Using a Raspberry Pi Pico with a screen and a video file

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1

Hello everyone,

Quite new to Raspberry Pi/Arduino.

I’m trying to run a short video file from an SD card or internal memory if possible and output this to a small screen (the one I have is a Keyes 128x160 Colour TFT LCD Module) however I have tried for hours to connect this to my Pico with no joy.

I can get it connected to an Arduino but this is limited and only allows me to display simple graphics and text.

Is there anything for sale at Pimoroni that will able me to run a video on loop, not necessarily a Pico (video file is around 1GB in size) and output this to a small and thin display. I want to mount the whole thing into a fairly thin space.

Kind regards, Luke

2

I “think” you are going to run into the same limitations on the Pico that you hit with the Arduino. They are both Micro Controllers. And the PICO is the new kid on the block so there isn’t a lot of code examples out there for it just yet.
I would think a Raspberry Pi probably even a Zero could do what you want. Assuming there is a library out there for that screen that works in python.
I’ve been using the Pimoroni Breakout Garden ones on my Zero with no issues. I haven’t tried to play a video file on them though, just graphics with info from sensors.
The ones I’m using are all connected via SPI / GPIO header.

3

Hi thanks for your reply!

So if i got a Zero and a 1.3" SPI Colour LCD (240x240) would i be able to connect without the breakout box, the reason being because I want the whole system to be as slim as possible and to fit into a photo frame!

Thankyou and excuse the noobness!

4

That’s doable, your only limited by your imagination. I have one Pi Zero with two of the 0.96 160x80 LCD’s connected. The LCD’s have male headers soldered on, which were then soldered to a Proto Zero. The connections from the screens to the GPIO SPI pins was done on the Proto Zero. The Proto Zero then plugs into the Pi Zero.
If the Zero doesn’t have a header on it you can just solder wires from the breakout to the Pi.
From the product page for that display

  • 3-5V to any 5V or 3V pin
  • CS to BCM 7
  • SCK to BCM 11
  • MOSI to BCM 10
  • DC to BCM 9
  • BL to BCM 19
  • GND to any ground pin

SPI at Raspberry Pi GPIO Pinout

SPI0 uses the following pins on the Pi, you only need to use one of the CE (chip select) pins.
GPIO 7, Pin 26, CE1
GPIO 8, Pin 24, CE0
GPIO 9, Pin 21, MISO
GPIO 10, Pin 19, MOSI
GPIO 11, Pin 23, SCLK

SCLK - Serial ClocK
CE - Chip Enable (often called Chip Select)
MOSI - Master Out Slave In
MISO - Master In Slave Out
MOMI - Master Out Master In