instructables
Hacking an Old TV Into a Signal Visualizer - Oscilloscope
by edwardcotad
What does music look like? It is not something that
most people think about. Let's connect a music player
to an oscilloscope and find out. For non-electronics
geeks not out there, an oscilloscope is a piece of
electronic equipment that is used to view and analyze
electrical signals. It shows the waveform of an input
signal and offers other functions such as amplitude
control and "sweep". Because oscilloscopes are so
versatile, they also do a great job of displaying audio
signals. This means that you can effectively see what
a song looks like.
Unfortunately, most of us do not have an expensive
Hacking an Old TV Into a Signal Visualizer - Oscilloscope: Page 1
oscilloscope there. This is where the TV comes in.
Because analog televisions and oscilloscope screens
work on the same basic principles, it is possible to
reuse the previous one within them with some wire
and some technical knowledge. The result is a very
simple signal visualizer that is capable of displaying
audio signals in the range of approximately 100 to
3000 Hertz. As always, I encourage you to try this
project out of yourself, even if you don't have much
experience with electronics. The construction finished
being super simple and should only take about an
hour or less if you have everything at your disposal.
Step 1: Materials Needed

Materials:

An old analog TV (find one on eBay)

3.5mm stereo cable male to male
Music player with headphones
Wire
Welding or soldering kit
Screwdrivers (for disassembly)
Multimeter (not strictly necessary, but quite useful)

Note: For this project, I chose to use a portable television, in black and white because of its low form factor and
simplicity. I think the same results are also achievable with larger, color TV, however there may be minor
differences. For example, I think you may have to replace the horizontal deflection coil with a "dummy" coil in
larger televisions for the circuit to function properly. Since I have not tried this, though, I cannot confirm its
accuracy.

Hacking an Old TV Into a Signal Visualizer - Oscilloscope: Page 2

Step 2: Disassembly
Before you start, it is important that you realize the
risks involved with analog television hacking. The
main danger here is the flyback transformer. Located
in the image above, this device can store an
unpleasant load that can seriously injure you if you
are not careful. Be suspicious especially if you use a
larger TV, as the transformer will probably store
energy even more. Because of this, it is a good idea
to wear insulating gloves when handling the circuit
board and connections inside the TV.
With this in mind, open the TV housing and locate the
deflection coils. It will be the wire coils that surround
the back of the cathode ray tube (CRT) screen. The
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purpose of these coils is to direct the current of
electrons (fired from the electron gun in the back) in
the appropriate positions on the screen. As you may
have guessed, there are two deflection coils, one
vertical and one horizontal.
Next to the deflection coils, there will be a group of
four connections. Two of these connections
correspond to the vertical deflection coil and the other
two correspond to the horizontal coil. You will be able
to differentiate the cables in the next step through
experimentation.
Step 3: Screen Test
Although this step is not strictly necessary, it should
provide some insight into how the audio viewer will
work. First, take a picture of the coil connections
mentioned above, so you don't forget where the wires
go. Next, desolder the connections of the 4 coils.
Wrap electrical tape around loose wires, keep your
hands away from the inside and turn on the TV.
You should see a point in the center of the screen.
This is the electron beam deflected without hitting the
inside of the screen. Then unplug the TV and
reconnect the horizontal deflection coil (you can use
jumper cables instead of welding). If you don't know
what wires they are, only two of them hook up to their
machine, but the sound quality was poor and there
was no way I could adjust everything in the case of
small TV. Warm up about the problem for a while and
then beat me: the TV obviously produces sound, so
you should already have an audio amplifier on it! All I
had to do was reuse. This is precisely what I will
show you how to do it in the next steps.
Before moving on, I should also mention that it is
possible to visualize the waves horizontally on the
screen. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as sending a
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original positions and continue experimenting. Turn
on the TV and you will see a horizontal line across
the screen. Unplug it and do the same with the
vertical deflection coil. As expected, this will produce
a vertical line along the screen.
If you have an amplifier, leave the vertical coil
connected and the output of the amplifier to the
horizontal coil of the hook. When music is played, the
waveform appears on the screen as desired. This is
where one more stop tutorials on the subject.
Unfortunately, many people (including me) do not
have an amplifier that you can use for this project. I
had originally done to hack an old answering
signal to the other coil. Because the horizontal
deflection coil operates at a much higher frequency
than the vertical one, this only produces a moving
static band. The solution is to move the vertical coil
cables to the horizontal coil and send the audio signal
to the vertical coil instead. Because the screen is not
square, however, the resulting horizontal line does
not fill the entire screen (see last photo). You can
mitigate this problem by adjusting the vertical grip, but
I decided that I liked vertical waves better at the end.
Step 4: Modifications
First, locate the audio output connector on your TV.
From my experience, more analog TVs have one, but
if yours doesn't, you should probably buy and install
oneself. Look here if you do. As the name implies,
this connector is intended for audio output, usually to
a pair of headphones. For this project, we want a
signal for the input amplifier. To do this, you first need
to disconnect the circuit connector. Use a metal saw
or dremel tool to cut the remains going to the socket.
Make sure they are completely disconnected. You
really don't want the TV trying to send signals on your
iPod.
The audio jack has three connection points. On the
front of the cat (closest to the outside of the TV) is for
the land. On the back of the jack is for audio signal.
The remaining connection is used to turn off the
external sound when the audio jack is in use. Cut the
The only thing left to do is connect the TV speaker to
the horizontal deflection coil. Welding two wires in
place and close everything. The conversion is
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traces "fools" the TV in the thought that the cat is in
use. To solve this problem, weld the traces that went
to the second and third connector together. The third
photo above should make this clearer.
Now, place the volume control on your TV. It is
probably a sphere that turns a potentiometer in the
circuit. If so, solder a cable from the signal of the
audio connection to the central leg of the
potentiometer. Solder the other cable to the ground
leg of the audio jack. Plug your music player into the
socket and start playing a song. Touch the ground
wire to each of the remaining legs of the
potentiometer. When you listen to music playing
through the TV speakers, you know you have found
one. Unplug everything and solder the end of the
cable in place. Now that you finished modifying the
circuit board.
complete!
Step 5: Have Fun!

Now is the time to try it! Connect your music player and try your favorite songs. You can also use this online tone
generator to play with different frequency, amplitude and waveforms. I used it to create standing waves at
approximately 320 Hz. Thanks for reading and let me know if you come up with any other good ideas for this
project!

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Very interesting, thank you for sharing!

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