I bought a thing

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 01/02/2018 at 23:34 • Filed to: None

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It appears to be some sort of digital sign system, with the guts of a 42" LCD TV, some controller computer thingy to process the images, all contained in a big-ass metal box. I plugged the Apple TV into the active HDMI port and it showed up nice and clear, although a bit too bright.

I need to find out what kind of TV it’s based on so I can program a remote to control it. I wish I could find specs to learn whether it’s 720p or 108op, for example. From what little info I did find, it looks like it was a $5,995.00 device at one time. The pawn shop had it for $100 since 2016, and refused my $41 offer last month (that was the depreciated price on the tag). Today it was marked $20 so I grabbed it. And deals like this beast are part of the reason I like driving a minivan - no waiting, no borrowing a vehicle, just toss it in and go.

UPDATE: Based on this video it appears to be 1080p.

lone_liberal > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 00:26

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The tv in our living room is a commercial monitor that has different modules that you can plug in for different inputs and no built in speakers. It’s over ten years old and still going strong with a great picture which ain’t bad for a plasma.

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 00:42

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Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/03/2018 at 00:52

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I have no idea how to interpret that...

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 00:54

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I have no idea how to interpret this purchase of yours.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/03/2018 at 01:06

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Only $20 for a working 42" 1080p TV? I thought it was a good deal, but I guess others may disagree.

Currently my largest TV is a 26" 720p Toshiba. I had a 55" Loewe, complete with the optional motorized base, but it died a few years back and wasn’t worth repairing despite the original $9,000+ price tag (I only paid $100). I’ve wanted something bigger than the 26" unit, preferably 1080p, but didn’t want to spend more than $100. For the cost of two lunches I got what I wanted; I can make a few sandwiches instead of eating out and be ahead in less than a week.

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 01:20

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But does it come out of the giant metal housing?

I suppose if you’re on that much of a shoestring budget you can’t be too picky, but there are plenty of brand new 39-40" TVs to be had for $200-250, or 42-43" for $250-300.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/03/2018 at 01:28

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Whilst I can afford to buy a $250-300 set, it wasn’t a high priority, and thus I’ve been content with the 26" TV. Finding one at this price made it a simple impulse buy with next to no ramifications. Once I move I figure that it’ll be fine in the basement or garage where aesthetics aren’t terribly important.

It doesn’t come out of the metal box. The various circuit boards from the donor TV are mounted to the metal box by the access panels, so the TV really doesn’t have its original housing. It’s this box or nothing.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 01:54

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Hey, maybe you can sink it into an entertainment system if you’re into a bit of woodworking, like the classic entertainment shelving of yore.

Lokiparts > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 08:45

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That’s pretty sweet. I love finding cool random stuff like this. That thing would make for a perfect garage/shop tv. Right now my garage TV is an old 24" computer monitor with a HDMI to VGA adapter plugged into a Roku. It’s a Kludge but it works and I just had everything but the adapter laying around the house anyway.

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 09:22

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If you’re ok with looking at a giant metal box and there’s nobody else in your household who will tell you otherwise, then more power to ya!

Takuro Spirit > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/03/2018 at 11:52

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Hook a gaming console to it. That way you won’t need a remote for anything, except for maybe powering it on.

The way I have my getup setup is that once I flick the power strip on, the TV comes on automatically and its already on the right channel and volume for my soundbar and Xbone.

I haven’t touched the remote for it in MONTHS. And that was just to adjust the picture for a dark video game I was playing and trying to cheat at by eliminating shadows.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Takuro Spirit 01/03/2018 at 15:05

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I don’t need the remote for much of anything, just adjusting the picture and maybe selecting the input, although chances are that everything will be run through the HDMI switch. A universal one should work fine, but I need to find the manufacturer to program it (most likely).

I rarely use the remote on the current tv, but had to dig it out when making a feature change. Audio is through the receiver, and input from an external box. I’m good...