LCD market survey - what would you like? (3.5" NTSC displays now in stock)
Bill Henning
Posts: 6,445
I am considering selling LCD's for everyone's Propeller boards 
Before I spend a lot of time (and money) importing displays, I would like some indication of the level of interest here. As I don't have shipping quotes yet, and I don't know what brokerage charges would be, I cannot give firm prices yet.
All of these are different from Ray's 4.3" offering, as these displays do not include a Propeller etc - they are displays only.
The displays I am considering importing are: (all are new displays, and I would test them before shipping)
1) 3.5" TFT with NTSC input, requires 12VDC. I could sell these for $55 USD
2) 3.5" TFT with 12 pin or so interface, 320x240, up to 18 bit color, on-board display memory, 20 pin (2x10) 0.1" connector, 3.3V single supply. I could sell these for about $55 USD, or $65 USD with touch screen. (no case)
3) 5.0" TFT with 640x480 VGA and NTSC/PAL input, would get 256 colors with Morpheus. Price would probably be somewhere between $95-$120 USD (no case, 9-12VDC)
4) 7.0" TFT with 800x480 WVGA and NTSC/PAL input, would get 256 colors with Morpheus. Price would probably be between $105-$140 USD (no case, 9-12VDC)
Prices above do not include S/H to you, but Small Packet Air is quite reasonable.
In case you are wondering about the range on 3 & 4, I don't know how much it will cost to ship the displays to me, clear them through customs, etc.,
I'd appreciate knowing which ones y'all would be interested in, and how many. I expect I could start shipping displays in early November.
Note that 1, 3 and 4 would work with any board using standard connectors, only #2 requires a custom driver and 20 pin interface.
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www.mikronauts.com Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheusdual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
Post Edited (Bill Henning) : 10/28/2009 2:37:46 AM GMT
Before I spend a lot of time (and money) importing displays, I would like some indication of the level of interest here. As I don't have shipping quotes yet, and I don't know what brokerage charges would be, I cannot give firm prices yet.
All of these are different from Ray's 4.3" offering, as these displays do not include a Propeller etc - they are displays only.
The displays I am considering importing are: (all are new displays, and I would test them before shipping)
1) 3.5" TFT with NTSC input, requires 12VDC. I could sell these for $55 USD
2) 3.5" TFT with 12 pin or so interface, 320x240, up to 18 bit color, on-board display memory, 20 pin (2x10) 0.1" connector, 3.3V single supply. I could sell these for about $55 USD, or $65 USD with touch screen. (no case)
3) 5.0" TFT with 640x480 VGA and NTSC/PAL input, would get 256 colors with Morpheus. Price would probably be somewhere between $95-$120 USD (no case, 9-12VDC)
4) 7.0" TFT with 800x480 WVGA and NTSC/PAL input, would get 256 colors with Morpheus. Price would probably be between $105-$140 USD (no case, 9-12VDC)
Prices above do not include S/H to you, but Small Packet Air is quite reasonable.
In case you are wondering about the range on 3 & 4, I don't know how much it will cost to ship the displays to me, clear them through customs, etc.,
I'd appreciate knowing which ones y'all would be interested in, and how many. I expect I could start shipping displays in early November.
Note that 1, 3 and 4 would work with any board using standard connectors, only #2 requires a custom driver and 20 pin interface.
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www.mikronauts.com Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheusdual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
Post Edited (Bill Henning) : 10/28/2009 2:37:46 AM GMT
Comments
If you were to be selling serial LCD's (which is what I thought when looking at the post title) - something very flat (thin!), easy to mount, decent size display, good serial commands and good display. Ideally the pins would be just via's in the PCB for attachment of your own headers/cables etc. Just a thought. Oh and would 5v be too much?
I bought some of your 6.25mhz crystals the other week - good idea!
James
OBC
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In your list the only candidate is #2.
Massimo
an LCD like this #3 but without VGA would be awesome, Logic Analyzers, Scope projects, Spectrum Analyzer projects, Robot Project I need glasses so its hard for me to even see the 4X20 black and wight serial display from Parallax so 4-5 In in color would be great. For me 7 would be to big I actually have a 7,In Composite color monitor I took out of an SUV to be honest 7 inches is just to big and bulky for nice hand held projects 4-5 probably 5 would be very versatile.
Oh DUH yea I would love to buy several from you if you can get them
Javalin:
#3 is looking likely at this point, and I have been considering doing a serial driver board.
OBC:
#3 is popular [noparse]:)[/noparse]
max72:
I don't know how readable it will be in sunlight, I will have to test that - however I should be receiving samples of #2 this week, one with touch panel, one without.
ry.david:
I have a sample unit, and I can supply them with a three-four week lead time.
mikediv:
Another vote for #3
I am waiting for shipping costs on samples and should be receiving sample units in about two weeks.
The interface board has both VGA and NTSC/PAL in, so you could feed it standard video without any issues... also don't forget, I will soon have some 256 color per pixel VGA modes for Morpheus, and 320x240 should look amazing on the display.
UPDATE:
There is also an S-Video input!
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
Post Edited (Bill Henning) : 10/13/2009 5:27:21 PM GMT
I'd like to buy a large LCD to make a propeller-powered eBookreader replacement, if any of these have the ability to display easily readable lines of text.
#2 looks good - not too expensive, low voltage for running from just a few batteries, although a higher voltage might be better if the overall power draw was much lower, for longer battery life.
Touch screen and lots of colors might be useful but aren't so important for this project.
For text application I like my 3.?" brilldea, which is a NTSC/PAL display. Low number of pins needed. But for graphics the propeller has the RAM problem.
