Have an idea for Mini monitor....

[oal331]

Last week i bought a Samsung Digital Photo Frame 7" and when reading the manual, i found that can also work as a Mini Monitor as a 2nd USB monitor. (I don't know if it can work also as 3rd, 4th etc....)

As i'm on vacations, away from my cockpit, i connected the photoframe to my laptop and i had a 2nd expanded monitor. I downloaded PM's GC demo and i saw that was working acceptable.
Because the laptop is not a high performance and does not have a special VGA, i had below 150points in PM's test. Maybe this will be the same in my normal PCs, i don't know.

But.... for lower EICAS a digital photo frame 7",8" or 10" will be a very nice and cheap solution (7"= ~55euros), than to buy special VGAs costing more than 300-400 euros.

Maybe there are more products like this in the market, having best 3D graphics performance.

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2243&d=1251102982
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2244&d=1251102983
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2245&d=1251102958
My 2 cents......:)

[No Longer Active]

Wow that is great.....

I think you have just broke the barrier now, I can assure you now that there are going to be alot of people wanting to buy these from now, this is fantastic!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Samsung-Digital-Photo-Frame-SPF-75H-TFT-Monitor_W0QQitemZ130324645922QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Photography_DigitalCamAccess_RL?hash=item1e57f44822&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_5560wt_991

Great Price too!

I knew this was going to come one day!

Thank you.

Alex

[makoy]

Hi guys,

I have also looking around photoframes to using it in FMCs.
There is some photoframes, you can also connect to videocards tv-out, not only Usb.

Marco

[flymo001]

Been thinking along those line myself, think the 7" is a tad small. Been keeping an eye-out for 10" versions, but as yet :cry: I've not been able to locate any. Here in the UK, I've been looking in PC World, Comet, Jessops, Currys....,,none as yet.

Thanks guys.....John P.

[oal331]

Check also this 10" here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SPF107H-Digital-Photo-Frame/dp/tech-data/B002AC52BI/ref=de_a_smtd/278-5474840-1655917

They must have the label "Mini monitor function"


regards

Eddie

[Melnato]

Nice find Eddie!

Like I say, you just need to bite the bullet and try things out instead of :roll:

Nat:)

[Matt Olieman]

Fantastic Eddie, that's slick!!!!! :)

Did you happen to see a 5"?

BTW, I made your photos visible.

Matt Olieman

[BHawthorne]

Looks like there are quite a few versions that'll work.

SPF-72H
SPF-75H
SPF-83H
SPF-85V
SPF-83H
SPF-83P
SPF-105P
SPF-107H

I'm sure there are other versions. The 7" is 800x400, 8" is 800x600, 10.2" is 1024x600.

Looking at the specs on the SPF-71 version the resolution is too crappy to use and I can't see the option for mini display so don't get that version.

The pricing on these will make doing a glass cockpit or faking instruments with an LCD pretty cost effective. I saw one of the 8" versions on ebay for around $55USD.

[N242AM]

There is a big selection at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=548&name=Digital-Photo-Frames

[N242AM]

Even have 10.4" for those needing a display for a G1000.

[flymo001]

GREAT! :D well that's one of my Christmas prezzies sorted out!!.......just got to do the research for which one. On second thoughts.........why wait until December. :idea: :idea: darling you know those shelves you wanted puttung up...............................;)

John P

[BHawthorne]

There is a big selection at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=548&name=Digital-Photo-Frames

Yes, but you need to be specific on what you choose. That Samsung is the first I've ever seen that doubles for a computer display. They don't regularly have a usb video driver interface hardware in them. We would have been using these things a loooong time ago if they all doubled as computer displays at that price. ;)

[N242AM]

Plus, how will it affect system performance? Isn't off-loading video to the video card the reason for using a VGA/DVI cabled display? If we feed those units USB, isn't that placing all the work on the CPU?

[BHawthorne]

Probably not, but it probably will tax the USB bandwidth on that particular port out + whatever chip it's using for i/o. I'd suggest giving them their own usb cards as needed if you use multiple photo frames.

Panels and instruments need not be 3D graphic accelerated. One would think most of that is 2D based. Didn't one of those pics in the OP have an OSD showing FPS? Looks like it was doing 38 FPS. One wouldn't think fps would matter much on the instruments. On the other hand if it effects the FPS of the other external displays that actually show the sim environment, that's another story. I've seen no indication one way or the other though.

Would be nice to see an experiment of with it using a display and without and checking the task manager's CPU usage graphs.

[oal331]

Did you happen to see a 5"?

I didn't find 5" in the same brand, but as other friends wrote below, in the near feature more and more companies will offer the same functionality and we'll have more options.

I have to write once again, that PM's performance test, was below 150 so we have to make these test in real cockpit enviroment with network load and normal PCs


BTW, I made your photos visible.

Thanks, what i done wrong with jpg attachments?

Thanks

[dvincent]

Hello,

take a look at this:

http://www.avionicslcd.com/

They have them all.

[N242AM]

Yes, but the point of the post was "inexpensive" lcd displays.

Who wants to pay $628 for a 10.4" lcd display?

[BHawthorne]

Hello,

take a look at this:

http://www.avionicslcd.com/

They have them all.

You grossly miss the whole point. It's to get a cost effective solution.

In most cases, comparing to that website, you could retrofit a fully functional netbook into your panel for half their pricing. That brings up another side-subject. Anyone out there retrofitting in netbooks for their glass-cockpits in sims? For example the ASUS netbook at $170: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220586

The cool thing about photoframes is that not only do they have the video interface, but they have the usb -> video decoder built in. That means no hidden $50-100 cost for another video card. Although I think it might merit a $10 USB 2.0 card of it's own. Those worrying about CPU impact and have quad core machines could just set the affinity for the process to one of the cores not being used by the sim. Do we know yet if 2 or more of these can work at the same time independently of eachother? Once my student financial aid comes through in September I'll probably pick up 2 of these to experiment with.

