BeauI’ve found Bang & Olufsen Beovision MX4000 CRT TV in thrift store last week and it did not have a remote. So while I’m looking for one that would not cost me an arm and a leg, I’ll be attempting to use Raspberry Pi to control it… 1/?
The first obstacle is lack of anything I could use to connect GPIO to breadboard. I thought I was clever and IDE cable would do but life is unfair and it does not fit. 2/?
For this skull’s contents the idea of “let’s adjust the plan and continue another day” is totally non-negotiable, so with a bit of legwork and hard earned cash I’m now a proud owner of 40-pin “kopplingskabel”.
Time to do some breadboarding, baby! 3/?
Was it required to connect all 40 pins to GPIO? No. Did I have the need, the unbearable urge to satisfy? Absolutely.
Now everything is connected as per this article: https://web.archive.org/web/20210205152652/https://www.raspberry-pi-geek.com/Archive/2015/10/Raspberry-Pi-IR-remote
It is time to write some Python code and make it blink! To make sure it’s functional.
Feel free to rate my breadboarding. And I hope that “breadboarding” is a term. If it’s not, it is now.
4/?
It blinks! I had to mess with unattended upgrades service that kept lock file hostage which did not let me install venv, then Python was refusing to see the RPi module but it does work.
I’m just surprised that I had more issues with software than hardware. Next step is to setup LIRC and try blasting some signals via CLI.
All in all, it progresses quite smoothly. Let’s hope it stays this way. 5/?
Had to do couple steps back by reinstalling OS. I had k3s as initially I wanted to use RPi as homelab and I could not find a single config that guides online are pointing to.
It’ll be easier with RPi OS for sure. 6/?
Spent almost 2 hours trying to understand why IR LED is controlled from Python code but not by LIRC. Imagine me when I swapped it with regular LED and realised it was working all along. It’s just that it was too dim, the TV has to be like a meter away from the source.
Now to redo the breadboard to make the signal stronger and not to burn the diode at the same time. 7/?
The saga continues with me digging through the forums where dedicated people put work into decoding B&O's protocol. The LIRC remote config omits virtual buttons that Beo4 had so I’m trying to add definitions for those.
Also I quickly threw up a web UI together so I don’t have to mistype commands in the terminal. 8/?
I don’t know if it’d been easier with an actual remote but this TV feels oddly unintuitive. At this point I’m not sure if I don’t understand how to set it up or if it’s just faulty.
On the other hand I wrote a converter that allows me to generate LIRC config entries from codes found at http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12486
And that means I can easily add all the buttons that are missing in original config.
It’s still fun but I start to feel some despair. 9/?
I’ve been fighting the problem of blank screen and the solution was awfully simple: I was using RCA-SCART wired for input instead of output. Found properly wired SCART in thrift store today and at last admired the beauty of PS2 and CRT.
There are still problems with distance from blaster to receiver, it has to be like 60 cm away. And the whole breadboard thing is flimsy. Will get a prototype board and try to make something more sturdy that I can mount on top of the unit, close to receiver. 10/?
Side-note: I was a bit skeptical reading odes to CRT but people are totally right, it looks way better than on LCD. My partner, who is not nerdy about this topic, seen it and was like “wow, the game looks way less dated now”. I probably would not go as far as getting PVM/BVM but I could see myself buying a PS2 RGB cable in future. 11/?
I overestimated my ability to intuitively transfer the whole thing to a prototype board and failed miserably. Will do another attempt next week. For now I just wrote a systemd config to launch web UI on system startup and tucked the whole thing behind the TV.
I’ve put IR LED close to receiver for best reception. I might not be proud of it but it works well for now it’s a temporary solution anyway.
Found out PS2 also has IR receiver and have even more ideas now. (:
12/?
Seems like it will take some time to buy a real remote so I’ve made an icon for the web app and turned it into PWA to run full-screen.
13/?
A wild Beo4 in pretty good condition and comparatively reasonable price appeared today so I bought it. I guess the end of the thread is close.
I did some progress with expanding LIRC config with missing codes and it feels like all the information I gathered would be lost if I don’t finish and open source the app.
I was able to tweak picture and sound settings with new codes so the TV itself probably reached its final form.
14/?