TinyTVs Offer a Bitesize Raspberry Pi Dose of Television
TinyTVs Offer a Bitesize Raspberry Pi Dose of Television
TinyCircuits, creators of Thumby, a thumb-sized Nintendo Game Boy, are back making another tiny device, this time a revision to its popular TinyTV.
TinyTV 2 and TinyTV mini are tiny displays powered by the Raspberry Pi Pico’s RP2040, which can playback videos stored in the internal memory or stream video over a USB connection.
TinyTV 2 and Tiny TV Mini replicate the mid-20th century television aesthetic, but inside, they are powered by Raspberry Pi’s powerful RP2040 microcontroller. Both units offer around 8GB of internal storage, which TinyCircuit claims will provide around 10 hours of playback for TinyTV 2 and a whopping 40 hours of video for TinyTV Mini
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | TinyTV 2 | Tiny TV Mini |
| Processor | Raspberry Pi RP2040 Processor | Raspberry Pi RP2040 Processor |
| Display | IPS TFT 65K Color, 26mm (1.0 inch), 216×135 pixels | 65K Color OLED, 15.2mm (0.6 inch), 64×64 pixels |
| Battery | Li-Polymer 3.7V, 150mAh, about 2 hours of video playback | Li-Polymer 3.7V, 50mAh, about 1 hour of video playback |
| Storage | Built in 8GB, about 10 hours of video playback | Built in 8GB, about 40 hours of video playback |
| Audio | 16x9mm (0.6″ x 0.4″) front facing speaker | Internal speaker |
| Inputs | Power Button, 2 rotary knobs for channel and volume control | Power Button, Volume button, Channel button on the top of the unit |
| Remote | Can be controlled by an Infrared (IR) remote control | Can be controlled by an Infrared (IR) remote control |
| Connectivity | USB-C for uploading and battery charging | USB-C for uploading and battery charging |
| Dimensions | 47.6 x 36.6 x 25.9mm (1.9 x 1.4 x 1.0 inches) | 26.3 x 23.8 x 21.9mm (1.0 x 0.94 x 0.86 inches) |
Each of the televisions comes pre-built inside of an injection molded plastic case. The televisions come pre-loaded with a selection of videos ready to watch. Just turn the dial and select the next “channel”; in reality, it skips to the next video. Another rotary dial provides volume control for the built-in speaker.
You’ll want to load your own videos onto the units, and rather than spend countless hours tweaking Handbrake, TinyCircuits provides a video conversion tool. The conversion tool ensures that your videos are optimized and play with TinyTV.
Another software tool from TinyCircuits will mirror your current desktop session on the tiny TV screen. We’d love to have it set up as a second display, though our eyesight may not be strong enough to use it.
With a successful crowdfunding campaign ($282,655, well over the original $15,000 target) under its belt, TinyCircuits are almost ready to start shipping the units to backers. Units should arrive in the hands of eager backers from April 2023. Once backer fulfillment is complete, the units should join the many products for sale on the TinyCircuits site.
Can’t wait until then? Perhaps this Raspberry Pi-powered, 3D-printed television that plays nothing but classic The Simpsons episodes will tide you over?
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