Laptop Monitor - DVD Display?

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hamisht

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#31724 28-Mar-2009 14:32

My brother was asking me if i had a laptop monitor from a machine that didnt work, if I could set it up for him in his car so his kids could watch a DVD on it. Has anyone attempted this? sending a video signal only to a laptop display to use it as a TV/DVD?

I thought it would be cheaper just to buy a $400 secondhand laptop with a DVDRom, make a mount and hang it from the roof of the van and just download something to rotate the image upside down.

Or.... is there some kind of extention cable for laptop monitors, so the laptop hdd could be under a seat, and the display on the back of the seat.

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xpd

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#203882 28-Mar-2009 16:14

Or just spend $150 on a portable DVD player.
No cabling/setup hassle.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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hamisht

389 posts

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#203893 28-Mar-2009 17:14

Yeah but he says the screens are to small. I tried the monitor method once when I was a computer tech at a school when they were throwing out old laptops, but i heard the way the signal is sent is to different.

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chriswiggins

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#203900 28-Mar-2009 18:55

I have asked this numerous times to people and the problem is that laptop screens are analogue. Computer graphics cards spit out a digital signal. The only way to do this properly is to buy a digital to analogue converter. These are more expensive than just buying a portable dvd player as suggested plus a lot less of a hassle.

nate

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#203980 29-Mar-2009 13:54

hamisht: My brother was asking me if i had a laptop monitor from a machine that didnt work, if I could set it up for him in his car so his kids could watch a DVD on it. Has anyone attempted this? sending a video signal only to a laptop display to use it as a TV/DVD?

You'll also need to get an inverter to power the screen - you would probably be better just to get a proper car monitor, a stereo to play a DVD isn't that expensive.

My headunit (Pioneer) plays DVDs, but I don't have a screen to watch them on - quite a nice surprise considering it wasn't a feature I was looking for, and I didn't pay that much for it.

sbiddle

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#203981 29-Mar-2009 14:10

If you want a bigger screen buy an old 17" LCD TV. I've seen quite a few on Trademe lately go for $200 - $250ish. Most all overage on 12V DC so you can run it straight off the battery.

paradoxsm

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#206594 12-Apr-2009 21:07

Older laptops (and most internal LCD interconnects) used a special data bus "Panel link?" that I remember reading up on and then forgetting the idea very quickly realizing it was going to be way too much effort. If you open a LCD monitor, there is a VGA converter chip, mine is a "silicon image" a bunch of power factor components, inverters to make the backlights run and then that special multi-wire interface which goes to the panel display driver chips on the glass panel. Yes I have fiddled ana managed to find a plethora of "converters" from the various pin setups, usually on horrible boards that have the traces running for 15CM. and I have plugged in some old laptop display and had it working only to think the idea was a big waste of time and shoved the junk back in a box and hocked it on Tradme as spares.

Brand spanking new high-end laptops may have switched to DVI as their internal as was mooted a couple of years back but don't bank on it.

In short, better off buying a cheap laptop with a DVD reader for the price they are goind for and making sure it works on 12V. Then you get a laptop that can do thing like play games as well or other uses.