Hi, Just joined the site today. I've always had a fascination with taking electrical equipment to bits and reassembling them. You know? See what makes it tick. I recently dismantled an old portable DVD player because the laser had broken. After realising I couldn't fix it. And finding a replacement part for it would be an extremely difficult task (As the thing is so ancient). I thought I would take it to bits completely and see what I could find. To my shock and horror......... There wasn't anything of much use in it, resulting in most of it getting thrown in the trash. I did however keep the LCD screen. I thought 'Hey, its a decent size. Maybe I could do something with it'. I came up with the idea of using it as another monitor and have duel screen on my PC (And yes. I know a 7 inch monitor sounds a bit daft) But I think it would be great for Live Messenger, or maybe some useful information about my system (Such as CPU usage, Core temperature, Memory usage ETC) Another thing I would love to do is use it as a wireless monitor (I'm not 100% sure if this is possible) So I can watch films in bed and the like. On top of this (And I know the list is getting a bit demanding now) But i have found a site that offers a touch screen film that covers the LCD display. It would be great to not only have the above mentioned features but to also be touch screen and completely portable. Now the snag that I hit is this. I have no idea how to go about doing it. I mean I'm no noob when it comes to computing. I know a fair amount. Its just the coding side of things that I'm completely stumped about. And the fact that I have no idea how to even go about building this monitor. If I could get any feedback, advice or suggestions on this matter I would be extremely grateful. Regards, Fin9ers
I still have all the bits lurking somewhere But i didn't think they would be of any use. Gimme a sec and i'll fish them out the bin............ Right, there's the main board. And the other 2 smaller ones i beleive are for the display and the sound. Do i need these at all? I would put some pictures up. But I cant seem to upload pictures. Ive tried but all it asks for is a URL. And i dont have a server for hosting
Right, this is the LCD and the 2 other Boards: And this is the main board: Apologies on the bad quality pics. But the battery was running out on the camera, so had to rush the shots
Like you, I like taking things apart to see how they work, and trying to fix them. I've never taken an electronics class (wish we had compulsory electronics and shop classes when I was growing up), so I'm not going to be much help on this, but I'm got something similar in my projects pile and done a bit of research. I think the skinny board on the left is the power inverter for the lcd, which you will probably need. The other one with the speakers might be video/sound circuitry. You might not need the board with the the dvd on it... but I'm not sure. Do you have the service manual/schematics for it? That could help you id parts and circuits. What is the make/model of the original dvd player? Also, I believe a lot of manufacturers will buy premade circuitry from other suppliers, making things modular, so that there is a standard input to monitor to display. If you have board id numbers, that could help as well. Pinouts.ru may have some good info for you. I have a POS (touchscreen, not poor quality ) from Digipos, and the boards inside seem to be direct from a lcd manufacturer (I think Autronics or something similar) I haven't made much progress on iding and figuring out how to use it in a mod (wanted to make it as a second screen mounting in the side.) I have NO idea how you could make it wireless, but good luck, and I'll be checking back to see how it goes. Also, have you looked through the stickies? http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=44604 http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=86806
Many thanks MM. The LCD FAQ is helping a lot right now. I have found wireless VGA Transmitters and receivers. But at a range of only 3 meters max without obstacles, its a bit... well... ****. Would be nice to roam my household. i really want it to be able to be fully portable. Not just confined to my bedroom. But, integrating Wifi would be a much more time consuming and a pain in the arse. But the touch screen theory is coming along nicely. It sounds like its going to work in theory. But i cant stress enough. I'm running around in circles in the dark. I don't know where to start. I have got a mate that's lending me his brain So at least there's 2 people trying to get this project off the ground. Will keep you all posted as much as i can. And of course i'll post pictures of my progress as and when it happens. (Thanks DaveVader for the picture hosting) If i could ask you guys to keep up with the posts that would be great. Ive never seen this before. Really would like to get this project working properly. *ADDITION* It was a Goodmans GDVD67LCD Website: http://www.goodmans.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=GDVD67LCD&language=en-GB
This seems like a pretty ambitious project, but would be awesome if you could pull it off. I didn't know you could get VGA transmitters at all, but if you could get long range ones, the quality would most likely be pretty bad. I'll be keeping an eye on this also, I hope it works out for you.
Well you're going to need something to drive the lcd. You won't need sound, but that helps if you are going to be watching movies and stuff.
So, Things I've done so far.... NOTHING! I'm sorry to all the people who want to see this project work. But its harder than I thought. I have no idea where to start. I have the LCD and the Power inverter for it. But as for driving the display, I'm pretty stumped at what to use. I have the original chip board that was in the DVD player. And not sure if I can use this at all. if someone could help verify what the board is, that would be most handy. Its the board in the second picture i posted. the larger board out of the 2, with the speakers attached to it. *ADDITION* I have found a VGA integrated Driver Board http://www.made-in-china.com/showro...Driver-Board-with-Video-or-VGA-interface.html If you guys could help me determine that this is what I need, that'll be wonderful And if anyone fancies a chat about this project (Ideas, Advice ETC) Add me on MSN: Wireless_Monitor_Man@hotmail.co.uk
Are any of the pins on the yellow connectors marked on the circuit boards? That screen probably takes composite video PAL/NTSC from the DVD board. I'd be very surprised if it took RGBHV like a VGA display. Use the internet for find out what the part numbers are on your chips on the controller. Does it power up and light? Do you get any video, even a boot or product ID screen?
It did fire up ok. But i ripped some wires trying to take it apart, so cant now I'm currently trying to find out the resolution of the LCD so i can determine wireless bandwidth. Its a slow moving project, but its still moving lol My friend has all the plans laid out at the moment. But i haven't discussed it with him yet. So dont know what plans he's got. He says that its the wireless part that's currently the problem as resolution determines the bandwidth needed. Plus there's the encoding and decoding part that's a problem.
your best bet is to work out which wires do what on the cables that go between the lcd board and the dvd board. You will need someone experienced with circuit boards to help you, and a multimeter to work out which wires go where. Just having a quick look at that board, i can see 3 inductors under the connector, which indicates that the LCD panel is driving with an RGB signal, plus vsync and hsync. Thats a fairly good indicator that its probably compatible with DSUB with a few extra cables for power. The other seperate cable with the 3(4) wires is sound probably.
