TURNING MY VINTAGE TV INTO A SMART TV 

Start at 8:48 to skip the back story & disclaimer 😂 ✌️

I love coming across videos like this because it goes to show you that vintage technology can still serve a purpose as long as you pair it with modern technology in some way shape or form.

Watched this the other day and forgot to leave a comment! I think this is absolutely genius . You get to keep your vintage style but have the modern conveniences! Love it .

Great find! I was born in the late ‘70’s and my family had a TV just like this. With an Atari 2600 games console underneath. I love the wood veneers. I miss that. A time when your TV was considered a real piece of furniture. Not like the throwaway electronics we get through now. 📺 ❤️

Everything in my house is vintage & u really motivated me 2 make my vintage console tv into a Roku tv which I just did the other day. All I needed was a hdmi in to rca out & then plugged into my vcr & that’s all…thanxxxx for the vintage vibes motivation

I grew up in the 70's & had a large floor model TV. I remember my mom would decorate it with different things, like pictures & plants. I totally understood what you were saying & all those conncention. Just like today's kids are electronic technicians, that was me with this stuff as a kid. Watching this now I miss that old TV 😂

As an old TV collector, I would say it's most likely a 1985 model. Starting sometime in the 70s, it was mandated at least in the states to state the month and year of manufacture on the back of a TV.

Thank you, Thank you, for sharing. I almost disposed of two large analog TVs that has a beautiful picture. Watched your Video, bought the items, connected it within a few minutes. Now a Smart TV! 😮❤

Definitely a mid 80s TV, but a dang gorgeous piece. I collect old CRTs and this style is one of my favorites. You can actually do a tube swap for a "newer" Sony Trinitron tube to get that old school feeling with the perks of the later CRT models like component inputs and the like.

I love the TV. Wish I could find one like that. Thanks for sharing.

You should be able to connect the Coax Cable directly from the VCR/DVD player directly to the tv because the RF output from the VCR/DVD combo is analog to begin with. You only need the converter box if you are connecting the tv to an antenna.

This is ridiculous. I love it. The dedication to get it to work. 😊❤

Ty so much lol. I actually needed this video. I was gifted a 1976 sears tv from some family members and it does even have a coax port! But it came with an adapter. I am actually so thankful for this video lol.

Omg 80s baby here , I'm 43 and remember Saturday mornings when my cousins would come over and we would eat captain crunch cereal and sit on the floor in our PJs eating our cereal watching the smurfs on that same television. Bro I would literally give up everything I have my girlfriend my kids my job my house cars and bills to go back to 1987 and be that little boy again I literally would and this time I would figure out a way to stay a kid in the 80s for eternity 😢😢😢❤❤❤

So are we not going to talk about the fact that at 17:28, there's a show called "The Day My Butt Went Psycho"???

This was so interesting to watch how you set this retro tv up. I love all the classic tv shows too. Thank you for sharing.

Nice! Sounds like you might just need to add an RCA connection switcher to save yourself from having to plug and unplug things when you want to switch devices. You can get a cheap 4-in-1 switcher for around $10 online. I never had a TV like this in my house growing up, but my friends did. So I have fond memories growing up in the 80s/early 90s with all of us sitting on their family room floor playing NES or watching movies on VHS or cable. Seemed like the movie Mannequin was on every Friday or Saturday night back then. Lol. We'd have sleepovers in our sleeping bags almost every weekend on their family room floor,. Their floor standing TV (I think it was a 25" RCA) was just at the right height for us on the floor. So I have a bit of nostalgic love for these TVs for that reason.

Honestly so much cooler than a 4K smart tv! I live near a place that is LITTERED with similar TVs that are working and for sale! Once I buy all the adapters and one of those TVs it’d be about the same price and look SO MUCH COOLER!

I’m currently watching this video on an analog crt and your set up is solid. I have my Roku set up through the VCR/DVD combo and run all my old games through the combo as well, but I use VA switch.

Most stores don't know crap especially about old technology. I am actually a technology person and am also very into retro technology. There are many ways to get the end result of what you were going for, but the way you did it is just fine. Good job especially considering your not a tech person.

I did this with my old tv and now it’s my main tv in my living room except my tv isn’t a console tv and it’s from the year 2000 but it’s still a crt

Every time I talk about using my old TVs, I tell everyone they have to understand it doesn't matter if it's a vintage CRT or an LCD or a plasma or whatever it may be it's just a monitor All you need is the proper connection and a monitor will bear a picture.

This was cool. I also enjoy watching older content on an older tv. I have a 4:3 tv with a HDMI input that I use for watching 80s anime from online on the kind of screen I want to see it with. Enjoy your Hitachi TV and I’m glad I found your channel

I appreciate this so much! Also, your voice is SUPER RELAXING!

