Crtdream Offers a Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Own Cyberpunk PiWall CRT Video Wall

Pseudonymous video art project "crtdream" has released instructions on building a 2x2 video wall from old cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays and Raspberry Pi single-board computers.

CRT video walls, where flickering cathode-ray tube TVs and monitors make up an ever-shifting backdrop, have long been a staple of the sci-fi and cyberpunk aesthetics — but have, sadly, begun to fall by the wayside thanks to affordable large-format flat-screen displays and projectors. Crtdream, for its part, isn't ready to let the concept go just yet, though — and has published a guide to encourage others to join it on the journey.

"Have some extra CRT TVs around? Don't want to spend hours wading through an old mailing list for a project that hasn't been updated in half a decade? Well buckle up folks, we're building a PiWall," crtdream writes. "This is less of a general guide, and more of an in-depth look into the way that I deployed PiWall, with the hope that it may solve an issue that you might've run into."

The key to a video wall is that each display is showing only a portion of the overall image — rather than every display showing the same thing. While a single Raspberry Pi can drive two HDMI displays, it has only one composite output — which is why a PiWall uses one single-board computer per display, all communicating with a central computer over Ethernet.

The PiWall software handles splitting a video up into segments for display on the video wall, while additional configuration allows for custom spacing adn bezel sizing to avoid any unwanted gaps or distortion. Crtdream also notes that 60 FPS footage or videos at a higher resolution than 1080p can prove choppy, suggesting they be re-encoded to fix the problem.

The full write up is available on the crtdream website, while more information on the software can be be found on the PiWall website.