A TV-B-Gone with a PIC twist

posted Feb 23rd 2012 2:02pm by Mike Nathan
filed under: Microcontrollers, misc hacks, porting hacks

pic-tvbgone

[Kayvon] thought that the TV-B-Gone was a fun little device and wanted to build one, but he didn’t have an AVR programmer handy. Rather than picking up some AVR kit and simply building a replica, he decided to give his PIC skills a workout and build a Microchip derivative of his own.

The PIC-based TV-B-Gone is pretty similar to its AVR-borne brethren, featuring a PIC24F08KA101 at the helm instead of an ATTiny. His version of the TV-B-Gone can be left on indefinitely, allowing him to situate the device in a convenient hiding place to wreak havoc for as long as he likes.

[Kayvon's] TV-B-Gone does everything the original can at just under $7, which is quite a bit cheaper than the Adafruit kit. If you’re not averse to perfboard construction, be sure to check out the build thread over in the Adafruit forums. [Kayvon] has done most of the heavy lifting for you – all you need to do is build it.

Comments [13]

tagged: adafruit, pic, porting, tv-b-gone

13 Responses to A TV-B-Gone with a PIC twist

ScottInNH says:

February 23, 2012 at 2:36 pm

This is an oldie, but very nice just the same.

It’s always good to see these open projects/kits get ported from 1 micro to another, with full documentation, and not losing features (like power management) in the process.

Looking at the BOM and the Ada design page, looks like you could build the ATtiny version for about the same $6-$7 price range. Doesn’t look too difficult to breadboard either. Hmm…

Reply Report comment

ScottInNH says:

February 23, 2012 at 2:37 pm

If admins are watching this, I’d like to suggest a new tag that conveys “ports” (one micro/platform to another).

Reply Report comment

Mike Nathan says:

February 23, 2012 at 2:39 pm

~~Not a bad idea – I’ll mention it to Caleb!~~

Done.

Reply Report comment
Gdogg says:

February 23, 2012 at 4:02 pm

Gdogg likes this.

Reply Report comment

blade47 says:

February 23, 2012 at 10:01 pm

And something as routine and simple is worthy of hackaday? :-| .. If you want to talk about “PIC-twist”,feature something better like the USB IR Toy from DangerousPrototypes.

Next we’ll have a series circuit with an RGB led,and that will make hackaday too.Wow.

Reply Report comment

ScottInNh says:

February 24, 2012 at 5:54 am

Sour grapes much?

Reply Report comment

Eddie says:

February 23, 2012 at 10:33 pm

Here is a suggestion for a another similar project.

AUTOFOCUS-BE-GONE.

I believe some video cameras use Infrared for AUTOFOCUS.

I’d like to see a project that messes up the Autofocus of cameras.

Reply Report comment

Tinkering Engineer says:

February 24, 2012 at 9:30 am

Great idea. Slap it in a diamond studded case and sell it at high markup to movie stars and popular singers.

;^)

Reply Report comment
- mikelinpa says:
  
  February 24, 2012 at 9:56 am
  
  That is actually a worthy use for it.

B says:

February 24, 2012 at 12:24 pm

Can we stop promoting projects that only seek to be antisocial or annoying to others?

The TV-B-Gones are made by little anti-social nerds who can’t understand that you don’t have a right to dictate to everyone else in a space that TVs won’t be on. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.

Also: using one of these is a really good way to get kicked out of a restaurant/bar, or (if during a popular sports event) be on the receiving end of threats and violence.

Every person with a smartphone has the ability to find you out, because the IR transmissions will show up clear as day if you’re inside.

Reply Report comment

ScottInNH says:

February 24, 2012 at 12:37 pm

@B – Hmm. So you are giving us a choice:

a) Continuing to promote projects that only seek to be antisocial or annoying to others.

b) Cease promoting projects that only seek to be antisocial or annoying to others.

Since you ask nicely, I make the honest choice: “A”. With that settled, have you any other requests of us?

Reply Report comment

Will says:

February 25, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Well, I’m with “B” on the anti-social nature of the TV-B-Gone, but I’m even more tired of seeing them all the time because there’s really nothing new or interesting about them anymore.
Can we just move them to the all-time Hackaday hall of fame and put something new up for a change?

Reply Report comment

ScottInNH says:

February 25, 2012 at 8:54 pm

I have to admit I’d only want to build one of these to say I “made that one”.

I’m just getting started with micros, but one thing I’m not impressed by is how there are so many camps, and so little sharing between them. So here’s someone who selflessly went out of his way to port it, so anyone who’s interested in adapting PIC to AVR or vice versa can learn from the example. Naturally I hold the author Kayvon in higher esteem than the anklebiter who sniped at him.

Reply Report comment