Display graphics from Arduino projects with ArduTV

Della, an engineer from Switzerland, has developed ArduTV, an HDMI video output shield designed for Arduino and other compatible embedded boards. The objective is to enable developers to display text and graphics on a television or monitor via an HDMI connection. A key feature of ArduTV is that it allows for the integration of external hardware through SPI communication without demanding extensive processing power from the Arduino.

How to display graphics from Arduino Uno?

One significant issue that this design addresses is the fact that most Arduino boards lack built-in video output capabilities. Common alternatives, such as small LCD or OLED displays, often have limited resolution and necessitate additional wiring and libraries.

While it is possible to achieve VGA/HDMI output, generating the necessary signals directly from an Arduino is nearly unfeasible due to constraints in processing power and memory. Some hobbyists have attempted to overcome this challenge using resistor DACs and pin manipulation, but these solutions can be unreliable and overly complex.

The ArduTV solves this problem by offloading video processing to an FPGA. The hardware can display graphics or text with a resolution of 640×480 using an HDMI output. The shield operates as a plug-and-play device with minimal hardware and software setup. The FPGA handles all video rendering so the Arduino only needs to send SPI commands.

More about ArduTV

The shield utilizes the AMD Spartan-7 FPGA processor to process and render graphics independently, thereby reducing the load on the Arduino. The output is transmitted via an HDMI port, functioning as a DVI signal over HDMI. This interface is compatible with the Arduino IDE and supports a library for STM32CubeIDE, making it suitable for use with STM32 Nucleo boards.

According to the developer, numerous projects have been demonstrated using Arduino and STM Nucleo boards. In one setup, Della paired the STM32-F401RE Nucleo board with an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor to create a simple distance meter. In this configuration, the ArduTV shield displays the measured distance on a television or monitor. Many more examples can be found on the official website.

More details can be found on the CrowdSupply project page. At the time of writing, no public details regarding the current pricing or project launch date have been disclosed.

Please follow and like us: