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Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: tisurame on July 06, 2004, 11:28:53 pm

Title: Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: tisurame on July 06, 2004, 11:28:53 pm
This is possible ? Anyone could PLEASE show me a tutorial that teach how to do this ?

Thanks

Moderator's note:
It is not safe for someone to modify a TV if they do not have good electronics, and electronics safety, knowledge.

--Tom61 (formally trained electronics tech.)
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: Generic Eric on July 07, 2004, 02:15:18 am
This is possible ? Anyone could PLEASE show me a tutorial that teach how to do this ?

Thanks
I have wondered about his myself, I think it may be possible.  Hacking isn't the word though, its more about engineering.

Hacking isn't the best thing to be doing on a tv...you are better off learning what you are doing.  A healthy respect for amprege/electricty/voltage goes along way.  This is not the sort of thing you want to risk your life based on a tutorial you read on the internet.
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: PacManFan on July 08, 2004, 03:46:25 pm
Yes, it's possible,
I've done it before on 2 TV's

The last time this was discussed, I think the message got sent to "Post Hell".

It's really not that hard, it involves finding the RGB wires that go from the main chassis to the neckboard, cutting them, and inserting a biased NPN transistor on each RGB channel, the base(s) of the NPN are where you insert your RGB signal (you may need a 3-10k pot here),

The collector(s) go in series with a potentiometer (10k) toward the neckboard.

The emitter(s) go to the mainboard.

The last step is connecting the video ground and the composite sync to the composite input on the TV.
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: tisurame on July 08, 2004, 05:01:14 pm
Thanks.

And what was the results, compared to a real arcade monitor ?

Anyway, I think that I found these RGB wires.

It's a plug, just like this one...

(http://www.doughansen.net/horizcon2.jpg)

...connected on the main board, and it go to the neckboard, is that right ?

As you can see, there is a Red, Green, Blue and Yellow (?) wire, what I will plug in this Yellow wire ?

Also, about the VGA port...

(http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/images/vga.gif)

You have...

1 - Red
2 - Green
3 - Blue
4 - Monitor ID *
5 - Ground
6 - Red Ground
7 - Green Ground
8 - Blue Ground
9 - Keyway (No pin)
10 - Sync Ground
11 - Monitor ID *
12 - Monitor ID *
13 - Horizontal Sync
14 - Vertical Sync
15 - Monitor ID *

Which one I need to ignore ? I need to twist together the Vertical Sync (14) and Horizontal Sync (13) and plug it on the TV composite output ?

And what kind of wire is used to hook all those things ?

Thanks again!




Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: dabone on July 08, 2004, 10:10:57 pm
Those are NOT I repeat NOT RGB input wires, those are the wires to the yolk. If you do not know what you are doing inside a tv/monitor it can be LETHAL!. The yolk wires control the deflection of the electron stream. They have nothing to do with the rgb input.



Save your self a trip to the hospital, if you are dying to use the tv get a monitor chassis from www.8liners.com
I put one on a 27" tv and it looked pretty good.
Just 95.00 plus shipping.

Later,
dabone
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: PacManFan on July 08, 2004, 11:27:44 pm
Yeah, I definately woud not recommend this hack to someone who doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about from the text description I left. Those are the yolk wires that drive the vertical and horizontal output.

The output was identical to an arcade monitor, great picture, good color. A TV chassis is a lot like an arcade chassis with a tuner built in.

-PMF
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: tisurame on July 09, 2004, 01:11:05 am
I see...

Well, it looks damn close to your text description, that's why I asked. Anyway, I don't pretend to do this modification all by myself, I intend to call a TV technician, but first I need to explain what I'm asking for.

I don't live in USA, so it would not be a good idea to buy from 8liners. Anyway, I could buy an arcade chassi right here. But in this case, I would remove the TV chassi and replace it for the arcade chassi. But any arcade chassi that can drive a 27' tube can used ? That's what I wonder too...


Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: rchadd on July 09, 2004, 04:31:23 pm
Yeah, I definately woud not recommend this hack to someone who doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about from the text description I left. Those are the yolk wires that drive the vertical and horizontal output.

The output was identical to an arcade monitor, great picture, good color. A TV chassis is a lot like an arcade chassis with a tuner built in.

-PMF

i suggest you edit your earlier post - in case anyone else decides to "Have a go"!
Title: Re:Hacking a TV to accept RGB
Post by: darklegion on July 11, 2004, 06:21:13 am
Its really quite simple,I've used 3 different methods all of which worked well.Currently I am trying one where I wire straight to the guns,much like Pacman fan is doing.I am using an ultimarc video amp for the amplification rather than a simple transistor circuit,and have pretty much perfect colour on my tv from my PC,just need to sort out the software side so I can get correct sync,and then work out where I can input power,so my game consoles will run also...that part is pretty much worked out,just don't feel like hauling my TV around at this moment :)

I'll probably try the transistor-based circuit from mameworld on the next one,since I have the parts needed.