737 Lower EICAS screen resolution issues !!!

[Nick1150]

Hi guys,

I have a 10,4 screen for the lower EICAS. The screen was purchased already striped from cockpitsonic with the cdu bay. My logic behind this was to avoid searching around for the best option about this screen, and trust the knowledge and experience of a manufacturer. It is a 12V monitor with a vga adaptor. It is positioned flipped and does the job for the lower EICAS display, BUT inly for that.

When I open Squawkbox or FSnavigator, I cannot see clearly words or numbers... everything seems blury !!!

I played around with resolutions and frequencies and when I switch to 800x600 the visual result is better but the screen cuts from top and bottom slices to achieve that resolution, thus giving me almost 40% reduce of its size. When I switch to the recomended 1024x768 resolution, I can take advantage of the total screen size, but always with blury results.

Here is a photo:

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Nick1150/My%20Cockpit/IMG_0536.jpg

Any advices ?

Thanks and happy new year to all,

Nick

[NeoMorph]

You need to find the native resolution of your monitor and hope the darn thing supports it. I made the mistake of buying a small 8" touchscreen monitor that had the native resolution that the driver refused to let me set. In the end it got stuffed into a cupboard and forgotten because of your problem... it's just too damned blurry because I cannot put it into its native resolution (ie it was 800x480 at native resolution and the closest I could get was 800x600 - the board refused to let me set it at 800x480).

[Nick1150]

Thanks for the reply,

I can feel your problem.

If only someone, could tell us which screen models are already used and do actually the job ?

Wish there is such a case

[NeoMorph]

The question you NEED to ask the supplier (which I wished I knew before I bought that monitor) is as follows...

1. What is the native resolution of the monitor?

2. Does the monitor support the display using the native resolution.

3. If it is a widescreen display, does it support a widescreen resolution? (You can figure this one out from answer 2 but it is important because if not then your images get distorted... like how Flight Simulator stretches out the gauges on a widescreen display because it was designed originally to run on a 4:3 monitor).

Yup... those three questions are ESSENTIAL to making sure you get a crisp image. Fail on just one of them and you can guarantee that your PC display is going to be blurred. I was really annoyed because the monitor I got had an AWESOME build quality, including a metal case and solid feeling adjustable stand... it's just the guts that are crap lol.

Oh well... you live and learn.

[Nick1150]

Hi John,

Just did what you said, and it worked !!!!! 

I unchecked the "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" box and after played around, I realized that 640x480 @ 52 Hz actually does the job.... ooo yes, I am a happy man right now 

Thanks again,

NeoMorph try to do the same, I am sure somewhere it will give you a better result 

Nick

[Nick1150]

Happy new year John,

Thanks for the help

[fdspcos]

If I may guys. One of the other really big issues to watch for with any monitor employed is "viewing angle".
Monitors usually have a design goal when produced, when we take a 10.4"or 12.1" LCD for the lower eicas we flip the unit sideways to fit. Problem is that we have taken the unit outside of some of the design targets. The typical monitor is designed for landscape, viewing is optimized for straight on, sides and from the top down to some extent. Few if any monitors are designed to be viewed from below. This is problematic when we flip an LCD, one side of the Flightdeck is staring at the "bad" viewing angle portion of the LCD.
Not too many ways to get around this really. Worth consideration when you are planning out lcds though.

P. Cos
Flightdeck Solutions

[fdspcos]

We are buying from a vendor of ours overseas. You really need to be being some volume for it to work. We don't see decent pricing until we re buying numbers.  We likely pay more for a 10.4 or 12.1" than you can get walking into your local store to buy a 23" these days!
PCos

[jackpilot]

Pete is absolutely right, Smaller than 15" are real expensive.
I found a nice 12" on EBay 1024X768 .Great if you use only one CDU
Check: http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=1088.msg8272#msg8272
Also:
http://store.earthlcd.com/LCD-Products
http://www.aeicomp.com/
http://www.apollodisplays.com/Products/TFTDisplays.html

[fdspcos]

Guys, Not to knock Earth LCD here but... Watch what you are buying when you are purchasing from Surplus Suppliers. Many times this is Surplus. We bought a batch of odd sized LCDs for Lower EICAS and they were manufactured in the late 90s. NOt kidding. Please be careful. Please don't be emailing and quoting meo nthis but make a point of asking. They likely won't know. As in anything in life.... caveat emptor.
PC

[Nick1150]

Hi there, really sorry for the offtopic post,

I received an e-mail yesterday from a fellow builder, asking information about my lower EICAS screen. I was busy at that time and I left it in my inbox for later, but somehow I lost it and I haven't seen the sender or the actual question.

If someone of you guys have sent me that e-mail, please send it again, or better a PM, so I can reply.

Thanks

Nick

[NeoMorph]

That viewing angle thing is something I never even thought of. Previously I was buying for a home automation system so it never came up.

Nick, I tried all sorts (including the timings thing) and it just wouldn't play ball. I've dug it out of my junk cupboard and will give it another go later on today and maybe, just maybe, I will luck out and get it to work.

[NeoMorph]

Well I dug out that old small monitor and hooked it up to my new rig... and the problem that affected my home automation (ie that it is widescreen but uses 1024x768 as the max resolution which of course is 4:3 ratio) is not such a problem with FSX as I can resize the images on the fly. Just had a great time flying a C172 and using the monitor as the GPS unit. A few mods with some switches and an encoder and I will be able to get it fully functional as a standalone GPS unit. Either that or I could use it as the FMS on the ATR.

OMG... so many TLA's... heh.