What a deal on a secondary lcd display!!!

[Circo]

I ran across this tonight and with all this talk of multiple displays this just seems perfect.  Only $40 and composite video ready!!!  I have no idea how I will incorporate this into my cabinet but I will figure it out I am sure.  Beats the heck out of hacking a ps1 screen EDIT: No it wasn't...yet!

LG LC064N1:     Lcds : Lcd Panels

LG
6.4" TFT
Hot Points:
# Backlight: CCFL
Product Description:
6.4" TFT Lcd (composite video ready)
640x480 resolution
for NTSC/RGB applications

Your Price: $40.00

http://www.shopeio.com/inventory/details.asp?id=867&cat=Lcds&sub=Lcd%20Panels

[WTB]

Nice Find! Thanks Circo!

   -Matt

[Circo]

Thanks, here is to hoping that it works as advertised.

[arcadepcnut]

A 6" lcd for 40$!

Report back here when someone gets theirs. thats too good of a price.

[Circo]

Should be here wednesday or thursday, I will fill you in.

[usedelectronics]

From the PDF datasheet, it appears you need to provide the inverter powere supply for the backlight, along with the expected 12 volt power, and video signal.

[Izrun]

I was planning on incorporating one of these (or something similar) into the surface of the control panel.  That way, you just look down and you can see what the controls are.  I had some other features I wanted to use it for too.

[pointdablame]

From the PDF datasheet, it appears you need to provide the inverter powere supply for the backlight, along with the expected 12 volt power, and video signal.

yes, it seems you do.

And to me, that is just way too much hacking when compared to taking the case off of a PS1 LCD.  If it came with a composite input, then it'd be a different story.

Just my .02

[Circo]

12 volt power. no prob have that kind of stuff all over.  And it has the terminals for composite video already, how hard is that?  Although at first glance I did think it had a hookup.  But for the price I still think this will be perfect.  Or It could turn out to be a huge pain, won't know till thurs. 

[pointdablame]

Let us know how it works out.

I'm not really saying it is "hard" as much as it's just hardER than taking apart a PS1 LCD that you mentioned in your first post.  Then again, aren't most of the PS1 LCDs a bit smaller than this one??

Either way, be sure to let us know how it works for you.  It seems like a good deal even if you do have to do some work to get it running.

[Circo]

I thought "composite video ready" meant that it would have a hookup built in.... The data sheet doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me  nor did I look at it all that closely..  I just read the description, looked at the price and said buy buy buy! 

Does that mean that it will be just as easy "hard" to hook this straight into vga as it would composite?  If so that may even work out better in the long run as I would be able to get the most out of the 640x480 resolution.

[arcadepcnut]

now I know why its 40$.
Looks like there is no inverter. Its a screen and only a screen. I could be wrong but is not a lcd monitor without an inverter is just an lcd panel like it is described.
Its like a arcade monitor tube with no board. You will have to match a specific inverter to power this thing.

FWIW. Last Dell laptop I repaired, that went white screen, the LCD inverter was almost as much as the entire screen. I bought the entire screen with inverter and the whole laptop lcd exterior caseing as well. Two screws and a plug and they were back going.
this might be a headache. Anyways report back for us.

[richms]

Well, since its a cold cathode backlight, try an inverter for a case-mod CCFL light perhaps? Authough those inverters are prone to blowing up.

[shardian]

There is an led modification for the ps1 lcd. It may be applicable to this lcd.

And for the record, the ps1 lcd is a 5" diagonal screen with approx. 320x240 resolution. Overall though, the sony ps1 screen is a very durable and high quality screen. I swear you could run it over with your car and it would still work. I have dropped mine several times, and even fried it once. Luckily, there is a fuse to bypass and it was good as new.

For what you are planning to do, I would recommend the ps1 lcd, if you can find one anymore. They are getting hard to find...good thing I have one up for sale...

[Lilwolf]

Couldn't you use a card with TV out to this pretty easy though? 

I'm still hoping that secondary LCD's become standard in (some) cabinets... Mainly because I would love to see some good frontends working entirely through a secondary screen...  Like have a game always running... but you can select the next game... then hit launch and it will terminate the current game, and start running the next... I think it would be great!  Especially if you could get mp3 controls in it... so you can select a song to play without quiting the game.

[pointdablame]

Well, since its a cold cathode backlight, try an inverter for a case-mod CCFL light perhaps? Authough those inverters are prone to blowing up.

A CCFL inverter will NOT work for this LCD panel

[Izrun]

Do you have the same problems using composite out on LCDs as you do on regular TVs, i.e. that it is not always easy to get the image stretch to the ends and stuff.  Does it usually look pretty good (i.e. is the text readable)?  I imagine the format is going to be interlaced, so I would think the maximum resolution you could send over composite would be 480i?  Can you read text well in 480i @ 5 inches?

