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• Video
Signal Anatomy •
Transforming Digital I/O •
Output Resolution •
Memory Restrictions
•
Using
DMA •
Perfect Fit •
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The
ever-increasing clock speeds and computational
power of modern microcontrollers enable faster,
more complex processing. The increased performance
of such devices allows you to work on applications
that were previously out of your reach. For example,
the high throughput of modern microcontrollers
enables them to process and generate video signals.
I
recently designed a CD player with video output
to a TV (see Photo 1). The system is fairly simple.
A Renesas Technology M16C/62P microcontroller
is connected to an ATAPI CD-ROM player so it can
play audio CDs. At the same time, the microcontroller
produces a PAL or NTSC analog RGB color video
signal. A television displays the video signal
and provides a GUI to operate the CD player (see
Figure 1).
|
(Click
here to enlarge)
|
Photo
1—The system includes a CD-ROM player, an
M16C62P starter kit, an experiment board with
the digital I/O-to-video level conversion,
and an RGB monitor for displaying the video.
The audio is rendered through the speakers
in the monitor. Instead of the monitor, you
can use the television in your living room. |
|
(Click
here to enlarge)
|
Figure
1—The M16C62P starter kit board talks via
an IDE bus to an ATAPI CD-ROM player to play
audio CDs. The CD player’s audio output is
routed directly to a television, along with
a video signal that’s generated by the microcontroller. |
The
M16C/62P microcontroller generates the video signal
without any additional dedicated video hardware.
All that’s needed are a few simple resistors and
transistors to transform the microcontroller’s
5-V digital outputs into the voltage range for
video. In this article, I’ll describe the system.
