comcast digital box, 2 Tivo's and a GoVideo vcr/dvd combo) from the cabinet they were in and labeled all the cables and photographed them. I put the system together myself but it gives me a headache to try and remember how. So now each cable is labeled at both ends with details about where each end goes... I thought I could do it all with photographs so I took this one

And then I decided I needed to label every single cable just in case. With any luck, I might be able to squeak by with only unplugging the cable and one power cord, move the cabinet and plug them back in. That's what I'm shooting for anyway.
Sheri's suggestion for new housing is something like this:

But my TV is different and smaller and we would have the four components lined up side by side in their own little carport things in between the tv and the cabinet (which would have doors, not drawers). And maybe making the whole ting a little higher.

Comments

[geordie.livejournal.com]

You'd think by now we'd just string them together with a few feet of cat5 or a couple of fiber optic lines, maybe even USB2? As technology has improved the mechanical and electrical side of the connection seems to have been taking a long siesta.

[susandennis]

It is amazing. You can kind of tell they are trying. One of the Tivo's has wireless capabilities (via USB instead of phone line) but the other one needs a phone and so does the Comcast box so I just them the three of them share it.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

I think my friend has Ethernet in his Tivo boxes. Actually I'm not even certain his are Tivo, it could be ReplayTV, but both can be networked. Here's a commercial Tivo network adapter

http://www.9thtee.com/turbonet.htm

In cars they are sort of getting there, Alpine uses a single connector for power, control and audio and it can be used to daisychain several signal sources together. This saves a whole mess of wiring. The car industry has been talking about this for years and my car uses CANbus, but it's still got thousands of discrete wires too.

[susandennis]

Yeah, one of my Tivos has ethernet built in but swapping one cord for another doesn't seem too worthwhile. I could do th 9th tee thing in the old one, I think but I'd still need a phone cord back there for the Comcast box. I'm a mess o' wires one way or the other!

[pheon.livejournal.com]

Or you could just buy that nice wide-screen TV to go with the new cabinet.

[susandennis]

You have to know that I've thought about it. But, honestly, I don't think I'm ready for a TV that big in the room yet. Maybe one day.

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

Brilliant idea to label those wires!

Just like the mugs, have you considered a jigsaw puzzle of this pic?

:)

[canyoncat.livejournal.com]

I think you need that new TV. That screen would be awesome. :)