Yesterday I also ordered a 2.5" 240x320 touchscreen with 18 bit color and it's own controller/RAM for testing (from Chrystalfontz). I like the idea of having a graphical user interface for a home automation central. But of course after successfull testing I'd prefere the 3.5" version.
All in all the reason for me to buy both of those displays is the price. I don't know why displays are so extraordinary expensive, if you buy just a few, whereas it must be extremely cheap for manufacturers. You can buy 7" picture frames for $50 and the naked 7" display costs > $100.
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I should be receiving samples of #2 late this week, but it will take me a week or two before I have time to wire them up and write drivers.
MagIO2:
I was really tempted by those QVGA
The low volume costs have a lot to do with shipping and brokerage on a small number of parts; the photo frame guys buy them in 10k+ lots for much better prices. I'd love to get them cheaper and be able to sell them cheaper as well.
Potatohead:
I'll just have to try the S-Video in to see if it handles interlacing correctly. If it does, I will be quite happy, as 80 column text ought to be readable with good S-Video, and only use 4 pins of a Prop
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
So then, there is the question of what happens exactly when color output is directed to pin + 3?
In any case, yes! 80 with S-video should be very good to read.
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Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
Chat in real time with other Propellerheads on IRC #propeller @ freenode.net
Safety Tip: Life is as good as YOU think it is!
Post Edited (potatohead) : 10/13/2009 9:26:24 PM GMT
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
My samples of #2 (3.5" TFT with 12 pin or so interface, 320x240, up to 18 bit color, on-board display memory, 20 pin (2x10) 0.1" connector, 3.3V single supply) have arrived!
They look great, and it does not look very hard to program as they use a standard SSD1926 controller with an eight bit data bus, /RST, /CS, /RD, /WR, CMD, BL where CMD chooses between command and data, and BL is the backlight control that can be pulse width modulated to control the backlight brightness. I also have the display initialization sequence, which is half the battle
I also received a bit more information on #3 (5.0" VGA LCD) - it looks like that will have a three week lead time. I am thinking of ordering 5 to start with, and I could sell three or four from the first batch. I really like it as it would just plug into Morpheus (or any other Prop board) in the VGA connector.
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
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"Where am I? Where am I going? Why am I in a handbasket?"
For now I will forget about #4 - no one seems interested in it; and I will probably bring in #2's after I get them running.
I should have both #1 and #3 in stock in about three weeks
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
3 is fine... BUT for some projects 4 has advantages
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Sapieha
Good advice, I am revising my initial order to bring in one piece of the 7" display for me to test.
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
It turns out I can get RS232 interface touch panels for the 5" VGA display!
It looks like I could sell the touch panel add-on for about $50+s/h - I ordered one so I can evaluate it, however I won't have exact pricing until I receive the units and see if I am dinged for brokerage (and find out how much my bank will charge me for the wire transfer) - but it is looking like I can sell a nice 5.0" TFT 640x480 LCD WITH VGA/S-Video/Composite inputs and an RS232 touch panel for it for around $150+s/h
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
Are these LCD TV type displays or LCD displays (i.e. serial).
I've gotton confused.
James
#1 is a small composite input monitor in a black case. similar to the one Parallax sells but at a lower price point
#2 is a raw panel mounted on a PCB with a 20 pin header providing a parallel 8 bit bus style interface, no need to mess with PFC connectors, and has on-board graphics ram
#3 and #4 are raw panels with a separate driver board that has VGA, S-Video and Composite input
I hope the above clears up any confusion.
UPDATES:
- I ordered five pieces of #1, and will have them available in less than three weeks
- I have two samples of #2 and I am working on a Propeller driver
- I am ordering five pieces of #3 and one RS232 touch panel
- For now, I am not getting any #4's
Evaluation so far:
#1 works great with the 40x30 column color text driver, the text is small but very readable. Easy hookup, just an RCA video cable, and 12VDC to red/black wires - I will test later, but suspect it may run on 9V.
#2 the boards look great but the software is not running yet; I have the initialization sequence and register documentation for the SSD1926 controller, it is only a matter of time before they are running. I really like the fact that it has an on-board frame buffer as then I can easily use them with any prop board - and still display 260k color bitmaps. The controller is quite powerful, it has hardware point, line, arc, bitblt and jpeg decoding - I don't know how much I will be able to support in the driver initially, but I have started on the driver, and will have the same API as my Morpheus graphics drivers.
#3 looks like a winner - the VGA interface makes it a great match for any board with VGA out and will get me 256 colors on Morpheus, and for low pin interfacing, the SVGA should allow for decent 80 column text. I should be getting the first five in about two or three weeks. I only ordered one touch panel so far, I want to see how well it works.
Note:
My margin on the displays is such that I can only sell them directly, as I have no room to provide discounts to resellers due to the cost of shipping, brokerage and bank wire fees and the small discounts I get on the displays when ordering in less thank 1K quantities. Mind you, if a reseller wanted to order 1K units, I might be able to get a significantly better price and allow for margin for a reseller...
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Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller
Post Edited (Bill Henning) : 10/15/2009 1:26:21 PM GMT
In the top post I said I could sell these for $55 USD + s/h, however for forum members I'll sell them at $50+s/h if anyone is interested.
The initial sample unit I got a few weeks ago did a great job of displaying 40x30 text! I took it apart, and it looks like there is a header for adding some buttons for controlling menu functions, and a third video input - I will post some photo's tomorrow, and I will also try to add the buttons. Unfortunately my supplier scraped the numbers off the chips, however there is an additional small connector with an I2C port on it!
They are new, and I will test each unit before shipping.
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www.mikronauts.com Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheusdual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller