Modding a Consumer CRT TV for RGB - Game Sack
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มี.ค. 2020
- Episode 273 - RGB is generally the best video quality for older game consoles. But such inputs were rarely ever offered on consumer TV sets in North America, and professional monitors with RGB inputs can be expensive and hard to come by! Guest Nick McCraken takes a composite video-only Sony TV found in a thrift store and mods it to accept an RGB signal for immensely improved video quality for your retro consoles, and the result is fantastic! Want to contact Nick? Search for Nick McCracken from Canton, SD on Facebook
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#crt #rgb - เกม
Sorry, I have to do my usual Publc Safety Announcement again....
If you have a TV which has an insulating block between the RF tuner and aerial socket DON'T mod it for RGB!
Those sets have a so called "hot chassis", where the entire PCB is floating a mains potential.
It was a way for the manufacturers to make the TV more cheaply, without the need for a properly isolated power supply.
But the only thing between you and electrocution is the insulator on the RF socket.
Usually those TVs don't have anything else metal (like buttons) that are exposed to the outside of the case.
If somebody were to RGB-mod those sets without realizing, it would pose a serious risk of electric shock when they go to plug in the RGB or audio cables, or even just touching the connectors.
The TV in the video clearly has a metal extension from the RF tuner, a proper isolated switched-mode PSU, so should have proper isolation for the RGB signals (and the Ground taken from the secondary side of the PSU).
Even if you warn people not to do this mod unless they know what they're doing, the problem is that most of the guides never mention the "hot chassis" thing.
It's a particularly insidious problem, because you could in theory even test the RGB input OK when hooking up to a console (since the console's often have a "floating" DC power supply too), but get a serious shock if you touch the cable/connectors, or other cables hooked up to the console at the same time as something grounded (like a cable box, other cables, radiators, taps, pipes, other devices, kittens, etc.)
And people WILL unfortunately try this mod regardless of the usual warnings about discharging the tube etc.
The mod can obviously be done safely (like on the TV in this vid), but definitely something to watch out for.
Stay safe. ;)
Good info. Pinned!
Yeah some old technology can be crazy dangerous. There's a reason we used to have electronics repair shops everywhere back in the day, you couldn't just do it yourself like building a computer today. Another one is guitar tube amps. Don't mess around with the tubes yourself, trying to replace them or whatnot. You can get shocked doing that too even when the amp is off and not plugged in with a kettle lead.
Nowadays it seems there's more regulation to try and make electronics safer, like it's easy enough to replace a phone battery or fix a gamepad by opening it up. That's a good thing. They're still probably making CRTs in China somewhere with no regulation at all though, with this unsafe factor. I've heard some people import newly made CRTs from China off Ali express or whatever to play old consoles with. I dunno if I'd risk it. Just get an old one off ebay.
Oh yeah, guitar amps. That's another one. lol
I just stumbled on a thread about that, too, while looking for CRT "hot chassis" stuff.
All those stories of musicians getting zapped on stage are probably due to that, like in "Almost Famous", or "The Commitments".
@@electronash thanks for the Pubic Safety Announcement
Who knew that Matt Damon's brother modded tvs?
They don't look that much alike >_>
Jumpscares at:
1:54 - Screwdriver (Even Joe jumped)
4:15 - Jungle Chip
4:51 - Jungle Chip: Part 2
10:28 - Joe is dead
21:08 - Joe is dead: Part 2
chuckled at "Joe is Dead: Part 2"
The silly thing about RGB support on European televisions, despite it being a commonplace feature since the early 90s, it wasn't really all that well-known or advertised among the general populace. Most devices would still hook up to a television through RF or Composite, and games consoles too all came with RF or Composite cables out of the box. RGB SCART cables needed to be purchased separately and unless you knew specifically what they were and what they did, it was very easy to just pass them up in ignorance. I didn't learn about RGB until the early 2000s well into the PS2 era, after which I immediately upgraded everything I could to RGB SCART because ohmygod it looked sooooo much better.
