6 ms·
Single-Board Computer from a TV
- sublinear 4y agoThis is so cool!
- mat_epice 4y agoVery nice hack. Knowing all the random stuff that basically has an SBC inside makes me wish it were easier to get at least that piece out and use once the device is toast. Especially since many Raspberry Pis wind up in end products anyway!
- neilv 4y agoI see a lot of broken TVs on the curb, and haven't been thinking about reusable SBCs in them. I might have to start. (I used to carry a pair of screwdrivers when curb-shopping, mainly for parting-out tower PCs that aren't worth carrying the whole thing back, but I got out of that hobby.)
- blacksmith_tb 4y agoHmm, sort of feels to me like if I want some parts of a free-box machine it becomes my problem to dispose of the rest... at least, once I've pulled it apart it becomes even less likely that anyone else will take what's left...
- neilv 4y agoI understand what you're saying, and was aware of that (I saw some questionable behavior by others), and operated responsibly. I can't get into a long description of it right now.
- nkali 4y agoThis TV was fairly modular, as you can see: 5V/12V power supply, Wifi/BT, IrDA are all detachable. The boards you have no use of could be disassembled for parts, too.
- Scoundreller 4y agoheh, reminds me of when my friend was going to throw one out a few years ago. It was pretty ancient, but I sold the video card for $40 because the crypto-boom ate up the supply of new cards and even a basic card was hard to find.
- _carbyau_ 4y agoNow go the other way. Open source project to replace the SMARTS in TVs with something less ad infested. Bonus points if you can do it all in software but honestly, I'd pay $200 for a replacement board to remove ads and put the device under my control!
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y agoYeah, I'm surprised that we have aftermarket firmware for phones and some embedded devices, but not for TVs or printers. Maybe the space is just more fragmented?
- sandwell 4y ago> Maybe the space is just more fragmented? Android is pretty darn fragmented though. I expect that aftermarket firmware would be an issue for content providers. For example, is Netflix going to allow third party firmware developers to create an app to access their content? They will already have contracts with content distributors like Lionsgate that mandate DRM in their own apps to prevent piracy. If your aftermarket firmware doesn't support Netflix, Prime, HBO, etc then it might have limited appeal. Browser based apps might get around that in a limited way. As for printers, I think of them as loss leaders to generate ink sales. Don't know either space particularly well so might be wrong.
- adql 4y agoI'd imagine target audience for that would just stream stuff out of their NAS. But it is interesting, I wonder how much efficiency do you lose with hardware accelerated browser vs dedicated app?
- sandwell 4y agoYes, Kodi and Plex have got that covered, and no risk of bricking your TV.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
- Ptchd 4y agoNice.... I have been re-using the boards of smashed TVs by selling them, but I never thought about that
- InvaderFizz 4y agoAnd its thanks to people like you that I was able to save my 75" 4k LG by replacing the TCON board when it went on the fritz. $50 eBay purchase and a 15 minute swap. Now six months later and still going strong.
- Scoundreller 4y agothe Floor-mounts are often worth $$$. People will wall-mount them and lose the other mount. Often compatible across models.
- Retr0id 4y agoHeh I thought I was the only one with a TV SBC. Here's mine: https://github.com/DavidBuchanan314/webos-vncserver/raw/main/img/demo.jpg?raw=true https://github.com/DavidBuchanan314/webos-vncserver/raw/main... The picture shows a phone VNC'ed into it - it's still running the original Linux-based TV OS (LG webOS), but rooted.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tuananh 4y agoi would love a dumb tv with nice display and plugging my own SBC into it. it will be a lot easier to upgrade the thing when needed.
- nkali 4y agoSadly, it's much cheaper to buy a "Smart"
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- primis 4y agoThis whole writeup is awesome, but the best part for me was somehow UART being exposed on the SCART connector.
- farkanoid 4y agoI had a brief stint as a technician repairing Foxtel IQ set-top boxes (Pay TV). I was just as surprised to find a UART present on the scart connector too! I guess it's relatively common
- c_o_n_v_e_x 4y agoPerhaps I missed it but what's actually driving the screen itself?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dongecko 4y agoI think that the display is not used at all. If I understood correctly, the scart connector is hosting a hidden uart interface. This let's you connect a serial terminal via three cables. (You can e.g. buy a serial to usb adapter for 5 bucks on Amazon and use it via putt.)
- nkali 4y agoYou are correct. The SoC supposed to have a way to generate composite signal, according to the scarce data I found, but I didn't manage to force the board to do so. LVDS is (presumably) working, but I don't have any compatible LCD panels lying around.
- nkali 4y agoThere's no mystery here, so I didn't mention it in the write-up. The SoC has an LVDS output. The screen has a very long PCB with a specialised controller; it accepts LVDS and drives the pixels and backlight.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- aix1 4y ago> ..and I conveniently have a Palm computer that can send any HEX code over IrDA Pure gold. Thanks for sharing!