Portable DVD screen = HACKED! But a few questions...

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:12 am

*Disclaimer* Technically, I'm planning a portable PS2, but I don't actually have the PS2 to use yet so I'm using a battery-operated SNES I'm planning for another project...

<a href="http://fluffy373.tripod.com/dvd/">Pictures and video available here</a>

I received a broken Mintek 7" portable dvd player from one of my customers

and promptly ripped it apart... Removed the fluorescent tube and inverter, and replaced it with LED's of course, and played some Mario

I found this thing pretty easy to work with (other than unglueing the screen... that was hellish). Standard composite input, volume control, speakers and built-in amp, headphone output, fairly compact circuit board, 9v dc input... one thing that was nice is that the input voltage for the inverter was 5v - perfect to run the led's from. I found that squaring the led's helped spread the light almost perfectly even. I just used one of the grinding discs on my dremel.

The questions I have are these:

Is there any way to tell which connections are RGB? There's a 20-pin cable running from the main board to the LCD control board (you can see it plug in to the smaller board on the left side) and I figure there's gotta be either RGB or luma/chroma on that. The dvd picture was pretty sharp on this thing... I also don't have access to any scopes or anything, so looking for certain signals is out. The only test equipment I have is a multitester...

Is there some way to adjust the picture on it, as far a brightness/contrast? Would a trimpot on the composite vid or rgb lines (if any) do it?

How do I test the amp draw on this? That's something I either never learned or have forgotten...

Thanks, and I'll continue to post my progress (when and if I make any...)

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:35 am

Fluffy wrote:Is there some way to adjust the picture on it, as far a brightness/contrast? Would a trimpot on the composite vid or rgb lines (if any) do it?

On the DVD player screen I have, there are pots on the board that adjust the video. Its kinda hard because the labels don't make sense.

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:16 am

Thanks for the suggestion, but under further investigation, the picture adjustments are made digitally, but the controls just aren't available under input mode. If I switch to dvd mode, I can control the picture, and the adjustments take effect in the input side.

That solves 1 question

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:35 am

The original adjustment controls aren't on the screen controller board for my screen, and the one they are on is big, so I discovered the pots on the screen board. I'd check for the pots, so that you can adjust for the input.

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:44 am

Well, if I just hook up a couple of the buttons and the dvd/input switch, then I can adjust brightness from that. There's a monitor button on the controls that brings up a menu when you try to run a dvd, and that lets you adjust brightness, color, and aspect ratio. I'll probably just try to incorporate that into the final product...

Failing that, it might be controllable from the remote, which I would just have to leave in the IR sensor.

*edit*

Another thought... The DVD part uses 9v in, and the PStwo uses 8.5v in. Anyone tried using 9v into the PStwo? It would probably work, considering there's usually a 10% tolerance in electronics...

Alternatively, I could always just use the 8.5v from the pstwo for it...

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:42 am

I'd try 8.5v in the screen first, since it is less likely the die from too little power. My screen said it took 9v, and it takes down to about 6.5v, 5v if I jump the 7805.

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:48 pm

........... and I accidentaly hooked my LED's to 9v instead of 5... burnt them all out...

Ah well, at least they're $2.50 a pair at work...

Sword_Gun · Post by **Sword_Gun** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:43 am

Sweet, I never though you could hack a DVD screen into working with a system. How did you do it anyway? Like step by step

(I have a few broken DVD players)

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:49 am

Sword_Gun wrote:Sweet, I never though you could hack a DVD screen into working with a system. How did you do it anyway? Like step by step
(I have a few broken DVD players)

I did a few weeks ago.

Its a 7 inch screen from a Durabrand Venturer PVS 1680 that I LED modded, it looks better in person. The screen board has composite in, so I hooked up a RCA jack and plug for power. I used 6 leds.

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:15 am

I've taken pics from along the way, mostly, so I was gonna do somewhat of a step-by-step thing for it. Not that hard really... all you gotta do is pull the screen, it's controller board, and the main board out, then hook them together again. The thing works fine without dvd drive attached, though some may be different...

As you all noticed, I've LED-modded mine, so it should use relatively little power. Looks pretty crisp so far, though I'd sure love to hook up RGB into it. Anyone still have any ideas on that? Also, how do I measure amp draw on this?
Thanks

*EDIT*

I'm also LED modding one of my Game Gear screens... two led's is roughly equal in brightness so far..... I'll post pics when I'm done!

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:29 am

Which LEDs did you use?

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:58 pm

chanticlair281 wrote:Which LEDs did you use?

I got them at work from my previous job at The Source by Circuit City. They're labeled as "Clear LED" and should go for about $3 a pair.

As for the screen, 4 led's are not enough. I'm thinking of going to 8 or so, but I may try putting a luxeon in there. Unfortunately, I destroyed the cathode bulb that was in there, so I can't put it back the way i got it...

http://fluffy373.tripod.com/dvd/

Check the new pics. I'm welcome to any ideas on improving the picture.

One thing I found about RGB video is by googling the LCD controller chip. It'll accept RGB in, but sadly I plan to use the Slim PSTwo (which has no rgb). The chip in my dvd screen does, however, accept component video. Unfortunately I can't really decipher how I'm supposed to hook it into this chip. If anyone can figure it out, here's the datasheet...

http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/pan ... 081BEB.pdf

Thanks all!

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:49 pm

i think there is a whole sticky on RGB on the PS2 you should check it out

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:11 am

Well, as far as I know, the slim PSTwo doesn't do RGB very easily but can do component video natively, so I figured I'd go with that. Still gotta figure out that Panasonic AN2546FH controller chip...

As far as RGB info for the PS2 goes, I found the most info on the GameSX Wiki here.

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:08 pm

Gotta love Value Village! Found a broken Venturer PVS1260 6.2" dvd player sitting on some random shelf on the opposite side from the electronics section. Came with a battery too! Can't beat $6.99! Only has a dead laser...

Funnily enough, even though it's a Venturer, I've had an easier time with this one, especially since the LCD board has RGB and sync labeled clearly on it... I've already traced them back to the correct pins on the ribbon cable, and all I have to figure out now is the voltage requirements!

Pictures here

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Portable DVD screen = HACKED! But a few questions...

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