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Sony KV (BA-4D) 27V42

Kaz PackmanAbout 4 minCRT RGB mod

Sony BA-4D chassis RGB mod

Bring your Sony CRT to life with vibrant RGB colors! This mod by Kaz Packman gives a different perspective on how you can mod your CRT for RGB. See alternate tutorial by Sunthar here.

If you're looking to get the most out of your Sony KV-27V42 Trinitron, you may want to consider modding it for RGB and component output. This guide will show you how to do just that.

Instructions below should also apply to these models:

  • KV-13M42
  • KV-20M42
  • KV-20S42
  • KV-20S43
  • KV-20S90
  • KV-27S42
  • KV-27V42
  • KV-27S46
  • KV-27S66
  • KV-35S36

Sony KV-27V42 Sony KV-27V42

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-27V42

  • Manufactured: February 1992, Mexico
  • NTSC, 60 Hz
  • Chassis: BA-4D
  • Tube:
  • Jungle Chip: CXA2061S
  • OSD Chip: M37273MF-255SP

Schematics

Sony BA-4D chassis schematics

Mux diagram

If you are building your own circuit, this diagram should help. The diagram is for KV-27S42, it will also work for KV-27V42 or any other BA-4D chassis.

Sony BA-4D chassis RGB mod mux diagram

Calculating the RGB external resistor value

Formula from our theory page!

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Calcualted 910Ω for 0.7Vp-p. With didoe inline for RGB, you have to use 1kΩ

Performing the mod

Now that you roughly know what needs to be done, prepare for the mod. Place the board on a comfortable place. Make sure you are not putting pressure on the flyback or other components. Taking out the chassis is fairly straight forward on this CRT. There are few wires that needs to be disconnected.

  1. Degauss wire
  2. Power wire
  3. Ground wire attached to the neck board
  4. Yoke deflection coil wire
  5. Anode wire (this is the one with the rubber cap)
  6. Left and right audio wires

Please remember that wires 1-5 are critical for the CRT to function and should not be omitted. Having any of these wires disconnected while powering up can damage the board and can have adverse effects.

Sometimes it can be overwhelming to see a large chassis. But, we are primarily going to focus on two areas.

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  • Area 1: This is where we are going to remove resistors and attach the R, G, B and blanking wires
  • Area 2: This is where we are going to connect composite, audio L, R and ground wires

STEP 1: Remove the following components

Zooming in on Area 1.

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Remove the following components. RGB resistors to the ground. Please always measure and mark them, so that you know you are removing the correct partrs.

  • R087 (680Ω)
  • R088 (680Ω)
  • R089 (680Ω)

STEP 2: Connect RGBs, Blanking

Then attach the R, G, B and blanking wires to the respective legs of the diodes. Wires should be attached to the side closer to the jungle chip.

  • R, G, B wires are red, green and blue respectively
  • Brown wire here is used for blanking

There are couple of possible approaches to wiring the blanking signal. If you are utilizing external blanking, please follow the instructions provided for the KV-27S42. However, if you prefer internal blanking, you will need to draw the 5V power from the chassis and route it through a switch.

KV-27S42 RGB/Blanking wiring (uses external blanking) BA-4D chassis - KV-27S42 RGB mod

KV-27V42 RGB/Blanking wiring (uses internal blanking through a 3P3T switch) BA-4D chassis - KV-27S42 RGB mod The thick Red wire is 5V and the thick blue wire is RGB blanking.

STEP 3: RGB inline diodes

To reduce interference, it is recommended to add these inline diodes. Heat shrink was used in the middle one to avoid shorts. BA-4 chassis - KV-27V40 RGB mod

STEP 4: Connect Sync and Audio

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  • Thick yellow wire is for sync (luma)
  • Thick white wire is for S-Video detect
  • Purple and black wires are for ground
  • Grey wire is for right audio
  • White wire is for left audio

STEP 5: Build your mux board

Below mod uses the RGB mux board. This is optional, but will make your mod easier and stable. You can also create the circuit presented in the schematics above without the board. Please also checkout the precalculated resistor values.

Buy your RGB mux board

TV ModelKV-27V42KV-27V40KV-27S42
Audio LR (R7, R8)1kΩ1kΩ1kΩ
RGB termination (R1, R2, R3)75Ω75Ω75Ω
RGB inline resistors (R4, R5, R6)1kΩ1kΩ1kΩ
Diode (R9)1N41481N41481N4148
Blanking Resistor (R11)1kΩ1kΩ1kΩ
Add diodes to RGB linesYesYesYes

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STEP 6: (Optional) YPbPr mod

To proceed, please refer to the instructions for either BA-4 or BA-4D. These steps are also applicable to the KV-27V42 YPbPr modification.

A close look at the RCA jacks img

Green panel mount jacks were difficult to source, so I had to improvise. Painted the white jack green with a marker. img

Blanking and Sync 3P3T slide switch img

Switch location inside img

Switch on the outside img

STEP 7: Attach the female SCART connector to TV

Creating a SCART cutout and mounting it is an art. I have a dedicated section for it. How to create and mount a SCART female plug?

Depending on your CRT, you might need to find a good place to mount the SCART port.

Sony KV-27V42 img

Reducing interference

Sometimes you might notice micro interference in the video signals. This is expected. To reduce it, try the following.

  • Use diodes in-line for RGB signal
  • Make sure your blanking wire is connected after the diode that feeds into the chroma chip (see diagram)
  • Try routing most of the cabling below the PCB
  • Keep the ribbon cable short
  • I really didn't find any difference in interference in using shielded vs non-shileded cables. Therefore, this is optional.

Getting into the service menu

  • Turn the set on and then put into standby
  • Press the Display, 5, VOL + buttons in sequence
  • Turn on the CRT and you should be in service mode
  • Use buttons "1" and "4" on the remote control to navigate the service menu
  • Use buttons "3" and "6" to adjust the selected data

Pictures of the mod

Games

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Set

Back label img

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