Building Your Own DVB-S2 Receiver

September 22, 2025 by Lewin Day 6 Comments

Generally, a digital TV tuner is something you buy rather than something you make yourself. However, [Johann] has always been quite passionate about the various DVB transmission standards, and decided he wanted to build his own receiver just for the fun of it.

[Johann]’s build is designed to tune in DVB-S2 signals transmitted from satellites, and deliver that video content over a USB connection. When beginning his build, he noted it was difficult to find DVB reception modules for sale as off-the-shelf commercial parts. With little to nothing publicly available, he instead purchased a “Formuler F1 Plug & Play DVB-S2 HDTV Sat Tuner” and gutted it for the Cosy TS2M08-HFF11 network interface module (NIM) inside. He then paired this with a Cypress CY7C68013A USB bridge to get the data out to a PC. [Johann] then whipped up a Linux kernel driver to work with the device.

[Johann] doesn’t have hardcore data on how his receiver performs, but he reports that it “works for me.” He uses it in South Germany to tune in the Astra 19.2E signal.

We don’t talk a lot about DVB these days, since so much video content now comes to us over the Internet. However, we have still featured some nifty DVB hacks in the past. If you’re out there tinkering with your own terrestrial or satellite TV hardware, don’t hesitate to notify the tipsline!

Reverse-Engineering Mystery TV Equipment: The Micro-Scan

September 3, 2025 by Donald Papp 12 Comments

[VWestlife] ended up with an obscure piece of 80s satellite TV technology, shown above. The Micro-Scan is a fairly plan metal box with a single “Tune” knob on the front. At the back is a power switch and connectors for TV Antenna, TV Set, and “MW” (probably meaning microwave). There’s no other data. What was this, and what was it for?

Satellite TV worked by having a dish receive microwave signals, but televisions could not use those signals directly. A downconverter was needed to turn the signal into something an indoor receiver box (to which the television was attached) could use, allowing the user to select a channel to feed into the TV.

At first, [VWestlife] suspected the Micro-Scan was a form of simple downconverter, but that turned out to not be the case. Testing showed that the box didn’t modify signals at all. Opening it up revealed the Micro-Scan acts as a combination switchbox and variable power supply, sending a regulated 12-16 V (depending on knob position) out the “MW” connector.

So what is it for, and what does that “Tune” knob do? When powered off, the Micro-Scan connected the TV (plugged into the “TV Set” connector) to its normal external antenna (connected to “TV Antenna”) and the TV worked like a normal television. When powered on, the TV would instead be connected to the “MW” connector, probably to a remote downconverter. In addition, the Micro-Scan supplied a voltage (the 12-16 V) on that connector, which was probably a control voltage responsible for tuning the downconverter. The resulting signal was passed unmodified to the TV.

It can be a challenge to investigate vintage equipment modern TV no longer needs, especially hardware that doesn’t fit the usual way things were done, and lacks documentation. If you’d like to see a walkthrough and some hands-on with the Micro-Scan, check out the video (embedded bel0w).

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Checking Out A TV Pattern Generator From 1981

September 2, 2025 by Donald Papp 12 Comments

The picture on a TV set used to be the combined product of multiple analog systems, and since TVs had no internal diagnostics, the only way to know things were adjusted properly was to see for yourself. While many people were more or less satisfied if their TV picture was reasonably recognizable and clear, meaningful diagnostic work or calibration required specialized tools. [Thomas Scherrer] provides a close look at one such tool, the Philips PM 5519 GX Color TV Pattern Generator from 1981.

This Casio handheld TV even picked up the test pattern once the cable was disconnected, the pattern generator acting like a miniature TV station.

The Philips PM 5519 was a serious piece of professional equipment for its time, and [Thomas] walks through how the unit works and even opens it up for a peek inside, before hooking it up to both an oscilloscope and a TV in order to demonstrate the different functions.

Tools like this were important because they could provide known-good test patterns that were useful not just for troubleshooting and repair, but also for tasks like fine-tuning TV settings, or verifying the quality of broadcast signals. Because TVs were complex analog systems, these different test patterns would help troubleshoot and isolate problems by revealing what a TV did (and didn’t) have trouble reproducing.

As mentioned, televisions at the time had no self-diagnostics nor any means of producing test patterns of their own, so a way to produce known-good reference patterns was deeply important.

TV stations used to broadcast test patterns after the day’s programming was at an end, and some dedicated folks have even reproduced the hardware that generated these patterns from scratch.

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A TV With Contrast You Haven’t Seen For Years

March 5, 2025 by Jenny List 42 Comments

It’s something of a surprise, should you own a CRT TV to go with your retrocomputers, when you use it to view a film or a TV show. The resolution may be old-fashioned, but the colors jump out at you, in a way you’d forgotten CRTs could do. You’re seeing black levels that LCD screens can’t match, and which you’ll only find comparable on a modern OLED TVs. Can an LCD screen achieve decent black levels? [DIY Perks] is here with a modified screen that does just that.

LCD screens work by placing a set of electronic polarizing filters in front of a bright light. Bright pixels let through the light, while black pixels, well, they do their best, but a bit of light gets through. As a result, they have washed-out blacks, and their images aren’t as crisp and high contrast as they should be. More modern LCDs use an array of LEDs as the backlight which they illuminate as a low resolution version of the image, an approach which improves matters but leaves a “halo” round bright spots.

