Once upon a time television sets were big boxes with small screens. The TinyTV 2 is a small box with an even smaller screen. Like really small.

Up for pre-order for $49 through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, the TinyTV 2 is basically a portable media player with a 1 inch display, 8GB of storage and a battery. But with a design inspired by an old-school TV set, it looks unlike most other pocket-sized gadgets that you can use to watch videos or listen to music. You can even use the built-in knobs to change “channels” or adjust volume.

The system comes from TinyCircuits, an open source hardware company with a habit of miniaturizing familiar gadgets. Last year the company crowdfunded a keychain-sized game game console called Thumby.

The TinyTV 2 has a 1.9″ x 1.4″ x 1″ body, while the screen its a 1 inch, 216 x 135 pixel IPS TFT LCD display with support for 65 thousand colors. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2040 processor and features a front-spacing mono speaker, an IR port for an optional remote control, a USB-C port for charging and loading videos, and a built-in 8GB microSD card that can store up to 10 hours of video.

With just a 3.7V, 150 mAh battery, the system only gets about 2 hours of battery life while playing videos. But let’s be honest, this thing is more of a novelty than a device you’re actually going to want to watch feature-length movies on. So maybe long battery life isn’t all that important.

And just in case a tiny TV with a 1 inch display feels a little too large, there’s another option. For the same price, you can reserve a TinyTV Mini that measures just 1″ x 0.94″ x 0.86″ and has a 0.6″ 64 x 64 pixel, 65 thousand color OLED display and a 3.7V, 50 mAh battery good for about 1 hour of battery life.

Like the (slightly) larger model, the TinyTV Mini has volume, channel, and power buttons, but due to the smaller body, they’re all on the top of the device. It also has a built-in speaker, IR receiver, a USB-C port, and 8GB of storage (which can store up to 40 hours of video optimized for a 64 x 64 pixel display).

TinyCircuits also includes software for PC and Mac that you can use to compress video for these tiny devices, as well as a screen mirroring utility that will let you stream content from a computer to the little display.

Optional upgrades and add-ons include a clear case for either model, USB-C cables, or a Tiny Remote with power, volume, and channel buttons.

The TinyTV 2 and TinyTV Mini Kickstarter campaign runs through November 17th, 2022 and TinyCircuits expects to begin shipping units to backers in March, 2023.

via The Verge and Technabob

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,448 other subscribers

Join the Conversation

5 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  2. This reminds me of when I was formatting DVDs to play on my Motorola E815 flip phone. 😊

    Reply

    1. Around 2005 my commute to and from work involved an hour-long train ride in each direction. I watched a lot of TV shows compressed and formatted to fit on my Dell Axim X50V’s 3.7 inch, 640 x 480 pixel display. But doing it on the E815 is hardcore!

      Reply