Media Player Classic Info LCD

Hello,

Thought I'd show you a project I've been working on.

It's a LCD which shows information like time remaining, time elapsed, total length, volume, and status (playing/paused etc) for a video that's playing in Media Player Classic. It also has a IR receiver, so you can control the video using a standard remote control.

That extra chip is just a darlington array to drive the backlight, because I didn't have a suitable transistor on its own.

A little Java application runs and grabs the info from MPCs web interface and passes it on to the Arduino. It listens for IR commands coming from the Arduino too, and pretends to be a WinLIRC server to pass the command on to MPC.

On its own, it does very little, just prompts for the desktop app to be run. When MPC isn't running, it displays the time and date, which is sent from the computer every second.


I'm planning on using the bottom line to display RSS feeds or new email notifications, or something like that.

Both the Java app and the Arduino program are easy to extend and add different stuff to. Sending new data is as simple as defining a new command type in the Java app and passing a Command object to a Class that wraps the RXTX stuff. The Arduino program then just needs an extra case in a switch statement to handle it.

The big number in the middle is the time remaining, the numbers on the right hand side are the time elapsed(top), and the total length (bottom). A symbol on the left appears when the video is paused or stopped, and the volume bar shows when it is muted.


Any thoughts/ideas/questions?

This is really nice. Well done.

What is the LCD you are using? Can you post a link to where you got it please?

Thanks

It's a 40x4 LCD I picked up on ebay a few years ago. I've got no idea who the manufacturer is, sorry. I don't even have a datasheet for it, I had to get my multimeter out to work out which pins did what!

I have to agree, that's an amazing screen.

Good work mate. Have you by any chance seen "LCD Smartie". Your code could be a good compliment for the application

Does it have a brand name? Model Number?

If you're after one mike there's a few on ebay around the £15-17 mark

Optrex DMC40457. I bought it for about £3, and the seller had about 10 of them , I really wish I'd bought more now. It is really nice having the extra screen space.

I have seen LCD Smartie, I considered just making the display compatible with Smartie, but I don't have any experience writing/compiling C++ (on windows at least), and the website doesn't seem to have been updated for a while.

Are you planning to release the code at all?

I hadn't really thought about it.

I've stuck a zip file with everything here.

There may be bugs, it may be hacky, and it is probably horribly over engineered, but I'd be happy to explain it if there's any questions.

If you're after one mike there's a few on ebay around the £15-17 mark

What are you searching under? I can't see any.

Check under international sellers matey

FYI: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40x4-LCD-Module-Black-Characters-Y-G-Backlight-HD44780_W0QQitemZ220374825414QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item334f5cf9c6&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177&_trkparms=240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

Is that the same unit? Looks different to me.

Would anyone happen to have a valid link to the zip file referenced in this thread?

Check under international sellers matey

FYI: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40x4-LCD-Module-Black-Characters-Y-G-Backlight-HD44780_W0Q...

That aint exactly cheap though is it...

Shame you can't get bargains like you used to be able to... :wink:

Check under international sellers matey

FYI: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40x4-LCD-Module-Black-Characters-Y-G-Backlight-HD44780_W0Q...

That aint exactly cheap though is it...

Shame you can't get bargains like you used to be able to... :wink: