Connecting original Controllers to PC --> Problem with USB-Hub cascade limitations

[SiriusVI]

Hello everyone,

I have a huge first world problem.

Let me describe my setup to you first:

My PC is located in my office, but I want to play games and watch movies on my TV in the living room. That's why I put long cables from my office to my living room, namely a 30 m HDMI cable and a 20m active USB cable with 3 repeaters. At the end of the USB cable in my living room there is a USB Hub on which I connect my XBOX One dongle for the controllers and some other devices.

So fart so good. This setup has served me well over the last 2 years. There are zero problems with it.

This is the USB cable I bought: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B01BLPSWTI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

A few days ago when I was at my parents house I found my old SNES controllers in the attic and I wanted to connect those to the USB Hub in my living room somehow, so I could play SNES games on emulators using my original controllers, I'm sure you can relate.

After some searching online, I found this adapter:

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08PYZSJ5F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now here's my problem:

Once I connect the ANES Adapter to my USB Hub in my living room, my PC won't recognize it. Why not? Well, turns out the three active repeaters on my USB cable are viewed as USB-Hubs by windows and you can only connect 5 USB hubs in a row until a device must be plugged in. The SNES adapter is also a USB Hub and it seems to be the 6th hub in the cascade. I'm not quite sure why, because the way I see it, it should be the 5th Hub (but I'm sure I'm wrong somehow).

Just in order to visualize my understanding of the setup for you guys:

PC (Host Controller + Root Hub) --> USB repeater on the cable (Hub 1) --> SB repeater on the cable (Hub 2) --> SB repeater on the cable (Hub 3) --> USB Hub in the living room (Hub 4) --> SNES-Adapter (Hub 5) --> SNES Controller

However, my device manager tells a different story:

PC (Host Controller + Root Hub) --> Generic USB-Hub (Hub 1 = ??? does the first connection of a USB device also count as a hub??? ) --> Generic USB-Hub (Hub 2 = repeater 1) -->Generic USB-Hub (Hub 3 = repeater 2) --> Generic USB-Hub (Hub 4 = repeater 3) --> Generic USB-Hub (Hub 5 = living room) --> Generic USB-Hub (Hub 6 = SNES-Adapter --> not recognized).

 

Can anyone offer a solution to my problem? May what I need is a SNES adapter which does not count as a USB hub? Can I change something about my USB-Setup? I already measured if it's possible to use a 15m cable instead (that one has on 2 repeaters), but it doesn't quite reach my living room, it's about 2 m too short =/

Edited August 24, 2021 by SiriusVI

[SiriusVI]

I found a solution.

Using this usb over ethernet extender, I was able to cover of 30m via ethernet cable without introducing noticeable latency:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/U2EX50/dp/B01EV33R8S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I guess it's time to buy some retro controllers now, haha.

[pecosdave]

I know this has already been answered, but for years I've wanted to play with some of these:

https://www.avalive.com/Corning/435/0/productList.php

When I worked at the music and video studio they liked to put the computers in a different room from the monitor/mouse/keyboard due to fan and sometimes hard drive noise.  I tried to get them to experiment with one of these cables and a docking station, but they never would pony up the budget.