LCD Monitor stopped working. :(

[nwg]

I think I did smell like something had burned out when I swapped monitors over (using my mum's monitor atm). It only lasted a second or so.

[ed klein]

Many, many years ago, in electronics school, we used to get the NEW students properly broke in, by charging up a few large microfarad capacitors from motor controllers and TV sets and leaving them laying around the shop and work area for new students to grab and look at, and get a good shock.

The school probably lost a lot of new students. But all the new students that stayed learned the first week of school what a capacitor does in an electronic circuit and the proper way to handle them.

[toomanycats]

Did you know some people are making front projectors with old LCD screens? The use metal hydride lamps and fresnal lenses to make the projector. They project thru the LCD lense without the backlight. There are some interesting websites that show how to do this if you Google DIY projector.

[nwg]

Did you know some people are making front projectors with old LCD screens? The use metal hydride lamps and fresnal lenses to make the projector. They project thru the LCD lense without the backlight. There are some interesting websites that show how to do this if you Google DIY projector.

They are rubbish.

Has anyone got an opinon on this one?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=21603488943&product_uid=114209&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&filter_display=both&filter_order=rating_useful&filter_category=&filter_string=&offset=0

[toomanycats]

Rubbish is a bit strong. I actually saw one of these projectors about 5 years ago that a friend built for about $300 U.S. Considering the price of projectors back then, it was certainly better than a lot of projectors that were out then. He used a higher resolution LCD panel and it gave a decent picture in a dark room, (big unit though). Of course with the price of Sanyo PLV lately why would anybody bother. Unless you were bored, didn't have $1700 dollars, and just wanted to tinker. I have been happy with my Sanyo. Who makes Belinea, or does it matter anymore?

[atifsh]

[quote=nwg;451107I could upgrade to a Acer 19" widescreen which I like for just £140.[/quote]

i have the same one, only down is no dvi input... u can get almost similar priced viewsonic with dvi now...

[nwg]

Rubbish is a bit strong.

I don't think so. They just can't compete with a proper PJ.

i have the same one, only down is no dvi input... u can get almost similar priced viewsonic with dvi now...

That doesn't matter as I don't hav DVI on a computer.

How does it handle 4:3? I read that it stretches it rather than keep it 4:3 with black borders left and right.

Will I notice much going from a standard 17" to widescreen 19"?

[NightTran]

17 to 19 is big diff ( I have one next to another)

[RFBurns]

Many, many years ago, in electronics school, we used to get the NEW students properly broke in, by charging up a few large microfarad capacitors from motor controllers and TV sets and leaving them laying around the shop and work area for new students to grab and look at, and get a good shock.

The school probably lost a lot of new students. But all the new students that stayed learned the first week of school what a capacitor does in an electronic circuit and the proper way to handle them.

Oh yes....the "I dare you" lesson of electronics! There was one student in my class...way back in the mid 70's that said he tested 9v batteries with his tounge....which isnt all that bad in as far as shock potential. However, this guy also applied that approach to capacitors lying around. Welp, one day in the class that I was assisting the instructor, this kid decided to use the tounge technique to test a capacitor. He did not bother to read the specs on the capacitor...this was no small capacitor...value wise.

It was one of the older silver canister/multi cap types that were commonly used in tube circuits, and had 3 different capacitor sections in one container. The instructor did not realize that one of the sections still had a good potential on it, and this kid did the tounge technique...and before we knew it, there was a silver canister flying across the room, hitting the window and breaking it like a thrown baseball, shattering the window. The student ended up with a good triangular burn pattern on his tounge from the capacitor leads.

I went outside to recover the capacitor, and read the specs imprinted on the canister. It had the following specs:

^=250VDC-40Mfd
*=350VDC-20Mfd
#=200VDC-10Mfd

Now I dont want to imagine what could have happend to the poor kid if all 3 sections had charge in them. When it was all said and done, the 350VDC section still had about 170 volts on it even after the "tounge technique"!!!!

The capacitor was about 15 yrs old, which would be about right for electronic devices of the 60's era, to which there were still plenty of tube-based units around.

