Summary
A tiny, offline retro TV uses a Raspberry Pi 4 to zap through ’90s Argentine commercials.
Blue CRT-style menus, static noise, rotary dial, and power-off option for pure nostalgia.
All schematics, 3D models, and source code are public, so you can build your own tiny TV.
Do you ever have these weird moments where you want to rewatch advertisements that you saw on TV as a kid? I have. Not the actual TV shows, mind; the adverts that fill the time between them, the stuff that was meant to be the filler between the actual entertainment. For some reason, watching the ads specifically gives me a ton more nostalgia than the actual shows.
If you’re like me and want a little window into the past, why not build your own? This cool miniature TV uses a Raspberry Pi 4 to run, and the creator has revealed how you can make one yourself.
TVArgenta is a tiny portal into simpler times
The story begins on a thread in the Raspberry Pi subreddit, where user /u/Ricardo_Sappia posted about their latest project. It’s called the TVArgenta, and the idea was born from a desire to go back to the early days:
13 years ago I moved from Argentina to Germany.
My kids were born here, and although we speak Spanish at home, there are parts of my childhood they never experienced.
One of those are the TV commercials.
For me they’re not just ads – they’re small pieces of memory with the smell of home.
So I built TVArgenta, a fully offline retro TV made with Raspberry Pi 4, a rotary encoder as a dial, an I2S audio interface (MAX98357A) and a 4.3” DSI display that lets you do old-school “zapping” through 90s Argentinian commercials.
The interface is pure nostalgia: blue CRT-style menus, static noise between channels, even a power-off option like the old sets.
Ricardo goes on to say that, while they used it to show off old ads, you can technically put whatever you want on this TV. Maybe some reruns of your favorite childhood movies, perhaps?