This is such a cool project. A lot of people forget that older movies and TV shows were meant to be experienced on this type of setup. That TV set looks amazing. I'm trying to do a project like this myself, but it's hard to find the right TV. The way you explained everything is perfect. Movie nights are going to be insane at your house.

It’s funny how you mentioned how convenient it is to stream wait till you discover how beautiful the picture looks in 4K🤣

Very nice indeed. I just acquired yesterday a Trinitron to play all my games on as lowering all standards makes life so easy, but also makes old games look good. Win win, and DVDs would look good as well 😎

I connected my PlayStation to my 80’s tv with an adapter so I can stream and play games on it. It’s been two years and the tv still works perfectly even tho I use it everyday

Seeing this definitely makes me want to look into getting an old school console tv like what I grew up with, then turning it into a retro gaming console. There are so many of these out there to do just that to. I should know because once upon a time, I worked for Salvation Army, and they are most certainly out there!! 😊

Now just run a vcr in line before the tv going in to record the input to vhs and create new or old media BACK to analog form. Make your own new vhs'

Colour is nice so clear

I think that if you watched an older show on this thing, you'd get content that's been De-and-Re-Interlaced.

You can get another av cable and connect the VCR to the TV and the Roku to the input to the VCR and switch it to DVD and Roku with a remote without moving the cable back and forth

Hey Vintage Vibes, its Gary again. In re-watching your Vintage TV video, I heard you had to unplug cables to change component sources to use. No need to do that. You can purchase a video/audio selector switch that will take care of that challenge. You will need additional cables in order for the switch to work properly. Depending on how many components you have, that's how many cables you will need plus the switch box itself. Example, if you have four components, get a 4 input 1 output audio/video selector. Each cable will come from the component, such as your VCR/DVD combo unit, Roku and whatever else you have; into the switch box, then the cable going to the TV/RF Modulator will come from the switch box. In most case you may need only one extra cable if each component came with its own set of cables but its always good to have extra cables on hand for future expansion.

Great video! I have my fair share of older CRT sets but most of mine are from the late 90s

That TV is in great condition, these old sets will outlast any of the new stuff they have out by at least five decades trouble is it's getting harder to find parts and people to work on them. I personally have never owned a flat screen I don't like the pictures they produce.

That is awesome!

You should get a old av receiver, this make you able to controll the volume at input source with a remote, its great for DVDs because you get to experiance Dolby and DTS stuff (old ones might even support THX). The main thing about an av receiver is to have multiple input and output them on one display (and even up to three on some av models)

I love it! I did this airy 89 RCA Console tv

This is absolutely amazing. Another vintage TV collector. I have probably at least 20 vintage TVs; most are black & white RCAs with a couple Zeniths and one Panasonic "tube" type; meaning it has vacuum tubes, not solid state. Also have some 2000s RCA TVs; along with Durrabrand; Sayno; Sony and Apex. I'm using at least half of the sets now and more in the house storage and still more in a shed. Most of the ones in the shed don't work fully so am using them primarily as part donars for the ones that work quite well. Most of my collection is the little 12" RCAs from the 70s and 80s. Always loved the vintage black and whites, especially the 19" since they are so rare to find these days. Also have two Panasonic TV monitors, model TR-196. No tuners in those, just a monitor that can be turned into a monochrome smart TV. :) :) :)

If you ever want to ditch one of your components roku makes models with USB inputs and has an app that allows you to watch video files via flash drive or portable hard drives.

This awesome 👍 😊 you are very talented. Mixing vintage with modern tech how cool is that.

very cool!!

I have a sanyo tv from 2008 and I am trying to get it to be a nintendo switch tv thr thing is the converter has a yellow white and red plug in, but the tv has a yellow and white plug in. Super exighted for this tv prodject. Imma try to order the converter and hopefully it will turn out amazing!

Watching the video. RF is for "Radio Frequency". The RF modulator is the device that converts line level audio/video signal to RF to view on channels either 3 or 4. Yes you can use your hard drive/computer on any TV as long as you have the RF modulator and a converter that will convert the VGA output of your computer to either composite (yellow connector) or S-Video (black connector) and convert that to RF with the modulator. The HDMI to composite converter is absolutely correct for the Roku box you are using. Exact same set up I use. I have probably 10 of those converters/adapters for all my roku boxes and analog TVs.

Tube TVs are the best option to watch series and anime from the 80s and 90s. And most importantly, to play arcade classics and consoles like Nintendo, Sega, Plyastation, I use a TV box with Emuelec to do all that.

About 2years late but all dvd / vhs combo players have an av channel for the built in dvd player so you can use the vcr and dvd player via the coaxial out put it just a matter of flicking through the dvd vhs combo channels till you find it

I can highly recommend you the YT Channel Retrospective - classic movies. They have full vintage movies on it. And not only that, these are high end movies with Carry Grant, Rita Hayworth etc.

