Lab Bench Decisions... Decisions...

Dave mulls the idea of what to do with the background wall on the teardown bench.

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[mlenstra]

As for the AC panel - it’s basically telling you “don’t turn it OFF, take it apart!” 😅

[merseyviking]

Dave: I don't heat this room, it's not a thing here
Me: *looks out at the deep snow*

Not a fan of the glowing logo idea, it'd be too distracting for me. I'm all for higher production values, but a lick of paint and some subtle lighting would be all it needs IMO. And some test gear, of course :)

[hempbear]

How about a big stack of test equipment? :)
Works the best in electronics lab... almost natural :)

[steven-george]

The buttons on those AC controls are a simple resistive divider back to the main control unit, so probably a dicky switch or high impedance cabling causing the problems.

[admirerofclassicalelectron]

I like backgrounds which provide a scale for the foreground object. So an image or a monitor would not be ideal. Maybe a shelf of cables and probes and a rack of screwdrivers, but not too inhomogeneous...

[Machineius]

Honestly, the background, the stuff around, the other stuff in the video shots, just do not really matter to me. It is your content that matters to me. I would not stop watching because of the set, and I would not start watching because of the set either. If the content is good and what I want to see and learn, I will watch. Now, bad sound and poor lighting/flickering, might prevent me from following.

[PatrickPoet]

what about painting the back wall with green paint that lets you put whatever background in/on whenever you want with green screen? You can even put a video into a green screen if you have the right software.

[miguelhamrol]

You're the star of the show, Dave; what you're doing is the star of the show. You don't want any distractions in the background. Leave it as it is, or put a simple decoration that doesn't distract.

[flymypg]

I wondered what that thing on the wall with the curly cord was. Maybe a weird plastic hammer with a tether or something.

As for the wall, you have got to have tons of knicknackery that could find a home on some shallow shelves and provide an interesting background. Perhaps a multimeter and calculator museum? Then randomly rearrange them, or add new ones before shooting their episode. Keep us guessing and paying attention!

[thomasives]

Hey Dave, love the channel! Here's my thoughts on what you might do - no expert here, just a long-time viewer.
What I've begun to enjoy the most in a youtube video background is a themed collection of items that reflect past episodes. Your old background with racks of previous teardowns and reviewed items is a great example, as is the backgrounds on channels like RMC, Mr. Lurch, and Retro Recipes. Those evoke nice memories about past episodes and are sometimes used as references (pointed to) by the host. Moving the bench away from the wall and standing behind it gives us a good view of yourself and the current topic at hand - this is a successful formula in many youtube channels and I think it works very well for the subjects you choose.
The layout is most efficient when it's horizontal, so you can treat the process of teardowns and mailbags as a sideways assembly line, taking things from one side and moving them to the other. This also fits the wide aspect ratio of most videos. Us westerners like left-to-right flow, which would be right-to-left for you standing behind the bench. Using an ordered process and flow makes the video easier to follow and would allow you to 'insert' advertisements for your product or swag as you go through the process.
Lastly, having a two-camera setup, one above and one facing you, allows for the best viewing of subject matter, especially teardowns where the viewer would like to see down into the hardware as it is being taken apart. I don't know if it is possible, but a VR-style video that stacked the top-down and facing views, so viewers could switch between them at will, would be awesome - it would save you some editing, too, since all you'd have to do is combine the videos in sync. When you have a subject that is more interesting from the second view (top down or microscope) you 'd just tell the audience to look at that view.
Thanks for all the great content and such. Cheers and beers!

[ranzee]

I made some rigging from square aluminium pipe (which I got from Bunnings) - they have these plastic joiners (various options) - and you just hammer them together. They make excellent stands for rigging cameras and lights etc overhead on your bench. ... I know you didn't ask this - but I feel you could do with something more permanent there. In regards to the background - Just get a greenscreen backdrop from Amazon and then you can chroma-key anything in - they are super cheap. I use an ATEM Mini - which you can setup with chroma key and luma keys - great for switching HDMI inputs and feed into a single HDMI output or USB webcam (I record into my PC using vMix). Anyway - there's a bit more of this over on my channel if you are interested.

[sefarkas]

Can’t wait for you to get your new lab up and running and maybe get back to hard core electronics, like the good old days.

[Nets-nutsBr]

Hey Dave. You may use a blue ESD mat over the table and you may paint the wall in green. Doing that you may easily add some perspective and some cenographic equipments. That area might be used for advertisement, so you can improve your monetization.

[eDoc]

For a minute I was confused as to why you'd need cooling when it's freezing outside.

Then I remembered the seasons are backwards in Australia.

[Hz]

meanwhile im thinking 'whats in the case'

[DJignyte]

Id make or buy an LED matrix for the background. Then it can display the Dave head, just EEVBlog, or channel stats etc.
It could be reactive to your voice in some way, or perhaps augment the lighting.

[redsquirrelftw]

Put a TV, which has a picture with the remains of the last tear down on it, and the TV in that picture too, it would look like a big desk that just keeps going forever. I guess you would almost need to keep the camera at the same angle every time to get the true effect though. The TV could also serve another purpose, you could have a HDMI you can quickly switch to and have an inspection camera for if you want to do a really good closeup of something. Either for your own use or on-camera. Or a simpler option.... a full wall mirror that would take up the full camera frame. Could make for interesting shots as you can see behind the item in the reflection. It would give the illusion that the desk is bigger too.

[McTroyd]

I'd just be careful not to upstage whatever's on the bench with the background. Too bright or flashy and it could be distracting. If you're looking to polish up the frame a bit, black out the wall with whatever's easy/handy, and suspend one of the EEVBlog signs people made for you in the middle (screw to board, fishing line suspension, etc.). If that makes it look too polished, throw some baubles under the sign at the very back of the bench (like the random parts you have now). You could potentially mess with people by periodically changing it, even between shots. 😁

[bertblankenstein]

Definitely do not bother with an esd mat going up the wall. The telephone and thermostat should be moved. It'll look much nicer as a smooth wall. You can then still do the Dave with hand, or other logo on the wall, or the TV.

[Richardincancale]

Get your ‘Ghostbusters’ Dave picture printed on film and use an old monitor backlight to illuminate it!