I recently posted for information regarding an in wall media screen I wanted to create, some may remember. I was looking for information about how to go about this and what i need. I believe I have found a TFT screen I want to use now, and was wondering if this can be connected easily to a computer to be used as a media screen displays graphics, music information, eq info, etc. These are the spec's, 7.5" Big Screen SUPER THIN Dimension: 209 x 144 x 28 (mm) NTSC / PAL 100% compatible with Eureopean (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc) TV/Video and US Standard 12V DC Power Supply (from 220/240V AC socket or Car power socket) Built-in Speaker Support RCA Video/Audio input Support PAL and NTSC auto switching Built-in Calender Brightness Control Contrast Control Color Control Sound Volume Control Sleek Remote Control (included) Monitor Stand (included) Thanks all Russ By the way, this has no TV Tuner (cheaper) but you can get it with a TV tuner too which I may do
Yep, just get a vid card with TV out (just make sure it has composite out and not just s-video) If is an Nvidia card, the drivers should treat it like another monitor, don't know about ATI cards. EDIT: You won't need a tuner either, the signal from the card is the only thing on the cable, like when you hook a camcorder to the VCR, it doesnt have to tune to the auxillary input, it just switches to it.
Brill, cheers, Another thing is, I want to run about 3 of these screen off the same computer.....however, I want each screen to be independent, so one screen is playing one song or film, the other maybe play a different one choosen. Can this be done from a single computer (as all the songs will be stored on 1 computer)
In theory if you have 3 PCI cards with tvout (that just clone the output to a tv), windows inherent multimonitor support should let you do it without too much of a fuss. A parhelia is another option, a tri-head graphics card, however i think it only supports having one TV at any one time, maybe worth checking out, but the prior is the simpler/cheaper option
You'd need more than what you have, that's for sure. Let's say you have a fairly new card, with VGA, DVI and S-Video out. Assuming you also have a big monitor, you have either a VGA or DVI in use, one of the TFTs will take S-Video. You can pick up VGA->TV adapters for another TFT, so now you're out of video outputs but still have another screen. This is where another video card comes in. All you need is one with TV out, and then you should be all set. As to whether or not your OS will appreciate having 4 displays to handle, that's another story, but it shouldn't be that bad. Oh, a note on the second video card: it helps if at the very least the chipset maker is the same. If you can get the same product family, even better because both ATI and nVidia (I'm assuming you're not using one of those new S3 video cards or a Matrox, but somehow I think that's a safe bet) use unified drivers for their flagship product lines (nVidia's cover every Geforce to the first ones, ATI's cover everything that's a Radeon). Plus this prevents the different video drivers from conflicting with each other. edit: crap, I forgot something. The only triple-head card is the Parahelia as acrim stated, all others with 3 outputs are only dual-head, which means you can only run two displays per card so that they can be controlled independently (if you run three, one display will be a clone of one of the other two).
Acrim, to the rescue again, cheers mate. Ok now it gets a little more complicated, below each screen will be buttons that will scroll the songs, choose one, and play it, and over options. So with three screens is it possible to have these inputs indepentent. So say screen 1 is operated to play song 5, but also screen 2 or 3 is operated to play a different song (using the buttons with each screen) can this be done???? edit: Ive not actually choose any computer componets yet and a new system will be built, so any part recommendations will be great, cheers
I think this is just barely possible. I know for a fact that you'll need 3 different media players or 3 seperate installations of the same one. For the sake of the argument, let's say you're using Winamp. For the buttons, you might be able to follow the serial remote guide (there's a thread about that in this forum, fairly recent), tie all of the buttons to a single serial connection, load the plugin in each copy of Winamp, then assign the buttons properly for each one (i.e. if you need 5 buttons, then 1-5 for copy 1, 6-10 for copy 2, 11-15 for copy 3). Then there's the sound issue. At the very least, you'll need 2 sound cards, maybe 3 depending on what you have. If you have an onboard and a dedicated, and one of them is 4.1, then you'll need a surround-sound plug-in for 2 copies of Winamp. What you do is hook up a 4.1 or 2 2.1 setups to the 4.1 card, then tell the 2 copies of Winamp to output to the 4.1 card. For the plug-in setup, 1 copy of Winamp needs to be set to output to the front channel, the other one to the rear channel. Then you need to tell the third copy of Winamp to output to the second sound card. If the surround sound plugin idea doesn't work, then 3 sound cards (or 2 + onboard) are needed. All you need to do is assign each copy of Winamp to a different sound card. /me mumbles something about why 3 independent TFTs and audio outputs is worth it
The reason is to have media screen in a number of rooms Not sure you gont my add on whypick to my last message, but Im yet to build the computer for the media system, so please recommend your best components. Would it be better to build a top(ish) end system to operate all the screens, buttons, etc. or to have 3 cheap low power systems for each screen that could access a single HDD with all the media on??? Thanks Russ
I think in this case it'd be better to have seperate machines if budget permitted, some nice mini-itx-ers or something, it depends on exactly how you intend to use the things. The way whypick suggested to use 1 computer is perfectly possible though. You might get more luck from this in Hardware i think.
So you think this is more a hardware issue till I get that sorted, cheers mate. Basically the units will just be stored in the loft or somewhere as hidden media machines. So can a large HDD be accessed from up to 3 machines at the same time??? Cause I would rather have 1 HDD with all the media on. Also, how powerfully do you think the small machine need to be, can I go for something as cheap and low as just a 1Ghz Processor (or less) and just 64 or 128 MB memory. Would they need HDD if they are just accessing the main big HDD
The least complicated way may be to have three relatively simple mini-PCs connected to a server unit with a (set of) big-ass HDD(s), via a high speed network. You could go wireless with 802.11g and have the three units share files on the server HDD, or if you're not too fussed about cables go gigalan, and you can stream MPEG video without a hitch (Or wait 6 more months and find wireless networking getting fast enough for video streaming, too).
thanks mate, do you think 3 pc's will be the cheapest option too??? What is the lowest spec I can go to for the 3 mini machines to work ok with out hitches
I'd definitely go with the client-server model, it's a much simpler route, more flexible and there's a lot of options if you go this route. You might even want to consider turning the mini PCs into dummy clients; you'll save on space and price. About the only thing I'd put into them besides proc/mobo/ram is a DVD drive.
Hey all, Can any one in the hardware/overclocking section give me ay help with this please like what I need, spec (cheaper the better!!!!), etc thanks Russ
M8 where did u get that screen from and how much?? Interested in a little one for a new build... Specs wise, a mini itx/epia system may be the cheapest... or some low budget stuff... 1.2 duron, kt133 mobo, 128 ram, 20 gig hdd... wont cost that much....
Check out www.mini-itx.com for details of those Epia / ITX MBs.... From what I've heard, only the fastest Nehemiah M10000 models have enough grunt to deal with *all* media types.... The lower speed and cheaper versions seem to struggle with some hi bit rate Divx and Xvid movies, but are usually ok for Mpeg2 DVD type action..... As Highland3r says, you may well be able to put together some cheap athlon / duron systems for less than those Epias... (but you'll still need to get a MB or GFX card with a TV-out for that screen)