The TV in the video below the break is an older LCD set, from which he removes the backlight and places the electronics in a stand. He can show an image on it by placing a lamp behind it, but he does something much cleverer. An old DLP projector with its color wheel removed projects a high-res luminance map onto the back of the screen, resulting in the coveted high contrast image. The final result uses a somewhat unwieldy mirror arrangement to shorten the distance for the projector, but we love this hack. It’s not the first backlight hack we’ve seen, but perhaps it give the best result.

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Is This The Oldest HD Video Online?

March 5, 2025 by Jenny List 35 Comments

Take a look at this video from [Reely Interesting], showing scenes from traditional Japanese festivals. It’s well filmed, and as with any HD video, you can see real detail. But as you watch, you may see something a little out of the ordinary. It’s got noise, a little bit of distortion, and looking closely at the surroundings, it’s clearly from the 1980s. Something doesn’t add up, as surely we’d expect a video like this to be shot in glorious 525 line NTSC. In fact, what we’re seeing is a very rare demo reel from 1985, and it’s showing off the first commercial HDTV system. This is analogue video in 1035i, and its background as listed below the video makes for a very interesting story.

Most of us think of HDTV arriving some time in the 2000s when Blu-ray and digital broadcasting supplanted the NTSC or PAL systems. But in fact the Japanese companies had been experimenting since the 1960s, and these recordings are their first fruits. It’s been digitized from a very rare still-working Sony HDV-1000 reel-to-reel video recorder, and is thus possibly the oldest HD video viewable online. They’re looking for any HDV-1000 parts, should you happen to have one lying around. Meanwhile, the tape represents a fascinating window into a broadcast history very few of us had a chance to see back in the day.

This isn’t the first time we’ve touched on vintage reel-to-reel video.

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Jeff Dunham next to a Philco Predicta TV

Jeff Dunham Finds A NOS 1958 Philco Predicta

February 8, 2025 by Heidi Ulrich 14 Comments

When you see a ventriloquist like [Jeff Dunham], you probably expect to see him with a puppet. This time – spoilers ahead – you won’t. Besides his fame on stage, [Dunham] is also a collector of vintage tech and a die-hard television enthusiast. In the video below, [Dunham] has gotten his hands on a rarity: an unboxed 1958 Philco Predicta TV. The original tape was still on the box. We get to follow along on his adventure to restore this sleek, retro-futuristic relic!

[Dunham]’s fascination with the Predicta stems from its historical significance and bold design. At a time when television was making its way into American homes, the Predicta dared to be different with its swivel-mounted picture tube and early printed circuit boards. Despite its brave aesthetics, the Predicta’s ambition led to notorious reliability issues. Yet, finding one in pristine condition, sealed and untouched for over six decades, is like unearthing a technological time capsule.

What makes this story unique is [Dunham]’s connection to both broadcasting and his craft. As a ventriloquist inspired by Edgar Bergen — whose radio shows captivated America — [Dunham] delights in restoring a TV from the same brand that first brought his idol’s voice to airwaves. His love for storytelling seamlessly translates into this restoration adventure.

After unboxing, [Dunham’s] team faces several challenges: navigating fragile components, securing the original shipping brace, and cautiously ramping up voltage to breathe life into the Predicta. The suspense peaks in the satisfying crackle of static, and the flicker of a 65-year-old screen finally awakened from slumber.

Have you ever come across an opportunity like this? Tell us about your favorite new old stock find in the comments. Buying these can be a risk, since components have a shelf life. We appreciate when these old TVs play period-appropriate shows. Who wants to watch Game of Thrones on a Predicta?

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Saving A Samsung TV From The Dreaded Boot Loop

November 30, 2024 by Lewin Day 39 Comments

[eigma] had a difficult problem. After pulling a TV out of the trash and bringing it home, it turned out it was suffering from a troubling boot loop issue that basically made it useless. As so many of us do, they decided to fix it…which ended up being a far bigger task than initially expected.

The TV in question was a Samsung UN40H5003AF. Powering it up would net a red standby light which would stay on for about eight seconds. Then it would flicker off, come back on, and repeat the cycle. So far, so bad. Investigation began with the usual—checking the power supplies and investigating the basics. No easy wins were found. A debug UART provided precious little information, and schematics proved hard to come by.

Eventually, though, investigation dialed in on a 4 MB SPI flash chip on the board. Dumping the chip revealed the firmware onboard was damaged and corrupt. Upon further tinkering, [eigma] figured that most of the dump looked valid. On a hunch, suspecting that maybe just a single bit was wrong, they came up with a crazy plan: use a script to brute-force flipping every single bit until the firmware’s CRC check came back valid. It took eighteen hours, but the script found a valid solution. Lo and behold, burning the fixed firmware to the TV brought it back to life.

It feels weird for a single bit flip to kill an entire TV, but this kind of failure isn’t unheard of. We’ve seen other dedicated hackers perform similar restorations previously. If you’re out there valiantly rescuing e-waste with these techniques, do tell us your story, won’t you?