Don't you wish something like a universal serial bus -- commonly known as USB -- could be used in hooking up all those audio and video components?

It takes quite a talent to organize all those wire behind the music and video. Our approach is to take the same wire organizers used for PCs and use them on audio and video equipment, but the number of wires seems to be exponentially larger.

At one point, we read about 1394 Fire-Wire being a one-plug solution to wiring nightmares. But where is it? From what we have seen on the shelves of the electronic super stores, good old phono plugs, coax and S-Video cable still are the stock in trade, so we have to keep dealing with them. USB and Fire-Wire only come into play as those types of connections are made available.

What often makes the hook-up of a new component more difficult is the lousy illustrations and wiring diagrams. True, it's hard for a manufacture to anticipate all the possible configurations when they don't know what yours looks like, but it's still frustrating.

There is some help. Browse by monstercable.com/hookup/ for some really nice coaching.

You might want to take a peek at the big Kahuna ultimate hook up using every product diagram, seen at monstercable.com/hookup/images/Multimedia_Hookup.gif. Just don't pull your hair out. Take a few few deep breaths and download the system-specific diagrams and tips.

By the way, the little mascot on the Monster Cable site is named Video Jack. Cute, despite the fact he's actually a plug.

Then again, "Video Plug" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it Sparky?

(Comments? Questions? Zap them on over to ideas@Gizmorama.org)