4 ms·
Revamping an Old TV as a Gift (2019)
- PaulHoule 1y agoThe easy way to do it is get a VCR to go with the TV. VCRs hold up really well with age, better than top of the line cassette decks and you can often pick them up for $12 or so.
- freedomben 1y agoThe earlier VCRs definitely did. We had either a Sony or a Toshiba (can't remember exactly) and that thing lasted decades with heavy use. It even survived disassembly/reassembly by a horribly underqualified kid (me) after having a PB&J sandwich shoved in the front (which was not me). Taking that thing apart was absolutely fascinating!
- ethagnawl 1y agoSide note: why is xitter still serving the linked FozzTexx post even though they've deleted all of their posts? - https://x.com/FozzTexx/status/825358304515747840 https://x.com/FozzTexx/status/825358304515747840 - https://x.com/FozzTexx https://x.com/FozzTexx
- antonkochubey 1y agonothing is ever deleted on the internet
- monkeywork 1y agohow do you figure they've deleted all their posts? When I click the second link I seem to find a normal profile with several posts (although it hasn't been used since 2023)
- elzbardico 1y agoMan. This is so genial, exactly because you've gone the extra mile to make it look real. I've seen similar projects, but using an LCD, or a remote, or that had a software menu with a remote, and this always rob the experience a bit. This is fantastic product, even if was not made to be sold, and it was one of thing.
- deivid 1y agoIt's been a while, but building this was an interesting experience. At the time, it was pretty far outside my comfort zone and I had a looming deadline (dad's birthday). Writing the software to work "as I intended" turned out to be much harder than I'd expected, so I ended up hacking things and making single 8-hour long video for each channel (with some persistence, so on next boot it'd continue from where it was) On the positive side, Dad loved it, and keeping the tuner (the channel dial) with some high resistance made the TV feel as if it was truly an original TV. Unexpectedly, everybody loved the ads that I added! I think my family mostly felt nostalgic about them
- MomsAVoxell 1y agoI have two ancient TV's I desperately want to restore .. a Sony TV8-301, which was Sony's first successful consumer product, a truly beautiful relic of 50's/early-60's design ethos, which I found abandoned on the side of a country road in the Austrian countryside, and a black and red mini-TV that would look so great paired up with my Oric Atmos retro computer. The Sony, in particular, would make an amazing terminal screen. Trouble is, it is becoming harder and harder to find repair manuals for these. If anyone knows of a community where these kinds of repairs are executed successfully, I'd love to hear about them. I've kept these things on my shelf for decades now, and I remain committed to their restoration. I'm pretty sure the tubes are still viable .. but maybe the capacitors aren't.
- rzzzt 1y agoMembers of the forum "Elektrotanya" have collected a nice set of service manuals and schematics over the years: https://elektrotanya.com/content/about-site https://elektrotanya.com/content/about-site I also see Polish forums when looking for TV stuff but I don't have a specific suggestion for that corner of the web.
- MomsAVoxell 1y agoAh that is great, thanks for that - I’ll spend some time digging in to see if I can indeed restore these TV’s. Would be so nice to wire up the Sony and use it for something, probably log related, lol ..
- rzzzt 1y agoNote that I'm only appreciating them from a safe distance (and from the front). For an introductory list of the many things that can harm someone opening the cover, here's one: https://www.ifixit.com/Troubleshooting/Television/CRT+Repair+Risks+and+Safety/482706 https://www.ifixit.com/Troubleshooting/Television/CRT+Repair...
- MomsAVoxell 1y ago
- ftkftk 1y agoWhat a fun project. Well done.
- geocrasher 1y agoWe were the last people in town to get a flat screen TV. In 2015. We still had a 27" Sony CRT TV. That thing was beautiful. It didn't bother me really until one day. A young person about 10 years old came over "What's that thing hanging off the back of your TV?" I got some nice parts out of that TV, and cracking the vacuum seal on the CRT was just so satisfying.
- freedomben 1y ago> cracking the vacuum seal on the CRT was just so satisfying. I've totally felt this before! As a teenager we were offered an old CRT for free if we would pick it up. We spent several days trying to fix it but ended up breaking it much worse than it already was, to the point where my friend's dad (who was a programmer but also did a lot of electronics repair) basically told us to take it to the dump. We did, but not until we took it deep into the mountains and shot the vacuum tube with a .22 long rifle :-D (we did get our asses reamed because we didn't know there was mercury in there, but even after that the consensus was still "it was worth it" though we never had the guts to tell parents that). We did at least have the foresight to put it on a big drop cloth so cleanup was pretty easy, though I later became mortified at our recklessness. The only thing better than shooting that was being able to shoot an old church bell that somebody dumped in the woods.
- wewewedxfgdf 1y agoFOLKS PLEASE BE CAREFUL DON'T OPEN OLD TELEVISIONS UNLESS YOU GENUINELY UNDERSTAND THE RISK. Just touching the insides can kill you worst case and that can be days or longer after it was switched off. Sometimes the chassis itself is live. This is not like fiddling inside a computer where you tend to be pretty safe. So if you value your life, sure play with old televisions - without opening them.
- dogman1050 1y agoFor sure, but I probably naively think that those who have the gumption to take the back off a TV would know this. As a kid, I used to play with an old TV by connecting the second anode lead to a 50 ft extension cord and walk around our damp basement zapping spiders with inch-long sparks. Fun times. My worst shock was from an old tube shortwave receiver when reaching over it and learning that the antenna lead was hot by touching it.
- drzaiusx11 1y agoWhen I was very young (~10yo), I was obsessed with taking apart any electronics I could get my hands in an attempt to figure out how it all worked. Somehow I got my hands on a semi-functional CRT oscilloscope and of course took it apart. Within minutes of the initial disassembly, I accidentally discharged a large capacitor through my body. I still remember the blinding pain and passing out from literal shock. I'm lucky to be alive today. I gained a healthy fear of electricity that day. Through the many years that followed I continued my trajectory in electronics, eventually designing and fabbing my own analog and digital circuits. Today I continue to be extremely careful whenever dealing with power circuitry. Always proceed with caution!
- interroboink 1y agoThis idea of a curated "weird video clips" stream has always interested me. I've seen a few variations over the years. It's on my back-burner list to make a portable projector that does this. For a purely-online version, check out: https://exptv.org/ https://exptv.org/ (warning: sometimes has nudity and stuff)
- Mistletoe 1y agoExptv.org is really cool thank you. Reminds me of why I like FM radio. I miss not being in control of what is coming on and how it exposes you to new stuff you wouldn't watch or listen to otherwise.