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B/W TV conversion to Raspberry Pi monitor

Yet another thrift-store portable CRT TV conversion for direct video from Raspberry Pi analog jack

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**USUAL DISCLAIMER: if you do this yourself you'll get electrocuted, and this is a dumb way to possibly die** Found a portable black-and-white CRT TV at a thrift store and was inspired to hack the circuitry a bit, both for the aesthetic and general electronics practice. This type of TV was pretty ubiquitous in the 80s as a portable gadget (for kitchen, picnics, camping, etc), and is quite cheaply/simply built - but also has no bells and whistles such as RCA video jacks, etc, just regular VHF tuner as source. The device being cheap and hackable, there are a few online resources on how to convert these for direct video input. After a couple false starts, I eventually managed to trace the video signal lead on the main PCB, then connected it to a standard analog source. The internal voltage levels were not quite NTSC-compatible, so I hacked in a voltage divider, soldered on a TRRS cable, and voila - tiny Raspberry Pi monitor! Even got the sound leads connected, too.

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Ken Yap wrote 10/27/2019 at 00:52 point

Not sure I would want to hang on to a CRT longer than necessary. They are a disposal issue and someday authorities will charge to take them. I got rid of mine while the going was good. There is a fair bit of lead in the glass.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16973914/tvs-crt-restoration-led-gaming-vintage

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Keith wrote 10/27/2019 at 00:37 point

One day CRTs will be what nixie tubes are today :-)

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Dan Maloney wrote 10/14/2019 at 15:33 point

Hey, I had that exact TV back in the early 90s! I found it on a closeout sale at a Radio Shack and bought it specifically to watch the World Series while I was working late at night in the lab during my grad school days. Wonder what I ever did with that thing...

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Keith wrote 10/13/2019 at 13:28 point

Text quality looks better than on my 5" TV.  How big is yours?

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Nick Matantsev wrote 10/13/2019 at 21:42 point

About 7-8", has quite a bit of overscan. Definitely can't complain - when I was buying it I wasn't even sure if the tube was operational!

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