CRT TV RGB Mod - Toshiba 32A33 - For Retro Gaming 

so how did it go?

Sony's patent on the aperture grille design of the Trinitron expired in 1996. After that there was competition from other manufacturers with comparable screens.

@@BasementBrothers I read recently that no one else made aperture grille screen TVs other than Sony, despite the patent expiration. A couple other brands made them for computer monitors but not TVs. In my opinion the shadow mask style screens that the other brands used is better looking. That's what arcade monitors are.

I foound a 32A42 on Craigslist. I'm not sure what the difference is to your TV, but I assume the modding process would be similar.

My neighbor set out for free with beautiful corner stand, this exact tv, they bought it new and still looks new, I hooked the 64 to it haha

I just posted about something similar with mine (possibly the same thing). Whenever a lot of black/dark appears on the screen, the TV automatically boosts the brightness/contrast, and vice versa. For example, a dark text box, or sudden black crop bars on top and bottom (like when you press the Z button when playing either of the N64 Zelda games) makes the entire screen go brighter. Even going from a slightly light scene to a darker one will trigger it. I do not see any option to disable this in the user or service menus. I don't even know what it's called but I'm assuming it's what Toshiba advertised as "black level expansion". I hate when a marketing gimmick ruins an otherwise nice product.

@@spencer6891 That's interesting. I didn't realize Toshiba considered that a feature lmao. Thanks for sharing. But idk, for me it seems to be the entire screen at all times. Like the Super Mario World title screen for example, is noticably darker. When I go into the menu, a change a setting up or down by one notch, the screen gets really bright, and then slowly dims as I leave the menu.

Yes. However, I don't think all of my scart cables have the blanking voltage.

@@BasementBrothers Well at least every single European console, whether a megadrive, a n64, a snes, a wii, etc with their respective cable that supports RGB sends the blanking voltage, it's mandatory to make it work.

I tried that. I don't think that's the issue on this model.

Thanks for the feedback. The beer footage is something of a recurring joke we use on this channel, and I believe it was commented on already in the Secret of Mana 3 video or the NES mod video, where it was also used. The original joke was that it was a very careless, half-assed, rushed pour. It's very hard to put a price on this particular mod. It's almost free if you already own the tools. The main cost would be buying any supplies that you don't already have, but if you already do some modding, you may already have most of the tools and supplies needed. I paid 5.99 pounds for the scart connector from retrogamigcables (about $7.76 US), plus 10.24 pounds priority shipping to the US, which is high, but I always buy some other cables or something I need when I order from there to combine shipping. As mentioned in the video, there is a much cheaper connector you can order from China on ebay for about 2 for $3.00 if you're willing to wait a month for shipping. Then there's a handful of resistors, caps and wires. Very hard to put a price on these things, since I typically order these in bulk for $20~ large packs on amazon or Jameco. I don't know anyone who buys one resistor or cap at a time. The main cost really is for a good soldering iron, dremel tool, drill and bits. But these are all investments on things you can use later for other projects.

Interesting about the tri-level sync. I hadn't heard of that issue. So adjusting the position in the service menu doesn't fix it? I've heard people pronounce it Vega. I guess I wasn't curious enough to check it before recording.

@@BasementBrothers At 9:05 you mention the same issue with it being shifted left and that it can’t be completely fixed in the service menu. You said Bratwurst had an idea about how to fix it for both of you. I had hoped you found a solution. You can’t fix it by adjusting H-position in the service menu because it is also unevenly stretched. If you could adjust it to the right enough to correct the left edge you would be losing as much or more from the right edge. Not talking about usual overscan here though. It may not be related to bi-level or tri-level sync at all. I had just read about it when I got my HD Retrovision cables several years ago and always thought that was it… but all my Toshibas CRTs have Orion tubes inside. Orion is known for having a weirdly uneven stretch. I believe a Lame Gaming or The SegaHolic video mentioned this in their Toshiba TV RGB mod video (whoever it was demonstrated with Contra Hard Corps).

Yeah but I don't think all CRT tvs in Europe carry RGB signals. I have an old CRT, bought an RGB scart cable and the picture looks no different, really. It seems to just be carrying shitty composite. Just because your TV has a scart socket, doesn't mean it will use RGB signals, it seems.

​@@BasementBrothers My parents used to have this TV. Those RCA jacks are indeed stupidly fragile! You may want to try the S-video luma input as well, if you haven't already. On my RGB modded sony, I get bad picture shift if I use composite, but using luma from s-video is fine. As I understand it, this is due to the composite signal going through a comb filter, causing the picture shift.

@@BasementBrothers How weird! My parents still have their 32a33 sitting unused at their house. I really want to bring it back to my place and RGB mod it but it's a beast.

No, I haven't noticed. I'm not even sure what you're talking about.

@@BasementBrothers Thanks for the answer, i'll try to look on the web cause it's seems my tv is region exclusive.

@@BasementBrothers Thanks!😉

When I mention component, I'm talking about the YPbPr signal that it is most known for carrying in NTSC regions. It is not a standard RGB signal like those used by game consoles and arcade games. Read up on the YPbPR Wikipedia page. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YPbPr

It's a standard def CRT, so 480i only, as usual. The RGB mod is sharp. The TV often has some noise on solid colors, which may be due to my video source. The RGB picture is sharper than the component. I just wish I could center the image further right when using RGB.

@@BasementBrothers thanks! I'm using S-Video from an SNES (bought in 2000 so its luckily one of the newer "1chip" consoles with sharper stock image. That and the S-video looks good enough for my eyes but have enjoyed learning about the RGB mod for this TV. Our GameCube outputs 480p component, so I'm thinking S-Video will be best for that too seeing how these TVs can't handle 480p anyway, and I'd have to modify every one of my consols for RGB output. I wish I could center ours too. Or possibly adjust the "pitch, roll, & yaw" or is it called slant and skew for better alignment? I'm a novice with electricity so Im thinking I shouldn't attempt to physically adjust the tubes. Just wondering if there was some hidden menu on the remote I can't find. Any tips?

Here you go: shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=56155

Most higher end PAL CRT TVs can play both 50Hz 576i and 60Hz 480i

Yeah, it's not perfect. This seems to be the best I could do on my own.

Yes I did. They should be shared.

Thank you for your response I’m been trying to get this to work, through the closed caption chip. Do you remember pins you use? Are these all of them -2,6 audio input -7,11,15 RGB -20 Sync input -21 or 18 sync Ground, 5 blue Ground, 9 green Ground, 13 red Ground, 4 audio Ground(bridge the grounds)

I didn't use the closed caption chip. On this model, you can wire straight to the jungle chip. The pins are marked in the video. Good luck.

Press and hold the {MUTE} button on the remote. Then press the {MENU} button on the TV's front panel. To exit, turn the power off.

@@kaedrik5064 I'm not aware of a factory reset. That's why you have to be careful in the service menu. I just guess the meanings based on what they appear to do.

@@BasementBrothers all fun and games until your menu button on the tv isn’t doing anything🥲

Component is not RGB. Component is YPbPr. While I agree that it is an equivalent format in terms of quality, the console's native output is RGB, not YPbPr. By going straight to the TV by RGB, you're eliminating a conversion step.

@@BasementBrothers You're right, it is YPbPr... other than that technical term it really means nothing. They both look exactly the same. You don't have a superior image or colors just because you use Scart.

RGB isn't a better signal than YPbPr. However, the issue is the added conversion step, which is inherently lossy. And I made this point in the video.