A sign was placed in the classroom that said:

"Use the tounge to taste steak and a voltmeter to test voltage!"

Note to tinkerers: NEVER EVER use the "tounge technique" even in today's electronics. Its less painfull to spend 10 bucks on a cheap voltmeter than it is to use the tounge to taste voltage!!!

[NightTran]

[RFBurns]

Did you know some people are making front projectors with old LCD screens? The use metal hydride lamps and fresnal lenses to make the projector. They project thru the LCD lense without the backlight. There are some interesting websites that show how to do this if you Google DIY projector.

Yes!!

The LCD pannel is like a window, with the little emitters embedded between two layers of either glass or plastic. In a stand alone monitor, the very back surface is usually white to reflect the backlight and spread it across the entire surface, giving bright vivid pictures at different viewing angles.

The LCD projection tv's use the same principle as do the LCD projectors to put a picture up on a large screen or wall. The method is a little different in the optics tho, using a prisim after the high intensity lamp to seperate the light bands into 3 colors...red, green and blue. (remember Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album cover?!) These 3 color bands are then focused onto each of the 3 color LCD emitter screens. Once the color bands pass through the LCD emitter screens, the 3 seperate colors are re-combined through another prisim to make one beam of focused light, which is then optically aligned to a lens which projects the combined color bands onto a mirror at the back of the set, then it bounces off of the mirror onto the front lenticular screen which sits behind the protective screen at the very front of the set.

The LCD projector units that shine a picture on a wall or large screen also split the light into 3 seperate color bands and recombine them onto the projection lens assembly, then shines onto a wall or large screen.

The purpose of seperating the white light into 3 color bands is to filter out the other useless emissions from the lamp, thus producing only the light needed for red, green and blue.

The "poor man's LCD projector" projects are excellent alternatives and follow the same operational principles. And some of them can produce very bright and vivid images.

[atifsh]

That doesn't matter as I don't hav DVI on a computer.

How does it handle 4:3? I read that it stretches it rather than keep it 4:3 with black borders left and right.

Will I notice much going from a standard 17" to widescreen 19"?

• 4:3 comes as 4:3 with black bars on left n right, unless u strech via ur player.
• has fixed resolution of 1440 x 900
• looks smaller then normal 19" lcd [because of lesser height]
• i jumped frm 17 crt to 19 lcd so difference for me was big [1024x768 to 1440 x 900]
• somhow i find movies recorded via my dvcam looks sharper and better on Tv rather on this lcd, wonder why? maybe cause my dvcam dont record progressive.
• bad on / off switch [sometimes dont work had to push hard, though i rarely turn it off]
• Yes im happy with this lcd most times

[RFBurns]

• somhow i find movies recorded via my dvcam looks sharper and better on Tv rather on this lcd, wonder why? maybe cause my dvcam dont record progressive.

Welp....its an optical illusion really. The LCD monitor has so much resolution capability..it is literally displaying any and all noise, junk etc in the video signal. Its is like the early audio CD's and their messages on the back jacket cover..."because of the compact disc's high resolution, it can reveal distortions and limitations of the source tapes"

Your DV camera, or any camera for that matter, doesnt record lines. The video signal is recorded as is...there is no interlaceing taking place when the video is recorded. Interlacing only occurs on the screen, depending on how the monitor is built and setup to display video.

[soup]

I love reading your stuff RF, keep it coming.

[toomanycats]

The latest Sony WEGA TV's with all the bells and whistles look better than most LCD's at double the price. I agree with RFBurns, it is an optical illusion but I find that CRT's of high resolution just seem to look better. It just may be what I am used to but those Sony's do look great. I do prefer LCD's for doing CAD work though, the picture is just so sharp that is is easier on the eyes. I was glad to hear your (RFBurns) feedback on the "poor man's projectors". The one my friend made had an incredible picture especially considering the amount he spent on it. There is nothing so satisfying as making ones own toys. My rrecent speaker project has yielded me two 6.5' tapered quarter wave tubes that cost me about $200 u.s. too make but sound like gold to me.