Proximity sensor? Why not just a simple potentiometer?

I generally enjoy the Nerd's videos, but there are times when he shits me.

His complete lack of knowledge of even the most simple of electronics baffles me when he collects old consoles... I mean, surely you'd school yourself up a bit and try to fix some of the broken ones. Not having the y connector that goes on the end of a wire makes you unable to use it? Um.... Um... get a new on and attach it! They cost all of a few cents, you can get them from any electronics store... bloody hell... you don't even NEED one anyway, you can just expose a bit more wire and loop it around the terminal on your tv. That and his inability to understand the electricity/signal on the same wire thing (I haven't seen the cable, but is it even one wire... you can have more than one wire inside a cable you know) just annoys me that he doesn't even TRY to understand these old machines.

Also, making the controllers less jittery is pretty easy, just replace the potentiometers in them... again, any electronic store should have what you need.

Grumble.