Game room

[steelo]

Please tell me if this is lame, I have a small room that currently is set up as a game room/office to play Oculus games. I am going to set up dual monitors with a different screen than in the picture (once I get a VGA to DP adapter) and possibly hang a unused 45" flat screen TV above the monitors where the picture frame is. I also have a raspberry pi zero that I used once for a Christmas light show that I was thinking of setting up to play retro nes games on the TV via a wireless controller. I'm hoping to make the perfect hideout from my wife...LOL. I want the room to look good but not be overdone and stupid looking. Too much?

 

[Dedayog]

Sounds fine to me, PC gaming and TV watching at the same time

 

Post pics during progress, in a build log thread too.

[steelo]

42 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Sounds fine to me, PC gaming and TV watching at the same time

 

Post pics during progress, in a build log thread too.

Thanks, there's not much to it as far as a building log. I'm just hanging a TV, connecting a second monitor and hooking up a raspberry pi for retro gaming. I'll post a picture when it's finished

[Dedayog]

Just now, steelo said:

Thanks, there's not much to it as far as a building log. I'm just hanging a TV, connecting a second monitor and hooking up a raspberry pi for retro gaming. I'll post a picture when it's finished

Bah, there's shelving and bookcases and hanging things... all the little things that make up your gaming experience as well as toys and nostalgia...

 

If you're going to make it your Sanctuary... no limits!!

 

Looking forward to seeing how far you take it.

[steelo]

2 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Bah, there's shelving and bookcases and hanging things... all the little things that make up your gaming experience as well as toys and nostalgia...

 

If you're going to make it your Sanctuary... no limits!!

 

Looking forward to seeing how far you take it.

 

 

 

This is the back wall...btw, I love star trek...LOL!

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, steelo said:

 

 

 

This is the back wall...btw, I love star trek...LOL!

Nice!  I geek out on Firefly, love the boardgame.  I've got all my boardgames on the walls around the man cave, kind of grew from PC room to all gaming room.

[steelo]

3 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Nice!  I geek out on Firefly, love the boardgame.  I've got all my boardgames on the walls around the man cave, kind of grew from PC room to all gaming room.

I mainly got VR just to be able to play bridge crew...LOL. 

 

I'm thinking now I'm going to want to watch Netflix on the TV so is there a remote that will load it on my PC to display on the screen without having to use a keyboard and mouse? I could use Roku I guess, but I haven't been impressed with their streaming boxes in the past.

[Dedayog]

Just now, steelo said:

I mainly got VR just to be able to play bridge crew...LOL. 

 

I'm thinking now I'm going to want to watch Netflix on the TV so is there a remote that will load it on my computer to display on the screen without having to use a keyboard and mouse? I could use Roku I guess, but I haven't been impressed with their streaming boxes in the past.

Hmm, I've always loved Roku.  Have had 4 of them over the years. 

 

I'm not sure what you're asking.  Are you wanting to use our PC as the set-top box?

[steelo]

4 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Hmm, I've always loved Roku.  Have had 4 of them over the years. 

 

I'm not sure what you're asking.  Are you wanting to use our PC as the set-top box?

I believe so. I would want to have a remote that opens Netflix automatically on my PC to display over the TV at the push of a button. I don't want to have to fiddle with a keyboard and mouse to watch it. If not, I can buy a cheap google or roku dongle...We've never had luck with the roku boxes. We have a Roku 2 and 3 and they're laggy and don't want to stay connected to our wifi. Our other wireless devices have no issues connecting and staying connected.

[Dedayog]

Just now, steelo said:

I believe so. I would want to have a remote that opens Netflix automatically on my PC to display over the TV at the push of a button. I don't want to have to fiddle with a keyboard and mouse to watch it.

Yeah, in that regard i'd just go with a cheap Roku unit.  Just easier.

 

Also, you can set up a Plex server on that PC too, to stream to the TV.  It won't tax any resources at all, its fairly lightweight.

[steelo]

Just now, jstudrawa said:

Yeah, in that regard i'd just go with a cheap Roku unit.  Just easier.

 

Also, you can set up a Plex server on that PC too, to stream to the TV.  It won't tax any resources at all, its fairly lightweight.

Yes, I've got the Plex on it...LOVE it and works beautifully to stream to our TV downstairs.

[steelo]

57 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Yeah, in that regard i'd just go with a cheap Roku unit.  Just easier.

 

Also, you can set up a Plex server on that PC too, to stream to the TV.  It won't tax any resources at all, its fairly lightweight.

