rPi LCD screen integration

[mmatthieu]

Hi all !

just some pictures to show my last project with the PI : I integrated the PI inside a 20 inch LCD monitor.

1st step :
I located the different signals on the PI hdmi connector, on the monitor DVI connector, and on a spare HDMI cable. Then I soldered the wires of the hdmi cable on the screen DVI connector :



2nd step :
A basic reverse engineering of the screen motherboard helps me to find a +5V power supply :


3rd step :
I assembled the screen back and fasten the PI to the screen back cover :

An opening has been made on the back cover to have an access to the PI sdcard.

final assembly :
The only hints of the alteration are two small screws and the opening for the sdcard :


And of course, screen behaviour when powered up :

[Sheegoth]

Wow, that looks very cool; nice going!

Does the display act like a regular TV/HDMI-connected LCD? I've seen other people do things with LCDs, but require a framebuffer.

[ceteras]

The raspi detects a DVI monitor and switches the HDMI port signals to DVI protocol, that's how it works.
In this case you don't need to add no framebuffer, the TSUMU58PWHL from the monitors mainboard is a dedicated video processor that has its own framebuffer and all needed algorithms for a perfect image.
I'm quite impressed with the end result of this. I would have done a similar job, but I'm not happy with switching to DVI mode and losing the audio.
Also I was expecting that cutting the hdmi cable and soldering wires would create some image quality issues (because of the tight requirements for trace layout for HDMI/DVI).
Nice job and thanks for posting it!

[liz]

Very nicely done, mmatthieu - you made Lifehacker, too!

[pilothaz]

Lifehacker crashing your posted images? I'd like to see the setup and images but all broken links.

[happycheeze]

Thats pretty rad. Could this work with an old laptop LCD screen? Or am I forced to buy a converter?

[sixglazed]

This is awesome! How would you got about soldering the HDMI cable if your monitor only supports VGA?

[roland8]

Thats pretty rad. Could this work with an old laptop LCD screen? Or am I forced to buy a converter?

Most likely you'd need an LVD adapter to make it work with laptop LCD as most laptop do not have video inputs

[ceteras]

This is awesome! How would you got about soldering the HDMI cable if your monitor only supports VGA?

If the monitor only supports VGA, you can't solder any hdmi wires. You need an active converter.

[Flipbug]

Awesome job! I'm looking to do the same thing with an old 17" monitor (I am building a RetroPie gaming station).

With your setup, does the Pi receive power when you turn the monitor on? That would be perfect for my purposes.

My monitor has inbuilt speakers so I'm hoping to wire those up too (although they're pretty quiet).

I hope monitors are generic enough for me to follow your example, as I haven't fooled around with this type of thing before. I guess I'll know once I disassemble it ;D