Additionally, it was very easy to get confused by the difference between signal and plug. A lot of people thought the SCART adapters included in the box with most consoles was RGB, because SCART is RGB right? Well no, SCART can carry Composite, S-Video and RGB signals. That adapter is just there for televisions that don't have separate Composite plugs on them. To get RGB you needed to get a fully integrated RGB SCART cable, but without that particular knowledge it was easy to think that an RGB SCART cable was the same as Composite plugs + a SCART adapter.
@@Astfgl I didn't know about RGB until I got my Mega Drive 2 out of the garage and I found out how much of a pain was to use the R/F connection, fortunately my LCD still has SCART RGB so I thought to look on ebay for scart cables and it was pretty easy to find a good scart RGB one for cheap. The jump in quality was fenomenal, even if it's not perfect because of the LCD screen it was still light years better from what I was used to.
Back in the days I used my SNES with RF (it even came with a cable splitter so that you didn't have to unplug the antenna from the TV). Only recently I tried a SNES with RGB SCART and the difference is huge. Although I must say that it's more noticeable on 2D consoles rather than on newer consoles like the PS2.
@@Astfgl I know this as I knew people even in the HD era use composite with HD tvs and if you told them they said "it must be hd as its a HDtv" I used to change my parents tv to RGB in the early 2000's and my dad would change it back saying it was worse, to be fair it was the saturation was higher on composite rather than the sharpness, I have been RGB since 1997 most recent was in 2016 I was staying for a few weeks as someones lodger who used a original xbox via rgb and I could tell it was set to AV and not RGB in the menu as soon as I did it they thanked me and saw a huge difference. As a final note I found it hilarious how people who badmouthed CRT's in the HD era were the ones using RF and Composite and assuming the "bad" picture was due to it being SD.
Here in Elbonia we used BGR.
I just tried this at home and died. Thanks a lot, Joe.
RIP
F
Instructions unclear, now my microwave only plays Pal region games
You got the RIP mod instead of RGB. ;)
Joe: this is NOT a tutorial!
Me: *standing in front of broken TV* well, shit...
watch 8bit guy tutorial about it .
Seeing Joe next to a real human man (that isn’t Dave) reminds me that he’s not a cartoon character and is in fact really alive somewhere. It’s surreal 🤯
I've met him on 3 separate occasions so I'm convinced lmao
I'm still not convinced.
Surreal is the fact that he has fans.
Pure dementia.
Not funny at all.
*laughs in european SCART*
but also
*cries in PAL games*
laughs in PAL 60 SCART
@@kevboard There were no PAL60 games all the way up until the Dreamcast as far as I'm aware, and even then, there are near 50 games that are 50hz only. That's a lot of letterboxed, slow games up until then - and now, if you still play them, unless you mod your PAL console or just use an NTSC console on SCART, which works fine. Or enjoy a few PAL optimized games, such as Crash Bandicoot. I just use NTSC consoles and avoid PAL entirely all the way up to HDMI consoles, when it stopped being an issue. Too bad they didn't bother optimizing most games back in the day, the color and resolution are clearly superior. But retro gaming in PAL is a really shitty deal for the most part.
that's not european scart. thanks the french norm :p
There is no such thing as PAL in RGB anyway, it is a colour encoding method used for video signals like composite etc.
RGB is RGB and there is no PAL or NTSC encoding, hence why it is so sharp and clear.
It wont matter which region the console is from, it will be in full colour on RGB inputs regardless of the burst crystal hooked up to the encoder.
"Don't try this at home!" He points out before refusing to take his own advice. 😁
He didn't try it, he got Nick to do it!
@@ALTDOK667 I saw Joe getting electrocuted & his head fell off when he tried to mod the black & white 9 inch screen tv that his mommy gave him.
Customer: So, whats wrong with my TV?
Technician: It needs a new JUNGLE CHIP!!!
