Miceeno's Multi-Console "portable"

Miceeno

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2020 3rd Place Winner
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I just finished my new entertainment center. I'm calling it a "portable" because technically you could move this beast fully loaded with 2-4 people but the theoretical battery life would be terrible. Honestly I just wanted to show it off to a community that appreciates playing games on the original hardware.

This is constructed out of 3/4" oak plywood for the top and sides. While the face frame and drawer faces are solid oak boards. The shelves, drawer internals, and the back are made from 1/2" sande plywood. I applied 2-3 coats of red oak stain and 10 coats of polyurethane. It's really hard to see the high gloss finish in the pictures but in person it looks like it is dipped in glass. The only part of construction that is unfinished are the sliding glass doors. I've got rails for 3/16" tempered glass to ride in but I haven't gone to a glass shop to get the two 13"x48" tempered glass sheets yet.

It's powered by a Tripp Lite 6ft 24 outlet surge protector power strip. The A/V switching is handled by an 8 port composite switch, a 4 port monoprice component switch, and a 5 port HDMI switch. And I have a generic RGB LED light strip lining the inside shelves to provide an ambient glow and to help when routing cables. Also it's 2017 the year of RGB so why not.

And finally I'm sure you noticed I run 2 TV's. CRT for life for the older consoles. One day I'll track down an RGB capable CRT to make this the ultimate way to play the older consoles. I used to have one that was component and SVideo capable but sadly it died years ago. Right now everything but the Wii, WiiU, 360, and PS3 run on the CRT. I've been toying with component for the PS2 and Xbox to run it on the LCD but I'm not sure how I feel about that.

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fibbef

Wizardry V Completer
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Wowza! That's nice! My man cave is nothing BUT crt screens. Currently have 4 hooked up but have a 5th that I might try to convince my wife to let me keep so I have something to hook my Jaguar and Turbografx up to.
 

LurkerSan

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that's pretty awesome. and i see you've even got the super game boy in the snes to the left. nice.

where'd you find the A/V switch? i wanted to do something similar but probably less well done at one point and i couldnt find one anywhere!
 

Miceeno

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2020 3rd Place Winner
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Portables
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Wowza! That's nice! My man cave is nothing BUT crt screens. Currently have 4 hooked up but have a 5th that I might try to convince my wife to let me keep so I have something to hook my Jaguar and Turbografx up to.
I have 3 others floating around my basement. I use them anytime I convince by friends to race me in games on the N64. I'm not a speed runner by any means but my last play through of OOT at 100% was 14:10:03. My friends usually give up 2 hours in when they realized they can't beat my 100% while they play any%.

Also I've heard you can wire into the back of the electron gun and convert any old CRT to take an RGB input. I've never been brave enough to mess around with that kind of a high voltage risk. Oh and the fact that most of the CRT's I end up with are sun rotted and the plastic shatters when you touch them.

that's pretty awesome. and i see you've even got the super game boy in the snes to the left. nice.

where'd you find the A/V switch? i wanted to do something similar but probably less well done at one point and i couldnt find one anywhere!
Generic Chinese 8 Input Composite
https://www.amazon.com/Optimal-Shop-Composite-Switcher-Selector/dp/B00R9MUJHQ/

Monoprice 4 Input Component
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-103027-4-Port-Component-Learning/dp/B001TK9SEE/

Tigeo 5 Input HDMI
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WLMBNBS/

Haaa, the drawers being open with all those controllers reminds me of "Lot" deals I search on Ebay!
Some of my controllers come from those because I find the deals are better for the consoles that way. But most of them come from thrift shops and flea markets. I can't pass up first party controllers. Also I have to buy lots of backup N64 controllers because Mario Party makes my friends rage.
 

cheese

the tallest memer in town
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Also I've heard you can wire into the back of the electron gun and convert any old CRT to take an RGB input. I've never been brave enough to mess around with that kind of a high voltage risk.
It's actually pretty fun, assuming you're not afraid to be launched if you touch the red wire. It can be a little nerve racking when you're playing around with the electron gun sticking aligator clips to the pins to control the different color channels...
 
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