I have been looking at the Sharp 15" LCD and it is great in all levels of
light.

While look considering it for the boat, I get to thinking about the
feasability of using it as a monitor for the LapTop.. Anyone have an idea of
this and the hardware involved to do this through the A/V ??

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

I still haven't done it but I am still considering building a 12V Mini-itx
computer, and use a 15'" or a 17" LCD tv as monitor.

The computer can be build for less than 1000$, including a notebook
combodrew and a notebook harddisk. Notebook dvd-writers will soon be
available and might be interesting, but I'm not sure whether you will need a
PCI compression-card to be able to use it as a TV-recorder.

see http://mini-itx.com/

The problems I se is: Is your current supplie stabile enough? If not you
might need a 11-17V to 12V converter which might set you back another
50-150$.

Peter S/Y Anicula

"Steve" skrev i en meddelelse
...
I have been looking at the Sharp 15" LCD and it is great in all levels of
light.

While look considering it for the boat, I get to thinking about the
feasability of using it as a monitor for the LapTop.. Anyone have an idea
of
this and the hardware involved to do this through the A/V ??

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

"Peter S/Y Anicula" wrote in message
k...
The problems I se is: Is your current supplie stabile enough? If not you
might need a 11-17V to 12V converter which might set you back another
50-150$.

Peter S/Y Anicula


I'm not sure if your questioning the stability of the 12v for the LCD tv or
for the laptop.??

I have solved the problem of a stable 12v for my Laptop with a 'brick' that
was made for the Toshiba (discussed in another thread).
The Sharp 15" LCD comes as a 12-13 vdc unit with a wall wart for domestic
use..

I am currently using a duel power, 12vdc/110vac, cathode type tv now but it
is only 10" and draws more current than the LCD..

I'm just waiting for the cost of the LCD TVs to come down in price.. The
Sharp 15 LCD is now available online for $490~ and that is $100 cheaper than
in the discount stores.

BTW. My son is in the industry and told me that several new LCD screen
production plants have been open recently and that production of LCD screens
is now cheaper and easier than cathode color picture tubes (production
equipment less involved). He expects the price of all color LCDs to drop
dramaticly in the next 2 years.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

"Steve" wrote:
I'm not sure if your questioning the stability of the 12v for the LCD tv
or
for the laptop.??

Actually both. Most computer devices and I think at least some of the LCDs
can work on 11-13V, but I am afraid that my supply won't be that stable.
I think that the voltage in my system might vary at least from 15V to 11V or
probably from 11V to 17V.
The lower limit is probably not critical (though someone selling the stuff
told me that low voltage might some how shorten the lifelength of the LCD,
because it might get turned on an off to much). That is how ever I risk I
would take. What worries me more is the high voltage levels. I believe there
is a reason that they sell "vehicle converters" for use in cars, campers and
the likes that converts 11-17V to a stable 12V.
I would not like my gear to melt down if I forget to disconnect the computer
while I start the engine or connect the AC connection.

This was discussed in an earlier thread, but I never reached a conclusion,
and would still not dare to run a system without a "vehicle converter" that
accepts 11V-17V.

I would like to be proven wrong, so I could save the money, but I am not
convinced yet.

Peter S/Y Anicula

skrev i en meddelelse
...

"Peter S/Y Anicula" wrote in message
k...
The problems I se is: Is your current supplie stabile enough? If not you
might need a 11-17V to 12V converter which might set you back another
50-150$.

Peter S/Y Anicula


I'm not sure if your questioning the stability of the 12v for the LCD tv
or
for the laptop.??

I have solved the problem of a stable 12v for my Laptop with a 'brick'
that
was made for the Toshiba (discussed in another thread).
The Sharp 15" LCD comes as a 12-13 vdc unit with a wall wart for domestic
use..

I am currently using a duel power, 12vdc/110vac, cathode type tv now but
it
is only 10" and draws more current than the LCD..

I'm just waiting for the cost of the LCD TVs to come down in price.. The
Sharp 15 LCD is now available online for $490~ and that is $100 cheaper
than
in the discount stores.

BTW. My son is in the industry and told me that several new LCD screen
production plants have been open recently and that production of LCD
screens
is now cheaper and easier than cathode color picture tubes (production
equipment less involved). He expects the price of all color LCDs to drop
dramaticly in the next 2 years.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

For an experiment I attached a 15" Hitachi TFT LCD to my HP notebook WinXP
PC. The notebook has an output jack for an aux monitor, and you can select
to view either or both. If there are aux speakers, there's a jack for these
too. The idea was to use it for realtime nav work w/ Capn. It was bright
enough and had good contrast, but would not be exposed to weather. It will
work just fine me and eliminates clutter, esp using a finger mouse. I'm
waiting for price to come down, before I commit.
--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have been looking at the Sharp 15" LCD and it is great in all levels of
light.

While look considering it for the boat, I get to thinking about the
feasability of using it as a monitor for the LapTop.. Anyone have an idea
of
this and the hardware involved to do this through the A/V ??

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

"Len Krauss" wrote in message
...
too. The idea was to use it for realtime nav work w/ Capn. It was bright
enough and had good contrast, but would not be exposed to weather. It will


That is just what I wanted to do.. However the laptop will remain on the
chart table.. The charts are not bright enough for me to see details from 8
ft away, in the companionway.. I thought maybe the larger and brighter LCT
tv screen might be a solution for a remote monitor..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Please excuse the oversight, but I left out a potentially important detail
for using that Hitachi 15" aux TFT LCD. It needs 120vac. I supplied that
with a small 400w inverter, the same one I use with the notebook's brick.
Maybe everyone already knew that, but just in case. . .

As a matter that will be of interest to some, that particular Hitachi had
fairly low power requirements as those screens go. Net, net if I used it
instead of notebook's screen the additional draw was about 1amp. To make
this test, I removed the notebook's battery.

--
Eliminate "ns" for email address.
"Steve" wrote in message
news

"Len Krauss" wrote in message
...
too. The idea was to use it for realtime nav work w/ Capn. It was bright
enough and had good contrast, but would not be exposed to weather. It
will


That is just what I wanted to do.. However the laptop will remain on the
chart table.. The charts are not bright enough for me to see details from
8
ft away, in the companionway.. I thought maybe the larger and brighter
LCT
tv screen might be a solution for a remote monitor..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

A movie-nut friend tried one and a 17" flat panel on his computer for
DVD viewing on his boat - he returned both as the blacks weren't black
enuf and one or the other had white light creeping ariound the edges
of the screen. We always "view-test" screens with images that have
lots of color and bright images but interestingly, black is hardest to
reproduce and most less expensive flat panel screens have lower
contrast numbers - 300 to 1, not 500 or 600 to 1 that it takes for a
good movie image. Another problem is slow response and the ghosting
that cheaper screens are prone to.



On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 08:26:15 -0800, "Steve" wrote:

I have been looking at the Sharp 15" LCD and it is great in all levels of
light.

While look considering it for the boat, I get to thinking about the
feasability of using it as a monitor for the LapTop.. Anyone have an idea of
this and the hardware involved to do this through the A/V ??

Steve
s/v Good Intentions