Blaupunkt IS 70-33 VTN monitor spec

[Paradroid]

Friends cancelled our regular dinner date (we were supposed to host tonight) so I went to town! I thought through all the steps on the drive home from work and then hit it hard as soon as I walked in the door. A couple hours later and it was complete! Take a look here!

I gotta say, I'm thrilled with the result! Running this modified TV in conjunction with GroovyMAME is the kind of lounge room, arcade gaming heaven I've spent the last 15 years day dreaming about! Easy to use and the results are spectacular. Of course, I don't have dual res, but, to be honest, I don't really care. None of my favourite games are outside the 15k bracket.

As soon as I wire up another VGA to SCART cable with sound (my original one broke and I'm using my "video only" high quality test cable) I'll make a video and show you guys how easy it is to adjust when switching from, say, Street Fighter 2 to Mortal Kombat to Robocop.

My only lament is that the tube I'm using isn't a Phillips "black matrix". Those things are awesome! I can get a lovely picture with one of them with this chassis but the geometry and sizing are wrong (way too wide). There's a width coil and some caps that the service manual mentions... who knows, it might be possible one day. The Grundig CUC 4645 chassis I had a while back worked fine with the black matrix tubes but, of course, I smoked that.

I have 2 other Siemens with the same chassis as my modded Blaupunkt so I guess I'm future proofed for a while. Time to get rid of my remaining digital chassis TVs I reckon!

Cheers Calamity and pals! I would never have gotten this far without your help and GroovyMAME as inspiration!

[Calamity]

Hey Paradroid, those pictures look great, I really love the final look with all the pots on the front, it's definitely a clean job. You have set a very high standard!

As I said, I plan to do something similar to my Hantarex monitors eventually, but I'd need to get some practice on soldering before I put my hands on the real thing.

[Paradroid]

As I said, these units simply can't be found in Australia.

Haven't heard any more from apfelanni about our black market trade in vintage TV chassis but it turns out I need to eat my words: I found a CUC 4620 on the street a couple days ago. It doesn't actually work properly (not actually dead but only a blank screen so far). Still, it means that more the one of these beauties made it down to our backwaters.

[Calamity]

I was really curious to know how the story of the chassis around the world had ended, hopefully we have some news on apfelanni at some point. BTW you can't deny your picture of the Blaupunkt on the grass suggests something that actually grows on the ground.

[apfelanni]

the chassis is waiting well packed in my garage for some weeks . lets say dhl shipping to downunder isnt for free .    .  but it doenst matter at all . i will keep it for testruns on other tvs with damaged chassis .

[Paradroid]

Thanks for the update apfelanni...

the chassis is waiting well packed in my garage for some weeks .

You tease!!! Did you not get my PM regarding postage stamps?

lets say dhl shipping to downunder isnt for free . 

Well, we always knew this was the case!

Last week I received a cheque from Jomac refunding me the full amount for the Sharp Image chassis that I tested out. As I've said before, if it's in working order, that CUC 4635 you're sitting on would certainly outshine that so-called "commercial grade" Sharp Image arcade chassis. Therefore, I'm happy to give the entire refund amount to you and Mr DHL if that's what it takes to get that package on my doorstep.

but it doenst matter at all .

I beg to differ.

i will keep it for testruns on other tvs with damaged chassis .

Test runs?! C'mon, let's get that package in the post and I'll turn that beautiful old chassis into the ultimate arm chair MAME machine! I'll even get a custom badge made up for the front panel that says "apfelanni" in gold lettering.

This will be my final plea because I don't want to nag and annoy someone who has provided me with so much support and top information... but...

PLEASE send that thing to me?! You've got the chassis, I've got the dollars. Either shock me with how much DHL wants or PM so I can get some funds to you.

Ok. Zip. That's my final word on the subject.

[Paradroid]

I was really curious to know how the story of the chassis around the world had ended

Well, I've made my final plea. Hopefully it doesn't end here! Such a promising story...

you can't deny your picture of the Blaupunkt on the grass suggests something that actually grows on the ground.

Haha! Yes, the mushrooms again!

You know, I've made a few mistakes with this hobby, mostly related to getting rid of stuff that I didn't foresee I'd still want or need in the future. In this case, if I hadn't of thrown out the CUC 4635 that I damaged, I probably would have been able to repair it by interchanging parts from this CUC 4620.

Oh well, live and learn. Really, I need a big shed in the outer suburbs to do this hobby properly! Maybe one day...

[Paradroid]

G'day guys!

I spent the weekend modifying a second Blaupunkt IS 70-33 VT television and attempted to document the process. It was very time consuming to detail the steps in both words and photos but hopefully it will be interesting and/or useful for others who have dreamed of creating the ultimate GroovyMAME television.

Read all about it here.

The guide isn't completely finished yet as I put the television back together at night time and the light was too poor to take the remaining photos I had planned. However, I figured that I'd post now and give people an opportunity to ask questions or make comments so I can include any extra info or photos that might be requested.

Anyway, enjoy! This was a lot of work but I'm pretty damn happy with the result! There are a few wrinkles to still iron out (I think the vertical and horizontal frequency pots need adjusting) but the general image quality of this creation is pretty astounding! Wait to you see some actual games running on this beast...

[Calamity]

Hey Paradroid, this last post is pure gold 

I can imagine it must has been a crazy lot of work to get all the process documented so neatly, but definitely it's been worth the effort. This will enlighten other people out there.

Congratulations!

[kourampies]

Paradroid, I envy your free time, patience, and crafting skills. Wish I had even one of them

I don't think I will ever manage to do something like that, since I lack the basic ingredients I just mentioned, and finding 25 or more inches CRT tvs here is nearly impossible.

Still, thanks for the detailed post. I share your joy by looking at the pictures of the proccess and the final product. Good job!

[Vesly]

Hello,
I am new from Prague.
I read all about this super idea to turn tv into the arcade monitor.
I tried to buy he same model, but there is none.
So I bought Thompson 21MT10CX with chassis TX807EU  and tv SONY KV-21M1K.
But there are none of pots or trimers.
So I downloaded the Thompson service scheme but canīt find H-wide,V-pos,H-pos etc..   

Can some of You help me? Thank You.
Vesly

[apfelanni]

guess both are tvs with picture adjustment via osd. check the chassis manuals how to enter the osd . if u want to go more oldstyle with geometry settings done with potis u have to look for older tv models , for example 20-21 inch grundigs with cuc 5xxx  chassis .


dunno if the thomson is a quality tv . old sony tvs usually are of good quality , but the tube form , size , mounting and  weight doesnt make em easy goin as replacement arcade monitors. 

[Paradroid]

There are many TVs with trimpots inside. That particular Blaunpunkt was so good because it had controls for all the important geometry settings. I could get the picture perfectly dialled in with that unit.

In your hunt, remember that Grundig/Blaupunkt/Siemens all use the same chassis inside. Thomson and RCA have the same guts. Philips have some great models too.

I have a wood grain B&O LX 2802 in storage that is loaded with trimpots also. Picture is very nice too!

General rule would be to go for older models if you want to find analog controls.

Good luck!