Introduction

May I present to you all my "Restomod TV" project based around a Mini-ITX board, XBMC OpenELEC media centre and a 1980s CRT TV.

For quite a while I'd wanted to build a PC into something a bit different and after spotting this 1980s Bang & Olufsen Beovision 7702 fairly locally on eBay, the idea came to create an XBMC based media centre PC inside. For the princely sum of £10, it was mine.

The hardware specs for the project are as follows:

• Bang & Olufsen Beovision 7702
• Acer Packard Bell 236Dbd 23in LED IPS Full HD DVI Monitor
• Gigabyte GA-E350N-WIN8 Mini-ITX Motherboard
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• Micro ATX 300W PSU
• 32GB 2.5in SSD
• 2TB 3.5in 7200RPM HDD
• Slim slot loading DVDRW
• PCTV Systems DVB-T2 290e nanoStick HD TV Tuner
• One For All URC 7960 remote control
• FLIRC USB IR receiver dongle

First of all I had to open up the case and safely dispose of all the nasty and dangerous bits inside.

If you're going to take apart a CRT TV or monitor, it's really important to properly discharge the tube as they can hold enough juice to cause you a lot of damage, even if they've been off for years. Use an insulated screwdriver linked up to the earth cable and slide it under this suckery bit.

Next trick is to remove the cathode from the tube. They have a vaccum inside so just give it a tap on the neck gently until you hear a hissing. Then, take all the nasty bits somewhere where they can be safely recycled.

Next step was to start preparing the case. I fitted a kettle lead socket on the back of the case to enable both the screen and PSU to be plugged in easily.

One of the really nice things about working on this TV was that everything was modular, like this unit which houses the on/off button and the power light. I fitted the standard microswitches and LEDs in place of the stock items. This is also where the FLIRC IR receiver goes, but I hadn't installed it at this point. It was super easy to set up and if you ever wonder what IR receiver you should be using on your PC, the answer is ALWAYS FLIRC. It's that good.

I also found a neat little spot for the HDD activity light on the bottom of the case.

Then I made a simple mount for both the SSD and HDD.

And this is how it looked after being gutted and a bit of work being done.

Fitting the Guts -->