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Another LCD/TV option for use with the Propeller TV Driver - Page 3 — Parallax Forums

Another LCD/TV option for use with the Propeller TV Driver

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Comments

  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-10 00:11
    BradC - I am traveling at the moment, otherwise I would be happy to do some sunlight testing. Overall I know the brightness of the display isn't as good as other displays, but I haven't honestly tested it in sun light.

    Bean - Thanks for the screen shot - that looks marvelous. I am creating a data sheet, hopefully this week (I got distracted last week). The 6 pin connector has some voltage and gnd pins as well as a pin for contrast and brightness. Here is a table for now, and the data sheet may make it more clearer when I get it done.

    6 pin connector. (with LCD connector on left, pin 1 of connector is on the left, pin 6 on the right near TV connector)
    pin 1 = 3.3V output (only be used for adjustment I/O below? I don't think it can source much current to power a Propeller, but....)
    pin 2 = Brightness adjustment
    pin 3 = GND
    pin 4 = 3.3V output
    pin 5 = Color adjustment
    pin 6 = Gnd

    4 pin connector, (with LCD connector on left, pin 1 of connector is on the left, pin 4 is near board edge)
    pin 1 = 5V input (~150mA)
    pin 2 = GND
    pin 3 = GND
    pin 4 = CVBS (composite video PAL or NTSC - auto detecting)

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-03-10 12:55
    Hi Guys,
    Here's the vid of it in action, Hybrid+PropGFX menu + some demos [noparse]:D[/noparse]

    please note, the image on the LCD is better than this video shows, as the compression has blurred it a tad [noparse]:([/noparse] and I still have the screen cover on [noparse]:D[/noparse]

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdWbqhY-DXI

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    http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2009-03-10 13:02
    Nice display & gfx also smile.gif

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    Links to other interesting threads:

    · Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBladeProp, SixBladeProp, website (Multiple propeller pcbs)
    · Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
    · Emulators (Micros eg Altair, and Terminals eg VT100) - index
    · Search the Propeller forums (via Google)

    My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-03-10 13:05
    Thanks Ray [noparse]:D[/noparse], and yes, it's a really nice display [noparse]:D[/noparse]

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    http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-10 16:29
    Thanks for posting the video Baggers!

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-03-10 16:34
    no probs Timothy ( or is it ok to call you Tim? ) [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-10 22:59
    Tim is fine wink.gif

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2009-03-10 23:06
    Where is my order? Just quasi-joking. My Lumen LED's arrived a week ago, and they are superb!
    Maybe a little brown-nosing is needed...

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    JMH
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-10 23:16
    JMH - you haven't received it yet? The US Postal service is so odd sometimes. I would have expected it by now, give it another day or so (always hopeful!). I am sure we sent it to the same address as the Lumen order. I am sorry to hear it is not there yet.

    -Tim

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-03-11 08:11
    JMH, USPS is megaslow, ask OBC [noparse]:D[/noparse] he'll confirm it lol

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    http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-12 03:53
    Does anyone have a Y-box that they can hookup to the LCD display? It would be a small, compact package - kind of like the Chumby, right? Add some more RAM and speed with a Prop II and you could have a full Chumby!

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Paul Sr.Paul Sr. Posts: 435
    edited 2009-03-12 15:09
    I just received your display yesterday and I'm waiting for one to arrive for that very purpose!

    I ordered the yBox a couple of weeks ago, but they sent me the wrong kit!! They said I would get a replacement last week, but hasn't arrived.

    I'll keep you posted.

    Paul
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-13 00:07
    Cool Paul - I am eager to see what you come up with!

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Dr_AculaDr_Acula Posts: 5,484
    edited 2009-03-13 01:22
    I wonder if this could be the best value display around? (excluding freebie CRT monitors).

    I've been using 20x4 displays and they cost US$15 each. That is 80 characters for $15 or 19c per character.

    Looking at Bean's photo, there are 40x13 characters for $44 which is 8c per character.