[Circo]

Ok it looks like I screwed up, I will probably try to return this or sell it on ebay, but I did find this on their website. 

http://lcd-kits-lcds.shopeio.com/inventory/details.asp?id=777&cat=Lcds&sub=Lcd%20Kits



Now is this what I should have purchased?  I would rather have just a plain screen because I am going to actually make an encloseure for this when I integrate it into my cab. Vs a ps1 screen with the circular case.

Or would I just need to order one of these?

http://inverter-lcds.shopeio.com/inventory/catalog.asp?ACTION=2&cat=Lcds&sub=Inverter

[shardian]

When you take the ps1 lcd out of the case you are left with the lcd in a metal case with 4 convenient mounting screws. It kind of looks like the one in your picture, but with less metal surrounding the lcd.

[Circo]

Recieved it in today, you were right barebones as all get out.  I just sent them an e-mail as I am hoping to return this unit and get the full kit or get the wiring harness and inverter seperately.  I will let you guys know how it goes. 

Loadman, the 4x40 lcd display showed up too, it's barebones as well.  The serial one I got from seetron was almost plug and play.  Did you have much trouble wiring these parallel ones?

[loadman]

Loadman, the 4x40 lcd display showed up too, it's barebones as well.  The serial one I got from seetron was almost plug and play.  Did you have much trouble wiring these parallel ones?

*Not hard at all if you buy the MaLa Hardware. You can buy it in either kit form or fully assembled. A flat rainbow cable plugs into the circuit board and the other end of the cable just has 16 bare wires. You just solder the 16 appropriate wires to the 16 pins and away it goes.
I wrote a guide on it (found here) look at the bottom for a guide for connection

*Alternately you can convert a LedWiz to drive a LCD . (But only displays up to 4x20) Details on how to do that will be posted HERE soon.

[Circo]

Before I pull the trigger, can anyone tell me if that kit is going to do the job?  I don't mind dropping the cash, but I do want to make sure that I will be able to use it for the intended purpose.

Looking forward to that led wiz hack, any idea on how many ports it will take?  I currently have 3 free on my led-wiz.

[loadman]

Before I pull the trigger, can anyone tell me if that kit is going to do the job?  I don't mind dropping the cash, but I do want to make sure that I will be able to use it for the intended purpose.

I assume you are referring to the Big LCD screen you bought? If so I have no idea about those

Looking forward to that led wiz hack, any idea on how many ports it will take?  I currently have 3 free on my led-wiz.

As I posted in the other thread, It effectively makes it 16LED controller if you want to have a Character LCD run off it as well. So to answer your question 16.  16 LED and 16 ports for LCD).

FYI if you had two LedWiz's you can run one converted an one as a normal ledWiz and they won't conflict each other (I tried it just for fun)

[Circo]

Sucks that they are both classified LCD makes it confusing.

On the first point "will this kit work" I am talking about the 6.5" TFT display.

On your other point 16 ports on the LED-WIZ will run that 4x40 display?  If so is it cheaper to use an led wiz or buy the Mala hardware?  Not sure what currency that is on the website. 

This is the last time I leap without looking first hehe.  Teaches you how dumb you can be about some things.  And here I was thinking I knew everything already... 

[loadman]

Sucks that they are both classified LCD makes it confusing.

The one that MaLa can run is commonly called a 'character LCD'

On your other point 16 ports on the LED-WIZ will run that 4x40 display?

No the highest my documented Led Wiz Hack will support is a 4x20  . MaLa hardware can handle up to 4x40

is it cheaper to use an led wiz or buy the Mala hardware?

That depends on a few things, It will be different for everybody
* What your LED Needs are?
* What Your LCD Needs are?
* Have you got time to build it?
* Have you got the basic skills to bulid it?

Not sure what currency that is on the website. 

Euro

This is the last time I leap without looking first hehe.

I'm sure they will give you a refund or swap it for a 4x20 if you don't want to buy the MaLa hardware

[Howard_Casto]

I normally don't meander into this forum, but since I'm here I thought I would chime in on my experiences.  


Small tft/lcd screens ... don't bother unless you are using a psone because they are so tiny that any output on them is unreadable in terms of text unless you have vga/component out and as you've discovered it's very dificult to get that on these smaller screens unless you buy one so expensive that you might as well buy a cheap computer lcd screen which is larger and has a better res.  

As for your text segmented displays, they aren't such a good idea because there isn't a lot of text you can display on them unless you buy the 50-60 dollar models, in which case, again you could get a discounted pc lcd display.  Also there isn't as much interest in programming for these displays lately.  Mind you they are easy to program to, you could probably write something youself, but the current buzz around dual displays is due to mame, which supports dual monitors, not a monitor and a segmented display.  

I've got some dual screen software coming up that is shaping up nicely.  It basically makes your secondary display "smart" and it displays relevant data to the game/app/whatever you have running.  Better still, is the fact that it takes advantage of the fact that joysticks can be polled without focus to allow you to make independant controls for your screen.  (you can scroll through a move list while playing street fighter 2 on your primary display).  


