I was looking at the 4D 3.2" color LCD but the size just isn't quite big enough for the project I'm working on. Then I see they have a serial-VGA interface that looks like it'll use the same serial commands as the their 3.2" LCD, but allow it to output to any ole VGA monitor.
So then I find all these 7" LCD monitors on Ebay and such for under $100 and I start to wonder, would that VGA interface and the 7" LCD monitor make a good combo? It looks great on paper, but before I drop the cash, I'd like to know if anyone else has tried this and how the quality of the monitor is.
Well, the cheapest alternative may be a composite monitor, and using the TVout Library (which only requires two resistors, no shield). You can find cheap LCD monitors either as part of a portable DVD players (I use one that my kids broke the DVD transport on) or ones sold for use with automotive backup cameras. I recommend the DVD player route because they also generally have a 9-12v onboard rechargable battery. If you run the backlight minimally, using one of the DVD units as both display and power supply for Arduino can work really well for cheap money. You can even just go down to your local WallyWorld and pick up a no-name one for about $50-60.
The TVout lib is very useful if you just need black and white without a lot of hassle.. and of course if you build for NTSC composite, you can use any TV with a composite input as a potential monitor..
That's a very neat thing there but I need better resolution for what I'm doing.
I've seen some things on youtube using the 4D uVGA module and that looks like it can definitely do what I'll need it to do. I guess I'm more concerned with the these monitors. For the price, they look almost too good to be true.
I've not used the 4D systems module, but I've seen it used in projects- seems like a very cute product. If you go ahead with it, we'll be wanting details and impressions from you. I'd say it's likely to be a decent item, worth the investment. Video display real estate, no matter how you get it, is awesome. No 16x2 compares to a 50" plasma screen, hehehe. The VGA module route also takes no resources of the Arduino.. while the TVout lib obviously does, quite a bit.. especially SRAM.
The display itself isn't surprising, VGA isn't really that different from using three synced monochrome composite signals, really. When they are designing it, adding in VGA as an input option isn't a big deal. As you can see, there's no shortage of cheap LCD's out there.
If you don't mind the cash, it sounds like a good combo.. so let us know how it goes!
In particular, I need the serial connectivity of the 4D because my screen will be located about 10 ft from the microcontroller. One thing it looks like i'll be giving up going this route (vs. the 4D 3.2" combo product) is the touchscreen, but for my application I should be able to get by with a few hard buttons just fine.
So do you think that the 7" LCD is going to be a decent product? I just seems so cheap that it'd be crap, but maybe not.
I'll probably go this route but it won't be for another week or to. I'll be sure to update this thread
As decent as any other cheap LCD out there, I would think. If they can make a portable DVD player with a 7" screen for $75, just remember it's probably the exact same LCD. I don't know how crystal clear it will be at 800x600 (native max resolution according to description), that's a pretty tight dot pitch and I'm willing to bet you might end up using 640x480 or something in actual use with a screen that small. The DVD resolution on one of them is probably far less, I'd guess 320 or less horizontal and no more than 200 vertical.. and that's not saying it's razor sharp. Don't expect a miracle for that money, but I'll bet it'll be usable.
well, i'm not too concerned about the max resolution -- anything over 320x200 is going to be just fine. i'm more concerned with it being "pixel perfect" -- i.e. i turn on pixel 2,2 and the pixel at 2,2 and only that pixel, comes on. what i don't want is for it to be all fuzzy.