How to Build a Working TV in Minecraft
Construct a fully functional cycling screen TV in Minecraft using redstone circuitry, sticky pistons, and decorative blocks to simulate changing broadcast channels.
- Read the tools, materials, safety notes, and steps below for free.
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- Allow camera and microphone. Point your phone at the work; the coach watches your progress and tells you the next step.
🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Minecraft Client (Java or Bedrock)
- ✓ Keyboard
- ✓ Mouse
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Black Concrete blocks
- ✓ Smooth Quartz blocks
- ✓ Sticky Pistons
- ✓ Redstone Dust
- ✓ Redstone Repeaters
- ✓ Redstone Lamps
- ✓ Stone Buttons
- ✓ Glass Panes
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Ensure you build in Creative Mode to prevent falling damage and avoid mob interference.
- • Verify chunk boundaries so piston feed tapes and redstone lines do not cross unloaded chunk borders.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (5 Steps)
Frame the TV Stand and Housing
Place a base of Smooth Quartz slabs measuring 6 blocks wide and 2 blocks deep to form the media console. Erect a rectangular TV frame using Black Concrete that is 6 blocks wide and 4 blocks tall, leaving an open 4x2 center space for the display screen.
- • A clean white console table holding a black hollow rectangular frame with a 4-wide by 2-high empty center.
- • Making the TV frame too thick or leaving uneven border spacing.
Install the Screen and Channel Selector Button
Fill the central 4x2 frame opening with Redstone Lamps facing outward to act as the illuminated television screen. Place a Stone Button on the bottom-right corner block of the outer bezel to serve as the power and channel toggle switch.
- • Eight Redstone Lamps flush inside the concrete frame with a single button on the lower right bezel.
- • Using regular glowstone instead of redstone lamps, preventing dynamic toggling.
Construct the Piston Feed Tape Behind the Screen
Dig out a 6x4 space directly behind the TV wall and place four Sticky Pistons in a closed loop cycle. Load contrasting blocks like White Wool, Colored Terracotta, and Sea Lanterns in a ring so the pistons can push them sequentially behind the display.
- • A rectangular ring of pistons and decorative pattern blocks positioned directly behind the lamp wall.
- • Placing pistons facing each other rather than in an offset clockwise or counterclockwise loop.
Wire the T-Flip-Flop and Pulse Extender
Run a line of Redstone Dust from the back of the front button block into a compact T-Flip-Flop circuit. Connect the output through a repeater set to 2 ticks, splitting the signal to each corner piston with appropriate repeater delays.
- • Redstone repeaters and dust lines neatly routing from the front button to each piston corner without crossing unintended wires.
- • Mismatched repeater timings causing pistons to fire out of sequence and lock the feed tape.
Enclose and Detail the Entertainment Center
Cover the exposed rear redstone mechanism with a decorative wall matching your interior room build. Add speaker columns on either side using Note Blocks with Wither Skeleton Skulls on top, and place an armor stand remote on the coffee table.
- • All redstone wiring fully hidden behind walls with polished speakers flanking the TV.
- • Placing solid blocks directly above redstone wire lines, cutting the signal.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by wykull — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Redstone Lamps? Glowstone with sticky piston shade shutters
- No Smooth Quartz blocks? White Concrete or Polished Diorite