Very cool ,thanks for sharing

I’ve got the same exact VHS/DVD player

is it stereo I Norris three speakers that need it. We had a Magnavox TV 25 venture that was the case like that and it was the best sounding TV we ever had when TV first went stereo Naya theater system, or sound bar to get that kind of sound out of the newer TVs

Good on ya for keeping everything original. I have a 1976 Electrohome console in daily use but I feed it exclusively with a DVD player. Yours might develop filter capacitor issues eventually as mine did but they’re readily available. That’s just part and parcel of keeping old electronics running. As for sets that make a snapping noise, that might be due to dust and dirt inside the set; the high voltage will use it as a path to ground, particularly on humid days. A word of caution, yours is most likely a “hot” chassis set, so whenever it does need maintenance you’ll need an isolation transformer. Direct line voltage is much more hazardous than the high voltage inside the set.

I always wondered if there was a way to do this. You just answered my question… And got another subscriber😊

The TV is beautiful, the oak looks fantastic. Very nice piece of furniture. Nowhere days i dont know why TVs stopped being furniture or atleast tried to have a beautiful design. I mean LG Oleds look nice and Sonys Oleds with their design but 90% of tvs look cheap and designed in a way to make the most profit Anyway this TV is a gem and in my opinion the oak is too nice to throw away. I wonder how much that TV would of cost those years ago because it does look premium

As long as it works, that's all that really matters. I would agree with you, most electronic stores nowadays, they don't know that much, I remember going to RadioShack, back in the 90s with my dad, we were pretty tech-savvy and knew what we needed most times, but the clerk's at the time were very good as well, as soon as we told them what we needed and what we were doing they knew exactly how to help. We lived in small-town Ontario and didn't have easy access too much other than Zellers, so RadioShack was definitely good. I remember when I was younger, this would have been late 90s I was maybe 13, my sister went to this movie event and no one knew how to hook up a VCR, when she told the story, she told everyone my little brother referring to me, could do it in 2 seconds and you guys don't know how. I think I would agree with it 1985 build date, after seeing the RF input and where it's located, most older TVs of that style would have them near the top and you would need to use an adapter. 👍to Canada (I am Canadian)

If you didn’t mean to break the analog TV screen, you can replace it with a digital crystal screen

it's an RF modulator

Put it on Pluto TV on the classic TV category and it would be perfect.

in 2023 his the Tv holding up now? also how often do you use it. sorry but one more... has the tv ever had any work done to it before hand?

Wow u know so much technical stuff

This is my dream tv

Nicely done!! I have a similar situation, where I needed to connect an HDMI-only DVD player to a first-generation flat panel TV that has no HDMI inputs. I used a solution like yours. It's interesting: early flat-panel TVs are -- themselves -- becoming vintage now! Actually, those early flat TVs were built like tanks: solid cases, reliable operation, good sound, excellent electronics, but not "smart" and no HDMI. We have another one in storage in a closet that I am reluctant to recycle -- like your situation, we got that for free. (That's amazing, considering the original costs of such devices. Have you looked up the original sales price of yours? :) :) )

Wow a Hitachi, usually all the wood cabinet CRTs i see are from RCA, GE and Zenith.

Wow l love this lm doing the same you inspire me fanatics video 😊😊

Can you record youtube on to a vhs now

i would love an old woodgrain tv lol i have a basic boring black crt 26in and i dont like it that much its not as nistogic for me lol

Not a fan of modern TV's in my living space. I have an old rear projection big screen TV (55" Quasar) from 2001 and I love it. My TV has allot of features/inputs that you don't see on today's TV's. Plus the fact I think these older TV's just look better in a living room. Just overall better made. I like how mine has picture-in-picture where I can have two channels running at once which is good if I am watching my Roku and I need to monitor my home security camera. I can do both at the same time. I don't even know if modern flat panel LCD TV's even have picture in picture anymore. Not just that flat panel TV's have real crappy sound, you almost need a separate amplifier/surround sound system just to get any level of decent sound. Older TV's have a much better integrated sound system in my opinion.

Wow, its impressive you got this working with just parts off of Amazon. The only problem I see is that the HDMI->Composite converter doesn't support the right aspect ratio so you're missing parts of the picture on the sides and its stretching the image. In case you ever fell like upgrading the only practical alternative is using the composite output of a Raspberry Pi single board computer which would also replace the Roku. But that can require a bit of advanced computer knowledge to work smoothly. This video explains it better than I could in a comment watch?v=ot-gYEIWNJs

cool tv

I do recommend for you to get a professional to do the tuning of the picture tube and that if you don't know how. it would definitely look way better and everything will be lined up and not bent looking. If you do get it done. it sure will look better over a long period of the the tube gets a but out of shape slightly and focus and alignment slightly moves and effects the picture quality.

