Rackmount Monitor

[rwhealey]

I'm looking for a rackmount LCD monitor - 17" or 19"

We don't need a broadcast quality monitor - just something with a decent resolution for monitoring computers, DVD players. It must have composite and VGA inputs.

Cheap is good. Budget is probably ~$350. I can get a decent computer monitor for that - rack ears can't be much more.

Any ideas?

[len]

rackmount computer monitors - Google Search

[museav]

As you may have noted from some of the sites that come up in that search, your budget may be a little low. A typical computer monitor does not have a composite video input and you can't just add rack ears to a monitor, so it is not necessarily as simple as you might think. The lowest cost 17", rack mount, flat panel monitors with VGA and composite video inputs that I've seen are more in the $750 range. There may be some cheaper ones out there, but I've yet to find anything close to $350.

You may be able to buy a less expensive monitor with VGA and composite video inputs, I've seen some 15" ones for under $200, and either buy a custom rack kit for it or sit it on a rack shelf with a custom bezel in front of it (make sure you can still access the controls), but the cost for that would probably still push you over a $350 budget as the rack mount kits I found for 17" monitors, which are limited to certain monitor models, were $250 and up and that would be in addition to the cost of the monitor.

I hope you do find one, but you might have to consider desktop mounting or increasing your budget.

[pacman]

You'll probably have the most luck finding VGA & composite inputs on security monitors. I just found a 1280x1024 17" on a popular computer online retailer for $289 with VGA & composite (BNC). You'll still have to find a custom fabricated bezel or rack mount, so that might push it beyond your budget.

Don't expect a lot in terms of video quality. I'm running HD component video into a $500+ 24" LCD computer monitor with VGA, HDMI, component, S-video and composite inputs. I also have a $2,000 Marshall dual 7" 16:9 rack mount monitor fed by HD component. Viewing angles for both are terrible with significant color shift and fading. I really expected more from the Marshall. You just can't beat a good old CRT for quality.

[rwhealey]

Thanks everybody!

I did the google search before posting, and was finding prices in the ~$700 range. I thought I'd ask here, but that seems standard.

I'll ask if it's worth the money- we have a perfectly good Sony CRT TV that would work on a rack shelf.

[museav]

Will the Sony TV support VGA and if so, at what resolution? When computer graphics and video first started to cross some years ago that was before LCD displays and it was pretty common to put a multisync CRT monitor on a shelf and get/make a custom bezel for it.

[rwhealey]

No, it's composite and S-Video, but I'm sure we can get a computer monitor from the tech department and just do the two tasks separately. It won't be as pretty, but much cheaper.

[ruinexplorer]

If you find a LCD monitor that has standard VESA mount on the back, there are stock rack solutions for you. Here's just one place I found: Rack Mount and VESA Mount Montior Brackets. If you then look for a LCD with TV tuner (not that you need the tuner, but it helps to filter for the right connections) you might come up with something like this which would fit within your budget.