Now every time I see Green Dog, I say to myself "Ghreeeen Dawwwwgggg" in Joe's voice. It's a problem.
Pavlov strikes again!
Same!
Apparently this happens to quite a lot of folks. I've also got imaginary Joe telling me to notice how sweet parallax scrolling is every time I see one.
@@SylverstoneKhandr how often do you see Green Dog?
Came for the mod, left with a good "Zelda story." 👍🏻👍🏻
Jungle chip
Best comment
Cool video and great CRT work. Love seeing other people work on CRTs.
19:37
NOT RUDE!
I SAID "PLEASE"!
Majestic cow. King of the jungle.
Jungle penguins, too. Guess they'd be a...prince?
@@Dorelaxen No they're an Emperor.
Maybe it is just me, but sometime I truly feel GameSack and AVGN videos make me love this world a little bit more.
Genesis and Dreamcast boy, my kind of guy, I don’t know this man but I already like him!
I have a pet peeve where people would call the Mega Drive the Genesis. I like Mega Drive more, but America had to change the console name to Genesis I guess...
What about the Saturn (
One of the most hilarious and honest stories I’ve ever heard... 3rd Grade and Zelda. This is a great episode. Not to mention super informative.
Nick McCracken already has one of my friends drooling for a RGB mod thanks to this episode!
Please remember to be safe if you are going to attempt this. Not all CRT's were built the same so you should really not go into this with half an idea or without the right tools.
Nobody wants to be the person that died from a tv and shat their pants.
The hilarious skeleton jump cuts do convey the air of danger surrounding slapping your hands around the guts of a TV if you are a dumb ape... but good mention.
Seconded. Amusing visual gags aside, this can straight up kill you.
I touched (no, grazed) the neckboard of my PVM once and let me tell you..... it wasn't especially fun.
This girl story could be an episode of The Goldbergs!
To be honest, I was more interested in his stories than the mod... XD
Lol true that. Perhaps Joe has found his new sidekick??
That random Jungle Chip cutaway is the reason why we still subscribe to Game Sack.
‘Learned a game to impress a girl’ - file under things that will only happen in grade school
Hoping to see more of Nick in the future, great episode!
I guess we got lucky in Europe, almost all TVs from the mid 90s and on accepted RGB through scart.
I scrolled down to say exactly the same thing, I guess it's the one thing they got right in PAL land..
That 50hz though 🥴
James Smith yeah but 50Hz 🤮
TH-cam Admin Nope, a lot of PAL TV’s can do 60hz
Tvs were 60hz, consoles were 50hz
Great episode Joe, I really enjoyed this episode and would love to see more of these technical showcases. Thanks!
The "Jungle Chip Screen" and "Electrocution Scene" were funny, more of that please lol
4:15 JUNGLE CHIP!!!
This is the first time I've ever seen someone demonstrate how to discharge a CRT with it actually popping. Nice
It's because most people when they show them off on camera have let them sit for so long before modding, that they have already discharged.
I really liked this. Super interesting and in game sack style. I also really liked the live feed / chat. Game sack has been a part of my viewing life for a long time, so it was really cool to understand you on a new level. Appreciate all the work you do.
That Zelda story was too good!
CRT televisions here in Europe are getting rare because they had RGB SCART built in from the get-go. I’m a proud owner of one.
I've owned like four of them over the past years.
CRTs are really easy to find in my region for cheap. I might try this with a guide.
Excellent work man. CLEAN job!
Awesome! Nice change of pace vid Joe. Good job on the mod!
that was kind of mean at the end Joe "Please go away" lol
"JUNGLE CHIP!!!"
oo ooo aa aaah ahh!
*75 OHMS Ω!!!!!*
I love how a penguin and a cow live in the jungle
🐒🐯🐺🐻🦁🦍🦎🦒🦓🐘🐍 🐨
@@CrossoverGameReviews AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Dude this video was so good thanks to your comedy and genius editing.
