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I've been an avid gamer my whole life, but after getting married, I learned that Feng Shui is more important than displaying your favorite console in the living room. Now that my wife and I have our own home, it was time to get creative. She wanted our living room to feel cozier, but we both still wanted to play our favorite games together. With all of my consoles in my office, it was time to get a little creative.
That's when the idea struck me—what if I were to run a long HDMI cord from my office through the basement and into our living room? Bluetooth and wireless connectivity just keep getting better, and we can both win our prospective battles. No longer do we have to huddle in my office to try to play a game together, and she's happy without the extra clutter.
Check Bluetooth type and range before anything New consoles and controllers shouldn't really have too much of an issue
Credit: Shaun Cichacki/MUO
Seeing as I've already revitalized our 75-inch LG TV with an Android TV setup, it's the perfect candidate for big-screen gaming sessions with the wife or with friends. Even though my office is a short distance away from the living room, the first thing I wanted to ensure was that the controllers I had would work properly at this distance. From my office, where my consoles are set up, to the couch we typically play on is roughly 20-ish feet, so there shouldn't have been any issues. But, even as technology continues to advance, you need to take everything into consideration.
PlayStation 5 DualSense controllers use Bluetooth 5.0, which offers a range of up to 800 meters in open spaces. Granted, I don't think anyone is going to be that far away, but some folks have had luck playing their consoles on different floors because of this technology, as witnessed in this Reddit thread. Xbox controllers use proprietary software that allows them to connect similarly to Wi-Fi Direct, and Switch/Switch 2 Pro Controllers also use Bluetooth connections. Once you've ensured that your controllers can connect and work, it's time to get into home improvement mode.
Ensure you're getting the right equipment It may cost more, but having a longer cord can ensure you have enough length
Credit: Shaun Cichacki/MUO
If you're planning to do something like this yourself, there are a few things I would personally recommend. Seeing as I like to play games by myself or with friends in my office when I'm not working, an HDMI splitter with dual outputs is a fantastic option. The model that I have supports up to four inputs and two outputs, meaning I can plug into the TV in my office or the TV in the living room with the press of a button. Originally, this was used to connect an OLED monitor on my desk to my TV, but it has since been repurposed to bring multiplayer shenanigans to the living room.
The most important piece of this puzzle, however, is the HDMI cord. I opted for a fiber-optic HDMI cable, advertised as 4K/60Hz-capable, since the majority of the games played in the living room do not require 120Hz or higher. I ordered a 70ft cord instead of any other length to ensure I had plenty of slack and could easily tie up the difference once I had hooked everything up. If I need that higher fidelity for myself, I can always get a better HDMI cord for my office display.
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Be sure to test everything before hooking it up
You wouldn't want to drill a ton of holes for nothing, would you?
One thing that I cannot stress enough is to ensure that you test all of your equipment before you start making modifications to your home. The last thing you want to do is start drilling, filling, and planning if something that you've purchased doesn't work. It may look silly, but test everything out by running the cords on the floor to their respective areas, trying it out, and testing it thoroughly. What worked out swimmingly for me may not work the best for you, especially if you have a longer distance to try to cover.
Once you've ensured that everything is working properly, then you can start running the cords however you'd like. Some folks may prefer to use cord hiders and run them along the baseboards, but we have an arch that leads into the kitchen. In my situation, running the cord through the basement and drilling two small holes for an entrance and an exit worked swimmingly, with 3D-printed grommets to ensure no cold air could come up.
If you have good internet, streaming could also work Remote play apps are available on Android TV and Smart TVs
Credit: Shaun Cichacki/MUO
I completely understand that this is a niche solution to a niche problem, but there may be other ways that you can make this happen. If you're planning on playing cozy games or something that doesn't need pixel-perfect response time, you could always use apps like PS Remote Play or XBPlay on Android TV.
For the most part, these will allow you to use your streaming stick to play your favorite games, directly from your console or via streaming services. Even with high-quality internet, however, streaming this way can still be problematic, so keep that in mind if you want to test this method out. Cloud streaming has gotten so much better for gaming in recent years, but it's still not perfect by any means.
Why bother doing something like this in the first place? Maybe I could have just gotten a love seat for the office or something insteadOver the years, I've slowly gotten my wife more interested in gaming. It's a hobby that we both enjoy thoroughly, but we deal with something a bit unique in our journey through life together. She suffers from a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, an arthritic disorder that makes sitting in certain ways incredibly uncomfortable. While I've invested in a nice ergonomic chair for us to play games together in the office, sometimes it's easier to just sit on the couch and play together.
To keep the living room looking organized and neat, this was the easiest way. I can jump on my PlayStation 5 in my office to play something when I want to, and if we're looking to play a game together? I can just switch the output to whatever console we're hoping to play, and we can spend time together that way. No matter if it's a story-driven game that she's watching me play through, or a movie we want to watch on Blu-ray, it's the easiest way to make an unfortunate situation easier to digest.