Composite video cable length

[Gnoman]

I'm tweaking my retro console setup again. For background information, I am running an NES, SNES, PS1, and a PS2 into a powered switchbox and then into a CRT TV via composite video. I will be adding a Genesis 1 once I obtain the proper cable. Audio is run from the TV into a stereo. Currently, I have all the consoles across the room near the TV, and am relying an a quantity of controller extenders to reach the couch. I have decided that this is unsatisfactory due to a number of reasons (the controllers don't quite reach even with the extenders, forcing a slightly awkward playing position and pulling on the console; the controls seem less responsive through the extenders on some of the systems; they're a mess to keep getting out and a bigger mess if I don't put them away). Additionally, keeping all the cabling from forming a massive tangle is a losing battle, particularly since I have a more modern TV sitting on top of the CRT with a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and DVD player, plus two external hard drives.

What I am considering is moving the consoles and switchbox to a shelf near the couch, and running a long cable along the ceiling to the TV. Doing so will greatly ease both the controller cord problem and make organizing the cables much easier, but doing so will require a minimum of 50 feet of cabling, and I'd want 75 or even 100 to do the job neatly. Is this likely to work without introducing signal lag or degradation?

[GloatingSwine]

How long is a piece of string?

You may notice some loss of quality (not signal lag, the signal travels at 0.1c) over longer cables, but it depends on the quality of the cables and the power of the signal you're feeding them, and their environment, other sources of interference etc.

I'd run them around the floor rather than the ceiling though, unless your TV is high up on a wall. They tend to hide behind things then and you can pin them to the skirting board etc to keep them tidy (in exactly the way I can't be bothered to do with my speaker wires).

[Jimorian]

Composite signals can be run a couple hundred feet (60m) with good cable, so you shouldn't really have any issues within the range of a typical house. It's HDMI where you start to get issues even at 20 feet (7m) if you don't have a really good cable. Before we started using broadcast digital signals (SDI over coax) at my TV station, we'd occasionally run an HD signal from our cameras over a long composite cable that was about 100 feet long (30m).

[Techy stuff you don't need to read for your situation] Because I turned my computer into a mobile video production rig by adding a 4-camera input card taking SDI, I can use any camera that has an HDMI output by putting an HDMI-SDI converter ($70 each) on the camera end and sending the signal over coax up to 200 feet, something HDMI could never do. This allows me to use inexpensive camcorders instead of pro cameras with direct SDI outputs that run $3k+ each.

[Gnoman]

Composite signals can be run a couple hundred feet (60m) with good cable, so you shouldn't really have any issues within the range of a typical house. It's HDMI where you start to get issues even at 20 feet (7m) if you don't have a really good cable. Before we started using broadcast digital signals (SDI over coax) at my TV station, we'd occasionally run an HD signal from our cameras over a long composite cable that was about 100 feet long (30m).

Excellent. I'm going to buy fresh cables for this purpose instead of my usual sources (thrift stores and cable recycle bins), will just about any cable work fine?

[wumpus]

One obvious option would be signal amplifiers if they don't like 100' of cable (you might want to source/price 5-6 before starting your project). In reality, the real problems start when you split composite signals, something you aren't doing at all (yet).

I don't see a real problem anywhere. I just remember using signal amplifiers and would suggest trying to source them first in your old haunts (they might be hard/expensive to find now).

Don't forget to run cat5/6/whatever along with your RF cables. It's pretty cheap [er than new RF cables I'm guessing] (if you don't have a crimper just buy a length of cable and cut to fit. You can add connectors when you need it) and you don't want to run cables twice. [And for at least one very similar question the "correct" answer might have been to convert everything to digital where the consoles were sitting and run the digital signal to a modern TV (possibly through an ethernet-HDMI converter).]

[Gnoman]

One obvious option would be signal amplifiers if they don't like 100' of cable (you might want to source/price 5-6 before starting your project). In reality, the real problems start when you split composite signals, something you aren't doing at all (yet).

I don't see a real problem anywhere. I just remember using signal amplifiers and would suggest trying to source them first in your old haunts (they might be hard/expensive to find now).

Don't forget to run cat5/6/whatever along with your RF cables. It's pretty cheap [er than new RF cables I'm guessing] (if you don't have a crimper just buy a length of cable and cut to fit. You can add connectors when you need it) and you don't want to run cables twice. [And for at least one very similar question the "correct" answer might have been to convert everything to digital where the consoles were sitting and run the digital signal to a modern TV (possibly through an ethernet-HDMI converter).]

I have no use for network cable in this setup, and I wouldn't have gone through a great deal of trouble to get a nice big CRT if I was going to try converting to HDMI - besides the problem of input lag (which is significant with my current HDTV - I did an experiment with running the console on both TVs simultaneously, and in Castlevania IV the lag was so bad that Belmont landed on the CRT before reaching the top of his jump on the HDTV) older-gen games look like garbage on a flatscreen.

[Jimorian]

Excellent. I'm going to buy fresh cables for this purpose instead of my usual sources (thrift stores and cable recycle bins), will just about any cable work fine?

Yep, in fact you can use the standard Yellow/Red/White RCA cables instead of a "real" RGB composite cable if you want, again, just getting a fairly high quality one instead of dirt cheap. Might be much easier to find the length you're looking for, and I suspect just calling essentially the same cable "composite" means a price markup for HD quality.

[wumpus]

I have no use for network cable in this setup, and I wouldn't have gone through a great deal of trouble to get a nice big CRT if I was going to try converting to HDMI - besides the problem of input lag (which is significant with my current HDTV - I did an experiment with running the console on both TVs simultaneously, and in Castlevania IV the lag was so bad that Belmont landed on the CRT before reaching the top of his jump on the HDTV) older-gen games look like garbage on a flatscreen.

Yes, but what happens when that CRT dies? And are you absolutely certain that you have every last console that you will ever stick there? The main point is that routing such cables is something you only want to do once, so make sure every possible cable is included (power would probably be more important than network, but has additional interference issues that would make actually using it a delayed choice).

[Gnoman]

Yes, but what happens when that CRT dies? And are you absolutely certain that you have every last console that you will ever stick there? The main point is that routing such cables is something you only want to do once, so make sure every possible cable is included (power would probably be more important than network, but has additional interference issues that would make actually using it a delayed choice).

If the CRT dies, I will find another one, or maybe then I will look into upscaler boxes, or maybe I'll be living in a completely different house by then. The only consoles I will ever use with this setup are retro consoles with wired controllers, everything modern with good wireless ones (in other words, every one that would benefit from networking) goes across the room next to the TV. Power to this setup will be provided by the outlet next to the couch.

In case there is confusion, I currently do not plan on running this through a wall, but just up the wall and along the ceiling (not on the floor, I'd trip and break my neck) to get it across the room.