    I found some graphic white on blue 320x240 LCDs but the best price I could find was $80.

    20x4 is ok for displaying answers or data, and it is ok for entering data one line at a time, but it is too small for a text editor.

    40x13 should be big enough though. When writing code you need to be able to see enough of the code to work out the thread of the program.

    I see some very interesting synergies coming together with the triblade, the CP/M emulation and this display.
  • Paul Sr.Paul Sr. Posts: 435
    edited 2009-03-14 23:16
    Timothy D. Swieter said...
    Cool Paul - I am eager to see what you come up with!

    Well, I must say this is one sweet little display (I just bought another one!!).

    Just got the yBox2 together, hooked it all up and it just works (well, other than the fact that it doesn't know the time zone my ZIP is in!!).!

    yBox2_1.JPG

    Now to get creative!

    Great find, Tim!!

    Thanks!
    .
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-14 23:25
    WOW! Way cool looking Paul Sr. Package that in a nice little box and you literally have a desktop "widget"!! What else can the Y-Box do?

    Thanks for the nice comments on the display, we have plenty more in stock. We agree, it is a great find - brand new equipment, excellent quality too. I just posted a 0.9V of the data sheet with some preliminary information on the display and driver board. The display data sheet is also on our site. Guys, let me know if there is any specific data I should put in the data sheet that you are looking for. In a day or two I need to fiddle with the brightness and contrast adjustment pins since I don't have any further information from the manufacturer.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-14 23:42
    A couple weeks ago I picked up a color board camera while in the Shenzhen market. I think I mentioned this elsewhere. Finally I took some pictures of it attached to the LCD Display board. It was pretty easy, just apply power and connect the video together. I might offer a camera like this through Brilldea, but at the moment my plate is full for the next month or two. I thought I would post images to show that the display could be used for more than Propeller video (though Propeller video is a perfect use for it).

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
    IMG_0187.JPG
    1024 x 768 - 103K
    IMG_0191.JPG
    1024 x 768 - 123K
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2009-03-18 05:52
    Well, I finally got to mine and tested it out. Very nice! It's my first screen, so it's all new to me. One thing that I would like to see is that the board be mounted behind the LCD, with some standoffs so that it can be attached as a complete package to a system. After last Christmas when I disassembled a digital camera and accidentally ripped a similar ribbon cable (on an already broken camera), I'm a little paranoid about doing the same with this.

    A couple more thoughts:

    Viewing angle with full color is about 20 degrees total looking up and down at the display, and 160 looking left and right (qualitative measurements). Of course, the image is still visible outside of these bounds, but it shifts in color. Looking down from a steep angle makes the image fade, looking up makes it darken.

    A very slight high pitch whine can be heard when I run it (on both 5v and 6.5 v). It might interfere with the ping, otherwise it's no big deal once you move your listening device more than an inch away from the board.

    A note to other video newbies like me: you can't plug the LCD directly into the PPDB. The connectors don't match. For some reason, I assumed that it would magically work. I guess I'll stop by some electronics store and see if I can get a short cable.

    One use that I can see for this is to make a plug in LCD extension for my camera. There was a recent makezine article about mounting a camera on the end of a pole (not an original idea, admittedly) and it would be very handy to be able to see what sort of pictures the camera is taking. With a stereo headphone jack, it should be relatively straightforward.

    All in all, a very nice display. I hooked it up to the video cable from my digital SLR, and put up a nice picture of a horse. Full color beautifully displayed in high precision.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-03-18 09:28
    Thanks SRLM for the review! I like your idea about mounting the display. My intent in offering the product is that the user has the basic components to do with them as they like for mounting. I don't want to make the display have to be mounted a certain way, but I can see that maybe I could create some different ideas and post them to help users get an idea on how to apply the product. I am still learning too. The components are purchased directly from the manufacturer who sells (in much higher volume) to other manufactures for including in car seat displays, airline seats, portable TV, portable DVD players, etc. So the components are meant to be building blocks. With the community help we can create some ideas on how best to mount the display to protect the display, cable and driver board.

