Google Chromecast on 1949 RCA

[Penthode]

I thought I should share my photos of the old with the new. I bought on Amazon a Google Chromecast for $35. I can control it with a You Tube app on my Verizon Android phone and use it to surf the internet, view and Netflix and You Tube video.

For $32 on Amazon, you can purchase an HDMI to composite NTSC 525 video with analog stereo audio converter. It converts all the standard computer resolutions to good 'ol 525 video. The converter is fed to my RF channel 4 modulator.

What you wil see is the internet explorer, the You Tube navigation page and Frank Lloyd Wright and moderator John Daly from a you Tube replay of "What's My Line".

The Chromecast is a dedicated tiny (about 1 1/2 square inch) device which plugs into the HDMI converter (about 2 square inches) to form a dedicated low cost portal to all the internet videos for vintage TVs.

This is how it appears on my 1949 RCA 9TC275 (16" roundie).

Cheers,

Terry

[baursam]

Very cool indeed Terry. The last picture reminded me of Front Page Challenge on CBC I believe.

[Penthode]

To demonstrate the significance of this little vintage TV signal source, I have posted a picture of the entire setup. Note the Chromecast unit attached to the HDMI to composite 525 video with audio converter.

The Chromecast includes WiFi internet access to output streaming video via an HDMI. Of course it is intended for the latest generation of TV displays. But with the aid of the HDMI converter, it can be used on an old TV.

This means that the many vintage videos we see on line can be readily and well displayed on a vintage TV.

[jmetal88]

I had thought of doing something similar, but I had been planning on trying it with an HDMI to Component converter. But then again, I don't think the converter I was looking at was capable of scaling an HD source down to NTSC, so the input source would have had to have been 480i. The main reason for considering Component was because both of my 'modern' color CRT sets have 480i component inputs, so I'd get the best color separation possible with those, and I'd be able to feed just the Y signal to my vintage sets for a pure black and white image.

[stromberg6]

Thanks for posting this Penthode. I've been considering doing something like that for a while, and now want to try it. I'm wondering if the Google adapter can be used with an Android tablet, like the Asus I have. I don't see why not, but I'm curious to know more. BTW, that RCA looks GREAT! If I ever get this work bench clean enough before Christmas, I'll start on my KCS-99, a 1956-56 DeLuxe console with the inverted circuit boards. .
Thanks again!
Kevin

[Penthode]

Yes, I too woul like the component interface. But I would also like to use the chromcast on my vintage color set. I can live with some chroma artifacts on Black and White.

Most of the vintage TV clips look fine. However, some clips suffer from the anamorhic squeeze: eg I suspect clips of which are orginally sourced from full frame 16x9 or 16x9 with pillarbox 4x3. If the clip upload was done as 4x3 then the aspect ratio is correct.

[Kamakiri]

Wow, that is awesome. I'm going to order the parts for this today!

[Electronic M]

Interesting concept for portable use. My solution to internet video on tube sets is a 2003 desktop computer I found on the side of the road and built into an old Zenith VCR case(has a thread title VCR computer or similar in the off topic section). That unit has a video card with VGA, composite and S-video so I can easily supply my sets with color or with chroma free video.
After adding a WiFi adapter, and upgrading to Vista from Ubuntu which did not like to work with the outputs I wanted on the video card, I can watch just about any digital format video or image file(meaning I can draw my own test patterns if I want) on my TVs.
Aside from the WiFi adapter I was able to put this together for basically free.

[jmetal88]

Actually, after looking around at the HDMI to Component converters available, I've realized most of them won't output 480i, but stop at 480p for the lowest resolution. So I guess the best type of converter for my use would be one that outputs S-Video and has a built-in scaler.

[Glenz75]

Great little adapter....that is way cool seeing the Google home page on the RCA