Summary
- Label HDMI cables (or make your own tags) so reconnecting devices is quick.
- Stickers keep a messy receiver manageable – no guessing which input does what.
- Do it now – label from the start; it saves time and hassle later.
HDMI cables are a necessity for anybody with a TV, unless you’re somehow managing to hang onto a CRT TV in your living room. As a result, there are more dangling and exposed cords in your home than ever before that are easy to lose track of, but things don’t have to be that way. For example, I have a 4K Blu-ray player, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 all plugged in at any given time thanks to my receiver.
That’s certainly a lot of cables to keep track of, and if you ever need to unplug them to move something around, it can become a hassle. The biggest problem I’ve run into is not knowing where everything plugs back in. Sure, you could eventually fumble your way through receiver presets to find your device, but I’d rather know that hitting the Blu-ray button on my remote switches to my Blu-ray player instead of having to click through everything hoping I land on what I’m looking for. Thankfully, this basic hack of labeling cables makes it so you won’t have to ever worry about anything like that.
Label your cables
You’ll thank yourself later
When I picked up a replacement receiver, it came with a set of stickers that you could put right on your HDMI cables. These were labeled with things like Blu-ray, Game, AUX, and every other button that’s on my remote. What this does is make it so it’s very easy to plug your cables back in if you have to unplug them, and it’s been a major time-saver for me.
I don’t do a great job of managing my cables, so it’s a bit of a mess behind my receiver. When I have to fix a snag, it usually means I have to unplug a bunch of stuff. It’s something I’ll solve one day, but today’s not that day. It’s because of this that I’m grateful for the labels. Even if your receiver doesn’t come with tabs like this, you can easily make your own if you’re feeling creative.
The included stickers don’t become an eyesore at all, and you can put them anywhere you like on your cable. With all my cables tucked down behind an entertainment stand, I don’t see any of them unless I go looking for them. This would become a bigger problem if you like to route your cables through walls, but that’s not an issue that I have. If you ask me, this is a very cost-effective hack that anybody should do if they have trouble keeping track of their cables.
Organizing your cables goes a long way
You should do it when you have a chance
When I first got started on my HDMI journey, I didn’t have to worry about a ton of different cables. It wasn’t until I got a receiver and more things to plug in that I realized I needed a better way to keep track of things. Long gone are the days of a single cable coming from my Xbox 360 to my TV.
Having a receiver is great because it lets all of my equipment connect to the TV at once, so there’s no need to share the same HDMI cable with everything. However, that came with the unexpected problem of easily losing track of where everything goes. If I had to go back in time and do it again, I would’ve labeled my cables from the start. I’m lucky my second receiver came with a set of stickers because it’s made reorganizing a lot more stressful. I learned it’s very important to take your time and label things. It might not seem like it at the time, but I promise doing this simple task will save you a lot of time in the future.