If I could play a song to this video it would have to be. To cut a long Storey Short, and flip side being The never ending Storey.

Alguien me puede traducir lo que dice en español? Llevo mucho tiempo buscando la manera en convertir un tv antiguo y que pueda ver canales así

That’s not “just” a clock, that the Marty McFly Back to the Future clock!😮

lol grandpa type tv I love it

That d85 manufacturer code might be December 1985

I would love to try playing PS3-PS5 on this one haha

What type of tv should i get for this.

I love these kinds of videos just gose to show theres no need for all this over priced gimicy stuff you can make do with what you have and make it work

Television in Argentina and paraguay 220 V

Great 😊

What good luck one day before

AWESOME!!!💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢💢

We got our Magnavox TV in the early 70's. I am sure this TV isn't from 1985???

People find it weird that I'm 31 and have a 1986 Hitachi 20" set in my living room and no flat screen. But they are amazed at its picture as its amazing and it has rca jacks (with mono audio) and that helps too.

Thank you for not turning this into a cat bed, fish tank or something stupid!!

Anyone reading this..this is not the way you really want to turn old tv into a smart tv.... for one you dont want to watch 4:3 content mixed to 16:9 render squished back down to a 4:3 screen. A 4:3 picture should not have bars on the left/right on a 4:3 tv. the only bars on 4:3 square tv should be on the top and bottom if you are watching a widescreen movie. But any retro TV shows most are all 4:3 should perfectly fit the tv screen. Please make sure your Roku and other adapter settings are configured properly. One of the reasons to enjoy an old TV like this, is to FILL THE ENTIRE SCREEN when the content is also 4:3..... again, widescreen content either has to be zoomed/cropped or you have to have bars on the top/bottom. But there should never never be bars on the left/right on a square 4:3 TV screen. That's only for widescreen tvs when they display older square 4:3 content. hope some of this makes sense lol

i have 2 LCD tv's i wish to see BTS videos on CRT TV

I also have an old analog tv that only has coaxial connection on back - hooked up to a converter box, vcr/dvd player, rf modulator & I was lucky enough to find ROKU Express + that had both HDMI & *Composite Connectors (*which is what I use) IDK why ROKU discontinued making this option, as they were the only streaming service devices covering this very niche market & YES, we still Exist!!!!! I've been switching units out to use them too...but so glad @roxics mentions the rca switcher (in the comments!) 🤯in all these years, can't believe I never heard of it...Thank You @roxics - my switching days& @Vintage Vibes for these Vintage Luv'n Videos...Can't wait to see what's next & Luv Thrift Stores - haven't been in a mall or modern retail store in years, just love the prizes & treasures 🎁 you find🤗🤗

This is why I like older technology and CRT Televisions only downfall about them is they are so heavy or it depends on what inch of thr tv you get I have had 3 flat screen TVs and all of them quit working after a year I got one from Kmart but now it's starting to show those small lines that the first flat screen TV I had before it completely died after having it for almost 9 months since my mom had it for 7 years I had it my room for the last 7 months before it completely blew out one day while I was watching TV. It's sad they don't use what they used for CRT Televisions for today's modern Televisions. Since Tube TVs can last way longer than a Flat Screen TV that's why I don't like modern Televisions since they die out after 3 to 4 years unlike a CRT Television those can still work after 50+ years

if it was from 1977 probably not because TV didn’t go stereo to the 80s

Rock on

I turned my vintage tv into a working tv

Hi, Do yo want to sell your tv?

Those two black lines down the sides on Bewitched and The Lucy Show would annoy me. Can't it be stretched to fit the screen ?

If they told you the year they bought it, why would you seem to doubt it? I remember that tv model back then. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s…. Best of everything back then bc all has gone to💩

Hi there. .. new subscriber Sandra here from Montreal. ... luv your taste and channel! Living room curtains rock. I'm seeking a small old TV wanting to hook up just my VHS DVD player. Still looking. I agree with you the huge flat screens are ugly and too Invasive an image with the comfort decor of our living spaces. Would like tzo contact you via email peace and love VINTAGE

Hmmmmm

Loved and miss the old cabinetry and the great sound of vintage TV. Hate the plastic cabinets and cheap speakers with their poor quality sound of modern TVs. I prefer a modern TV however for the far superior resolution video color and realism, no warm up time, higher reliability, and larger picture, not to mention smart TV options. Too bad they can't make new TVs with modern electronics, beautiful wood cabinetry, and built in great sound.

You could take all the old tv stuff out of it and put in a flatscreen hd tv.

Aaaaaaaaaaaa. Technology versus not technology