Repourposing an Analog Portable LCD TV?

Question

I have this old portable OPTIMUS LCD TV that no longer gets terrestrial analog broadcasts.

I want to reuse the LCD for use with a Raspberry Pi, but I know that that just connecting the ribbon cable to it won't work.

Another pitfall is that despite it having an EXT ANT, it requires a modulated RF signal set to channel 3 to get video on it.

It works for old game consoles such as NES and SNES that came with built in RF modulators, but what about composite input signals?

Since the Raspberry Pi's 3.5mm Jack is composite video set to INPUT, I'm wondering if I can bypass the receiver entirely... this unpopulated VIDEO pin seems suspect to me.

Any thoughts? I'm thinking of making a mini arcade cabinet with it. I don't have an oscilloscope to probe signals with... just a cheap multimeter.

shabaz · Answer

Hi Rovert,

It is worth a shot, as you say it should be possible to bypass the front end and feed your composite signal in. You could try to find the data sheets of the ICs on the board to identify the best spot, or you could experiment by trying near the point you highlighted. Bear in mind that the quality won't be great though. There are low cost LCD displays specifically for the raspberry pi, and they will provide a better image.