Wall Mounted Touchscreen... Updated!! 10/1/08

[Zeosstud]

Hello All,
              Just had to share.  I am in the very early stages of installing a touchscreen jukebox in my man cave.  Its nothing unique or super special but it should be pretty cool when completed.  I ordered one of the 15" ELO touchscreen monitors discussed in the jukebox forum and my head has been spinning ever since.  I got so excited last night I went ahead and cut the hole in my wall.  It was basically pure luck that the studs I will mount the monitor between were located right in the middle of the wall, what a great break.  My plan is to mount the monitor using a standard VESA mount, run the VGA and USB cables down the wall and then behind the baseboard and into a computer that will be inside my Butler 2001 Arcade cabinet.  I am going to get power to the monitor by drilling through the stud on the right of the hole and running about 10' of romex electric wire between it and an outlet thats already mounted to that stud down below.  Really thats it, I own Touchtone jukebox software already and getting a computer for it is not a problem, got plenty of Pentium 4 1.7's laying around at work.

Costs so far:

$103 deliverd for Monitor
$37.74 delivered for Mount
$31.45 delivered for VGA/USB Cable
$7.56 w/tax for 10' of Electric Cable
$10.00 concrete drill bit and 4 screws
$4.29 3M Velco Frame Mounting Kit
$41.25 Frame from americanframe.com

$235.29 Total Cost


I plan on adding plywood to the hole enough so the monitor will basically be flush with the wall and then I will frame to help cover the mess and that should do it. 


Before Rodney's Hole


After.. Pretty straight hole, for me!!


Bought 10' of electrical cable at Lowes, fished it up through the wall, cannibalized a power cord and viola!  Rodney's Hole has power.  Even tested it, unplugged the wifes flat screen, plugged it in and sure enough, it worked.

[Zeosstud]

Its not just a hole anymore!!

Yesterday (Saturday, May 10th) afternoon I got a big surprise when I got home from golfing, there was a CablesDirect box sitting on the kitchen table.  The final piece of the puzzle!!  My friend Barry Nichols came over with his drill and we mounted my 14" x 14" plywood sandwich to the concrete in the hole.  Once that was done my beautiful wife and I removed the baseboard along the wall, fished the VGA/USB cable down the wall, then ran it under the drywall and towards my arcade cabinet.  Grabbed the brad nailer and reattached the baseboard and bingo, wall was done.  Once finished I cleaned up everything, darted off to see Speed Racer with the kids and got home around 10.  The last thing to do was hide my Samsung Q1 UltraMobile PC inside my arcade cabinet.  I drilled a 1 3/8" hole in the left side of the cabinet at the bottom and fished the VGA / USB cable in, mounted a proclips female "V" clip to the side and done. 



The wife and I did some measuring and decided we need a 12.25" by 9.25" frame that was a little over 2 inches wide so we went and priced one out at americanframe.com.  I will let everyone know how those measurements worked out and will post pictures once the frame shows up.  They are in Ohio so I doubt it will take to long.

Couldn't be more satisfied with how things have turned out, the Touchtone software looks great when using the monitor in Jukebox mode and the Slingbox software is also working great to use the monitor as a TV.  Heck the Seattle Seahawks screen saver is even pretty darn cool.  I am sure I will come up with some other usefull things to do with this setup, for now I am just going to enjoy mothersday with the family.

Zeosstud

[Ginsu Victim]

The topic title is misleading.

[SirPeale]

The topic title is misleading.

I agree.  It sounds...um...

[BUCKETHEAD]

Hey, Is that SUPERBOWL XL playing on the TV ?

The SUPERBOWL where the STEELERS beat the SEAHAWKS ?   Lol .

[mcfreak]

So Rodney's hole is dry, white, and itchy... Ewww 

Joking aside, this is gonna be pretty cool.

[Zeosstud]

I guess you guys are right, now that there is actually something in the hole, its not a hole.  :-)

The picture you saw was just on the Seahawks screen saver when snapped.  No doubt it was from the Super Bowl though.

I am looking forward to getting the frame on there and it being 100% done, it wont be to long.  It should be pretty sharp once that's done.

[chadd]

[sorry, post removed.  posted in wrong thread.]

[Zeosstud]

Ordered a frame from Americanframes.com Sunday night pretty late, it arrived Thursday.  Great looking frame, assembled and ready to work with.  I unboxed that baby as quickly as it got here, held it up to the monitor and decided it was going work out.  What I did was flip it over and I routed out about 75% of the inside back of the frame, this allowed me to mount it around the monitor and not goof up any of the touchscreen parts, really worked out great.



Yes its level



Touchscreen with frame



My Wall Mounted Touchscreen Monitor and I

If anyone wants any additional info please feel free to ask, I have plenty more details that can be shared.  To tired to get to technical at the moment.

Zeosstud

[BobbyG66]

Great job.

The electrical cord wiring in the wall kinda worries me.
It should be in an electrical box.
They are cheap money and would be alot cleaner and safer...

It looks like it is easy enough to open back up.

[gonzo90017]

What I did was flip it over and I routed out about 75% of the inside back of the frame, this allowed me to mount it around the monitor and not goof up any of the touchscreen parts, really worked out great.

Man I wish I had some power tools do this. That's the only reason I still haven't ordered my frame.