Great episode, Joe! I never knew this was possible. And I just love that Super Adventure Island at the end. Thank you
12:10 diehard Nintendo Power / Zelda fans will know his 2nd quest predicament right away. :) ouch!
Is he gonna do that, every time he says jungle chip, yes he is.
He better xD
GREEN DOG'S JUNGLE CHIP!
FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER
that 75 ohms part was hilarious lol
This was such a cool video. Thank you guys for coming together and informing us about this modification with RGB on a composite television
I love the synthwave music on this video.
This is super cool. Love to see a curved Sony crt with RGB. I want to let everyone know that there is a plug and play solution to getting RGB out of consumer grade North American CRTs. You need a CRT that has component (not composite) inputs. All you need is a RGB to component transcoder. And there you have it. RGB quality video on a consumer grade tv. No input lag. no video quality loss. no need to mod your tv. I can verify that the shinybo transcoder and the retrotink transcoder work great. Costs like 70 bucks.
I cant love this comment enough. It literally is that good. The shinybow sb2840 is one of the best rgb to component converters out there. Just make sure you use a good quality component cable and you are golden.
The issue is that a huge majority of crts that accept component are flat screen, which means they don't display 240p content correctly.
@@RetroDoneRight I tell people keep their eye out for Panasonic TV's from the early - mid 00's as they still used curved glass on their sets, and the picture quality is really good, and for the most part they do include component inputs, and stereo inputs/outputs. I have a 27 Panasonic with everything going threw component, but will for sure be upgrading now I know about the cable, and I use the stereo output to pump it into my 5.1 Dolby surround sound setup., and let's just say when I was playing Vigilante 8 on the N64 a while back with some friends on a game night the windows rattled lol.
@@RetroDoneRight most flat screen crt tvs are sd tvs and support 240p perfectly. I have 6 sony flatscreens and 1 jvc flatscreen. They all work fine. There are hd flatscreens that upscale 240p to 480p. I had one and it did indeed suck for 240p. Hd sets are easy to spot. They say"hd" all over them.
@@JeffYPbPr can you recommend a good cable? I started to notice a diagonal lines artifact. It's really faint but annoying.
By the way. I have a shinybo transcoder. It works flawlessly.
I'd love to see more gaming mod videos! This was so fun to watch!
Fun episode. I actually enjoyed watching the whole thing. 👍
Joe this is incredible! I've never seen anyone mod anything before and this is fascinating. Want to see more of Nick he's brilliant. . Thank you again! (Also I hope Dave clobbers you for the last skit.)
this was an entertaining change of pace! Great work guys
It was really perplexing when I first learned that you guys didn't have an RGB in your TVs back then. It was a very common practice in Europe where we had to get RGB cables to play imports with color on our TVs because we were the ones who got usually shafted pretty hard by the gaming industry. All the 50Hz bullshit and for some reason they decided not to release most of the good games here. So, we had to import them and naturally mod our consoles and get those RGB cables. Missing those times somewhat. Not all the hassle and the cost of importing stuff all the time but the gaming itself.
Joe can always announce Monster Truck Rallies if Gamesack ever fizzles out. ;) As for black and white, my first TV was a 13" color set I bought used for my Atari 800xl. It worked until I retired it in 1989. Then my dad took it and put it in his shop and used it until 2002 when he wanted a bigger set. :) THAT is quality.
The real question is: How much Mega Power doe the Jungle Chip have?!
One of the few benefits of living in Europe. Almost every (middle class and upwards) TV was RGB compatible.
50 htz sucks compared to 60
@@jacobprayer8656 Some TV were capable of 60Hz, very few all the games at the time unfortunately
@@i-dont-burn-under-the-sun Most, if not all, late Euro CRTs are multistandard (PAL/NTSC).
@@jacobprayer8656 my B&O CRTs handle 60Hz no sweat, so a region mod on the console is all that is needed
My 19" Sony CRT (at least 25 years old) supports 60Hz just fine.
