Darling, I'm a programmer, not a TV/VCR repair-person.

October 17, 2006 1:56 PM

What is this TV-connector?

My other half just brought home more old electronics ("honey, they don't have the proper connections in the back but I thought you'd be able to fix it") - two hotel TVs from a liquidation company. What is that connection on the back, and what can I do with it?

Best case scenario is to find an adaptor that hook into the back and allow me to hook RCA connectors to it. Or even just coaxial. They're going to charity after this, but I want it in working order so that people can actually get some use out of them.

posted by Sallysings to Technology (13 answers total)

It's not an RCA plug? It looks like an RCA plug. I would assume it's composite video in (or out).

if it's a hotel TV, it may be for hooking up to a specific type of hotel TV control box. The slot on top looks like it might have taken some sort of hotel decoder box... anyway, this is apparently the remote for it. Did you get a remote?

Hm. But no luck on the Phillips web site... the recognize the model number, but no docs. It may simply be an antenna/cable input with a RCA-type jack instead of a regular coax connector (whatever they're called, RG-6 connectors I guess).

Anyway, good luck with that.
posted by GuyZero at 2:15 PM on October 17, 2006

Looks like a standard composite video to me too.
posted by drstein at 2:27 PM on October 17, 2006

The pictured element is a F type male to RCA adapter, which should convert a TV cable to the plug you have. Maybe. I'm just guessing here. It's listed at the bottom of this page. Apparently CATV uses an "F type" connector. If the connector isn't the same size as a normal RCA plug... well, then my guess is wrong.

But if you know how to solder you could cannibalize an existing couple of wires to do it yourself.

The reason why I would guess it's not composite video (to contradict myself) is that there'd be no way for the TV to get sound that way, as it has no obvious sound inputs.
posted by GuyZero at 2:30 PM on October 17, 2006

Well, it looks like RCA, but I think it's S/P-DIF.
posted by fvox13 at 2:51 PM on October 17, 2006

This is the best picture I could find. SPDIF looks like RCA, but it's usually found alone.
posted by fvox13 at 2:54 PM on October 17, 2006

It's an RCA-type jack, but you can see that it goes into a shielded silver box, which is the demodulator. That means it's ever-so-standard television (cable/antenna/whatever), so find an F-type -to- RCA adapter (I'm staring at one right now, cost me <$5 at a Radio Shack awhile back). The adapter that GuyZero lists will do it.
posted by j.edwards at 4:26 PM on October 17, 2006

j.edwards is very close to the right answer, but..

I don't think the centre hole is the correct diameter for standard RCA plugs. I'm pretty sure it must be some less common standard, I have a TV tuner card with one that keeps falling off..

Try wrapping things with tinfoil and/or stretching and bending until you get an RCA to F-type adapter to work, because I think finding the right part will be relatively hard.
posted by Chuckles at 4:46 PM on October 17, 2006

It looks like the locks they put on TVs in hotel rooms so that they don't get stolen.

Maybe that's it.
posted by stewiethegreat at 7:27 PM on October 17, 2006

Is it a 75ohm connection?

It looked like your model was philips pc7220 c121, but I couldn't read the label clearly or see the size.

I was searching usersmanualguide.com to find your model, but it suddenly disappeared to be replaced by the Apache default page. Maybe it'll be back by the time you read this. (Google search for cache)

You should be able to find it under Philips Professional Hotels (either business or luxury) or maybe Philips Professional Healthcare.
posted by ?! at 10:47 PM on October 17, 2006

Looking at your images I think you have a Philips PC7220C. The large open space is the Philips SmartCard expansion slot (I can see hints of the 32-pin connector in your images). An example of the kind of card that fits in the slot is here. If I've guessed correctly, then the connector in question should electrically be a 75 Ohm Antenna/Cable input, although it uses an RCA phono jack rather than the more common F connector. You should be able use an F Connector to Phono adapter to connect your TV to a standard cable TV signal.
posted by RichardP at 11:43 PM on October 17, 2006

Oh by the way, poking arround on Philips' web site, I wasn't able to find the manual for the PC7220C, however I was able to find the manual for the PC7225C. Note that this line of TV's has a "security mode" in which most the functionality can only be adjusted if you own a Philips Institutional Set-up Remote Control (RG4172BK or the newer RC2573).
posted by RichardP at 11:56 PM on October 17, 2006

That looks very, *very* much like a UK coaxial antenna input socket. Universally used over here; evidently not so much over there. What RichardP said, probably.
posted by genghis at 9:21 PM on October 18, 2006

genghis, I thought the UK mostly used Belling-Lee connectors for TV coax connections? If it is a Belling-Lee jack, she would need a F Connector to Belling-Lee adaptor. In the US you sometimes see a Belling-Lee connector called a "PAL" connector.
posted by RichardP at 10:14 PM on October 18, 2006