Advice on $1 colour TV's.

Sounds suspiciously like it's a monitor of sorts, which might mean it doesn't have an RF receiver. In that case you could probably use it with an external digital set top box.

The photo might help.

Dave.

G'day Dave, thanks for replying, for a minute there, I thought perhaps I may need to replace my anti perspirant.

Here is a photo, a little blurry, I was stumbling around in the dark in the garage.

Post back if you need a clearer scan.

I am fairly sure they are TV's and were sold as such in the auction, perhaps they came from a hospital

a fellow at the auction, a regular said he could have the codes for the remote to change channels I'll see him at the next it auction in 14 days.

Thanks again Dave. Rodney. (Perth)

Aha! W.A.C.A.E West Australian College of Advanced Education. Rod.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

Looks like a monitor to me. It does not have an RF input so there will be no RF receiver in there to tune in any channels. You can only use it as a TV if you use an external digital STB (or an external analog tuner, but that would be more trouble than it's worth I think). I assume it would take a normal PAL composite video signal on the BNC input.

No point getting a remote to change channels, you would leave it fixed on the one input.

Dave.

I was with the TAB for 25 years, and one of the cost saving methods we used frequently, was to buy in several hundred TV sets at a time, direct from a manufacturer, and get them contracted out, to be converted to video monitors.

The red plate looks very much like the sort of modifications we had done to the sets. Typical screwed or pop riveted plate on the back or side.

Is there any additional controls that may be TV related? Or perhaps an RF in plug in another location on the side or back?

Don...

Roger that, I'll check with the guy at the auction, in the next two weeks to just make sure, before I take them to the tip. I still fail to see why they would put a monitor in a TV frame complete with buttons. BTW I lied, I just saw the receipt, and they were $2.50 each :) Thanks for corresponding Dave. Best wishes Rod.

Rodney,

I would be making sure that they at least work as video monitors, before investing any real time into converting them. (If that is a possibility)

Best you wack a video signal into them.

Don...

Howdy there Don, I'll mosey on out to the shed, and take some more photos. Be back in a jiff Your suggestion seems very relevent, just the query remains, can they be reverse engineered to become TV's again? The only reason I persist, is 51" is a nice size to have in the shed without tossing it out.

The other auction buyer seems to think they can, he bought about a dozen :)

Cheers Rodney.

Very interesting indeed.

Do you have a video source like a digital STB, camcorder, or digital camera? If so just whack it in and see if you get a picture. If you do then I'd just get a new or 2nd hand Standard Def STB off eBay or whatever and use that. New ones are going for as little as $20+postage on eBay these days and you get the advantages of digital TV and a remote to go with it. By far a better option than trying to modify it back into an analog TV I recon.

Dave.

Unless the conversion is obvious when you crack it open, or you have a schematic, I figure David is spot on.

Let's see, $2.50, plus $20, plus postage. Hmmm.... Not worth opening up is it?

Don...

Shall do Don,

here is the box

you may need to save to HDD then open to see in correct res

and another.......

Rodney

or go verge shopping for a old VCR, just use it for the tuner --> vid out

"Verge Shopping" I like that :) Thanks boys, all your input is appreciated. I'll post on my progress.

Now....... did I tell you about the other lot I bought, $5 for what I thought was a box of 10 PC keyboards.

Turned out it was the boxes behind as well, I now have 150 microsoft keyboards........Arghhh I may have to go "Verge depositing".

Why not sell them on ebay them for a $1 each?

I have never sold anything on Ebay, sounds too much like hard yakka.

What I shall do though, is stick them in the car for the next "boot sale" at $1 and see what happens.

Personally, when I changed to the MS keyboard, from an old generic, I am finding the MS clunky, the keys harder to press, the enter key too small, and the wrists more elevated. I'll persist for another month or so, or go looking for another board. R.

Too much hassle. I don't know why anyone bothers selling anything on eBay for only a few bucks.

Dave.

See what happens when you don't read things properly? I thought you said you left your kids ON THEIR pushbikes on the verge...

I didn't feel so great when I went looking for the punch line and there wasn't one...

There should be this humungous "under cover" verge, where people can drive through and drop, or pick up junk to their liking. I left my kids pushbikes on the verge, at the last council cleanup and to see them being squitched by a council hydraulic made me feel ashamed I was in such a disposable culture.

Glad to see you recovered OK John, sometimes it's not what you read, but what is meant.

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.'