I'm moving around the furniture in my living room and as a result I'm debating whether to hide my AV kit in a cupboard or have it on display. I've come up with a list of pros and cons for putting in it an a cupboard and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to overcome the cons.
Pros:
- Much neater and tidier
- Not limited by storage in TV cabinet (i.e. don't need X shelves for X devices) so can add new devices easily without worrying about space, and can choose from a wider range of TV cabinets
Cons:
- Cost of setup (routing wires, IR repeater, storage rack, extending cabling etc)
- Difficult to keep temperatures down, so potential overheating
- Unknown status of devices
I'm not too concerned about the cost factor as this is acceptable when taking the pros into consideration. It's the other two I have concerns with.
It's an under-stairs cupboard so has a reasonable amount of space (probably about 2m^3), but it's still enclosed so will heat up over time. Having to use fans to keep everything cool is a bit of a pain not to mention expensive.
The other problem is how to know the status of the devices. Without being able to see the device, how can you tell whether little power light is on? I don't want to have to cycle through all sources on my TV to see if there's an input, or poke my head in the door.
Anyone done something similar and have any smart ideas to overcome my concerns?
Pros:
- Much neater and tidier
- Not limited by storage in TV cabinet (i.e. don't need X shelves for X devices) so can add new devices easily without worrying about space, and can choose from a wider range of TV cabinets
Cons:
- Cost of setup (routing wires, IR repeater, storage rack, extending cabling etc)
- Difficult to keep temperatures down, so potential overheating
- Unknown status of devices
I'm not too concerned about the cost factor as this is acceptable when taking the pros into consideration. It's the other two I have concerns with.
It's an under-stairs cupboard so has a reasonable amount of space (probably about 2m^3), but it's still enclosed so will heat up over time. Having to use fans to keep everything cool is a bit of a pain not to mention expensive.
The other problem is how to know the status of the devices. Without being able to see the device, how can you tell whether little power light is on? I don't want to have to cycle through all sources on my TV to see if there's an input, or poke my head in the door.
Anyone done something similar and have any smart ideas to overcome my concerns?