LCD controller board info needed

If you're making a portable you probably need something to watch it on. (Unless you want to guess what's happening in the game, but I wouldn't advise that) Anyway, this forum is your "Hacking a pocket TV/screen" one-stop solution. Share your experiences and knowledge here.

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jmetal88
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LCD controller board info needed

Post by jmetal88 »

I recently pulled the working LCD out of a half-working APEX PD-500 DVD portable DVD player. The DVD player has composite input on the lower part of the body, but I am currently using that for something else.

The LCD uses a controller board based on the PVI-1004C chip, and it appears to have three inputs - a 12-pin labeled J301, a 5-pin labeled J304, and a 4-pin that is cevering up its own label (looks like J101 though).

The only think I can tell for sure by looking at the board is that the DVD player audio is connected on the last four pins of J301.

What I would like to know is, what's the best way to figure out if the controller board accepts composite or RGB analog input, and how to figure out which pins to input with if it does?

I understand if noone can help, as I can't find any info on the board or the chip (except on a Russian site that won't let me download 'till after I sign up, except I can't figure out how to sign up 'cause it's in Russian) through Google, so yeah. Just thought I'd ask anyway just in case.
vskid
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Post by vskid »

Follow the trace from the composite input and see where it goes. Thats how I found out the input for the dvd player screen I have (and it said "video" next to it :roll: ). Try that, and if you still can't figure it out, post a good picture of the board here.
Image
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

vskid wrote:Follow the trace from the composite input and see where it goes. Thats how I found out the input for the dvd player screen I have (and it said "video" next to it :roll: ). Try that, and if you still can't figure it out, post a good picture of the board here.
OK, well, there aren't any clear traces anywhere except for the audio.

I had an idea, though.
I'm going to take my multimeter and figure out which lead from the base unit's composite input comes out to which pin on the connector. If I find anything I'll post back here about it.
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

Got it!

If anyone needs it, composite input is pin 2 on J301 and composite ground is pin 3 on the same.

I'll test to see if input actually works later.

EDIT: No, it doesn't.

It looks like the DVD board is somehow splitting up the signals. Either that, or the controller board just needs the signal inputted three times, I'll have to do more testing.

Anyway, with the first plug connected, the picture is white. With the second plug, the picture is still white, but there are faint markings of an image. With the third connected, I get a full color usable image. Now I just need to figure out which pin is which.


EDIT 2:
Looks like J304 is used for power, as I am detecting nothing on it except for +5v on pin 3. There is also +5V on pin 1 of J101. I am not sure what this connector is used for as there is also a +3V on pin 3 of the same connector and I am not sure what that's being used for.

EDIT 3:
OK, there is also +5v on pin 5 of J301, as well as some other random voltages on other random pins.

I think what I'll do is try hooking up all of the +5v inputs and see if I can get composite input that way (as clearly pin 2 of J301 is recieving completely unmodified composite video).
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

OK, I took another look at the DVD player board, this time with the power off. It turns out that only two of the plugs look to actually provide +5v, the others are receiving it back to ground (in which case I have no idea what's up with my multimeter).

So, Pin 5 of J301 looks to be actually +5v, and pin 3 of J304 looks to be actually +5v.

However, upon further testing, pin 2 of J101 looks to be contected to ground alongside pin 1 and pin 4. Pin 3 also looks to be connected to ground, though it looks to be moving through a few components first as there is a very noticably larger amount of resistance on that pin.
vskid
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Post by vskid »

Could you post a picture of what you're talking about? I'm lost.
Image
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

OK, here's a pic (I've labeled the connectors):

Image

I arbitrarily labeled the pins starting pin 1 on the opposite end from the black wire on each connector.

Pin 2 on J301 feeds an uninterrupted composite video signal to the LCD controller board.

What I'm trying to figure out is basically how to connect up the board so that what I put through the composite lead shows up on screen without the controller board being hooked up to the DVD main board.

EDIT: Click on the picture to enlarge it.
vskid
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Post by vskid »

Ok, thanks for the picture, now I see what you mean.
If you want to hook it up without the bottum board, find out where everything goes, and cut the wire for it are solder the connectiong to that so that if you mess up you don't kill it. So is there a 7805 that makes the 5v, because you'll want to use one if you power supply is higher than 5v.
What is that skinny board next to the side of the screen?
Image
vb_master
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Post by vb_master »

vskid wrote:What is that skinny board next to the side of the screen?
Inverter for the backlight.
vskid
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Post by vskid »

vb_master wrote:
vskid wrote:What is that skinny board next to the side of the screen?
Inverter for the backlight.
Oh, I see now, I thought the inverter was a little display. :roll:
Image
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out J101.

When the DVD player is switched off, all pins are grounded. When it is powered on, pin 1 has +5v, and pin 3 has 3.5v.

Can anyone shed any light on the subject, how I should connect this one up or anything?
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

Well, it looks like I won't be able to use this controller. I hooked it up the way I thought it should be, and the only thing that actually worked was the backlight. :roll:

I still might be able to use the screen though. I found a PDF online for a different brand of crontroller for this specific LCD. If I can find an inexpensive source for that one, I don't really think I should have a problem. Finding an inexpensive source probably would end up being the problem, though.
vskid
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Post by vskid »

jmetal88 wrote:Well, it looks like I won't be able to use this controller. I hooked it up the way I thought it should be, and the only thing that actually worked was the backlight. :roll:

I still might be able to use the screen though. I found a PDF online for a different brand of crontroller for this specific LCD. If I can find an inexpensive source for that one, I don't really think I should have a problem. Finding an inexpensive source probably would end up being the problem, though.
Try again, it might work. Sometimes those freak things just happen.
Image
jmetal88
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Post by jmetal88 »

vskid wrote:
jmetal88 wrote:Well, it looks like I won't be able to use this controller. I hooked it up the way I thought it should be, and the only thing that actually worked was the backlight. :roll:

I still might be able to use the screen though. I found a PDF online for a different brand of crontroller for this specific LCD. If I can find an inexpensive source for that one, I don't really think I should have a problem. Finding an inexpensive source probably would end up being the problem, though.
Try again, it might work. Sometimes those freak things just happen.
I already tried it about three times, though I haven't got my portable guts yet. I'm just trying out the board to make sure I can use it before I try to put everrything together.

Also, I was just looking, and the other driver board has the inverter circuit built in. I'm not sure how that would work out for me, but it could be okay.

It's extremely well documented, though, so if I did find it, basically I'd just hook it up like the PDF shows, and it'd work perfectly.
jmetal88
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Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:27 pm

Post by jmetal88 »

I e-mailed the manufacturer and asked them to send me a sample. Hopefully their e-mail still works (their website doesn't).

Hey, it worked when I wanted a sample of some LED backlighting. A package containing the sample mysteriously showed up a few weeks later.
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