So, I think I'll either go with a Roku or a chromecast, whichever is cheaper. I don't want to spend a fortune on this 'play' room but I finally put 2 and 2 together realizing I have a flatscreen TV, an extra monitor and a raspberry pi just sitting in storage collecting dust...why not make a fairly kick ass 'man cave' LOL. Now I have to figure out if there are any wireless controllers that will work with the pi

[steelo]

 

 

 

This is the set up so far, mounted the flat screen tonight I still need to tidy up the wiring a bit (especially the Oculus sensor wires) and I'm waiting for my DP to VGA adapter for the second monitor. Finally, I want to install retropie on my pi zero and buy a wireless controller for some retro gaming goodness!

[Giganthrax]

I see nothing wrong with having a man cave. 

 

In fact, the only reason I can see for not having one is if you can't afford a bigger house and you need the room for one of your kids or something. 

[steelo]

8 hours ago, Giganthrax said:

I see nothing wrong with having a man cave. 

 

In fact, the only reason I can see for not having one is if you can't afford a bigger house and you need the room for one of your kids or something. 

Absolutely, I want to create somewhere I can go to get away but not make it overly tacky  What kind of sucks is the TV is cheap and old and only has 2 HDMI ports (I looked at it and thought, really?!?!) so I'm limited as to what I can connect to it. So far, I have a Roku connected and I want to use my rpi for retro gaming. I'd love to also connect my PC to it, but that may be out of the question other than streaming Plex to the Roku.

[Giganthrax]

1 minute ago, steelo said:

Absolutely, I want to create somewhere I can go to get away but not make it overly tacky  What kind of sucks is the TV is older and only has 2 HDMI ports (I looked at it and thought...Really?!?!) so I'm limited as to what I can connect to it.

As someone who games and watches movies on a 2005 1360x768 TV with a single HDMI port, I really don't see what the problem is? You're sitting close to it anyway, so it's not like you need a huge 4k monster of a TV anyway.

[steelo]

1 hour ago, Giganthrax said:

As someone who games and watches movies on a 2005 1360x768 TV with a single HDMI port, I really don't see what the problem is? You're sitting close to it anyway, so it's not like you need a huge 4k monster of a TV anyway.

True, it's a small room so I definitely don't have a problem seeing it...LOL. I'll keep posting as I add to it  

[steelo]

18 minutes ago, MauriceBrown said:

I also wanted a game room, but my parents did not give me any money...

Well, my wife gives me a weekly allowance

 

[steelo]

 

 

Set up so far

[Dedayog]

Looking good, I like the lighting behind the TV.

[steelo]

7 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Looking good, I like the lighting behind the TV.

Thanks, I got the LED's from a friend for free. They were a royal PITA to mount!

[Dedayog]

4 minutes ago, steelo said:

Thanks, I got the LED's from a friend for free. They were a royal PITA to mount!

I bet, I keep meaning to do some in my kitchen undercabinet but I'm too lazy

Also, you may want to move to white cabling in the future to minimize them, I've seen a few rooms done with white and it really looks good if you can find them.

 

Then again, that's an end goal when it's all done.  What's your next step?

[steelo]

1 minute ago, jstudrawa said:

I bet, I keep meaning to do some in my kitchen undercabinet but I'm too lazy

Also, you may want to move to white cabling in the future to minimize them, I've seen a few rooms done with white and it really looks good if you can find them.

 

Then again, that's an end goal when it's all done.  What's your next step?

 

1 minute ago, jstudrawa said:

I bet, I keep meaning to do some in my kitchen undercabinet but I'm too lazy

Also, you may want to move to white cabling in the future to minimize them, I've seen a few rooms done with white and it really looks good if you can find them.

 

Then again, that's an end goal when it's all done.  What's your next step?

LOL...I think I'm going to try to center the TV a little better and find some white conduit for the wiring. I saw some at Best Buy, but they charged an absurd amount for it =( For under the desk, I'm going to maybe try to find a shoe box or something similar to tidy up the wiring a bit

 

[steelo]

8 hours ago, jstudrawa said:

I bet, I keep meaning to do some in my kitchen undercabinet but I'm too lazy

Also, you may want to move to white cabling in the future to minimize them, I've seen a few rooms done with white and it really looks good if you can find them.

 

Then again, that's an end goal when it's all done.  What's your next step?

 

 

Tidied the wires under the desk up a bit. Next step is getting some white conduit to semi hide the wiring on the wall. After that, refill the mini fridge!

[steelo]

On 6/12/2019 at 9:54 AM, jstudrawa said:

I bet, I keep meaning to do some in my kitchen undercabinet but I'm too lazy

Also, you may want to move to white cabling in the future to minimize them, I've seen a few rooms done with white and it really looks good if you can find them.

 

Then again, that's an end goal when it's all done.  What's your next step?

 

 

 

Conduits do make it look a lot neater!

 

Conduits do make it look a lot neater!