What is this, a television for ants? In principle yes! The Tiny TV 2a Kickstarter project from the company that brought us an even smaller Game Boy, is one of the smallest and cutest video players I’ve ever seen. While it doesn’t have bunny ears to tap into the airwaves, the one-inch 216 x 135 pixel television is authentic in just about every other way: dials to adjust “channel” and volume, a working speaker, and on/off controls. button, even an infrared receiver for a small optional remote control (through Technabob).
There’s a two-hour lithium-ion battery so you can use it on the go, and a USB-C port for charging and data. It’s all powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2040 computer. And — get this — it emulates the “channel switching” experience by remembering your timestamp in each of the video files you preload on the included 8GB micro SD card, so it can feel like you’re surfing live television.
And because that’s clearly not small enough, the company is also offering a TinyTV Mini, which shrinks the idea down to a volume of just one cubic inch. It has a 0.6-inch OLED screen (instead of IPS) with only 64 x 64 pixels and a battery life of one hour.
Both are currently available on Kickstarter for $50 each, and both come with an app that shrinks your favorite video files to the appropriate resolutions.
Tested Norman Chano has a great video shows off the original Tiny TV alongside both new versions, and you can see how much clearer the TinyTV 2 looks and sounds.
Assuming the Kickstarter campaign doesn’t run into any ripples – the Thumby seems to have gone well, has shipped over 10,000 units and is now on sale for free – this could be an easier way to live the little TV dream than rolling it out of your own mini Simpsons CRT. I just funded it myself; I think it will be a great home for anime music videos.
Here are a few more photos of the TinyTV Mini:
