Can I turn my lcd laptop monitor into a desktop monitor?

I couldnt find the datasheet for your component, but I tried emailing hitachi to see if they could help.

if this works you should make a write up and submit it to hackaday.com

 

I have emailed Hitachi, and also Hitachi's American Distribution branch, never heard back from them. So unless you used something other than the "contact us" link, don't expect too much.

Its ok though, I found the datasheet for the LVDS receiver and I'm gonna pray that the signal is fed from the LVDS reciever to the LCD driver unaltered. If so, then I just need to make the monitor signal look like its the LVDS receiver's output. I guess its worth a shot.

As an update: I have about 6 different ADCs in shipment (all free samples). As soon as those arive, its off to the races. The only issue I still haven't worked out is how to get a train of 1024 dot clock pulses between each Hscync pulse (frequencies have to lock to one another). I'm trying to avoid using microcontrollers for the sake of anyone else who may want to try this. Anyways, we'll either know succes or failure real soon.

 

Thought I'd add my two cents to this forum since this is a project I also have ben working on for several years but at a snails pace since it is not a priority for me. As has been stated, LCD's are digital and most monitors are analog/RGB and the two are not compatible without a converter however if you can find a video adapter with a DVI connector, a lot of the new cards today do have them as well as some older ones, the project just requires collecting the lcd wiring diagram and mating the wires to the appropriate DVI connector, unless of course you have been an lcd repair tech for awhile. Convertors are another story and sometime a few years ago someone had posted a diagram with pictures on how to build them/one on the internet. They are also available in other forms from places like fry's electronics if you know what you are looking for, while the adapters from earth are very good they are expensive. Anyway if I get the time I'll search my systems and post info as well as pull out my home made convertors and provide info on them. Good luck all with your projects. Forgot to mention, I actually have made the project work with an old sharp 10" screen now I just need to get one of my 14" lcd's setup.

 

Hi!
The simplest way to do it is by using a DVI receiver and a LVDS transmitter. You can find LVDS transmitters (I found one in a broken laptop) but with DVI it's harder. That because DVI includes Digital Rights Management tricks.
For example:
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=14
This Sil861 chip can receive DVI and send LVDS. You get the job done.
If you can buy a such chip. I couldn't. I don't have their e-mail no more, but they said that they cannot sell me a such chip because DRM.
I couldn't even find a datasheet for it.
So, forget about DVI! The only way is to fina a broken TFT monitor with it's electronics still working. Which is the way I could manage to display image from VGA to laptop LCD's.
Still, another way around would be as follows:
in some cases, the path from your pc to the TFT panel is as follows:
(true for VGA cards with external DVI transmitter)
GPU-digital video port-DVI transmitter-DVI receiver-monitor controller-LVDS emitter-LVDS receiver in TFT panel-LCD other guts-your eyes.
if you're good at soldering 2 wires per milimeter, you can do this:
-unsolder LVDS receiver from flat panel
-solder 3x6 wires for data + 4 for controls=22 wires from your video adapter to the crippled panel. the path would look like this:
GPU-digital video port-LCD other guts-your eyes.
You might need a surgeon friend to hlep you, or a lot of patience and time to do it.
This wouldnt work for higher resolutions than XGA and wires longer than 10cm/4-5inches. It could still be a good idea for a TFT flat panel sticked to your computer case side cover. I guess .
I haven't done it, but I have 2 panels at home, and I intend to give it a try once I get more data, and an appropiate VGA card.

 

and here's another one:
if you search the net for ~"geforce mx" lvds~ on google you'll findout that every geforce chip has integrated LVDS transmitter, but that no VGA card makers actually route those pins out for us to use. And that's a big shame.
There are few industrial equipment manufaturers who make VGA boards with LVDS ports. The same google can help you find them. But these boards are very poor at 3D and I'm sure they are far from being cheap.
Another way to do it woul be by means of ADD or ADD2 cards for intel chipsets. Just type "lvds add" on my favourite memory replacement site (gugl ). This link is most interesting:
www.kontronuk.com/pdf/ADD_LVDS.pdf
I couldn't find a supplier for a such board anyway, so if anything I have written here could hlep anyone make a progress, please let us know!

 

Was wondering if there is any difference to try and use an LCD for a Monitor for DVD or TV signals in cars or whatever.

I am not looking to send a computer input to it, just simply a Composite Signal from a Cheap DVD player for the car using an old Laptop monitor. can this be done? if so, would it be easier than the discusion about sending Computer signal?

I understand that to send a Computer signal it might need more juice but if I send a simple composite signal would it be able to understand it? I really get tired of seeing these 5" to 7" monitors being sold for the car these days at $150 to $500 and all they are capable of is beiing a MONITOR (not a tuning device and no other functionality). I have a few old laptops with 14" monitors that I would like to use in the car now that the laptops dont work (or are so outdated) but I am not sure of what needs to be done to get the signal to the device.

the current monittor I am toying with is a 15" from a Sony Vaio laptop, it has a grey and black wire coming out of the right side, and a small connector with about 40 tiny wires going to it( they are split into groups of (4) red and black pairs, (8) blue and brown pairs, and some black wires and a few others. My Problem is that I dont know which is power and which are for input signal, I found that when taking apart the machine the (grey, Black) set was hooked to a small "daughter" board on the inside of the machine which I took out as well (just in case) My feeling is that this is the Video signal for the monitor (this laptop also had a TV\Video output(miniplug) but I am not sure.

if anyone has any ideas on this I would like to hear about them, PLEASE!!!! I have been trying to find info on this for a while but dont seem to get too far, I know this can be done because I have seen it and I know that it should be somewhat simple but I need help!
thanks

 

The grey and black wires are for the backlite of the panel, not for TV signal. The 40 tiny wires are the data send to display. You should have read the thread before posting .
The composite signal is the same story as VGA output: it's analogical. And it's even more complicated to handle it's conversion to digital flat panels, because TV signal is interlaced, not progressive scanning. Interlaced means the picture is split in two, each odd horizontal line goes to the first half and the even to the other, and these two halves are sent one after the other. So it takes a special IC to do "deinterlacing", meaning memorising each pair of even and odd frames and restoring the actual picture to outputs, in the correct order of horizontal lines.
Believe me, it's not for DIY.
There are some chips that do conversion from VGA and TV(S-video) input to the LCD panels. Their pin counts are as high as 208, so no DIY again . Genesis is one of the makers.
I'm sorry to give such bad news.
I promise I'll be back with the good ones!

 

Ceteras,
Thanks for the info, I did read the thread first but was getting confused by some of the terms. I just thought it would be cool if it could be done(easier), I will not give up hope though.
I suppose if I wait another year or 2 they propably will be cheap enough that I will wonder why I wanted to do it this way. and you would think that as much as sony wants for replacement screens there should be more of a use for them when the machine dies (sony will replace screens for $777.60 Flat rate, all other parts of the laptop can be replaced for $296.10 flat rate) anyway I Thank you for the response and I will keep watching the thread and see what happens, who knows maybe someday someone will actually see the benefit of making a small converter, and we can start to take apart the old laptops and reuse the screens instead of throwing them all away because the Motherboard died. I would gladly pay $50-$70 for an adapter of some kind that would let me use the 15" LCD for whatever I want, rather than spending $100-$299 for a small 5"-7" screen. Who's with me on this one?!? I have a soldering Gun and a steady hand if someone has plans to follow!! seems to me enough people are interested that we could make some $$$$$$

thanks Again.

 

I'm not sure why this is so confusing. Most of the posts have been relatively comprehensive and accurate with info regarding using laptop screens for desktop displays. I would disagree though that this project is not for the DIY. That is, if you have lots of time and/or money. The real issue is that not all laptop displays are created equal where a vga monitor is a vga monitor for the most part and a vga signal on a 15 pin connector will drive almost all vga dispalys the same as well as a 9 pin vga will operate most 15 pin vga signals with the appropriate inexpensive adapter. However, though the project is somewhat technical, hardware can be purchased to make the project as simple as connecting the cables together but this also depends on the LCD to be used. Just watch out for the high voltage ignition for the backlight but then the backlight is also something that can be bypassed and the display can be viewed somewhat normally.

 

Have you checked this s**t out?

http://www.baytek.de/englisch/BayView_AVD4.htm

Looks kinda nice product, I have no idea of prices though.

I still would like to see someone making one of those by himself. It's cooler that way

 

looks interesting, but looks expensive too.
for instance, .
This board does analog VGA to digital conversion, the same as my LCD monitor board. The difference is that my board uses a single chip to do image processing and a 8032 controller to do the fiddling, and bayview has a rather big chipcount, so I doubt it could be affordable.
I found a single chip solution for a such board, and I intend to evaluate the costs that would take to make a simple adapter for LVDS panels. I'll let you know.

 

Great thread! I have a good link for those of you interested in the varios pinouts http://www.networktechinc.com/technote.html. Now, you may understand it's realy not so easy to connect VGA or S-video to the flat panel.

 

that's a dead link

 

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2 ceteras: it's not a dead link, there's only a dot added to the end by the forum url parser, use it without it: http://www.networktechinc.com/technote.html

 

Hi. I also want to convert an LCD monitor - but NOT A LAPTOP LCD!!!!

I have a Toshiba Equium 2000 PC - the PC is broke, i want to recover the LCD TFT screen to use on my new PC.

Now is this possible? - it seems my LCD is more of a monitor than a crappy laptop one.

Here is my PC/monitor: http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Toshiba_Equium_2000_C466_PV1059E0_001UK

It uses DD Link (digital-to-digital) from PC to monitor - if that helps.

This screen is a REALLY REALLY GOOD LCD SCREEN, and i cant forgive myself if i just threw it away!!!

I've opened the back up, and there are a few wires (not 40) - i just need some advice on if this is possible.

As i say, it is CLEARLY not a laptop LCD screen - and would be great to use as a normal monitor!

It has no inputs in the back of it - nor does it have its own power inputs (the power is for the PC)

ANY ADVICE IS GREATLY WELCOMED!!!!!!!!!!!

 

hi!
"Equium 2000 is a creative fusion of desktop and notebook technologies in one groundbreaking PC solution - without compromising on performance."
if your computer uses a true desktop monitor type LCD panel, the differences would be a higher brightness and better angle visibility.
the interface i'm pretty sure is much the same. it must use a laptop-like graphics adapter that connects digitally to your panel.
so technically it's the same deal.

 

what crappy laptop monitor, how about crappy postings. keep the bogus crap off off this thread. read my lips, no advertising please!!! A 15"
laptop LCD is the same as your LCD for the most part.

 

I believe that ceteras is Correct - as far as I can tell an LCD is an LCD whether it comes in a laptop or with it's own case and logic board, whatever the LCD is in it is still an LCD! so there is no difference between the laptop LCD and this ALL-in-One MAchine you are talking about. (and lets face the true fact, that Machine is basically a Glorified "Laptop" in a desktop type box!!!!) with this machine there is probably a circuit board built onto the back of the LCD to do the logic and more than likely a ribbon cable or something to send the signal to it, which is why you don't see the groups of wires we are all talking about. since it seems that proximity to the LCD screen is important for the signal then it would make sense to do the processing as close to the LCD panel as possible. Thus keeping the the actual Image/data wires as short as possible! as in my case the two other wires that you do see are probably for the backlighting which does not have wire distance constraints like the data wires.
if you are truly attached to the machine and monitor why not see if there are options to upgrade or replace parts inside of the machine. I am sure the manufacturer is aware that these machines will break down and must have some provisions in place to help you out. if they still make a model like that one they will probaly have way to upgrade you.

 

Wow. I have found this very helpful. I have an old IBM 385ED and want to turn it into a monitor.

Ok, the Model is a Samsung LT1S5-105.

So what all do I need to get up and running?