Striker121 Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) EDIT: Mainly about MFCD monitors in general now I've noticed that a number of people are paying well over $100 for 7 or 8 inch monitor to use as the display on MFCDs, but has anyone tried using a digital picture frame? An 8 inch frame costs ~$35 or so and, atleast according to some random internet pages, a number of them can be plugged into your computer via USB and function as a 2nd monitor. Has anyone tried this before? Seems like an awesome way to save a ton of money. Edited February 23, 2012 by Striker121
MTFDarkEagle Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Tried. Be very carefull on which one you get! If you're going for samsung models: ONLY the U70 (and 1 more if I recall correctly...) will work, because they have something called "displaylink" (or something of that nature). Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
Striker121 Posted February 22, 2012 Author Posted February 22, 2012 The problem with the U70 is that the price tag is ~$120, just as much as any 8-inch monitor. There seems to also be a bunch of car headrest monitors and similar things that might work, guess I'll just have to keep looking. In the end I suppose I could always settle on one of the random USB monitors, the cost just makes me :(
MTFDarkEagle Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Yes I know. I've been in the very same boat. I tried 2 samsung's (same model). SPF-87H was the model. Turns out that A) it does not work on any 64 bit system and B) you can only use 1 at a time. It's all got to do with that displaylink stuff. If it has displaylink, it'll work, however, only the u70 and 1 other IIRC have displaylink. My solution was to get a small monitor with DVI connection and make a mounting (see here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=80010 ) Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
Striker121 Posted February 22, 2012 Author Posted February 22, 2012 Well, some lengthy internet searches have so far shown this http://www.dealextreme.com/p/pl8006-portable-8-color-lcd-monitor-tv-w-ypbpr-vga-input-47-870mhz-55245 to be the cheapest display at $72 before shipping. I'll let you guys know if I find anything cheaper or if I end up getting them. At the very least the screen could be used on any number of projects I could think up, so I might just get one to test.
MTFDarkEagle Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Please note though that those displays are VGA input, not USB.! Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
Striker121 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) USB versus VGA is not much of an issue for me. I have plenty of CPU overhead and extra outputs on my AMD 6950 for any monitors. Really it just comes down to price and whether I can hook up two of them, an issue that I've heard tends to arise with some USB based screens. Also, the YN8088AV sold by B-Billion has apparently been used by quite a few people. It's ~$130 with free shipping so that seems like a decent deal, although two PL8006's shipped for under $200 sounds nice too. Edited February 23, 2012 by Striker121
Striker121 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Posted February 23, 2012 Any input on whether to buy a 7" or an 8" would also be appreciated. The 7" screens shown in some people's pictures appear almost perfect, with only a slightly missing section at the top and bottoms of the screen. Anyone else able to comment on that? Assuming 4:3 resolution. They're just so much cheaper, ~$35 at 7" that it seems like a great idea unless there are some large reasons not to take that route.
MTFDarkEagle Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 If your going for the TM MFD's, the best is 8 inch, 4:3 ratio, 800*600 resolution. Regarding USB/VGA: Ah ok. I thought you were going for USB things. Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
Meta Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 SPF-87H was the model. Turns out that A) it does not work on any 64 bit system and B) you can only use 1 at a time. Not 100% right. I have an SPF-87H running under Windows 7 64bit! But you are limited to one of them at a time because they use a software that makes JPGs of your screen and sends them to the frame to display. So refreh rate is ok but not that big.
MackTheKnight Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 I found this the other day and I'm tempted to pick one up and try it: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...699&CatId=6959
Striker121 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Posted February 23, 2012 For that price the pl8006 still seems a better deal resolution and price wise, although it has a far longer shipping time I'm sure. The people over at RChobbygroup seem to find it easy to take apart and mod though too, so at the moment I'm planning in ordering two pl8006's. I spent hours last night asking for quotes from low quanitity sellers of LCD screens and drivers, they REALLY like charging stupidly high prices for shipping AND the screen, so I guess buying the individual parts is mostly out of the option. Still going to keep an eye out for any cheap screens compatible with these $25 LCD drivers on eBay.
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