Reverse-engineering a $35 backup camera display (AMT630A)

This started because I built a full-size Robby the Robot suit and discovered I couldn't actually see out of it (https://youtu.be/gAHd46ErNA8?si=-iOwbobp4trPXdGB)

I bought a $35 backup camera/display to solve that problem, then discovered that the display contained an AMT630A video processor with a surprisingly capable OSD system. That sent me down a rabbit hole of I2C probing, firmware dumping, register tracing, custom graphics, bitmap formats, hidden factory menus, and eventually figuring out how to use an ESP32 to generate a programmable HUD over the live composite video.

I ended up turning what I learned into an Arduino library, which I've released on GitHub. It supports built-in and custom fonts, multiple OSD windows, 16-color bitmaps, palettes, transparency, and animation. It can also be used with composite video sources other than the camera.

The library and code are here: https://github.com/mogrinz/AMT630A You can also install directly from the Arduino IDE Library Manager (search for AMT630A)

▲

netsharc an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Hah, the video is more exciting than the readme, IMO an image of the robot in the readme would be attention-getting.

Would "rear view mirrors" help navigation in the suit? So 2 extra displays that would give you a view of what's over your shoulder, like on some cars nowadays (for example): https://www.carscoops.com/2022/02/heres-what-you-wanted-to-k...

	▲	mogrinz an hour ago \| parent [-]
		The setup I bought only has one camera but the AMT supports up to 3 separate composite sources (I did not add switching to the library yet b/c I couldn’t test this). It looks like split-screen is supported also. For now, I am adding some simple sensors to the back of the suit and triggering an on-screen pop-up when something is behind me

▲

theamk 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Neat! Can you add the pictures of your setup? Display, soldered wires, some overlays?

(sorry if they in the video - I generally don't watch the videos before reading the text first)

	▲	aaronblohowiak 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		the video goes into a lot of this. it is far above average YouTube quality.

▲

Retr0id 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Heads up, your youtube link has a tracking ID in it that is bound to the account/device you shared the link from.

	▲	genxy an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		How I See from Inside Robby — AMT630A Heads-Up Display https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQ94DHOay0
	▲	mogrinz an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Thanks! I’ll fix that

▲

bobsmooth an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Classic bit of reverse engineering. I love how detailed your readme is.

▲

BugsJustFindMe an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Title nit: "backup" means a second copy, "back up" is the verb phrase for moving backwards. Verb phrases get hyphenated for clarity when used as adjectives immediately preceding a noun. So this should be "back-up camera", not "backup camera".