5 ‘Duh’ Tips to Ease Cable Clutter Around Your TV

Tangled wires. They are one of the world’s unsolved mysteries, since the introduction of electricity, or maybe even before that! No matter how organized you think you are, those cords will always end up tangled around your TV set.  It is like they have a life of their own. Perhaps since the dawn of tangled wires, humans have been coming up with various creative solutions, such as hiding them behind the TV. But we can’t always hide from the truth! Here is some wisdom for those people all over the world who are looking for a little relief from the clutter.

Duh Tip #1. Go Wireless!

One obvious way to minimize cable clutter is, duh, to minimize cables. Of course, it is extremely difficult because no matter where we go or what we use, it is going to need electricity. But it is 2013! We live in a wireless world! Wireless=Less Wire! It is not impossible people!

For example, Samsung televisions can connect wirelessly to the Internet. But you can do more with Smart TV than just use the internet! Your TV can also transform into a PC with Samsung LinkStick— just plug it into a USB port and you can access Netflix and Pandora or connect to your home computer, without adding HDMI cables or other wires!

Another wire issue comes from speaker wires, stretched to all corners of the living room to create a slick, luxurious home theater atmosphere.   But wouldn’t it be so much better if there were less wire? We wouldn’t have mentioned it if it wasn’t possible. Check out wireless audio to reduce your meters of speaker wires!

Duh Tip #2.  It’s not always about length!

Now that you have fewer wires to hide, you are starting to win the battle.  But we all know there are still some wires left behind your TV. What are we going to do? Let’s start by getting the right length of cable. If the wire is much longer than you actually need, you are not only wasting cable, but also space. The solution is quite simple, before you go shopping for cables, just take a second and measure the distance between your cable output and the computer. Personally, I would add just a few feet to that measurement, because I like to play it safe.

Duh Tip #3. Label Them!

Our mothers had reasons when they told us to tag our name on our things. One of the reasons is because it makes the items easy to find when we need them. Tracking a cable from origin to destination isn’t always easy, but it is if you label the cables on each end. Feel free to be creative with the labeling, for example, name them Paul, Jenny or Bethany! Give it a personality. I mean, of course it needs to make sense to you. As long as you can recognize it later, indulge in your creativity.

Duh Tip #4. Group Cables Together!

Did you finish naming your cable babies? Okay, then let’s group them! Aren’t these steps so obvious and so easy? But were your cables adequately long, labeled and grouped together? Yeah, that’s right. If you are still with us till this point, why not just stick around and hear us out? Here is the strategy, gather up all the wires heading to each component, and tie them together every few feet, of course, do it logically. Speaker wires, for example, are a natural choice for binding together until the left and right channels need to split apart in order to head to their destinations. What do you tie it with? From simple plastic zip ties, to Velcro wraps, to special gadgets that can enclose the entire length of a bundle of cables in a flexible, tube-like wrapper, you have more than enough options.

Warning!: Don’t bind power cables together with cables that carry an A/V signal, as electrical wires can create interference within some other cable types, distorting your audio or video signal.

Duh Tip #5. Use the Wall… the inside of it.

Obviously, the best possible thing is to keep cable wires totally out of sight. I know that you probably have to do some drilling and that sounds like a major work, but it might worth it. However, you don’t always have to drill holes in the wall to hide cables away, though. By running wires behind baseboards and moldings and inside door jambs you can sneak cables around a room, making them much less visible.

Warning! Running wires under carpet is not recommended for safety reasons, unless you want the carpet to catch on fire. Some types of cables are prone to overheating when over-insulated like this and may create a fire risk.

Of course the best way to not deal with any of these and still not see your cable cluttering with each other is to close your eyes and daydream. However, then you will be missing out on all the amazing contents provided by your Smart TV, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?

Reference/Original Article: http://www.samsung.com/us/article/ease-cable-clutter-around-your-tv

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