Modders are driven by a variety of goals, from restoring censored content to getting the best of multiple worlds. For YouTuber Dr. Moddnstine, it was nostalgia that drove him to put a Chromecast in a 1978 TV set to allow it to play Internet videos and music.
The red TV had seen better days when it came into his hands, but he found a way to make it relevant again in an unexpected way. Dr. Moddnstine wanted to save it, so he figured out how to install a Chromecast inside the case. On top of that, he hooked up hardware so that the TV would turn on automatically when he started casting using his phone, tablet, or PC.
“I’m not trying to be some crazy hipster by doing something like this,” Dr. Moddnstine says in the video. “I found this thing in a trash pile, and I just, I had a soft spot in my heart for it because this is like the TV I remember as a kid growing up in the ’80s … I thought it should live a little bit longer than just being smashed into oblivion.”
The modder made creative use of a switch from a motion-detecting light system, allowing the TV to turn on and off automatically, as Liliputing details. While the functions work, they’re not instantaneous. It takes a few seconds for the TV to turn on, with sound kicking in first, and then images on the screen beginning to display properly after about 15 seconds. (The technology is from the ’70s, after all.)
Once it’s up and running properly, though, the TV responds well to commands. Dr. Moddnstine showed off how it worked with a YouTube video and while streaming from Google Play Music, and he was able to pause, play, and adjust the volume from his smartphone. The automatic shutdown isn’t quite as fast. It takes five minutes, but the TV does, indeed, turn off.
With an added audio jack, Dr. Moddnstine’s TV can be set up with a speaker or stereo system. “It’s certainly something that’s proved itself to be a valid device to keep around in my house,” he says.
Dr. Moddnstine’s has a few other adventures in modding posted on his YouTube channel, including create a 128GB floppy disk. If you want specifics on how Dr. Moddnstine’s upgraded his old TV, watch the full version video below.
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