[Zeosstud]

I do agree the electrical part is not exactly code but its safe.  I used the #12 gauge wire with ground in compliance with the 20 amp breakers that run that part of the house and I electrical taped the living crap out of the cable I canibalized.  I sleep fine at night :-)

If anyone needs to borrow my router and you live anywhere close to Columbia Missouri your welcome to borrow it.  It's not a fancy one but it gets the job done.  I only have a couple of bits, 1" and 1/2" flush trim bits and then the one I used on this project, dont even know what its specific name is but it came with the router.

Zeosstud

[Franco B]

Wow, thats too cool   

Good job 

[Zeosstud]

Thanks Franco B, appreciate it.  The touchscreen had its first test last night, had some friends show up to check it out after a night a drinking, I have to admit, it fared pretty well.  Other than accidentally selecting an entire album instead of just a song a few times and actually shutting down Albumplayer once everything else went good.  After my friend Angie turned off Albumplayer I immediately put it in Party Mode, which basically doesn't let anyone do anything except play songs, very usefull.  I finished up the interface today and below is a screenshot.  You can see on the right what the screen is currently used for.  Albumplayer, Radio Regenbogen and other streaming radio stations, Weather in Maxdorf Germany and here in Columbia MO, Local Movie Listings and Slingbox.  I have the pc connected to my Windows Home Server so its all backed up daily and I even made a .bat file out of one of the playlists I created and copied 661 songs over to the local C: for when we take the PC with us on road trips.



Feel free to ask any questions and thanks for taking the time to look.

Zeosstud

[dmworking247]

Your project has given me inspiration for my own project in my upcoming build-a-garage endevour.

I'd like to mount a framed 15" touchscreen LCD in the wall like you have, and have a random-photo screen saver so that it literally acts like a photoframe when not in use. I'd like to run the screen off a PC that also serves as my media centre, so I'll use a KVM to switch to a projector for movies etc eventually... and the audio out will be through a big amplifier.

The question I had for you though (sorry if I missed it), how do you stop your LCD  from being on ALL the time, even when not in use? Especially in my case I'd only have this LCD on in jukebox/photo frame mode, but I'd like the ability to turn it off. Are there holes in your frame to access the 'power' button of the LCD? or did you put the power button elsewhere?

[Zeosstud]

The monitor in my setup is on 24/7, but that's how I run most everything at the house.  Arcade Cabinet, my PC, the wife's PC, they are all on.  I dont know for sure but since I updated my XP machine to SP3 I can now setup a screen saver specifically to do what you want.  Just load up your My Pictures directory with the pics you want and select that screen saver module and your golden.  Simple and free.  I personally use a Seattle Seahawks Screen Server deal at my house but that's pretty much the theme of my basement so it makes sense for me.  I did tell the wife to get together all her favorite pics so I could do the whole digital photo album though, so I certainly know where your coming from.  Best of luck with your project, cant wait to follow its progress.

Zeosstud

[Zeosstud]

Got Reel Deal Slots:Ghost Town loaded on the touchscreen today, not the easiest piece of software I have ever installed but hey, its working now.  Thanks goes out to BYOAC member Chadd for the recommendation.  Hope my Dad and other visitors enjoy it.


Slot Example


Video Poker Example

Zeosstud

   The Wife Seal of Approval !!     She literally moved one of our extra tall pool table chairs over to the screen, told me to get her a beer and that I could put the kids to bed.  That is a serious WSoP if I ever heard one, thanks again Chadd.

[Zeosstud]

Been enjoying the touchscreen for awhile now but this whole time it has been attached to a set of 2.1 Surround Speaker which sounded great around my computer.  I decided however before my next Poker Party ( Which was attended by WSOP bracelet winner Dutch Boyd ) I wanted to fill the basement with sound.  I got a quote from a local audio store which totaled over $2300, that was not an option.  So in the spirit of BYOAC I did it myself.  Here are a few pictures of the results.







If anyone is interested in any more details just ask I would be happy to share.

Zeosstud

[Stobe]

I missed this project first time around.  But I really enjoyed your writeup.

I especially love your wife's quote:  "Get me a beer and put the kids to sleep!"

Priceless

[Zeosstud]

Talk about the wife seal of approval, that was it.  Glad you liked the write up, its been a fun project.  Glad its over with for now.  The very very very last piece of the puzzle will be to get some speakers outside, I already have some wireless ones that do work, but I think I would be happier with some wired speakers and volume control by the hot tub and the deck off the kitchen.  Will just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

Zeosstud

[javeryh]

I love this project.  I showed it to my dad and he wants me to install something similar in his house.  He loves the idea of controlling everything from a touchscreen hanging on the wall that could act as a digital picture frame when not in use.  He listens to music more than watching TV so this would be perfect for him...   

[ChadTower]

I do agree the electrical part is not exactly code but its safe.  I used the #12 gauge wire with ground in compliance with the 20 amp breakers that run that part of the house and I electrical taped the living crap out of the cable I canibalized.  I sleep fine at night :-)

The primary danger here is stress relief.  If that part of the wall gets damaged in a way that the screen falls out it will leave live wires hanging there.  That's the secondary function of the box - first is to enclose the connection, second is to provide stress relief so that there is no reasonable scenario for a device to be hanging off the cord.

[mountain]

I love this project.  I showed it to my dad and he wants me to install something similar in his house.  He loves the idea of controlling everything from a touchscreen hanging on the wall that could act as a digital picture frame when not in use.  He listens to music more than watching TV so this would be perfect for him...   

There is your next project JH

"javeryh's Wall Mount Jukebox for Dad" 

[Martijn]

Someone call the cops! I stole a wall mounted Touchscreen!! 

[Shieldwolf]

That's AWESOME!!!
I too missed this project the first time around, but very very cool.