Mini LCD screen question

[b]

Hi.
A friend is looking, as part of an art project, to set up a large
number of mini LCD screens, ideally about the size of those found on
consumer videocameras (3 inch or so). these would i believe be fed by
a video source and form a sort of multi-mini-video wall.

I am trying to investigate the feasibility of this and if so, how
best to realise it from a technical standpoint.

Assuming one could get hold of said 3 inch screens (as camera spare
parts - As far as i know, screens this small are not commercially
available as are, say, those found in in-car dvd players and GPS
systems, which seem to be about 6 or 7 inches in size), I am assuming
they would need a few things added to be able to function without a
camera. Do most designs (panasonics etc) have the backlight , inverter
and driver chips as part of the fold out panel unit and would require
the addition of a power supply and video processing circuitry?

My initial reaction to this is that it would either be too hard to
obtain the screens in the first place and even if not so, would
require painstaking work to be able to get them running independently
of the camera for which they were designed. Plan B would be to source
small screens already premade, as consumer independent units - any
suggestions? maybe GPS/portrable dvd/modified video-surveillance set
(as in: http://www.fermax.com/frames.asp?idm=ING&n1=2&n2=52&n3=241 )

any thoughts welcomed.
-B.

 

[Rick]

Hi.
A friend is looking, as part of an art project, to set up a large
number of mini LCD screens, ideally about the size of those found on
consumer videocameras (3 inch or so). these would i believe be fed by
a video source and form a sort of multi-mini-video wall.

I am trying to investigate the feasibility of this and if so, how
best to realise it from a technical standpoint.

Assuming one could get hold of said 3 inch screens (as camera spare
parts - As far as i know, screens this small are not commercially
available as are, say, those found in in-car dvd players and GPS
systems, which seem to be about 6 or 7 inches in size), I am assuming
they would need a few things added to be able to function without a
camera. Do most designs (panasonics etc) have the backlight , inverter
and driver chips as part of the fold out panel unit and would require
the addition of a power supply and video processing circuitry?

My initial reaction to this is that it would either be too hard to
obtain the screens in the first place and even if not so, would
require painstaking work to be able to get them running independently
of the camera for which they were designed. Plan B would be to source
small screens already premade, as consumer independent units - any
suggestions? maybe GPS/portrable dvd/modified video-surveillance set
(as in: http://www.fermax.com/frames.asp?idm=ING&n1=2&n2=52&n3=241 )

any thoughts welcomed.
-B.

More options here:

http://www.millertech.com/housed-lcds.htm

Seems these would eliminate the any need for external circuitry. No
pricing info available on the sight though. But it gives you an idea of
what else is out there.

HTH

Rick

 

[Rich Webb]

Hi.
A friend is looking, as part of an art project, to set up a large
number of mini LCD screens, ideally about the size of those found on
consumer videocameras (3 inch or so). these would i believe be fed by
a video source and form a sort of multi-mini-video wall.

I am trying to investigate the feasibility of this and if so, how
best to realise it from a technical standpoint.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8335
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=569
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8498

are some possibilities for the displays. There will be a non-trivial
(but do-able) amount of development involved to integrate them and
to tie in the video source.

Sparkfun seems to be "hobbyist friendly" and they often have at
least basic interface code for the components they've played with.

 

[Arfa Daily]

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8335
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=569
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8498

are some possibilities for the displays. There will be a non-trivial
(but do-able) amount of development involved to integrate them and
to tie in the video source.

Sparkfun seems to be "hobbyist friendly" and they often have at
least basic interface code for the components they've played with.

The first of those is a Sony PSP display, and they can be had a lot cheaper
than that from eBay ( I had to fit one just last week to my son-in-law's
poor broken unit ...) The other two are mobile phone displays, and a few
months back, Elektor magazine did one of their mini projects using these LCD
panels as the display device. Complete details on how to drive them
(software-wise) and how to interface to them (hardware-wise) were in the
article.

http://www.elektor.com/magazines/2007/april/mobile-phone-lcd-with-slide-show.81074.lynkx

Arfa

 

[b]

thanks very much for the pointers chaps. I will look into them all.

Arfa_ I managed to 'free downlaod' the elektor piece but seems to be
in some kind of hex file which i can't open, any suggestions?
cheers. Ben

 

[b]

I managed to 'free downlaod' the elektor piece but seems to be

in some kind of hex file which i can't open, any suggestions?
cheers. Ben

just managed to get the pdf. - please ignore last message!

 

[Arfa Daily]

I managed to 'free downlaod' the elektor piece but seems to be

just managed to get the pdf. - please ignore last message!

Interesting little project. Let us know how you get on with it !

Arfa