This Delightful Wall-Mounted LED Panel Displays Videos

When it comes to resolution, we're spoiled these days. It is now common for consumer products to have displays with pixels so small that they can't be seen by the human eye, which is a remarkable feat of engineering. But a side effect of that technology is a feeling of nostalgia for pixelation. Retro-style video games with pixelated graphics are very popular and many of us have a soft spot for the chunky displays of yore. That apparent paradox seems to have motivated Redditor ThisHatFitsFine to create this delightful wall-mounted LED panel that can display pixelated videos.

This appears to be irrational because by every objective measure, this is display is much worse than a $99 LCD TV and it cost more than that to build. But we humans are not rational creatures and this display is a joy to behold. It is a large square panel measuring two feet to a side with a 32×32 matrix of LEDs, so each "pixel" is a massive 0.75×0.75" square. Each of those is lit by a WS2812B individually addressable RGB LED that can be set to any color.

We've seen many LED matrix panels set up in a similar manner, but this is unique because it can play videos at a decent frame rate. An ESP32 development board running WLED firmware controls the WS2812B LEDs and it receives display data from a Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ that runs Falcon Player. Thattakes an MP4 or GIF and outputs a series of32×32 resolutionframe arraysto set the LEDs.

ThisHatFitsFine constructed the panel frame and grid out of plywood. Black tinted glass acts as a diffuser for the LEDs and really helps to improve contrast by making the black pixels look dark.

The result is a fantastic piece of wall art. The pixelation makes it obvious that it isn't supposed to replace a TV and so it isn't distracting, but ThisHatFitsFine can set it to cycle through different clips that look look much more interesting than still images.