Those little 5" LCD displays

[HeadRusch]

Parts Express sells em for less than $100 bucks each..I'm curious, most of these have just basic composite inputs, but do any of the cheap ones come with VGA inputs??

are they basically crap, or are they decent for their size...ie: to watch a movie on, to play a console game on....

[AlanS17]

Well the displys you see in most cars are 6" or 7" for in-dash and something like up to 12" or 13" for flip-downs so these are smaller.

Now I don't know what you're looking at but you make it seem like the type with either a USB or serial connection. If these are the case then you can't play games on them as far as I know. They were made for posting system stats.

[Snarbald]

I think he means more like the ones that would be mounted in the back of a headrest in a car.

[BobA]

Composite is probably fine for a 5 inch display.  You cannot see the detail that VGA would provide anyway.  Great for movies or playing games.  You get eye strain trying to compute with them.

BobA

[jakejake28]

i put a 7.5 inch flipdown in my car, and sometimes hook my DC to it. it comes out very clear for a composite video. i think one of those self-contained MAME control panels wold be awesome for it. err, expensive i mean.


edit: oh yeah, they are hell to hook up in an elantra

[HeadRusch]

Yeah, the headrest ones....if they're only about $100 each, maybe one of these days I'll check one out just to see how they are......

[Smittydc]

Some of you might want to play with one of these 10.5" monitors:
http://www.softwareandstuff.com/h_mon_unisys105lcd.html

A little slow, but nice for projects.  And you can't beat the price.

[HeadRusch]

whats the deal, they only work with the special videocard they come with?  Whats up with that videocard....anyone grab one of these just to check out?

[IIOIOOIOO]

A 5" LCD embedded in the center of the octagonal marquee mount for some of those japanese style cabinets surrounded by a nice graphic marquee certainly has some potential. I'm pretty sure I've seen a collection of CP graphics around. And with a nice dual-head gfx card, or a cheap pci card in a different slot + a custom wrapper program + a program to display what you wanted up top, you could easily (relatively) cause games to display an image of their control panel over your head when you go to play a game, or... just about anything else.

BTW, is there any need for a universal wrapper program, or do most modern FEs support enough scripting that you could supplant all wrapper functions through scripting within the FE?

[AlanS17]

whats the deal, they only work with the special videocard they come with?  Whats up with that videocard....anyone grab one of these just to check out?

I venture to guess the only reason that video card is needed is because it supplies power as well.

It is a good price. I wonder if you can remove it from the mount, though. Wouldn't want the mount...

[HeadRusch]

I'm tempted even if its just to check it out.......although I'm guessing its probably a terrible lcd, with low resolution and probably really lousy refersh performance.

Then again....

All it takes is 90 bucks to find out!

[AlanS17]

I'm tempted even if its just to check it out.......although I'm guessing its probably a terrible lcd, with low resolution and probably really lousy refersh performance.

Then again....

All it takes is 90 bucks to find out!

If you don't like it I'll but it from you for $10.

[HeadRusch]

For $10, I'd rather have the satisfaction of smashing it on the ground and then smoking the LCD crystals

[Smittydc]

Sorry about not responding sooner -- I don't get to this part of the forums much.

The 10.5" can be removed from it's case pretty easily.  I took mine out and installed it into the top of a 1950's piece of vanity luggage (like this one: http://www.epinions.com/content_80277311108) for a mini-itx computer I built.

The videocard does supply the power to the monitor - convenient for what I was doing.

The picture is great. 800x600, with a bizarre 768x1024 mode that works in a scrollable virtual desktop (you only see 800x600 at a time).  Because of the small amount of memory the refresh is a little slow -- barely noticeable for most programs, but you definitely can't watch videos or play fast games.

I use the 10.5" monitor for DJ and VJ preview, using a second video card to run visualizations and play games through a video projector.  Writing this, I realize I've never tried playing MAME on the 10" (I had the projector, so why bother?) -- I'll give it a shot tonight and tell you how it goes.

I think it was quite a deal for $80, considering those little 5" playstation add-ons go for ~$100, and 7" car lcd's go for $300-500.

[phizzle]

Its actually a laptop lcd, the pci card is to drive it, you probably could use other video cards, but you would have  to buy one that could drive it. ie. other laptop lcd cards.  if you can get your hands on a laptop you could actually pry out the screen, and then buy a card to drive it, I have a screen but not the card to use it with a desktop. The cards can be expensive tho.

[matt888]

I got a 5.5" LCD from www.partsexpress.com last year and put it in my Mustang with an Xbox (and about 25 games on the hard drive) and it's awesome!  Of course it's best in late day or night.  Games like Halo, there's plenty of screen for one player and 2 player is even playable.  Runs off 12 VDC and has a composite input.  Doesn't get any easier than that to hook up!

Matt

[IceCold]

Now I don't know what you're looking at but you make it seem like the type with either a USB or serial connection. If these are the case then you can't play games on them as far as I know. They were made for posting system stats.

About how much do those cost?  And could you provide me with some information about them(maybe a link to a web page)

[AlanS17]

These are popular and common. You can probably find some for cheaper, but these have a proven track record and I think software is probably easier to find to drive them...

http://www.crystalfontz.com/