Hello fellow sudomoders.
One of my aims about getting into electronics is being able to play around with old scrap and turn it into something useful. After my GBZ builds, I've acquired some basic knowledge and skills to do so. Here is my first creation: turning an old colour TV into a gaming station! Needless to say I am super proud pulling this off, and it is getting in use almost every day!
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Here you can find the list of all the parts that were needed to mod the TV. It was a bit hard finding the RF modulator but found from a german company. You have to build it yourself, I had fun assembling it! The quality is amazing, very robust, and works right after assembly. German quality never fails you
Also, I wanted a safe shutdown (thanks Camble and 144TECH for injecting the idea) because I just can't do without it anymore and get paranoid about corrupting my SD card. Documentation is also crystal clear and very straightforward.
Ok, so the TV looks as follows. I bought it on Willhaben (german equivalent of Craig's list). I aimed at a TV that had seemingly quite a lot of space behind the screen. Don't get fooled by those bad boys, they are heavy as hell!
- TV1.png (1.19 MiB) Viewed 9913 times
I can hardly put a date on the TV, but I would estimate late 80s-start 90s. Just to make you guys a bit nostalgic, the screen and the sound both have this sissing noise. Really reminds me of my first TV memories.
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Most of the space available is on the left (looking from behind) and on top (right above the screen). Those are the two areas I exploited to put all my stuff. I got lucky from the TV I chose since it has a plastic rail on the left side where I could just slide in the RF modulator that I sticked on some plastic scrap. Really convenient having it that way.
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As mentioned above, I sticked the RF modulator on a plastic slide for some easy positioning on the side of the TV. The biggest part is the power supply (not pictured) but it is basically a 14x5x8 black box with a lot of cable! I think those germans overdid a bit the power management for the RF modulator
- RFmodulator.png (1.56 MiB) Viewed 9913 times
Best addition to my build is the safe shutdown. It has an ON button, an OFF button and a SAFE OFF button. I got a bit creative by extending the buttons with some 26awg wire so that I could neatly place them on the side and behind the TV. On the side, you have on top the ON button, and right below the SAFE OFF button. Behind the TV, a bit hidden, the FORCE OFF button. Again, the safe shutdown script was super easy to install (I managed it, so everyone can, no joking) and the assembly was really straightforward with their online video.
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I screwed up a bit the USB hole, it is bit too large. But placing the Pi3 was probably the most challenging. When you close the TV, it bearly positions itself on the left of the internals of the TV. Also, it bumps a bit against the coaxial cables from the RF modulator. I had to play with both of them the most to get the TV to close properly.
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As mentioned above, the SAFE OFF and ON button are placed next to each other on the side of the TV as I will use them the most. I would just like to label them (wink wink to whoever has a nice old school label maker). From the inside, both buttons were fixe on a piece of perf board (exactly like I saw someone do before, can't remember the person...).
- safeshutdown onandoff.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 9913 times
I just stuffed everything in the back/top of the TV, right behind the screen There is a lot of space available. So the RF modulator, the Pi3 and the TV all need their power (duh) and put it all in one multi-socket. The latter is then going OUT of the TV and plugged to the wall.
- Cable_management.png (2.14 MiB) Viewed 9913 times
What should I do with this guy?
- remote.png (1.32 MiB) Viewed 9913 times
