I HATE Shopping for TV Stands… They ALL Suck!

[Other James]

Finding a good media center that to store all my consoles, from VR to WiiU, is a nightmare. So I decided why not build my own gaming hub with proper cooling and and cable management. This should be LESS of a headache, right?

 

 

 

 

Buy a Sony PS5: https://geni.us/iOGpI0

 

Buy a OIVO PS5 Controller Charging Station: https://geni.us/xr8bqF

 

Buy an Microsoft Xbox Series X: https://geni.us/iIla

 

Buy a Nintendo Switch: https://geni.us/rc2P2D

 

Buy a KDD Switch Controller Charging Dock: https://geni.us/Gj6J1q

 

Buy a Nintendo Wii U: https://geni.us/Apn5R1

 

Buy a DEVMO Temperature Controller Board: https://geni.us/Jn2V6K

 

Buy Noctua NF-A20 200x30mm Fans: https://geni.us/SNmo

 

Buy Noctia NF-P12 120mm Fans: https://geni.us/BNv28

 

Check out the ASUS XG-U2008 10G & 8 Gigabit Port Switch on eBay: https://lmg.gg/ry5XL

 

Buy a Marantz VS3003 HDMI Switcher: https://geni.us/ZwcOV1

 

Check out DEMCiflex's 200mm Magnetic Dust Filters: https://lmg.gg/WeI8x

 

Buy Govee RGB LED Light Strips: https://geni.us/H6UhKZ

 

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

[Chahk]

What's that USB card with separate controllers at 20:51 into the video?

[ToboRobot]

Would have preferred to see a full custom built unit.  Even on sale, it's expensive for something that need extensive modifications and quality level. 

Not sure if LMG has any artisan woodworkers, but there are lots on YouTube to collaborate with.

Given solidworks sponsorship and the talented designers on staff, I think Linus can do a much better job at envisioning and creating the perfect TV stand. 

[cramd]

13 minutes ago, Chahk said:

What's that USB card with separate controllers at 20:51 into the video?

That is exactly what I was looking for as well. 

[eeecho]

17 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Would have preferred to see a full custom built unit.  Even on sale, it's expensive for something that need extensive modifications and quality level. 

Not sure if LMG has any artisan woodworkers, but there are lots on YouTube to collaborate with.

Given solidworks sponsorship and the talented designers on staff, I think Linus can do a much better job at envisioning and creating the perfect TV stand. 

he made what im assuming is a joke about LTT media center but given the quality of all their other products, I would LOVE to see what they could do with this idea.

[brandorf]

What is the wireless controller/keyboard he's using there?  I don't see anything similar on Amazon.

[Middcore]

This Charlie guy is wondering why Google searches for his name suddenly spiked.

 

Generally my takeaway from this video is that I am not really missing out by spending only hundreds of dollars on stuff like this as opposed to thousands.

 

I would seriously like to know more about what the Wii U is used for, I understand there are pretty good hacking/homebrew possibilities on them. 

[Ultraforce]

2 minutes ago, Middcore said:

This Charlie guy is wondering why Google searches for his name suddenly spiked.

 

Generally my takeaway from this video is that I am not really missing out by spending only hundreds of dollars on stuff like this as opposed to thousands. 

 

I would seriously like to know more about what the Wii U is used for, I understand there are pretty good hacking/homebrew possibilities on them. 

I imagine one thing is just games for the kids, part of why I loved the Wii U so much is the local multiplayer games as well as enjoying the two screen aspect.

[darwin006]

$3000 and it doesn't even have soft close door hinges and sliders. It really feels like almost no research went in to buying that cabinet.

 

A cabinet maker could have made much nicer for less.

[Middcore]

8 minutes ago, darwin006 said:

$3000 and it doesn't even have soft close door hinges and sliders. It really feels like almost no research went in to buying that cabinet.

 

A cabinet maker could have made much nicer for less.

 

It looks to me like the main difference between this and the cheap flat-pack alternatives is that they're charging you to ship it preassembled, with little or no improvement in the quality of design and materials. 

[Required]

Are I am the only one who see still a Fire hazard?

[Middcore]

3 minutes ago, Required said:

Are I am the only one who see still a Fire hazard?

 

I would like to think so, but you can find a surprising number of people who are wrong about any given subject on the Internet.  

[Required]

https://www.ioi.com.tw/products/proddetail.aspx?CatID=106&DeviceID=3036&HostID=2035&ProdID=1060235

1 hour ago, Chahk said:

What's that USB card with separate controllers at 20:51 into the video?

Maybe that from the Company.

Sadly the are damn expensive.

[karanssh]

No one's gonna link to Charlie Zagaroli and the desk? https://zagaroli.co/

[tkitch]

26 minutes ago, Middcore said:

 

It looks to me like the main difference between this and the cheap flat-pack alternatives is that they're charging you to ship it preassembled, with little or no improvement in the quality of design and materials. 

most flat pack won't (generally) include an actual marble tabletop.

 

Otherwise, yeah, I don't really see much change.

[Middcore]

3 minutes ago, tkitch said:

most flat pack won't (generally) include an actual marble tabletop.

