VGA Shield

The Arduino VGA Shield will be, as the project name may indicate, an Arduino shield that outputs VGA video. The board itself could be based around:

• 4D Systems µVGA-PICASO-MD1 module ($54)
  • Very expensive
  • Some complaints about reliability
  • Only talks RS232
• New 4D Systems uVGA-II(SGC) module ($49)
  • May do a quick board using this as a first revision, and look at switching to another more flexible/cheaper technology later on.
• Propeller chip with custom code ($8)
  • Cheap
  • Unsure how high resolution would be possible given generating VGA video from an MCU
• Custom FPGA solution ($?)
  • More work than any other solution
  • Similar cost to propeller chip, likely
• Off-the-shelf VGA controller chip
  • The Epson S1D13506 seems promising, you talk to it and it has an internal RAMDAC to generate video.
    • Supports LCD, VGA, and NTSC/PAL composite output
    • Flexible bus to talk to the microcontroller
    • Requires EDO DRAM, which isn't available anymore.
  • The Epson S1D13517 might work, it's like the S1D13506 but takes SDRAM
    • Supports up to 800x600 16bpp
    • Only supports TFT displays, may be able to make it talk DVI though through timings/TMDS converter?
• Project Peacock
  • Hybrid CPLD/MCU solution, cheaper than using a softcore in an FPGA
  • Would allow for an easy DVI shield too