Hiding TV cables?

[ultimatebob]

I just got a new HDTV and stand for Black Friday. The TV and stand are quite pretty, but I now have an ugly mass of cables behind the TV that I need to hide.

Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Mess O' Cables

I'm not sure how to clean this up, since the cables are going all over the place and both the outlet and cable jack are in plain sight behind the TV. Grr.

I'd imagine that the easiest way to fix this would be to put a bunch of fake plants under the TV stand, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution

Any ideas?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I just got a new HDTV and stand for Black Friday. The TV and stand are quite pretty, but I now have an ugly mass of cables behind the TV that I need to hide.

Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Mess O' Cables

I'm not sure how to clean this up, since the cables are going all over the place and both the outlet and cable jack are in plain sight behind the TV. Grr.

I'd imagine that the easiest way to fix this would be to put a bunch of fake plants under the TV stand, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution

Any ideas?

c'mon man! It just takes some effort. Detangle the wires....run them to the floor...then over...then up to where they need to go. Zip tie groupings together(such as the large amount you will have running parallel to the floor.

It also helps if you buy stands which have backs to them or some form of cable management. You might be able to "edit" your TV stands so that you can run some wires down the pipes on each corner.

First things first. Do what I said in the first part. Run them to the floor. Zip tie and detangle. Then take a new picture once you have done that and we can move from there to other options.

Remember: It can take much longer to make the cables to look good than to just get everything hooked up.

 

[TheisReich]

wow. ur quite the wire farmer arent u. an easy and cheap solution would be to put a blanket or a flag (something black would be perfect) between the edge of the stand and the wires, so u only see the flag and the wires are between the wall and flag/blanket. Otherwise, you could unplug everything and try to group certain wires together that go to the same appliance, but you would still have several thick groups of wires instead of many more individual wires.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I just got a new HDTV and stand for Black Friday. The TV and stand are quite pretty, but I now have an ugly mass of cables behind the TV that I need to hide.

Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Mess O' Cables

I'm not sure how to clean this up, since the cables are going all over the place and both the outlet and cable jack are in plain sight behind the TV. Grr.

I'd imagine that the easiest way to fix this would be to put a bunch of fake plants under the TV stand, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution

Any ideas?

c'mon man! It just takes some effort. Detangle the wires....run them to the floor...then over...then up to where they need to go. Zip tie groupings together(such as the large amount you will have running parallel to the floor.

It also helps if you buy stands which have backs to them or some form of cable management. You might be able to "edit" your TV stands so that you can run some wires down the pipes on each corner.

First things first. Do what I said in the first part. Run them to the floor. Zip tie and detangle. Then take a new picture once you have done that and we can move from there to other options.

Remember: It can take much longer to make the cables to look good than to just get everything hooked up.

Good idea, except that I'm going to need a ton of longer cables in order to run them to the floor and back up. A few of them barely reached the TV as it is

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I just got a new HDTV and stand for Black Friday. The TV and stand are quite pretty, but I now have an ugly mass of cables behind the TV that I need to hide.

Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Mess O' Cables

I'm not sure how to clean this up, since the cables are going all over the place and both the outlet and cable jack are in plain sight behind the TV. Grr.

I'd imagine that the easiest way to fix this would be to put a bunch of fake plants under the TV stand, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution

Any ideas?

c'mon man! It just takes some effort. Detangle the wires....run them to the floor...then over...then up to where they need to go. Zip tie groupings together(such as the large amount you will have running parallel to the floor.

It also helps if you buy stands which have backs to them or some form of cable management. You might be able to "edit" your TV stands so that you can run some wires down the pipes on each corner.

First things first. Do what I said in the first part. Run them to the floor. Zip tie and detangle. Then take a new picture once you have done that and we can move from there to other options.

Remember: It can take much longer to make the cables to look good than to just get everything hooked up.

Good idea, except that I'm going to need a ton of longer cables in order to run them to the floor and back up. A few of them barely reached the TV as it is

And that is part of the reason why it looks so crappy right now. Go over to monoprice and get some decent cable lengths for your setup. Shouldn't run you too much.

 

[Auric]

Given adequate length they could prolly be run down to the shelf level, then across and up or down the back of the leg and fastened to them with black zip ties. They need to be organized anyway but once that is done, one option is to drape black fabric from the back of the shelves.

Teh sound would be better with the loudspeakers at ear level and equi-distant from the display. Perhaps mount 'em on the wall on either side?

Adjustable shelves are muy more convenient. Will the TV shelves be used? If not, mounting the TV on the wall may be less obtrusive.

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I just got a new HDTV and stand for Black Friday. The TV and stand are quite pretty, but I now have an ugly mass of cables behind the TV that I need to hide.

Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Mess O' Cables

I'm not sure how to clean this up, since the cables are going all over the place and both the outlet and cable jack are in plain sight behind the TV. Grr.

I'd imagine that the easiest way to fix this would be to put a bunch of fake plants under the TV stand, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution

Any ideas?

I'll second the previous suggestions to zip tie your wires. Also, doesn't the AV rack have routing holes in the back of each shelf? What model is the AV rack?

I made a cheap felt back for my TV stand;
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...t_key=y&keyword1=stand

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Dang, that's quite a setup to have to deal with. Between transparent stands and that baseboard heater and a wood floor that you can't bury wires under, you're between a rock and a hard place.

PurdueRy's got some great advice. Definitely get longer cables! That will let you have more freedom with running wires. Any excess coils of wire should be strapped together and placed underneath the bottom shelves of your units to keep them out of view.

ANother option you have when running wires is to not only bundle wires together when possible... but take these new bundles and tie them to the support stands on your racks. That way, the supports "hide" the wire bundles as they run to the floor. You have enough supports on those units that you could probably hide all the wires in this manner.

Another option for collecting wires is to stuff them all into some lengths of split loom. Then run the split loom where you need to. I have split loom in my setup to get the wires from my peripherals to the wall. It also comes in various colors to help camouflage itself better.

Lastly, find something to fill the bottom shelf on the TV stand to help hide the power strip and inevitable collection of plugs feeding into it.