Here’s a DMD Android-based projector from China. This has quite good resolution at 720p native, although the install of Android present is very outdated, and the internal battery has a very short life due to the power draw of the unit. The top of the main PCB is above, and
It’s time for another CRT-based post! This time it’s a Matsushita 40CB4-based viewfinder from 1980. These came from JVC colour tube cameras, and are physically massive! I’ve already worked out the pinout on the multicore cable here & attached a usable connector. There’s lots of information on the bottom label
Time for another projector! This one was brought to me with a fault, described as a shadow in the middle of the image, shortly after the lamp was replaced after exploding. This is an older DLP projector, with a UHP mercury lamp. I’ve already removed the top cover of the
These projectors were very popular when they first appeared on the market with the laser hobbyist community, and for very good reason – they contain a massive array of 445nm Royal Blue laser diodes in their optics engine. Originally very expensive, these units can now be had for under £50
I figured it was about time I built another valve amplifier, and since I already had most of the required parts in stock, here it is! Above is the lid of a cake tin sourced from a local shop as a case, marked out & drilled for the valve sockets,
Well, it’s time for another viewfinder hack! I’ve been after one of these for a while, this is from an early 1980’s era Sony Trinicon camera, and instead of the tiny ½” round CRT display, these have a 1.5″ square CRT – a Matsushita 40CB4. Luckily I managed to score
Continue readingSony HVF-2000P Viewfinder Teardown & Composite Video Hack
Time for another headphone amplifier! This is the Topping NX2, the upgrade from the NX1 I previously posted about. This one has a built in Burr Brown Audio DAC, along with the analogue audio input. The front of the unit has the audio connections, power switch & volume control wheel.
Continue readingTopping NX2 Portable Headphone Amplifier Teardown
Here’s the CRT & it’s drive board removed from the main chassis. Nicely modular this unit, all the individual modules (radio, tape, TV), are separate. This is effectively a TV itself, all the tuner & IF section are onboard, unlike in other vintage units I’ve modified, where the tuner &
Time for another eBay special: this time it’s an 8-port video distribution amplifier, with BNC connections designed for commercial/industrial equipment. Not much on the front panel above, apart from the power switch & LED. The rear panel has all the connectors, input is on the left, while the outputs are
The old Panasonic NV-M5 has the standard for the time CRT based viewfinder assembly, which will happily take a composite video signal from an external source. This viewfinder has many more connections than I would have expected, as it has an input for the iris signal, which places a
I was recently given this unit, along with another Behringer sound processor to repair, as the units were both displaying booting problems. This first one is a rather swish Mastering Processor, which has many features I’ll leave to Behringer to explain 😉 All the inputs are on the back of
Time for another random teardown, a signal splitter for HDMI. These units are available very cheap these days on eBay. This one splits the incoming signal into two to drive more than one display from the same signal source. The stamped alloy casing comes apart easily with the removal of
These units are used to broadcast local audio, such as from a public address system or local microphone. They accomplish this by producing a modulated magnetic field that a hearing aid is capable of picking up. Not many controls on this bit of equipment. A bi-colour LED for status indications,
Here’s another quick teardown, a cheap 5-port HDMI switch box. This is used to allow a single input on a monitor to be used by 5 different external HDMI devices, without having to mess about plugging things in. Here’s the DC barrel jack & 3.5mm TRS jack for power &
I’ve had a couple of viewfinder CRT modules for a while, & haven’t done much with them, so I decided to make a very small B&W monitor. I ordered a small transparent ABS box when I made a large order with Farnell, that turned out to be just about the
Here’s another viewfinder CRT, removed from a 1980’s vintage VHS camera I managed to get cheap from eBay. This unit is very similar to the last one I posted about, although there are a few small differences in the control circuitry. Here’s the schematic, showing all the functional blocks of
I recently managed to score a 3″ B&W portable TV on eBay, a Panasonic TR-3000G. As these old units are now useless, thanks to the switch off of analogue TV signalling, I figured I could find a composite signal internally & drive the CRT with an external source. Here’s the
These speakers are available free from Pringles, with two packs bought. Normally running on 3x AAA cells, I have made modifications to include a high capacity Li-Ion battery & USB charging. New battery is 3x 18650 Li-Ion cells in parallel, providing ~6600mAh of capacity. These are hot glued inside the
This is a little script to make OMXPlayer on the Raspberry Pi cycle through every file in a specified folder, useful for playing sequential movies or series of episodes.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
#!/bin/bash if [ x"$1" = x"help" -o x"$1" = x"--help" -o x"$1" = x"-help" ];then echo "Usage: omxseries [audio mode] [folder path]" echo "Audio Mode can be either 'hdmi' or 'local'." echo "Folder Path is the full path to the video files on your system." echo "This script will attempt to play every file in the target folder, with any file extension," echo "so ensure that only valid video files are present in the target folder to avoid errors." exit fi |
|
1 2 3 4 |
for file in $2/* do omxplayer -o $1 $file done |
Example: [root@raspbian ~]# omxseries hdmi /media/stuff/videos would play everything in /media/stuff/videos and send the audio over the HDMI port.
Here’s the teardown of the projector itself! On the right is the info label from the projector, which covers the flex ribbon to the VGA/composite input board below. This unit is held together with Allen screws, but is easy to get apart. Here’s the insides of the projector, with
Continue readingMicroVision ShowWX+ HDMI Laser Pico Projector
Above is the image projected from the Pi, on the default login screen. Distance from the projector is approx 10 feet. State of the art projector mount, fashioned from several cable ties. HDMI cable is plugged into the right hand side of the projector. Unfortunately the projector cannot handle audio
As I’m building a portable “media center” with my first Pi, I was looking for a suitable screen. I remembered the existence of these: A laser pico projector combined with a Pi, in a small enough package would make a fantastic little portable media player. So £220 was shelled out
Here are the viewfinder electronics from a 1984 Hitachi VHS Movie VM-1200E Camcorder. These small CRT based displays accept composite video as input, plus 5-12v DC for power. Here is the front face of the CRT, diameter is 0.5″. Closeup view of the PCB, there are several adjustments & a
Old iPod with damaged screen. Here is the front with the Click Wheel. Cover removed from the back, here the HDD is the biggest visible part. Back cover removed from the unit, here is the back of the screen & the main PCB. Back cover with the battery & headphone
This is a small audio mixer, marketed for camcorder audio dubbing. I/O Panel on the rear of the unit. Contains a small preamp, but will not drive speakers directly. Power is a 9v battery or plugpack. Front of the PCB removed from the case. Mic preamp bottom right corner. Each