Skip to main content

Sony KV (AA-1)

SuntharKaz PackmanAbout 7 minCRT RGB mod

Sony AA-1 chassis RGB mod

Bring your Sony CRT to life with vibrant RGB colors!

This RGB mod applies to the following models. Other AA-1 chassis can also utilize the same mod.

  • Sony KV-27V10
  • Sony KV-20V50
  • Sony KV-27V55
  • Sony KV-32S12
  • Sony KV-32S16
  • Sony KV-32V16
  • Sony KV-27S10
  • Sony KV-27S15
  • Sony KV-32S10
  • Sony KV-32S15
  • Sony KV-27TS29
  • Sony KV-27TS32
  • Sony KV-27TS36

Sony KV-27V10 Sony KV-27V10

Sony KV-27V55 Sony KV-27V55

Sony KV-27TS36 Sony KV-27V55

CRT safety

Caution

You can die doing this! So read carefully! CRT TV is not a toy. Do not open a CRT TV. If you don't have any prior knowledge about handling high voltage devices, this guide is not for you. CRT TV contains high enough voltage (20,000+ V) and current to be deadly, even when it is turned off.

READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING

Plan of attack

READ THIS TO PREPARE

Theory

Sometimes it is nice to know the theory behind the mod. I have put this on a separate page. This shows how the various resistor values are calculated.

READ THE RGB MODDING THEORY

Service manuals

Specs

Sony KV-27V10

  • Manufactured: March 1994. San Diego, CA
  • NTSC, 60 Hz, 165W
  • Chassis: AA-1
  • Tube: A68KZJ50X (same tube is used on AA-2D)
  • Chroma Chip: CXA1465AS (M-Board) - IC101
  • Closed Caption Decoder (CCD) Chip: Zilog SL1635 (M-Board) - IC150

Sony KV-27V55

  • Manufactured: March 1994. San Diego, CA
  • NTSC, 60 Hz, 210W
  • Chassis: AA-1
  • Tube: A68KZJ50X (same tube is used on AA-2D)
  • Chroma Chip: CXA1465AS (M-Board) - IC101
  • Closed Caption Decoder (CCD) Chip: Zilog SL1635 (M-Board) - IC150

Sony KV-27TS36

  • Manufactured: August 1993, Mexico
  • NTSC, 60 Hz
  • Chassis: AA-1
  • Tube: A68KZJ50X
  • Jungle Chip: CXA1465AS

Schematics

Really simple RGB mod is possible on this chassis. We will be disabling Closed Caption Decoder (CCD) and leveraging the analog RGB inputs used to feed our external RGB signal.

Let's review the block diagram and schematics first.

Chroma CXA1465AS - Block Diagram Chroma CXA1465AS RGB

If you look at the block diagram, analog R, G, B inputs at pins 16, 17, 18 are what we are going to be harnessing.

Chroma CXA1465AS - Schematics Sony KV-20V10

The above schematics shows the R, G, B, Blanking signal going from the CCD chip to the CXA1465AS chip. Pink circle shows the caps C315, C316 and C317 that we will be removing.

The RGB mod

You only need to touch two boards on this CRT to do the RGB mod. (1) U(A) board. (2) M board.

No need to remove anything else or mess with the anode cup etc. for the RGB mod. This makes it AA-1 one of the simplest chassis to RGB mod. However, disassembling and getting to these boards can be somewhat of a pain.

STEP 1: Attach RGB wires

At the time of this writing there were no successful AA-1 RGB mods that were posted. Instead of removing the CCD chip or messing around with the SMD resistors, let's remove the 10uF 50V electrolytic caps. Removing the electrolytic caps will disconnect the CCD RGB input to the chroma chip. We will then inject our RGB signals directly through 3x 0.1uF ceramic caps to the chroma chip. We will be attaching the R, G, B wires to the +ve terminals of C317, C316 and C315 respectively.

Left: Caps to remove on M board, Right: Attach RGB wires to the +ve vias Caps to remove

Removed caps. Oddly satisfying to see them removed.! Removed caps

STEP 2: Attach blanking wire

Important! Remove the R165 SMD resistor. This should effectively disconnect the blanking signal going to the chroma chip. The value of this resistor should be 4.7k.

Connect blanking wire, just before the SMD diode D004. Attaching the blanking wire to the R165 pad away from the CCD chip should also work. This is what was done in this mod.

You can also attach the wire to the diode leg. Make sure to pay attention to where you solder the external 5V blanking wire (brown wire). Making a mistake here can potentially fry components on the M board.

Blanking wire

Mount the M board back on the main chassis. Make sure all wires are connected correctly.

M Board attached

STEP 3: Attach audio and sync wires

On the UA board, connect Audio, ground and sync wires as seen in the below picture Audio and sync wires

STEP 4: Avoid the need for dummy plugs (optional)

Attaching dummy plugs to enable luma input and stereo can be a hassle and makes the mod look unprofessional. Fortunately, there's another method you can use. This step is optional, and I don't have actual pictures of how to make these changes yet, but it's doable.

Follow the diagram below to ground the S-Video detect pin and cut the trace between the Audio Left and Right channels.

Enable Luma and Stereo Audio for RGB mod

Just remember, after this step, you'll lose the Video 1 composite input and the mono input that outputs to both speakers. You can always use another input like Video 3 for this. For most people, this should be good enough.

STEP 5: Make your SCART connector circuit

Below mod uses the RGB mux board. However, it is optional for AA-1 chassis. Using the mux board makes the mod neater and easier. Please note for this mod, 0.1uF caps were used in place of R4, R5, R6 resistors.