I loved your interview style. Very casual and reminds me of 1up show.
I really enjoyed this!
9:01: Gaming in B/W. Yes, I experienced that too when I got my first computer (a C64) in the early 90s. But it was even worse. Not only was it a black and white TV, it was one that was way past it's prime. So I started gaming and programming on an old east german black and white TV (called "Luxomat") with a dying phospor layer so I aways had to darken the room to see what I was actually doing. Before the unification of germany I only experienced gaming (and programming) to a certain degree with east german home computers (KC85) at school which were connected to a small russian TV-set (I guess it was a Junost brand) which also was in black and white. Only the teachers TV was in color (and bigger).
Yunost is actually Estonian ☺️ EDIT : I am totally whrong. Yunost (Юность) is ended a Russian TV , and Shiljalis (Шилялис) is Lithuanian brand and it is still around to this day
Who remembers having to pack a 75 to 300 ohm converter to their friends’ houses to play NES on a knob-based CRT? I do!!!
i do :D
Yep I did that with the TV at my grandmother's house that was in her sunroom.
I had one for my PS1 and my TV was the old one. I was very confused when I opened the box for the first time and couldn't find where those tri-colored cables had to be connected.
When my friend got his PSX he couldn’t hook it up because the only input on his TV was a 75 ohm coax input. He had to pass it through a VCR. I had to play NES and Genesis through a 75 ohm to 300 ohm transformer but fortunately by the 5th generation I didn’t have that issue.
I remember! Also I remember always looking for a butter knife to unscrew the screws in transporting situations lol.
Another great episode! Enjoyed your special guest Nick and his interesting tales.
Green Dog looks great in RGB! Thanks for keeping the goodness coming every week, Joe!
Looks great. Nick can mark that as a job well done. Great video, Joe. It's always a nice surprise to see what kind of wacky antics make their way into the show.
6:56 "But once...the Attitude Era hit" Wrestling fan, confirmed! 😂 We can't hide it
Guilty as charged!
His timeline was off though. Attitude era was the late 90's
@@overkill7990 he's talking about video game Attitude era. Basically started with Sonic. Not wrestling Attitude era
Tried at home since this was a tutorial. My lawyers will expect you to replace the testicle that was fried.
@Lassi Kinnunen you don't?
I loved this. Awesome episode!
You're extremely lucky to have someone in your area who can do this!
We were lucky here in the UK with RGB being largely the standard however we got shafted with 50hz. Thank heavens today we can take advantage of both and so much more.
We eventually got CRT TV's with component inputs, and have 2 that can do it, but that didn't become common till the very late 90's - mid 00's, unless you spent a boatload on some high end Mitsubishi TV that cost a years worth of paychecks.
That was the best ZELDA story I"ve ever heard. Thanks for sharing.
I love Nick now please have him as a guest
this is my dream project. have been building up my skill with other soldering jobs like repairs and chip installations
Anyone else think Nick McCraken was going to be Joe dressed as another character??
If Joe says there's a cow in the jungle then there's a cow in the jungle, period.
Or a 🐧
Black and white. I remember it well. Man I is getting old.. :( Nick is a very cool guy great stories..:)
As a tech who works on more modern TVs this is an interesting watch. Thanks for uploading this!
Ah, Nick McKracken! I loved that game (lol).
For all the Euro folks about to pipe up about SCART... We didnt get SCART in the US.
I'm a euro folk and already noticed some stating the obvious that they can be picked up everywhere for free lol
At least our signals were at faster, at 60 hz. Take that stupid Europeans.
@@eddielockhart2072 But their resolution was higher. :(
Hiro Plays Games Screw that resolution, you don‘t even know what it was like having to play everything at 17% reduced speed and huge ass borders top & bottom of the screen :S
@@Gryzor88 true. Im uk and thought everything "normal" until I started emulating. ...and i was like - this whole time.....goddamit!
