NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Raspi 4

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YC_
 
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NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Raspi 4

Post by YC_ »

Hello,

I am working on a project where I wanted to display raspberry pi desktop on the 1.5'' NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT display (https://www.adafruit.com/product/910) I got from AdaFruit. I have a pi 4 Model B.

To connect the display to the pi, I also purchased an A/V RCA Cable for Raspberry Pi which turns the output into a full on composite video and audio device. I plugged the yellow end to the raspberry pi and the powered the board up with a 9V power source.

The put displays colour and the little raspberry icon for 2 seconds and then went back to all black afterwards. I am wondering what could be the issue here?

I've also tried to directly plugging the display to the by using the male-to-male converter and the display stays black for the entire time.

I appreciate for any of the help!

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by mikeysklar »

That is a good sign that the Pi logo displayed for a moment.

I think you need to drop the resolution on your Pi to the 1.5" TFT max resolution of 160x240.

Modifying the /boot/config.txt is described here:

https://learn.adafruit.com/using-a-mini ... e-and-test

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YC_
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by YC_ »

I figured it out! Under config there's an HDMI/composite option and I have to enable that option!

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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by YC_ »

I got another question. I have set up the screen according to the tutorial and the buffer width and height is 160*240 now. However everything is still very small and what I see on the display is mirrored, so everything is reversed. Any suggestion on how to fix these issues?
This is what I have in the config.txt

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
overscan_left=-26
overscan_right=-26
overscan_top=-16
overscan_bottom=-16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
framebuffer_width=160
framebuffer_height=240

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by mikeysklar »

Looking at the datasheet this screen is supposed to support 480 x 240. Can you try that setting?

https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/datasheet ... 000601.pdf

What settings are you using for composite mode? When I look at the documentation for that it appears there are at least three PAL options if you are using the sdtv_mode value. There is also a sdtv_aspect that might be causing the doubling.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentati ... video-mode
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Screen Shot 2021-12-04 at 2.42.50 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-12-04 at 2.42.50 PM.png (106.7 KiB) Viewed 373 times

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YC_
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by YC_ »

Hi,

sorry for the late reply. I am using sdtv_mode=2 (Normal PAL) and I am not seeing a sdtv_aspect variable, so I'd say it's the defaulting value 1 (4:3). I have also changed the pixel width and height to 480 x 240, but it doesn't seem to change anything

Thank you

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by mikeysklar »

The 1.5" TFT is going to be limited to 160x240.

The 2", 2.5" or 3.5" can get you to 320x240.

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YC_
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by YC_ »

Thank you for the reply. But whatever the change I made to the frame buffer_width and height, it doesn't seem to have any impact on the display after reboot. The below picture is the small display result I get.
Screenshot 2021-12-21 at 3.11.54 PM.png
Screenshot 2021-12-21 at 3.11.54 PM.png (674.87 KiB) Viewed 244 times

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by mikeysklar »

Since you are running X-windows can you try setting the resolution from graphical interface:

Pi logo start menu --> Preferences --> Screen Configuration --> Resolution

There might not be any options except for 160x240 for this display.

You should be able to connect in via VNC if necessary.

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YC_
 
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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by YC_ »

Thank you so much. I think I have to go with VNC. When I connect to the TFT display and change the preference under screen configuration, there's only one resolution option I think that's the lowest resolution the system supports.

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Re: NTSC/PAL (Television) TFT Display - 1.5" Diagonal on Ras

Post by mikeysklar »

The 1.5" TFT will require you to hold 160x240 so that is the resolution you need to work with.

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