    I also see your point about the video cable. This weekend or next week (when I get to an electronics market) I will see about getting an adapter so the cables can easily be plugged into a PPDB or demo board or other composite socket from right out of the shipping packaging. Thank you for the tip! Once I get the part, and it shouldn't be too costly, I can probably include it in future orders without extra cost.

    Got any pictures of your display setup SRLM? You know, just this morning, while shaving, I was thinking about a dual head Prop display. Hook up two displays, place them side by side (or top to bottom) and then run a couple cogs of the graphics and TV driver. Then you can have a HydraDS (dual screen) or stereo vision or ......

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • KPRKPR Posts: 189
    edited 2009-04-06 18:40
    Has anyone got their units to run a higher resolution.. ie more that 40x13 or is that the max it will run.. like at least 40 x 25??

    I would assume you could get more out of it with a 8x8 font 320/240 divided by 8x8 = 40x30???

    k.
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-04-06 18:45
    btw, are you running PAL or NTSC? as PAL does miss scan lines ;(

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    http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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  • KPRKPR Posts: 189
    edited 2009-04-06 18:59
    NTSC.. Actually it will be on the Brilldea 3 inch LCD.. (320x240)..

    k.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-04-13 10:49
    I thought I would bump the thread and encourage anyone that has use the 3.0" Composite LCD to post what they are using the unit for. I know for one I would like to see more regarding Paul Sr.'s ybox project that is attached to the display.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • KPRKPR Posts: 189
    edited 2009-04-14 15:43
    I've got my YBOX2 on order as well.. I wanna see if I can build a small game controller as well.. so I can play Doggy Kong.. I'll post pics when I get the units up and running..

    Hey Timothy, I have a 6 vdc adapter for my proto board / ybox 2, can I just split the input power and run both, do you see an issue with this?

    k.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-04-14 23:22
    As long as the overall current draw from all the devices attached doesn't exceed the wall adapters supply you should be fine. In otherwords, yes you can power the LCD driver board off of 6V DC.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
    edited 2009-04-17 20:40
    Yipeee ... got mine today!

    Guess it won't be the last one once I use this one seriously.

    Thanks, Timothy
  • rokickirokicki Posts: 1,000
    edited 2009-04-17 22:23
    Wow, this is *insane*. I gotta get me one of these. My mechanical skills are not excellent, so I'm
    not sure I'll ever be able to *mount* it in any useful fashion, but that's one heck of a display.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-04-18 00:37
    Thanks Rokicki for the nice comments. MagIO2 I am glad to hear you got your order!

    For experimenting on the table top and such the display is great. I understand the concern about mounting it. A little double sided foam tape goes a long ways. Another option is to make a cutout in an enclosure that is just small than the display. Then the display presses against the opening with straps on the back. The display is sandwiched between the straps and the case. Make sense? I knew words were bad for describing a mechanical mounting, I should just sketch it up.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Ed ParsonsEd Parsons Posts: 31
    edited 2009-04-25 16:15
    Tim,

    Since electronics is only a part-time hobby with me and I don't recognize a connector's manufacturer, I was hoping that you or one of the others could tell me who makes the 4 and 6-pin headers on the video controller board. I want to get some extra mating connectors. Also, do you happen to know if they make a mating connector that uses something other than individually crimped pins (I hate doing those) - maybe something like a ribbon cable with a crimp connector?

    Thanks,

    Ed
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-04-27 01:31
    Good question Ed. Off the top of my head (and I just got a reallllly long plane ride and I don't have the device in front of me) the connectors are 0.1" spacing. I imagine that a suitable female part could be found in Digi-Key. I will have to look into this in the coming days once I get some other work done and get my jet lag taken care of.

    Oh - there is probably something that can be easily crimped too, I understand what you are saying about the pins.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
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