Analogue TVs are relics of simpler times, mostly found in retro gamers’ houses and on roadsides in various stages of disrepair. But if you’re missing that warm cathode-ray glow and spherical CRT screen, there’s a way to replicate it without lugging the real thing into your spare room.
Rodrigo Feliciano aka Pakequis created a Raspberry Pi TV simulator and uploaded the data to his GitHub account.
The Raspberry Pi change a random movie file in the folder ‘movies’ when the TV is showing a static noise. The static noise is provide by the TV circuit. A Arduino Mini Pro get the voltage on the tunning potentiometer and turn a relay on or off, selecting the TV composite video input or the noise from the TV circuit.
Rodrigo found an 5″ B&W portable TV, mounted a Raspberry Pi in the battery compartment, and uses the tuning potentiometer—hooked up to an Arduino—to tell the Pi which ‘channel’ you’re on.