Florin made a giant TV-B-Gone… 48 IR LEDs and an ATmega8 that sends the signals to the LEDs. Source code and schematics included. He writes –
I arranged the LED’s in 4 rows of 12 pieces and the resistors fit quite nicely between the LED’s. I used four BD139 NPN transistors to drive the rows. It took me hours to drill and then solder this board(48 LED’s and 48 resistors mean 192 holes plus the other parts). The controller board contains an ATmega8 chosen because of it’s 8k memory needed to store all the codes, an 8 MHz crystal, an LED, a tact switch and some resistors and capacitors. I designed the board so that it can also be used for other projects.
More:
TV-B-Gone Kit (unassembled).
New 3rd Gen TV-B-Gone!
TV-B-Gone Pro.
42 thoughts on “Super TV-B-Gone”
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So tired of the TV-BG and the **** that use them.
@gear head, please don’t curse (i edited that out)…
this person made a cool project and shared the schematics and source code – i’ve met *hundreds* of people (many kids) that picked up electronics specifically because of the tv-b-gone kits. if you can develop a kit or another way to spark as much interest we’d love to cover it on MAKE.
people say tv doesn’t make you angry or violent but it seems the potential of one getting turned off brings out the rage in some folks :)
these turn tv’s on too…
I really don’t like the TV-B-Gone, but seeing the board made me smile a bit (I just like large amounts of LEDs in groups).
Still, the guy spent hours making this board because he’s too anti-social to tell a waitress to turn down a TV or to just leave. Says a lot.
@Phillip – just to be clear, I mean it was nice seeing the project posted here.
@The Oracle – all cool. you’re comment was totally fine i know folks are a little polarized when it comes to the tv-b-gone but we’re all smart and can have good discussions here.
The reason TV-B-Gone annoys me is that I’ve been the poor shop clerk that already had to put up with poor pay, ignorant and abusive customers, etc. This is just one more thing.. kids running around shutting off TV’s in cafes, shops, etc where these poor guys just trying to earn a living or pay for college.
The argument that the only way to get more people interested in electronics is through a device of which the purpose is basically to create chaos and annoyance is a sad commentary on humanity.
I dont like tvs at all, but previous commenters should realize this thing is to big for practical use.
@Grrr I personally think that in life we should all be better with each other, i mean where is this world going ? you can’t be mad on some kid for tuning off your TV. Maybe he spent hours working on a little and interesting kit, and as Philip said maybe that kit determined the kid to start tinkering with electronics.
You’d rather like the kid doing some other activities ? because these days most kid’s end up doing what’s wrong for them
TV b-gone is just a way for those of us that used to like spending a afternoon eating with other people having conversations. Not being drowned out by the 10 TVs in the room. You could say “Then go elsewhere” Well elsewhere has the TVs too. These TVs are catered to the sheeple that can’t live without a piece of electronics that tells them what to think and how to live. The few places I have used it, no one complained. A few even clapped that the TVs went off.
This might send a msg to restaurant owners spending big bucks on TVs that bother the crap out of everyone. Well everyone but the sheeple.
TO the person that said
“Still, the guy spent hours making this board because he’s too anti-social to tell a waitress to turn down a TV or to just leave. Says a lot.”
1. You’ve obviously have never asked an establishment that has a bunch of TVs to simply turn one off that is nearest to you. They will say “It’s our policy to keep them on”
2. The reason most want them gone is so they CAN HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE. And don’t get drowned out by the sound of society’s electronic Bible.
3. Yes, just leave so you can go down the street to the next restaurant that has the same TVs…
Get out much?
@Florin and Alfred – just because you feel things would be better if these places turned off their TVs does not give you the right to turn them off.
The best way to deal with it would be to vote with your dollars. Don’t give them any money. If you’re right that it would be better with the TVs turned off, they’ll lose business/money and be forced to turn them off.
If you save the next restaurant is like that too…go to the one after that. With the exception of sports bars, I can’t remember the last restaurant I went to that had TVs blaring. They certainly don’t all do it.
What really pisses me off is when I go to a movie or live theatre, there’s almost always someone nearby sending text messages right through the whol show, and the screens are painful bright in a darkened theatre.
” just because you feel things would be better if these places turned off their TVs does not give you the right to turn them off.”
You are correct. And I never argued that I had some right to do so. Having said that, of the 3 places I asked about why they had said TVs everywhere, why they did so, NONE of them said “because of customer demand” all of them commented on it being “store policy” especially with the chains.
Having said that also, I only usually try to turn off the TV directly in my view/hearing distance. AS most of these places have 5-20 TVs in the place. I should have the right to also not be bombarded by TVs..
“The best way to deal with it would be to vote with your dollars. Don’t give them any money. If you’re right that it would be better with the TVs turned off, they’ll lose business/money and be forced to turn them off.”
I wish I could. Sad part is, this is a recent trend. MOST EVERY eatery now a days have a large amounts of TVs. You have little to no other alternative other than say, McDonalds (which still has at least one) and HIGH END fancy restaurants that are simply overpriced. (Not going to pay x10 the price simply to not have TVs) If there was a decent alternative I would have went that route instead of the TV-B-Gone one.
“If you save the next restaurant is like that too…”
Obviously you knew that before you posted what you did, so why did you post it? :
“go to the one after that. With the exception of sports bars, I can’t remember the last restaurant I went to that had TVs blaring. They certainly don’t all do it.”
Ah the “Because where I live they don’t have it, that means it’s like that everywhere” excuse. I assure you. If I had a choice I would.
“What really pisses me off is when I go to a movie or live theatre, there’s almost always someone nearby sending text messages right through the whol show, and the screens are painful bright in a darkened theatre”
Yeah, that upsets me too. But really has nothing to do with our discussion.
BTW of the times I have had to use the TV-B-Gone not ONCE did I have anyone complain. Not ONCE did I get in trouble. Not ONCE was there trouble.
I don’t do this in places were there is just one TV. That would be rude. Because someone might WANT to watch it. But at a place that has 10 Large screen TVs, they usually don’t care about one being off. And no one cares.
I also turn it back on after I leave.
I once had one of the managers at a Buffalo Wild wings ask me how I turned the TV off. And hen I showed him he flipped out.
Wanted me to buy, and put together two (he payed me nicely) so he can mess with the employees. He also said anytime I wanted to come in and turn off the tv directly near me I could.
Not all restaurant owners are as uptight as some people are projecting in here.
I do it because I can only hear out of one ear. I am hard of hearing. And a TV blaring at me makes conversations impossible.
And I got tired of the “Sorry, the boss has the remotes to those, I can’t turn it off” excuse.
It’s not the employees fault.
I just found a work around, without having to bother anyone.
I have deaf friends. They would all LOVE it if someone made a version of this device that turns on closed captions.
Heck, most of my non-deaf friends would like it, too. Three words: “Noisy Sports Bar.”
@Phil, Sorry about the curse, I’m a potty mouth, what can you do with people like me eh?
I get your point about it being a good construction kit for beginners, but there are a ton of things out there that are just as easy/challenging to build that don’t have the ***** (ooops) factor that the TVBG does.. I built radio kits, Morse code kits, LED dice, simple things that didn’t ***** (sigh) people off.
The principle of operation of the TVBG is selfish and can be incendiary. I certainly wouldn’t want to see a Maker get hurt as a result of using of these gadgets, but if he got his **** (doh) handed to him in a sports bar I’d have to say they had it coming.
@gear head – no prob :)
everyone just be constructive and we’ll keep this going.
@haineux, it’s an open source kit, you can add that@
What would also be useful was a device that switched off mobile phones. That way we would not have to listen to the incredibly fascinating life stories in all their tedious attention to detail that so many nobodies insist on broadcasting to the entire railway carriage…..” you won’t believe who I saw today… and he was wearing ….. oh I’m just two minutes away now… see you in a second…bye..bye oh I can see you through the window…..
A similar device to switch off peoples mobile phones would also be a great device. That way we could all be spared having to listen to some nobody broadcasting to the world his incredibly fascinating life story in all its minute and tedious attention to detail.
@Steve Beater Theres always cell phone signal distrupers if you dont mind cutting your own off, or maybe getting in some trouble. I think theres schematics for one on make, or a link or something
@haineux I think the Captions-B-On would be doable, you’d just have to find out the codes for turning on the captions for all the major TV brands and change the firmware on the chip accordingly. I’d love to see it; maybe throw in some “mute” functionality, too, so it’d just be the captions with no sound?
@Becky…
What about a Mute button AND a Captions-on button? Twice the fun!
@All…
Don’t forget, if you turn it off… turn it back on when you’re done?