ESP32 with matrix display receiving E.131/sACN data via WiFi

This project shows how to play a video on a Windows PC, sending the data traffic in E1.31 sACN (DMX over Ethernet) protocol and receive it via WLAN on a ESP32 to display it on two chained 64x64 LED matrix displays (= heigh/rows/lines 64, width/columns 128). Because of the inefficient coding and protocol overhead don't expect high frame rates and don't be surprised if not all lines are updated. Anyway, this is a good starting point for your own optimizations.

In E1.31 there is a concept of Universes, which is a data block with max 512 bytes called Channels. To keep it simple, we use one universe per row/line of the matrix display. Because we have three bytes (RGB) per pixel, we can have max 170 (512/3) LEDs horizontally. This is sufficient for two chained 64x64 matrixes (2 * 64 = 128 columns; 128 * 3 = 384 bytes).

Payload structure (bytes): start code (ignore) | Pixel 1 R | Pixel 1 G | Pixel 1 B | Pixel 2 R | Pixel 2 G | .... | Pixel 128 G | Pixel 128 R

Requirements

Hardware

• ESP32
• 64x64 LED matrix display connected to the ESP32

Arduino IDE (2.3.2) with installed libraries

• FastLED - https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED
• ESP32 HUB75 LED MATRIX PANEL DMA - https://github.com/mrcodetastic/ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA
• ESP Async E1.31 https://github.com/forkineye/ESPAsyncE131

Windows (10) PC

• Jinx LED Software https://live-leds.de/downloads/
• Depending on your video format it could be that you must install additiona codecs https://live-leds.de/faqs/my-avi-files-wont-play-and-jinx-says-maybe-an-unsupported-codec/

Setup ESP32

• Wire the display according the PIN definition in the source code or change the definition.
• Set the ssid and the passphrase
• Compile and download the E131_to_Matrix.ino

Running Jinx

Setup

Matrix Options

width 128, heigh 64, tick Use Patch State for Pixel drawing.

Output Devices

64 entries needed, because one device per universe/line/row, each with 384 Channels. Because we use Multicast and we like to keep it simple we use the IP Addresses are 239.255.0.x with x = universe number.

. . .

Output Patch

Select the first cell in each line and use Fast Patch

• Dimension: x=128, y=1
• Patch Mode: Linewise starting Top-Left
• Pixel Order: RGB
• First Channel: 0 (check it! - if your universe has more channels defined than the x-dimension, this value will automatically be changed to the first 'unused' channel number)
• Patch Device: eACN/E1.31 239.255.0.x [x] (where is is the univers/line number)

Testing

• Set Channel 1 effect to Plasma and Setup->Start Output

• Select Channel 1 AVI Player, Edit to select your Video and Setup->Start Output

and enjoy

Output.mp4