DIDJ Composite Video Out

June 30, 2010 by Mike Szczys 8 Comments

[Nirvous] managed to get composite video out working on the DIDJ. He knew that the CPU had the ability to generate the signal, and that similar devices already had this capability. After studying some DIDJ teardowns he figured out which connection on the processor should provide the appropriate signal. Next was the firmware side of things and after sifting through a lot of code he was pleased to find a flag that looked like it would enable video out. Some cross-compiling, soldering, and a low-pass filter got it to work.

If you’ve been hacking around on the device you might try this. The CPU uses a ball grid array so soldering is a bit difficult. We covered a BGA soldering trick that might be just the thing so check it out before you retreat into your soldering-fortress of solitude.

Mechanical Scanning Television

April 13, 2010 by Mike Szczys 35 Comments

This project explores the early days of television. Above you see a view from the back side of a mechanically scanning television. The black disk spins and the holes, aligned in a spiral pattern, create vertical scan lines for projected light to shine through. In this case, [Eckhard Etzold] is using red, green, and blue LEDs to create a color picture. As you can seen in the video after the break it does a pretty good job. The main problem being that the scanning disc on a mechanical TV has to be much larger than the actual image. How big would the disk need to be and how fast would it spin to produce a forty inch image? We still think this is a better method than transmitting video data in parallel.

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Mind Controlled TV

April 11, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 31 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mVxY2IJXBg]

Finally, a good use for those EEG headsets. [Andrew] has set up a system that will turn his TV on and off if he focuses hard enough. He’s got the software set to trigger an IR LED when the “strength” gets high enough. When the action starts, around 4:30 in the video, you can see that when he raises his arm the meter on the screen begins to raise and the TV turns on. Though not immediately useful, we can’t help but get a little excited seeing him literally turn his TV on with a thought.

Update: Samsung TV Firmware Hacking

March 24, 2010 by Mike Szczys 31 Comments

[Erdem] sent us an update on his work with the SamyGO project. You may remember this Samsung TV firmware hacking initiative from our post back in October. Since then many more TV models have been added to the compatible list. They have also worked out a way to defeat the AES encryption and RSA signature checking on the CI+ devices. Want to lend a hand? Take a look at the compatibility table on the main page and see if you have one of the TV models they need testers for. Otherwise, read the wiki, hit the downloads page, and unlock the hidden abilities of your boob tube.

Repairing Your TV EDID

February 17, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 31 Comments

[Andreas] found that his home theater PC would not boot one day. Oddly, if he disconnected his HDMI cable from his TV, it would boot fine. While most of us would have dug into the PC, he realized that it was a signal from the TV that was incorrect. Luckily, LG had included a full schematic with the TV. What he was able to figure out, using a home made snooper was that the EDID eeproms had somehow become corrupted. Not to worry, [Andreas] slapped together a full blown I2C interface and prepared to reprogram them with the correct data. He noticed, however, that the eeproms were write protected. On a whim, he decided to write to them any way and found that it was successful. He has some theories as to why they were writable, but says that he doesn’t want to pull the TV back apart to confirm.

[thanks evlapix]

LCD Backlight Repair

January 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 13 Comments

Another broken LCD TV came [Steve DiRaddo’s] way. This one had a broken backlight that he wanted to fix. He scrapped his LCD light table in order use the inverter. The two televisions were not the same size, nor made by the main manufacturer, but backlights all operate under the same principles. Using an inverter from a bit larger model meant it would have enough power to illuminate the lamps but he knew there’d be a problem with connectors and pinouts. After a bit of testing and creative wiring he got the system back up and running.

He’s got some extra parts left over from each TV including a bunch of CCFL lamps. Sound like it’s time to add some ground effects to his bike.

CES: Haier Wireless TV

January 9, 2010 by James Munns 12 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijuE7r2CBk]

We received a couple requests via email to get a look at Haier’s wireless TV. They used both wireless power and WHDI to show off a zero wire concept. Sure, the giant 2001: A Space Odyssey looking monolith behind it is a bit imposing, but for something that could be embedded into a wall, we’re pretty impressed. Wireless power is a big thing here, and we cant wait for hackers to take up the reins and integrate this into some consumer products.

[Nick]- There are a few companies here that are pushing wireless power products, but this definitely one of the cooler implementations that we’ve seen.