Chromebook hack controls your television

chromebook_remote_control1

[Michael Kohn] only accomplished about half of what he set out to, but we still think his TV channel switcher from a Chromebook turned out nicely. When starting the project he wanted to include a grid of listing so that he could choose a specific program, but decided that scraping the data was too much work for this go-round. The Chromebook doesn't include an IR transmitter so he built one … [Read more...]

Automatic volume control puts the kibosh on loud TV commercials

automatic-tv-volume-control

If you're having a hard time tuning out those loud commercials why not let your electronics project do it for you? This is an Arduino-based setup which adjusts television volume when it goes above a certain threshold. It uses a microphone, rather than a direct audio signal, so you can set it based on what is actually heard in the room. The control scheme uses the IR LED and IR receiver seen on … [Read more...]

Scavenged tube television makes a nice fish tank

aquarium-from-junked-television-set

[McCaulsey] found an old TV waiting for garbage pick-up on the side of the curb. He brought it home and gave it a new life as an aquarium. His technique is a little rough, but the finished look is exactly what he was going for. He picked up the cheapest aquarium set he could find at the pet store. It just happens to have a curved front to it which helps to recreate the look of the original CRT. … [Read more...]

Decades old TV gets sleep function thanks to 7400 family of chips

7400-tv-sleep-circuit

[Viktor] dredged up a hack he pulled off years ago. His grandfather likes to end the day in front of the TV, but he falls asleep soon after sitting down. Rather than tick away the electricity meter all night, [Viktor] built an automatic shutoff which is akin to a modern TV's sleep feature. At the time microcontrollers were not as easy to source as they are now. So [Viktor] used a circuit based … [Read more...]

Retrotechtacular: 7-function remote control color television

retrotechtacular-remote-control-television

Ah, the days when a television was a solid piece of furniture. When it comes to moving, we can't say we miss it. But looking at this wooden TV cabinet with storage for its 7-function remote we can't help but think that today's TVs seem more... trivial... when it comes to the layout of the living room. The promotional video that goes with this model is a gem of a different era. As you probably … [Read more...]

Controlling a TV with a microcontroller

twofer

Here's two builds that print text to a TV with only two pins: Still Alive with an Arduino After seeing all the builds that play Still Alive, [Bob] decided to take a 1972 amber monitor and recreate the cut scene at the end of Portal. The build uses the TVout library for Arduino. There were a few problems with running the Unix and Still Alive animations at the same time, so [Bob] flips a bit in … [Read more...]

You’ll throw your back out playing this analog TV synth

de-rastra

While CRT televisions fall to the wayside as more people adopt flat-panel TVs, the abundance of unused sets gives hacker/artist [Kyle Evans] an unlimited number of analog canvases on which to project his vision. He recently wrote in to share his latest creation which he dubs "de/Rastra". The “CRT Performance Interface” as he calls it, is an old analog television which he hacked to display … [Read more...]