HDTV Project

[DarkHumour]

Back in July 2010 I found a 26" Samsung TV by the garbage.  I grabbed it and brought it back to the hostel.  It lit up but the screen was cracked and had blotches on it.  I searched high and low for a V260B1-L04 replacement LCD panel that wasn't insane in price.  Finally found one on ebay for $69.00. 

I received it on December 13th and installed it on the 14th.  It worked!  I took it home and had a heck of a time trying to get the cable channel autoscan to find cable stations.  It does have a cool feature where there are two coaxial inputs - one for rabbit ear antennas and the other for regular cable.  Cable stations were not being detected and for the longest time I thought I didn't have QAM on this system or an older version of it.  Eventually after reading between the lines on a website that described channels like 16HRC7 I realized that I was scanning using "std" and not HRC.  I rescanned using that standard and suddenly it found stations.  It automatically mapped cable-analog, cable-digital, and auto-deleted any scrambled channels. This took 20-30 minutes to finish.  I did get all the major channels in digital but USA, TNT, and others were not available. I would have to use the box to get that.  In the menu under the station list is 23 *pages* of channels. The majority of them were removed due to encryption.

The next trick (after payday) would be to either set up an A/B switch or a Y-split / Y-merge of raw output from the wall and output from the cable box.   I think that would work in theory where channel 3 (or 4) becomes the location of all premium programming.  Worst case would be I have to turn off the box to allow the raw signal to pass through the Y-merge to the tv input.  I haven't tried hooking the box back since these channels have been memorized in HRC mode.

So $99 (with shipping) for a used 720p 26" samsung HDTV screen finished this project.  This should tide me over until 2013 when I have money again... no jinx no jinx.

DarkHumour

[benali72]

Cool! I particular like the way you figured out how to scan for the stations. Smart.

Both my TV's are free ones I found in the garbage (people were tossing them into their alleys around here as everyone went to flat panel inspired by the 2010 changes in over-the-air broadcasting).  I made OTA antennas out of coat hangers and wood as per Youtube instructions and have been a happy free TV watcher ever since.

TVs aren't PCs... but they're still fun!

[The Gorn]

We're slowly moving toward HD at our house.

We still have a SD TV for the living room set. One problem I forsee is that our TV is in an old school entertainment center - a big Broyhill cabinet model that I last saw selling in 2002 or so for around $900. (I actually bought it in 1992 for about $600.) It's a NICE piece of furniture. But nothing larger than a 26" HDTV will fit the TV nook in it - so it is essentially useless for an HD set. It's gonna break my heart to give it away, but I doubt that it has much, if any resale value today.

The main issue with HD is having to redo everything you own entertainment wise. The stereo/media center that we use for TV will be inadequate for HD. (There's no way I want to rely on the crummy speakers built into the TV.) We need a Blue Ray player, probably. Etc.

Essentially upgrading to HD will force a redecorating binge on us and new electronics.

I hate being a consumer...

[Origisaurus]

I suppose  I'm a bit of a dorque - I actually paid 70 tokens for a minor brand TV about 7 years ago.  Works fine with the cable box.  I need cable for ISP anyway.  It sits in an entertainment center I rescued from a dumpster, so no loss if a flat screen doesn't fit.

Speaking of remodeling, my son has a 60" plasma screen that may or may not have fallen off a truck.  The challenge was where to hang it on the wall, and then finding the studs.  Best way to watch football!  Or hockey, eh.  Girls welcome, but we're watching the game.

[datagirl]

We just purchased a 32" LCD for the bedroom (pre-Black Friday sale at the Shack).  Our old SD tv died over a year ago and we've been getting by on a junky 13" SD.  We have not upgraded our satellite service (won't until we get a new tv in the living room), so the picture is still not as crisp as a true HD signal.  As Orig says, if a game comes on a local channel, we turn OFF the satellite and watch OTA because the picture is so much better. 

My biggest hurdle was that I had to buy a set of video composite cables for the DVD player since none of our old input devices have HDMI... a total upgrade is a process.  Whenever we do upgrade the living room, we will re-purpose the big oak entertainment center (probably for holding/hiding hubby's crafting supplies) and use a 1960's Danish Modern buffet cabinet I inherited from my folks.  I might have to do some minor retrofit, like drilling holes for cable grommets in the back, but only if it doesn't ruin the value of the "boofay."  Maybe by then all the inputs will be wireless. 

[DarkHumour]

I still have an entertainment center that had two side shelves and a center section. A few years ago I sliced them into three pieces, added new sides where needed, and put wheels on the bottom.  The center of gravity for the former sides is a little wonky but this was mostly so I didn't have to take the cabinet completely apart when moving or storing it.  I had grand overdesigned plans of trackball like wheels on it but that was abandonned.

Sort of was this []__[]  (Imagine a line on top)

Now this []  [_]  []

The width in the center section is  37 inches or so. I can't remember exactly.  The distance between those sides was the maximum of how large my next tv is 'allowed' to be.  Of course I could just carve the sides out to accomodate a flat screen that is too large for it. Or saw off the sides completely.

DarkHumour

PS. Yeah, OTA will always be better if you are close to the signal. No compression to cram all the HD offerings into their available bandwidth. That's why providers bragging about how many hd channels offered is kind of a hint how much quality has been compromised...

Edits: Cleaned up some sloppy writing. Bad habit of using the same words repeatedly.