battlestation
Plex plays on a 1989 Trinitron
A 1989 Sony Trinitron runs as a second screen beside a Dell monitor, playing Plex through a VCR styled front end, under a shelf of posters, figures and trailing plants.
mikie_zip's desk is built around a 1989 Sony Trinitron KV-1380R, a 13 inch consumer set that cost about 250 Canadian dollars. It runs as a second display off an M1 Mac Mini, through a Tendak HDMI to composite converter that stays out of sight. Getting there took an edit to the converter's firmware, to stop it treating the signal as 16:9 and squashing the picture.
What plays on it is Plex, through 240-MP, an open source front end styled after a VCR and built for CRTs. The set takes 4:3 video and retro games and little else, because a modern interface does not scale down to 480i.
The main screen is a Dell U2723QE on a Desky monitor stand in prime oak laminate, and the CRT stands beside it on a VIVO riser. A pair of Kanto ORA4 speakers in cream sit at either end of the shelf. The Mac Mini and an Elgato Stream Deck sit under it, and an Anker Prime docking station stands on end behind the left speaker.
The keyboard and the trackpad are Apple's, in white, on a tan mat. An iPhone stands in a Scott Yu-Jan x Overwerk dock and reads out the time. A cream metal toolbox under the CRT holds the remotes, and a controller sits beside it.
The wall behind is black slats and a pegboard of comics. The shelf above carries film posters, action figures, records and a run of plants that trail down over the screens. Two dome lamps throw warm orange across all of it.
products
- Tendak HDMI to composite converterIt turns the Mac's output into a signal the CRT takes. Its firmware was edited to stop it squashing the picture.Accessory
- VIVO Universal Height Adjustable Monitor and Laptop RiserThe CRT stands on it, beside the main screen.Mounting
a part earns a pin when the source names the product
