Comments on: Making a digital picture frame from a spare 7" LCD?

Question: Making a digital picture frame from a spare 7" LCD?

evanm — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:32:06 -0800

Any way to make use of a 7 inch LCD screen with an RCA input to make a cheap digital picture frame?

I've got a 7 inch LCD screen with an RCA input. I want to mount this on my wall to either playback photos or short videos (on loop). I was wondering if there's an easy and cheap way to make this possible without a dedicated computer outputting to this.

On one of my home PCs that is always on, I have a video card with an RCA video out. Maybe this could be used if it's possible to output content separate from what's being displayed on my PC monitor. Or is there any kind of cheap video playback unit I could purchase that would be dedicated? Is there possibly a way to read content from an SD or CF card and output to the screen? I'm really open to any suggestions... Clearly I have little experience in creating custom electronics.

Thanks.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:43:24 -0800

Lots of MP3-type 'video' players have RCA out, either built in or from an adapter of some kind. If you had one of those that used CF or SD cards for storage, I think you'd have it made. Lots of old ones are under $100 now, and some of the cheap Chinese type are under $100 new.

By: null terminated

null terminated — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:31:29 -0800

Interesting question. I'd look for an old, possibly broken, digital camera that has video-out. Here's an example of a camera with a broken lens going for $10 that can probably still connect to a TV. You could strap this on to the back of the frame, plug in the camera (or use batteries) and insert a memory card containing the pictures you want displayed. (The camera linked also plays back video, but I'm not sure which formats are supported).

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:44:25 -0800

Lots of MP3-type 'video' players have RCA out

Or an old (cheap) digital camera.

By: specialfriend

specialfriend — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:07:34 -0800

This DVD player is under $30 and plays JPEG image CDs.

By: O9scar

O9scar — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:22:12 -0800

Easy. Just get a memory card reader that hooks up to a TV, like this one.

By: sycophant

sycophant — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:06:16 -0800

I second the DVD player idea.

I also have modchiped Xbox that does nice slideshows, although that might be a bit pricey.

By: datacenter refugee

datacenter refugee — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:14:26 -0800

O9scar for the win. There's even an instructable on how to do this with the exact item he referenced. They're still somewhat available on ebay.