[No Longer Active]

You can but buy 3.5" LCD for £10. and then buy the adapter to convert it to VGA for a £1....

Now that's cost effective!

[TobiBS]

You can but buy 3.5" LCD for £10. and then buy the adapter to convert it to VGA for a £1....

Now that's cost effective!

Do you have a supplier for that with those prices? Maybe some links?

[BHawthorne]

You can but buy 3.5" LCD for £10. and then buy the adapter to convert it to VGA for a £1....

Now that's cost effective!

Where? :shock:

[No Longer Active]

Whats the prize for the links....Have I dropped myself into one of these gold-dust situations lol, I am just an ordinary surfer of the net, I am sure you have come across them or have you just not looked properly?

Might have fun with this one lol!

[No Longer Active]

Not one of you even said please!

Where's the manners theses days lol

[TobiBS]

I am sure you have come across them or have you just not looked properly?

Well I have seen several display types and styles, but not for the prices you mentioned, especially not if you want to buy a single one.



Not one of you even said please!
Where's the manners theses days lol

Well you are right, sorry for my impoliteness and again: Can you please supply us a link to cheap displays to be connected to VGA or nowadays DVI?

[No Longer Active]

That's ok TobiBS

Expecting to get a link without a please or thanks doesn't work with me

Politeness gets you every where, I just can't stand rude people....sorry!

Anyway.....

I Bought a mini 3.5" for my GPS.

It cost me £10 plus delivery!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250479524698&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_2186wt_904

You just need to buy a converter lead to covert the signal into vga!

Just search ebay, they are not hard to find!

A thank you would be nice!

[BHawthorne]

It looks more like around $35 for the 3.5". Then add in shipping and whatever the vga converter costs. That begins pushing outside the realm of usefulness if I was to do individual gauges with. It's cheaper just to do a single big LCD. Only reason why I'd be interested in a 3.5" or 5" would be to piece in oddly placed instruments that wouldn't fit within the main large LCD. However the 7, 8 and 10.2 photo frames are still looking to be the best bang for the buck because they have no need for a video card to run them.

[TobiBS]

That's ok TobiBS

Expecting to get a link without a please or thanks doesn't work with me

Politeness gets you every where, I just can't stand rude people....sorry!

Anyway.....

I don't want to be rude and it might also be a reason that I am not speaking english as my mother tongue.


It looks more like around $35 for the 3.5". Then add in shipping and whatever the vga converter costs.
Well he said 10 Pounds Sterling, not US-Dollars, but for 35US-Dollars shipping is already included. A VGA adaptor is not that expensive, most video cards are capable of providing it already.


That begins pushing outside the realm of usefulness if I was to do individual gauges with. It's cheaper just to do a single big LCD. Only reason why I'd be interested in a 3.5" or 5" would be to piece in oddly placed instruments that wouldn't fit within the main large LCD. However the 7, 8 and 10.2 photo frames are still looking to be the best bang for the buck because they have no need for a video card to run them.
I think another reason is more important to opt for the photo frame, it is sharpness of the picture or whatever you would like to call it. We have S-Video MCDUs running and due to the video standard the picture is not sharp, because antialiasing on the computer is done for a pixel to pixel correct display, not for the S-Video resizing that is done via the video card. The results are not as good as using a digital or even a normal VGA-connection.

EDIT: One simple example are the boxes when an entry is expected, they do not have the same linewidth all around the box, because of the resizing, it needs a lot of adjustment to work and it is still not perfect at my point of view.

I guess the photo frames don't have this problem, the connection should be digital and therefore at least for text it should look much better, but I have no comparison right now and will see if one of this photo frames finds it way to me.

[BHawthorne]

I think another reason is more important to opt for the photo frame, it is sharpness of the picture or whatever you would like to call it. We have S-Video MCDUs running and due to the video standard the picture is not sharp, because antialiasing on the computer is done for a pixel to pixel correct display, not for the S-Video resizing that is done via the video card. The results are not as good as using a digital or even a normal VGA-connection.

It's not so much the analog s-video to vga conversion that is the issue as much as the 3.5" screen will have a really unusable resolution. The ppi for it makes it not worth doing. S-video will push at best an NTSC signal of 720x480, but that screen is most likely only 360x120, which isn't enough resolution to be of any use as a gauge or instrument.

In my previous post it showed the resolutions that the screens did and all were very good ppi for their size. Plus, like you mention, the input is a digital signal, so it's as sharp a picture as possible.

[Cooleo]

Sorry to bump an old thread but...

I managed to pick up two of these in ASDA for £25 each.

Got home, plugged in, disappointment started.

Flaws:
1. Can't use more than one at once
2. Can't use on x64 systems
3. the XP driver contains a trojan

Pros:
1. Its a clear display.

I should of just bought the one, seems weird that it can't support both.

[fsaviator]

I just bought an open-box SPF-107H-2 from Amazon warehouse for $87.99 and free shipping. that's the 10- incher.

I plan to user it as my lower monitor. I'll let everyone know how it works.

Warren.

[oal331]

I also have one 10" like yours, it's working very nice, but.... the only problem i had, is to power on the monitor the next day.
What i mean: the monitor has a small push button switch at the back side, so if it will be installed at the lower Eicas, this push button will be inside the bay, so the access to switch on is not easy. I checked if returns back to on after a power failure but not.
Anyway, i bought another used small VGA monitor i plan to install there and i enjoy my 10" photoframe for my lovely family photos :-)

best regards

Eddie

[pvjen1]

any updates on this idea performs on pc setups and if it kills cpu performance?

cheers