Archos AV500

twodollars · Post by **twodollars** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:13 pm

So I have a dead Archos AV500 and was thinking about using it's screen for a project. This is the first time I seriously considered getting into making portables, so bear with me.

I've read the topic titles "Screens you CAN and CANT use" and I see that most MP3 players are mentioned, and that you cant use them because they generally don't accept analog signals UNLESS there's an adapter. Now the AV500's main feature is being able to plug it into a TV and use the unit as a DVR, so as far as I understand, the AV500 is taking the analog TV signal and converting it for display on the LCD (unless it by chance does accept analog natively ) . Just from looking at the unit, I have a hunch that the analog signal from the TV is routed through the unit, then converted using a small board attached to the bottom of the screen (picture of screen here.

I just was hoping for some thoughts and input[/url]

hailrazer · Post by **hailrazer** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:23 pm

Does it work as a DVR from a regular composite input adapter or a USB plug?

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:04 pm

It's not done using that board, it's converted using the TI 5150AM1 on the main board. No idea how it is routed, though. My guess that after being digitized by the 5150AM1, it's routed to the DSP, which then displays the output to the screen. My guess is that a broken one would be fairly useless, without serious hacking.

I have a screen that uses a 5150AM1 (hence me knowing it's in the AV500) and one other chip that I think is microcontroller, and no other ICs, so if it is not BGA, it could be made to work if you pour over the datasheet for it and program a microcontroller to set it in the right mode.