Emily VelascoOct 2, 2024

Since there are no more analog TV stations on the air in this country, I have no way of testing sets I find it thrift stores anymore.

So, I finally decided to try the code that Charles Lohr developed for tricking an ESP8266 into transmitting analog TV signals over the air with its RX pin.

This is actually someone else's version of his code because he wrote his code to be compiled in the esp8266 SDK environment and I don't know how to use that. This code compiles in the Arduino IDE and it does work!

This is being transmitted over the air. This is not a composite video signal.

Show threadEmily VelascoOct 2, 2024

I need to see if I can learn how to use the SDK so that I can see the really nice demos that Charles wrote on a TV.

If I get all this working where I want, I think I will package the esp8266 in a little housing with a battery, and on off switch and an antenna so I can easily take it with me to a store

Show threadEmily Velasco

This is the library

https://github.com/cnlohr/channel3

GitHub - cnlohr/channel3: ESP8266 Analog Broadcast Television Interface

ESP8266 Analog Broadcast Television Interface. Contribute to cnlohr/channel3 development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Oct 2, 2024 at 1:52amWeb
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
First stabs at making this library do something on my own
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
More colors, but the code is bogging down the esp
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
Yay colors!
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
Here's most of the color pallet rendered on two different TV sets
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
Working on color bars here
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 4, 2024
Bicolor bouncing balls
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 6, 2024
This is so much fun to play around with
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 6, 2024
I think I'll write one more little demo and stuff this inside an enclosure with a battery and an antenna
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 7, 2024
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 9, 2024
That horizontal bar across the top isn't supposed to be there. It might just be a bug in the library, but the rest looks the way it should
Show threadJoseph LamoreeOct 9, 2024

@MLE_online Your portable Hypnotoad broadcaster is coming along nicely.

Artwork by https://www.deviantart.com/genghisdani/art/Hypnotoad-351437537

Hypnotoad by genghisdani on DeviantArt

Show threadTheaOct 7, 2024
@MLE_online Can it do audio as well?
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 7, 2024
@foundthefault No, it can't. I saw someone asking the author of the code about that, and he said that generating the video demands so much of the processor that there's nothing left to do audio with
Show threadTheaOct 7, 2024
@MLE_online Whomp, I guess there will be no chiptunes with your piracy then.
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 7, 2024
@foundthefault Fraid not :/
Show threadStormgrenOct 4, 2024
@MLE_online Emily, you continue to amaze me with all the things you do. I love following your account.
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 4, 2024
@Stormgren aw thanks!
Show threadMack HallOct 4, 2024
@MLE_online need more video! They don't hit the corner!!
Show threadTheaOct 4, 2024
@MLE_online Imagining an alternate history where the DVD player had two bouncing logos and they changed colors when they hit each other instead of the corner.
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 4, 2024
@foundthefault they should explode and make a bunch of tiny DVD logos
Show threadTheaOct 4, 2024
@MLE_online That'd be amazing.
Show threadJoseph LamoreeOct 3, 2024
@MLE_online That’s so awesome. I would not have guessed generating that signal “by hand” would be possible.
Show thread1.3.6.1.4.1.61513Oct 3, 2024
@MLE_online me seeing just this picture "huh that seems like the colour bars from the esp8266"
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
@xssfox what?
Show thread1.3.6.1.4.1.61513Oct 3, 2024
@MLE_online i just remember my colour bars looking near identical when i was testing it out
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
@xssfox ok, you were also playing with this
Show thread1.3.6.1.4.1.61513Oct 3, 2024
@MLE_online yeah, didn't really do much with it but was fun
Show threadJ. Steven York RESISTSOct 3, 2024
@MLE_online
I'm really impressed with this project. That it works at all is amazing. I started to ask what the actual video hardware capability on your device is, and then I went, "duh!"
Show threadCNLohrOct 5, 2024
@MLE_online Let me know if you need anything! I'm most easily available on Discord at @cnlohr - and there's a discord server of people who know about this.
Show threadKris\SlykaOct 3, 2024
@MLE_online wait, they made orange phosphor black and white TVs?
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
@slyka lol, no. It's a color TV. The box is red, but the color renders poorly on my phone
Show threadKris\SlykaOct 3, 2024
@MLE_online ohh, that makes a lot more sense. I do kinda want a an amber phosphor TV now though…
Show threadEmily VelascoOct 3, 2024
@slyka I have one half built. I just need to finish it ...
Show threadG.I. Robot Oct 3, 2024

@MLE_online

Ok, this is rad. Imagine if we got analog tv working again as an alternative to corporate broadcasting! Pirate Radio, but with TV instead of music!

I totally want to start a pirate TV station now. We could have movie nights and who would stop us?

Show threadvxoOct 2, 2024
@MLE_online oooooh thank you!!! I wanna play with this too
Show threadPopeASDF  Oct 2, 2024
@vxo @MLE_online now I just need to draw a network 23 logo and my bucket list will be complete
Show threadvxoOct 2, 2024
@PopeASDF YES
@MLE_online
Show threadChuckOct 2, 2024

@MLE_online I think it is a clever hack, but you know you can take one of those video->TV gizmos that select channel 2 or 3, and feed the "RF" out into a simple transistor amplifier. That will broadcast on the selected channel if you just connect it to a wire.

Also a number of cheap FPV drone cameras just broadcast on the TV frequencies at a different frequency than "real" TV. A mixer will fix that :-).

Show threadEmily VelascoOct 2, 2024
@ChuckMcManis yea, but that's more complicated and I still need a video source, so that's two things I have to carry around and power. This is just one
Show threadChuckOct 2, 2024
@MLE_online That's a good point. Back before "ez" wireless connectivity became the norm we were always trying to get a view from our robots so we had these small cameras that generated composite video.