RE: In car PC with LCD question

["Keith Doxey" <lists.diyha@xxxxxxx>]

Have you checked the refresh rate of the Laptop output.

It may be running at 60Hz causing the LCD to think it is NTSC.

One BIG problem you will run into is that small LCD displays intended for
Video use are at best 960x234 pixels so you are unlikely to be happy with
the results even if you succeed in getting it to work.

A small Colour CRT monitor would also be useless as the shadowmask in the
tube would not be fine enough for the image you are trying to display.

A small B&W CRT would probably give the best resolution at an
affordable
price.

Trouble is, we are ahead of the technology. We want it before it is made,
or
before it is at an affordable price. Just one of the problems with being at
the cutting edge :-)

Keith

www.diyha.co.uk
www.kat5.tv


-----Original Message-----
From: John Hegarty [mailto:john@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 17 March 2002 08:44
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] In car PC with LCD question



Apologies, this is a bit off topic. I am trying to cobble together a
in-car PC using an old laptop I had spare. I've got GPS all working and
have sorted out how I am keeping it charged. My only problem is the
display.

The laptop has a Composite video output (aka TV OUT) presented as a
phono plug which works fine when connected to my TV. Unfortunately it
only gives a black and white picture on my 12v 5 inch PAL LCD display
(made by Centurion). Now my understanding is that this is normally due
to trying to view NTSC on a PAL screen. So I have just tried another
(newer) laptop that has a selectable NTSC/PAL output - and the display
is still black and white in either mode :-(

Does anyone have any thoughts on where I go next ? Are there small 12v
TFT displays with VGA inputs out there that are affordable ?

One last resort thought I had was to pull the laptop apart and see if
the interface to its own LCD was something that I could easily extend
the 3ft from under the passenger seat, to the console where I want the
diplay. Is this even possible given the delicate timings of laptop
displays ?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.


John.

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