Interesting things to do with a spare lcd monitor

July 13, 2005 8:24 PM

I have a spare 15 inch LCD monitor, and I am looking for something interesting to do with it.

More specifically, looking for a way to incorporate it into my home theatre or into my family room. All ideas welcome!

posted by adamfunman to technology (7 answers total)

Digital Picture Frame
posted by michaelkuznet at 8:31 PM on July 13, 2005

... so you don't want to give it to me?

That's the best choice.

Another good option is to make it into a picture frame -- I can't find the link now, but I think it must've been here or at BoingBoing; you can put a nice wooden frame on it and rig it up to a computer to cycle through a folder of images. I will keep looking, but maybe someone else remembers?

On preview, yes, michaelkuznet remembers.
posted by librarina at 8:37 PM on July 13, 2005

If you're really careful, you can strip the backlight off of it, and place it over a projector (the oldschool kind - the one where your highschool teacher got their finger all dirty rubbing out what they've written in those really stinky pens on the rolls of clear plastic).

Practically - give it to librarina (or me - like, who has spare LCD moni's kicking around?). 15" is still pretty decent - I suspect that $$ isn't a problem - maybe grant it to a niece/nephew or something?

I've found that a 2nd monitor is invaluable when I'm trying to get stuff done wrt data analyses/writing/random stuff.

Dual monitors are teh roxxors.

As for picture frame - you're going to need something to drive it (ie., beam pictures to it = bulky, may as well buy an old laptop off of eBay).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 10:54 PM on July 13, 2005

picture frame... already mentioned
multimedia projector... already mentioned
(As you carefully remove the back and the backlight, you can also turn the backlight into a light table for tracing, copying, animation, etc)

You could attach it to a LAN-party box or other desktop machine that you want to make portable. (Ie, a desktop machine you can just grab and go)

Digital boardgame board
Similarly, Digital terrain for miniatures roleplaying/gaming
Nightvision system (attach a CCD camera with IR lamp)
Some of my friends are integrating LCDs into their cars, but youd need to hook up a computer and add a touchscreen overlay.
If you add a touchscreen overlay (they're fairly cheap), then you can make the Ultimate Mp3 Jukebox out of an old junker/freebie computer.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:52 PM on July 13, 2005

Here are some good instructions for turning it into an XGA projector.
posted by Otis at 5:08 AM on July 14, 2005

Build a lap-top MAME machine using a miniITX fanless mobo, a laptop HD and a USB game controller.
posted by plinth at 5:50 AM on July 14, 2005

Thanks everyone... my wife loves the mp3 jukebox idea..thats brilliant! I appreciate your help.
posted by adamfunman at 7:20 PM on July 14, 2005