Great episode! I really love the music init
Man i love this video , just found now your channel , really Awesome , i'm from Brazil :D
2 in the morning gang who up
8 am for me, just in time for my cheese sandwich
Jungle Chip Cru
Up
@@AgentDanielCross cheese sandwich?
are u at least gonna melt it.
u knw like a proper grilled cheese
Midnight for me. Bowl of raisin bran and a surprise Game Sack episode 🤔👍👍
This makes me moister than an oyster.
Wetter than an English Setter.
Yeah, as an English gamer I was watching this for a good while thinking "what are they talking about?! Most TVs were RGB compatible. Never realised the US was completely different in that regard. Thinking about this I also recalled the early name that was used for RGB scart - the fabled 'Euroconnector'
usa did have rgb monitors but they were not typically consumer-grade (medical imaging monitors, security camera monitors, broadcast, etc) / also another workaround would be to use a quality vcr (good sony ones will let you watch PAL tapes & modulate pal signals)
Really enjoyed this video.
SCART or how we call it on this side of the pond, Euro-plug master race! :D
ボロ from EU 50Hz = sub human race
You got some great lighting in your basement Joe. It looks like it's daytime in there.
I like how you wiped your face with the rag after wiping down the crt lol. The picture looks great man. Please go away.
I was really puzzling over that last sentence before I got to the end of the video 😅
that's how Covid starts... 😂
i cringe laughed so hard at that lol
great vid and awesome tune selection 👌 19:54
I'm always amazed and blown away watching people like Ben Heck, The 8 Bit Guy, and now Nick who have so much skill and talent with modding and refurbishing electronics. I recently bought a soldering iron and feel inspired to want to learn and understand how it all works but things like Ohms, Voltage, Transistors, Resistors, Capacitors and all the scientific knowhow seems intimidating.
Tbh, these type of TV’s are more durable than their “furturustic” counterparts.
the crt eventually develops burn in, capacitors go dry, but still can last for 20-25 years... or more
Nah man maybe with a poke to the screen, but they all smash the same off the roof.
Hey you two, don't stand so close to each other. So much for social distancing.
We even shook hands! But for those wondering we shot this about a month ago.
@@GameSack Haha! I'm just giving you shit. Love your videos BTW. Thank you for making them available on TH-cam.
@@GameSack Please do a namaste for viewers across the globe.
LOL the end of the video was so funny, I like the humor.
I love your inserts! 75 ohms!!!!
*laughs in European
One word 50hz
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP I have 100hz crt. No problem.
Games run at 50hz anyway
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP We could still play NTSC 60 hz on our CRT's. Either by import, or mod our consoles.
LMAO I never had it here so I never missed it...ha ha...(cries in corner over nothing missed).
Gotta love how this is completely pointless to watch for anyone in Europe
Jep xD
Great episode!
One of the best modding vids
I had the NES too back at the 80 born '76 . The gameplay is still fun today
Fantastic episode, Joe.
Wow. Thank you for sharing. I want one.
In Europe we never bothered about getting these RGB cables, even though my 1991 soviet-polish tv set had RGB scart and 60hz support (my Japanese 1989 tv set and american/worldwide edition of Sanyo 14" tv set had only rf) we sticked to rf only. Ps and ps2 era was the very first moment i had to get RGB cables for my soviet-polish 1991 tv set and it worked great but in the late 80s and early 90s noone really bothered, we played Sega genesis games with rf. It would be the same in your case in US, you would simly not use nor be aware of scart connectors if you had them, all your consoles would be bundled with rf and yellow video cables only, noone would really care.
It is getting sparse, but local universities are still flush with old PVM monitors. I managed to pick up a pallet of them not long ago, and for dirt cheap. Right now I have a number of Sony 2950q monitors. Check your local State resell shop, I find the site gov deals is a good start. They only have the auction listings, but you can visit the warehouse during certain times every week. It is worth a look!
I liked the skit at the end.
That skeleton effect was dopeee
That face reflection during the credits is a nice touch lol