lcd/overhead projector

[mixsa]

ok, this is just cool
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/...ts_and_cost_tft_screen_and_overhead_projector

 

[Mayhem]

One of the projects on my "list". I have all the parts, just need to find the time to actually get stuck in to it. Although, I plan on doins something a little better than the foam and packing tape. I also wonder how long until the heat causes the tape to fail. Hope the sound of the fan hitting the top of the desk is loud enough to alert the user of the problem!

 

[Peter]

ya that is very very neat! our school has a display that plugs into our TI-8# calculators and sits ontop of an overhead projector like that to show what the teacher is doing. I also managed to convince one school to donate a comptuer projector that worked in the exact same manner (but in color) when the other school was getting real projectors. This device was actually made to do this, however it was very old and had VERY low resolution. It was hardly worth the effort. Now our school has computer projectors in every room so using that old thing is rather pointless.

The one thing i would be conserned about with a setup like the one discribed on that page would be distortoin. I dont think i ever remember any overhead projectors I have ever worked with actualy projecting a square image. It is probably not a huge deal and maybe could be ajusted out without a huge deal of work.

 

[Mayhem]

What you refer to is "keystoning" where the top of the image projected in out of proportion to the bottom. This is caused by the image not being perpendicular to the screen and can certainly be easily corrected.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

if I ever get the money or parts somehow, then I'm gonna build that sucker! Not because I really need to, I have access to projectors, but heck man, it'd be fun, it'd kick butt, and it would rule at parties! One thing I would build in addition to that is some sort of box to protect the LCD when it's not in use.

 

[Mayhem]

not out of foam and packing tape I hope!!

 

[avkid]

Get a Pelican case for it!

 

[Mayhem]

Unless you want to be removing the LCD every time you have finished with it, that is going to be one very large and very expensive case.

 

[Peter]

My biggest question about the whole deal was how you get the signal from the computer to the screen. In a couple of pictures they just had a cable hanging over the side, but that didnt really seem right. Does anyone have any ideas on this, and how you could tie in a VCR or some other form of input?

 

[JahJahwarrior]

you use the cable coming from the monitor that you disasembled.

You could hook up a vcr to it, but you'll need some sort of convertor. It'd work great if you had a computer dvd player.

And no, I woudln't try to build a flight case for it! A case for it might cost $300, I think I could get an ok case for that, but I would just find a large cardboard box and glue foam to the sides.

 

[avkid]

well then, at least paint the cardboard black!

 

[Peter]

Hmm ok ya, duah... that would work. I was thinking about disasembling a broken laptop screen to do this. that would cause more problems as far as the interface beween computer and screen b/c I dont know what kinda connection there is between the monitor and the graphics card.

 

[Mayhem]

well then, at least paint the cardboard black!

LOL - then also don't forget to pain the edges and corners silver, maybe paint some latches on as well!!