Buy your RGB mux board with the necessary parts to complete this modopen in new window

TV ModelKV-27V10
Audio LR (R7, R8)1kΩ
RGB termination (R1, R2, R3)75Ω
RGB inline caps (R4, R5, R6)0.1uF
Diode (R9)Shorted
Blanking Resistor (R11)4.7kΩ

Radial 0.1uF, 50V ceramic caps were used inline instead of resistors.

Picture of the mini Rev B board img

Buy your RGB mux board with the necessary parts to complete this modopen in new window

Mouting the SCART adapter to the back is a bit tricky, but not difficult if carefully planned. img

Inside img

Outside img

Perfectly fits with the U(A) board img

Snug fit once closed img

SCART port finished img

Connector plugged in img

Full back view with SCART port img

Service Menu Adjustments

If your picture is too dark, try adjusting the RGBP value as per this articleopen in new window

AA-1 CRT KV-32V16 RGB AdjustmentSony KV-32V16

Pictures (Sony KV-27V10)

OSD

OSD overlay above Megaman X AA-1 CRT OSD overlay

OSD overlay above SMPTE AA-1 SMPTE OSD overlay

Patterns

SNES 240p Grid AA-1 SMPTE Pattern

SNES 240p SMPTE AA-1 Grid Pattern

Games

NES - Adventure Island AA-1 Adventure Island

SNES - Mega Man X AA-1 SNES Mega Man X

SNES - Super Mario World AA-1 Super Mario World

SNES - Super Mario World AA-1 Super Mario World

SNES - Super Mario World AA-1 Super Mario World

Sega Genesis - Sonic AA-1 Sega Genesis

SNES - Super Metroid AA-1 SNES Super Metroid

PS1 - Boot AA-1 PS1 Boot

PS1 - Boot AA-1 PS1 Boot

XBOX - UnleashX AA-1 XBOX - UnleashX

Pictures of the CRT

M Board (before the mod) AA-1 Chassis M Board

CRT back open (after the mod) AA-1 CRT back open

Service Menu Values (Sony KV-27V10)

NOTE

On KV-27TS36, "ID-2" was changed from 72 to 8 to disable Closed Captioning after the mod was performed, as the Closed Captioning decoder had to be disconnected from the jungle chip RGB and blanking lines as part of the mod.

NUMSETTINGVALUEFIXED
00AFC0DEFAULT
01HFRE
02H VCO3DEFAULT
03H PHASE13
04AFC GAIN6DEFAULT
05V SHIFT2DEFAULT
06H.SIZE24
07V.SIZE31
08V.LIN20
09VS.CORR38DEFAULT
10R.DRV71
11B.DRV71
12R.BIAS142
13G.BIAS142
14B.BIAS142
15BRI.MAX150DEFAULT
16BRI.CENT83
17BRI.MIN50DEFAULT
18CONT.MAX87
19CONT.CENT64DEFAULT
20CONT.MIN16DEFAULT
21COL.MAX90DEFAULT
22COL.CENT65
23COL.MIN00DEFAULT
24TINT55
25SHARP40DEFAULT
26CB DL0DEFAULT
27CR DL0DEFAULT
28CB PED8DEFAULT
29CR PED8DEFAULT
30PARABOLA20
31CORNER33DEFAULT
32TRAPEZIU30
33LEVEL17
34SEP16
35SEP234

Pictures (Sony KV-27V55)

Games

NES - Adventure Island Sony KV-27V55 Adventure Island

NES - Alien Sony KV-27V55 Alien

NES - Alien close-up Sony KV-27V55 Alien

SNES - Megaman X Sony KV-27V55 Megaman X

SNES - Super Metroid Sony KV-27V55 Super Metroid

RGB-Pi Sony KV-27V55 RGB Pi

Sega Genesis - Alien Sony KV-27V55 Sega Genesis - Alien

SNES - Street Fighter Sony KV-27V55 SNES - Street Fighter

SNES - Street Fighter close-up Sony KV-27V55 Atari 2600 RGB

Atari 2600 Sony KV-27V55 Atari 2600 RGB

Fixing the Sag

A68KZJ50X tubes have a noticeable sag. This is primarily due to the heavy deflection coil. It can be mostly corrected by reseating the yoke.

Sagging - SNES Adventure Island Sony KV-27V55 Adventure Island Sag

Reseating the deflection yoke Sony KV-27V55 Yoke reseating

Reseated deflection yoke Sony KV-27V55 Deflection Yoke

Grid pattern Sony KV-27V55 Grid pattern

RGB mod

RGB mod on Sony KV-27V55 is similar to KV-27V10. Speakers on this unit was huge compared to 27V10. Also, the other notable difference was the PiP board.

M board Sony KV-27V55 M Board

RGB mux board Sony KV-27V55 RGB mux board

SCART port Sony KV-27V55 SCART port

Back wire plugged Sony KV-27V55

Chassis, tube and more

Tube Sony KV-27V55 Tube

Chassis Sony KV-27V55 AA-1 Chassis

Chassis Sony KV-27V55 AA-1 Chassis

Back full Sony KV-27V55 Back Full

Back open Sony KV-27V55 Back

Back open top/down Sony KV-27V55 Back

Pictures (Sony KV-27TS36)

Games

Tetris Sony KV-27TS36 Tetris

Super Mario World Sony KV-27TS36 Super Mario World

Super Mario World Sony KV-27TS36 Super Mario World

Super Mario World Sony KV-27TS36 Super Mario World

RGB mod

Chroma and RGB wires. Location for R165 is slightly different Sony KV-27TS36 Jungle

Sync and audio wires Sony KV-27TS36 Jungle

Scart mounted Sony KV-27TS36 SCART mounted

Closeup Sony KV-27TS36 SCART mounted

Last update: