Shelf Mountable Video Ports

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l008com

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Messages
339
I use those little surface mount keystone jacks, mounted on the bottom side of the shelf on my desk, to give myself plenty of ports in very convenient locations. I have a display on that shelf too, that is just a spare I connect to any computer I need (i fix Macs). I've been trying to find some surface mount VGA and DVI ports so I could run those ports directly to the monitor (that I could also put on a small VESA arm), and run very short cables on my desk from the computer the video port. It sounds small but this would make my workspace a lot more efficient. But I haven't been able to find anything like this. It doesn't have to be fancy, it's really just a female to female (or is it male to male?) cable adapter mounted in some kind of bracket. The closest I could find was a PCI slot bracket that I Could put the m/m / f/f adapters in. But I need surface mount so I can attach them to the bottom of a wooden shelf. Any ideas on this? I'm not good enough at metal fabrication to whip up something of my own.

R7xH0c8.jpg
 
When I first started looking in to this, I was hoping there was an "extra large" keystone size that I just hadn't heard of, for all those just-too-large ports. But apparently that's not a thing either.
 
Those frontx things look interesting, but they don't look like they would work for this particular situation.
As for monoprice, i've searched all over the internet and haven't been able to find anything that would work, including monoprice.
 
Have you considered port replicators or docking stations? Maybe something driven by USB 3.0. I'm assuming the back end has to connect to a computer somewhere anyhow.

And then there's Tripp-Lite

https://www.tripplite.com/mini-disp...le-female-angled-connector-1-ft~P169001KPABK/

It looks similar to the picture you posted up top. That's for a dvi. I suppose you can a la carte the rest. I saw Belkin having a 2 port box for surface mount keystone, so combine the two and you're set? I can't effectively search on mobile right now.

Edit: keystone vga I think. Then the only thing is a keystone panel box thingy.
 
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Well it's not surface mount, but you could always cut a 1 gang or 2gang hole and mount a in wall type setup there with a low voltage plate adapter. They have dvi, hdmi and a ton of other connectors you could do that way.
 
rhansen5_99 said:
Well it's not surface mount, but you could always cut a 1 gang or 2gang hole and mount a in wall type setup there with a low voltage plate adapter. They have dvi, hdmi and a ton of other connectors you could do that way.
Click to expand...

You may be on to something. Decora inserts. If I can find some kind of custom bracket, like a narrow half-gang box I could stick to the shelf, and stick the inserts in, that could solve the problem! It would be a little pricey but it would work. In fact I may even be able to find something like a VGA and to real keystone ports, which would really be a great setup for what I'm trying to get.
 
I'm not sure why you need that anyway. Why not just get one each cable that the monitor supports and just run each cable to wherever you place these computers you are planning to fix. Then you can just plug in whatever cable the computer supports and the monitor should auto detect that signal.

Unless you plan to test multiple monitors I don't see why you need a video distribution box to plug into.
 
Skillz said:
I'm not sure why you need that anyway. Why not just get one each cable that the monitor supports and just run each cable to wherever you place these computers you are planning to fix. Then you can just plug in whatever cable the computer supports and the monitor should auto detect that signal.

Unless you plan to test multiple monitors I don't see why you need a video distribution box to plug into.
Click to expand...

To keep my work space organized. So I can keep my cables tucked away in a drawer and plug them in quickly and easily when I need them. It's the system I've been using for years now with the built in ethernet ports and it's fantastic. If I could do the same with some video ports, the workspace would be that much better.
 
So based on the previous suggestion, I was able to find these plates which will work:

200_270WH__99051.1458152833.1280.1280.jpg


But while I could easily get 1 gang boxes at Lowes and screw them into the desk, that's way too wide (which will mean tall, because they'll be mounted sideways)
So what I need is some other clever way to mount these to the bottom of the shelf pictured in the first post. This insert is a hair under 1.5" wide, and I don't want them to hang down any lower than that from the shelf or they will be in the way.

As for the DVI, would I have any problems going from a monitors DVI port > DVI to HDMI cable > HDMI keystone port > DVI to HDMI cable > Computer's DVI port?
I almost never use HDMI with computers so I'm not sure if it has any odd behaviors or limitations.
 
An entirely different way to go would be to use a bracket like this, IF i could find one that was an "L" shape, with the L going along the length of the bracket (Instead of being shaped for a PCI slot). Then I could drill a couple of holes, and screw it right into the bottom of the shelf. Then any old cheapy VGA or DVI m/m adapter would screw right into these brackets. But I have not been able to find any brackets like that. If I could find some of those, I could connect them up and just use more of the keystone surface mount boxes for any other ports I need. That would be an ideal setup, probably more than the decora panel in the previous post.

oyUTnOP.jpg
 
Edit: just reread your idea. Not sure how the signal will work going back to dvi on the other side of the box...

As for the whole box situation, might as well do something like this for all your cables:cablestrip-desk-cable-organizer-computer-desk-with-built-in-cable-management.jpg

There's going to be a noodle of wires on the other side of your box anyhow
 
I finally found a company that made double wide keystone jacks for video ports! But, they only made wall mount plate covers that work with them, they don't make surface mount boxes. So I figured I'd buy some of their ports and their surface mount boxes anyway, and see if I could dremel them around and make them work. The results aren't perfect but they're pretty good.

The three boxes in this photo are going to be mounted to the underside of that shelf when I'm all done. The left box will go to a spare LCD, the middle one to a very old beige Mac, and the right one to an old Mac Pro. This is going to be a super handy setup for working on other Macs or just poking around with these old machines without making a huge mess.

WkG0YJJ.jpg
 
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