Kodak Smart LCD Frame

Astaroth · 03-07-2002, 09:55 PM

I've been thinking about the possibility of using the screen from one of these as a relatively inexpensive LCD panel for my car MP3 project. So, I took a chance and bought one for $100 on ebay.

Well, it came in, and I and tore it apart. It turns out that it has a Philips LP064V1 TFT panel in it, which it was very easy to find a spec sheet for. It's 6.4" , 640x480 VGA, 6bit (262K colors), TFT, but only 150 nits.

I'm new to this, and haven't been able to find much information really on the real world usability of this level of brightness.

Is this worth it to pursue as a car PC panel, or are 150 nits just not bright enough?

(For whatever it may be worth, I've also got an e-mail out to JKL lamps for info on possible brighter replacement lamps for the backlight)

Compared to what I've seen for prices on VGA LCDs it seemed liked a decent deal.

I also found a P166MMX Biscuit PC on Ebay for $60. It's got an Advantech board in it, which will take up to a P233MMX or 300mhz K6II, has on-board IDE, audio, ethernet, VGA, LCD controller and various other goodies. It came with all of the connector cables, in a steel case, with a built-in 9" DSTN VGA LCD screen.

Internally it's got a cable that goes from the 44 pin header on the MB to the 31pin connector on the LCD, but I'm assuming there's a difference in pinouts for the LP064V1 that I am thinking of using with it.

Is EarthLCD the recommended place to check for a cable to match up the SBC with the LCD?

-Mike

Adam F · 03-07-2002, 11:52 PM

Did you mean 16 bit color? Cause 6 bit color is only 64 colors, and 16 bit color is 65,536 colors

http://www.projectcool.com/developer...-bitdepth.html

Astaroth · 03-08-2002, 09:03 AM

Adam,

No, I mean 6 bits per color channel, for a total of 18 bits of color.

-Mike

mtmsol · 03-08-2002, 09:18 AM

Great find! What model of SBC do you have? It sounds like you bought one of those TSI PCs, which would mean you have the PCM-5862 board (I also have one of these), and you should be able to find the pinout to wire the SBC's LCD controller to the screen. Here's a link to the specs for this LCD, including pinouts.
Check out Advantech's site as well, they have lots of info on interfacing their boards to various LCDs.
Because it uses the 31 pin connector, does anyone know if this would work with a controller like Allan's? $100 for a 6.4" VGA LCD sounds good to me!

Astaroth · 03-08-2002, 11:47 AM

mtmsol,

I was pretty psyched when I got it all apart and realized what was in there. I've also got to figure out the input pins for the inverter. My only concern is the brightness @ 150nits, but I can probably shield it or something if I can't find better backlights to retrofit with.

Yes, that's the exact same SBC I found a ton of documentation on it last night, including pinouts for all of the connectors. I'm going to pick up 128MB of RAM and a P233MMX for it this week.

Let me know if you need any of the SBC documentation, I'd be glad to e-mail it to you. I've got some drivers, BIOS update files, and manuals.

I'm still a bit wary of wiring the two together since I have never set up an LCD display before and don't want to fry either the SBC or the screen while experimenting. I may pick up another PC and another frame, "just in case."

-Mike

PBMax · 03-08-2002, 02:20 PM

Tell me if you can do it. I am really looking to doing the same. I have the same frame (can be bought at www.compgeeks.com) I want to add a touch screen to mine too but don't know how.

Astaroth · 03-08-2002, 03:15 PM

Compgeeks is currently out of them, but they are available on Ebay in the $100-$120 range.

Adding a touch screen should be as simple as mounting the LCD with a touch screen overlay and hooking it to a controller, then the PC, unless I'm mistaken. (I've never hooked one up before, either, but that's my understanding from what I've read).

The tricky part (and I'm guessing that it's actually not all that tricky given all the correct pinouts) is getting it hooked up to run directly off of the SBC.

-Mike

mikeinsanmarcos · 03-08-2002, 03:58 PM

I bought one of these and I have to say, I thought it was pretty well lit...

I also read that if you take the diffuser off the front of the frame, the picture becomes much sharper...

Mike

SPyder_Flex97 · 03-08-2002, 08:18 PM

can i see a pic of the "Kodak/Lexmark 1200dpi Printer w/FlashCard Reader & Photo LCD" lcd screen that u stripped?

mikeinsanmarcos · 03-08-2002, 08:44 PM

Huh? Did I miss something? He is talking about a Kodak digital picture frame...

PBMax · 03-10-2002, 05:56 PM

I found this controller that supports the LCD. Not sure how much it costs though. But that doesn't answer your question about your motherboard.

http://www.digitalview.com/diagrams/...P064V1.VGA.PDF

smaug · 03-12-2002, 09:00 PM

I actually have two of these frames, I am using one, but the other, is still boxed up, never even opened it..

if anyone wants it, ill sell it for what I paid for, $100 + S&H, yes i did buy it from compgeeks.com

Im actually trying to find a decent sized lcd to hook up to my s-video out on my mx400 vid card.. having a hard time deciding whether i should go with the s-video to rca conversion cable, or what?!!?

Odie · 10-24-2002, 03:05 AM

I'd like to thank you for posting this info! I never would have thought that the lcd in it did not have a proprietary interface. I located one on ebay that did not work. Got it today and the lcd is intact, the frame itself worked but the inverter cable was unplugged inside! I pulled the lcd out and connected it to the controller card from my datalux (the datalux was way too dim) and it works great! I then took the screen from the datalux and connected it to the picture frame. I now have a great bright 6.4" lcd for my carputer and a sweet 10.4" digital picture frame!! now i get to make some housings for them.

davesaudio2 · 10-26-2002, 10:42 PM

whats the interface to the outside world on a digital picture frame?
would it be fast enough to display text characters?

pogue1000 · 10-29-2002, 05:36 PM

ok
so where are the pictures