 

Otherwise, yeah, I don't really see much change.

 

Fair point, I forgot he said it was marble. You could probably put your own marble top on a lot of flat pack stuff if you had the right tools, though.

 

But tbh marble in a living room is very weird to me. 

[Ashleyyyy]

my TV stand is from the 1980's, made from solid wood cuz it's designed for a CRT and it was made back in the day when you had 2 VCR's, surround processor, receiver, cd player, record player all in the same system so it's huge and fits a ton of stuff. it fits a 48" modern ish TV with speakers either side lmao, with plenty of room for cables because again, back when it was made everything used cables. 

[ikbendusan]

everyone is talkin about the cabinet (and tbh you can import a granite surface plate for less than the cost of this thing lol and it'll be cool AND functional)
BUT

all i want know know is wtf are those magnets and how do i get my hands on them

[Digiture_3D]

I've been designing furniture for 15 years, and my family owned company has been doing it for over 50 years.  When I first started in 2008 I designed all kinds of fun gaming furniture from TV stands with various types of ventilation (cutouts in the shelves and large vertical cutouts in the back panels), different kinds of gaming chairs, one of which had built in speakers that created a "sound bubble" around the chair so that you could experience full surround sound in smaller spaces like an apartment and not bother your neighbors.

 

Not trying to bore, but if you want to talk ventilation in TV consoles, or just gaming furniture in general then I'm your guy.  I've got thousands of CAD drawings showing various solutions that we've used over the years.  I can also give you some insight as to why a lot of our solutions are not implemented in most furniture (hint: it has to do with $).  

[M.Laz]

Concerning furniture, my wife and I have decided that for certain things, we need to find woodworkers and order directly to them. Our current issue is a dining room set we thought was reasonably high end but it's not holding up and we believe we could have gone to a woodworker for something we know would be well built for not too much more. 
The media cabinet in this video seems like the build quality is on par with the not quite Ikea flat pack stuff you get from other big box stores.

Maybe some smart designers can add channels for air that can also help keep noise away from users, add pockets for things like fan controllers, and integrate other electronics for improving the experience. 
Some cool accessories to go with it might be retractable cords for charging, maybe something like a drag chain or other cable guide that can work for the drawers, and other things to help with cable management beyond what LTT is working on.

This video also makes me want to get back to creating a custom fan controller that speaks MQTTI figure I could have something built with some defaults and can store updated user provided ones in non-volatile storage but it could also integrate with things like Node-Red or Home Assistant to better take things like room ambient temperatures into account and allow for more external control such as via a smartphone. Maybe that's going a bit over the top in the home automation realm though.
And this video also makes we wonder about using the ESP32 as the foundation for a universal remote system to fill the void by Logitech when they discontinued the Harmony system. Getting the software right for a project like that would be a fair bit of effort though.

[ToboRobot]

1 hour ago, eeecho said:

he made what im assuming is a joke about LTT media center but given the quality of all their other products, I would LOVE to see what they could do with this idea.

Eames Desk type designs could be flat packed and shipped, with different panels for airflow etc. 

[tkitch]

55 minutes ago, ikbendusan said:

everyone is talkin about the cabinet (and tbh you can import a granite surface plate for less than the cost of this thing lol and it'll be cool AND functional)
BUT

all i want know know is wtf are those magnets and how do i get my hands on them

LTT is building magnetic cable management tools and will be selling them soon (TM)

(And much like the LTT Screwdriver was "soon" for 2+ years, don't' hold your breath on it being actually soon.)

[Anachronym]

Is there a vid or a how-to on the fan controller? I got an IKEA cabinet that I'd love to mod.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Anachronym
typo

[Anachronym]

6 minutes ago, Anachronym said:

Is there a vid or a how-to on the fan controller? I got an IKEA cabinet that I'd love to mod.

Nvm, just found the link to the controller, though it is unavailable

https://www.amazon.com/DEVMO-Thermostat-Automatic-Temperature-Controller/dp/B08HK7LS74?tag=linus21-20&geniuslink=true

[Avocado Diaboli]

Linus, a man with more money than sense: Let me buy a $3000 TV cabinet with a marble top that I have to extensively mod and that turns out to be built just as cheaply as a random one from IKEA. Oh and let me try and dampen the sound of the doors closing while ignoring the huge metal grille that's causing the noise while wondering why the vinyl bumpers do nothing.

 

Me, an intellectual: Buy the longest cheap open TV stand with no vertical dividers.

 

Don't fuck around with airflow, cable management is a nightmare if you want to plug-in or unplug stuff (you don't honestly believe I have all that stuff constantly plugged in, right?) and I'd rather easily get to all my cables than hide them just because some visitors might not like to see them. You might notice this picture is taken from almost directly dead on, so if you're anywhere in a sitting position looking at it from an angle, all that stuff behind the stand is already obscured by the tinted glass shelves and the consoles on top. And if you're wondering why there are two PS3s, one is my partner's and she has all her saves on hers so I put it up there for her to play her stuff.

 

I fail to see how a closed cabinet with drawers improves on easy access while also being a pain to use when you have to switch around stuff and think of airflow problems.