Getting back on topic.  These smaller screens aren't very good for reading text.  I'm not talking about large text, like you might see on a custom j5 layut or something, I mean smaller text (12 pt or less).  Even non-hacked vga screens of this size can't display really tiny text, so keep that in mind.  

[MonMotha]

Well, this one appears to take 640x480 RGB at standard VGA signal levels, so text readability shouldn't be a huge deal as 640x480 is fairly "high res" on a 6" display.  The only thing I can't determine from the datasheet is if it'll take progressive video on the RGB inputs, or if it has to be interlaced.  Since LCDs are inherently progressive devices, I'd guess it'll take progressive.

As far as the backlight goes, the specs are near the front of the datasheet.  I'm sure you can find a suitable inverter (or just build your own).

I always hated how most of these smaller LCDs only take composite video (WHY, WHY WHY!?) since they just have to demod it back out into RGB anyway (and then some).  This looks interesting.

[loadman]

OK... Who let Howard out of the software Forum?   

I have to agree with most of Howards points.......

Except:

I personally like the simple small 'Character LCD Display'.   The controller for it is bundled up with the Mala LED controller so it is a Bonus.

I use it for displaying:
- Currently running Game, What Each Cloured button does for that game (I only have 3 buttons), Deatils of MP3 muzac playing in  the background bla bla

It was very very cheap $25

"TO EACH HIS OWN"   

[Howard_Casto]

Granted, that looks really nice, but as you said, you only have three buttons.  Imagine 6 or more.  You have a unique situation too as it's a cocktail.  Text lcds often have low viewing angles, meaning you have to look at them straight on.  Of course lcds, have similar issues, but it usually isn't as bad. 

Also you paid 25 bucks for it eh?  Got my psone for 15 bucks at kmart and paid 10 for a video card to run it, so I got a "real" display for the same price. 

Yours, looks nice though, don't get me wrong.  I'm just talking in general. 

Final thought..... on that lcd you got monmotha....  actually for smaller displays the output is generally interlaced, not progressive this is due to pixel size limitations more than anything.

[loadman]

Granted, that looks really nice, but as you said, you only have three buttons.  Imagine 6 or more.  You have a unique situation too as it's a cocktail.

Sure, Its not for everyone.  But it's 'LOAD' essential

Also you paid 25 bucks for it eh? 

Australian Dollars   

Got my psone for 15 bucks at kmart and paid 10 for a video card to run it, so I got a "real" display for the same price.

You did? Send me one to play with!  I don't need it but at that price I'll put a display on everything starting with the Toilet. 

[Circo]

I see the ps1 screens on ebay, not for $15, but pretty cheap.  I am trying to get an RMA to send back this other one and now after some more research I don't think this is the best way to go. 

I am debating between the ps1 screen and some other 7 - 8 inch vga displays that I have found on the net.  Some are even touch screen.  Price seems to vary between $100 to $250 on some of these screens but they have resolutions up to 1024 x 768.  At this point I may just hold off for awhile as I have alot of emumovies stuff still do be finished and I will probably get back to this when I am ready to put some serious time into the cab itself. 

I think that I am going to eventually mount it between the speakers on the cab but I am afraid that the angle will be too poor to actually see it.  Only other options that I can think of are, placing it in the marquee, or right above.

[Howard_Casto]

If you are willing to spend that much then I suppose that is a way to go.  Keep something in mind though.  A touch screen on a dual display cabinet is totally useless.  That's not just my opinion btw, it's a limitation of windows. 

Example:
Let's say you want to play a game of sf2 and you have the character moves displayed on your upper screen.  While playing you touch your secondary display to scroll down.  Guess what?  You've now essentially "clicked" on another window and when mame looses focus from fullscreen it minimizes itself!  Even if it didn't your focus would now be on your secondary display and thus your primary display wouldn't have focus and your game would recive input until to clicked back on the emulator... which you can't do, because the touch screen only allows you to click within that monitor. 

The only way I've found to reliably control two displays at the same time is to have your secondary display be controlled via a joystick (not arcade stick, as in a gamepad interface).  Since a joystick's status can be detrmiend passively and nothing recieves focus when a joystick key is pressed it can be polled without interfering with your game. 


The higher res is good though, just don't bother with the touchscreen, especially if that makes the price go up. 

About the mounting.  I'm doing something similar.  What I'm doing is making my mount retractable (up into the marquee box) so it slides up and out of the way when not in use.  Lcd displays, especially smaller, cheaper ones, have a very low viewing angle, so you pretty much have to mount em in a way that you can look at em head on.  Actualy you have about 20 degrees to play with, but you get my drift.

[Circo]

Retractable, wow, that's a great idea.  I am going to have to ponder that oner but that may be just the way to go.

Thanks for the thoughts on the touchscreen, that makes alot of sense.

[loadman]

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