Adafruit
TFP401 HDMI/DVI Decoder to 40-Pin TTL Breakout - With Touch
It's a mini HDMI decoder board! So small and simple, you can use this board as an all-in-one display driver for TTL displays, or perhaps decoding HDMI/DVI ...
It's a mini HDMI decoder board! So small and simple, you can use this board as an all-in-one display driver for TTL displays, or perhaps decoding HDMI/DVI video for some other project. This breakout features the TFP401 for decoding video, and for the touch version, an AR1100 USB resistive touch screen driver.
The TFP401 is a beefy DVI/HDMI decoder from TI. It can take unencrypted video and pipe out the raw 24-bit color pixel data - HDCP not supported! It will decode any resolution from 25-165MHz pixel clock, basically up to 1080p. We've used this breakout with 800x480 displays, so we have not specifically tested it with higher resolutions. We added a bunch of supporting circuitry like a backlight driver and configured it for running basic TTL display panels such as the ones we have in the shop
You can even power the display and decoder from a USB port. For example, with a 5" 800x480 display and 50mA backlight current, the current draw is 500mA total. You can reduce that down 370mA by running the backlight at half-brightness (25mA). With the backlight off, the decoder and display itself draws 250mA. If you want more backlight control, there's a PWM input, connect that to your microcontroller or other PWM output and you can continuously dim the backlight as desired
We have two versions, one is video only and one is video+touch. This is the version with touch! Pair it with a screen that has a resistive touch overlay. The USB port then acts as both power and data, with the touch screen appearing like a USB mouse. We've tested it sucessfully on Mac, Windows, and Debian Linux (Raspbian on a Raspberry Pi). Other Linux distributions may or may not work, but if you're running Linux you're probably used to that.
This driver is designed specifically as a small and easy to use display driver for our 40-pin TTL displays. In particular, we suggest it for use with single board computers (or desktop/laptops!) with DVI/HDMI output like the Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black. You can power the driver over USB and then feed it video via the HDMI port. It's a very small board so great for tucking into an enclosure. It can drive our 4.3", 5.0" or 7.0" displays but we really only recommend the 5" or 7" 800x480 as some computers do not like the low resolution of the 4.3" and the TFP401 does not contain a video scaler, it will not resize/shrink video!
We ship this board with an 800x480 resolution EDID so it will be auto-detected at that resolution. For advanced users, the EDID can be reprogrammed using our example Arduino code. Or, for computers that use linux, you can always just force the resolution to whatever display you have connected.
This is just a decoder breakout, a display is not included! We recommend either the 800x480 5" with touch or 7" with touch. Please check out the detailed tutorial on adjusting the backlight brightness. We also have information on how to tweak the EDID if you want to use other display resolutions. If you need a little more distance between the driver and display, check out the 40-pin FPC extension board.
- As of February 7, 2024 – We updated this PCB with Adafruit Pinguin to make a lovely and legible silkscreen, as well as with a plug-n-play Stemma QT connector for the EDID EEPROM, in case you want to reprogram it.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- breakout
- A breakout is a small circuit board that makes a tiny or hard-to-solder component easier to connect to with standard pins. It matters because this OLED module can be wired into a microcontroller project without needing to solder directly to the display’s fine contacts.
- EEPROM
- A type of non-volatile memory that keeps stored data even when power is turned off. In a sensor module, it can be used to store settings or calibration data so they do not need to be re-entered every time.
- HDMI
- HDMI is a common digital video and audio connection used by computers, media players, and many displays. If a display kit has HDMI input, it is usually much easier to test with a single-board computer because it can act like a normal monitor.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip that runs your program and controls connected inputs and outputs. For this product, it is the part that reads buttons and sensors, drives the display and speaker, and communicates over Bluetooth.
- PCB
- A printed circuit board is a rigid board with copper tracks that connect electronic parts without loose wires. For this kit, the PCBs also form the airplane shape, so they are both the circuit base and part of the finished model.
- Pixel Clock
- The pixel clock is the timing pulse that tells a display when to read each pixel’s colour data. It matters because the clock rate must match the panel’s resolution and timing requirements for the image to display correctly.
- PWM
- Pulse Width Modulation is a way for a digital pin to simulate variable output power by switching on and off very quickly. It matters for controlling things like LED brightness, motor speed, or servo-style signals from a microcontroller pin.
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