I'm new to DIY projector building, but after many hours, and one (soon to be two) very long nights over the past 2 days, I am determined to give it a go myself. I know 15.4" WUXGA's have been successfully used before, but I'm having trouble finding all the answers to my questions by searching the forums. Perhaps I'm jumping in the deep end too early with my first build, but that's just how I am: if I'm gonna do it, I want to do it right (HD right!)!

After searching and researching for many hours on 15" and 17" lcd's, trying to find a combination of contrast, response, resolution, and PRICE that I could live with, I eventually found a grade B 15.4" Samsung LTN154U1-L01 stripped from a Dell laptop (don't remember the details) on Ebay for just under $100, just over including shipping. The possibility of projecting in true HD, and the knowledge of going prices for most of these screens led me to buy the screen. It may be slightly damaged (dim screen), but if the pics were true, I didn't see any indication of dead pixels. My brief research led me to believe that there's a good chance that either backlighting (not an issue for my use) or the inverter may be the source of the problem. Even if the lcd itself is damaged, I'll probably destroy during my "maiden voyage" of preparation for projector prepping anyways, and it seems to be a relatively cheap WUXGA panel for practice. To my questions:

1. LCD: is anyone familiar with this Samsung LTN154U1-L01? It's listed as 1920 x 1200 WUXGA, and I believe 500:1 contrast (lower than I had hoped, but i'll try it for the HD possibilities) and 25ms response (again, not what I was originally looking for, but I'll try it for the HD possibilities). If anyone has experience with this screen, is there anything I should know about it?

2. Inverter: as I mentioned before, the inverter may be bad. I don't fully understand the inverters function in normal laptop screen operation versus LLP operation. Is a proper inverter needed? I would think so, and am considering purchasing one: as a replacement if needed, or as a spare if not.

3. Controller: I've seen many listings, forums, etc. on the 'net about controllers for these screens. All seem to be ruled by confusion. Where might I find a controller that would explicitly support this screen? Also, I've heard that the controllers don't necessarily have to be used with HTPCs. My current comp is anything but HT: How do these controllers work "solo?" I would love to have a setup that I can use with my (temporarily ) outdated PC out of the loop.

4. Lenses: ah, the lenses. probably my biggest question because I admittedly haven't researched them as much as the other components. My understanding is that the fresnel lenses should be as large or larger than the LCD. Can I effectively use the standard lenses offered here at LL, or should I go for the pro lenses? I'm obviously here in the first place because I don't want to (read: can't) pay the top-dollar money for a commercial projector, but at the same time I don't want to half-@$$ it. So I've had my eye on the Pro Lens set from the get-go. At this time the LL pro triplet lens is in stock, but neither of the matching fresnel lenses is. I don't know what the protocol here is, so I won't list the site, but I've found a 550mm (versus LLs 650 pro fresnel field lens) and a 220 fr lens. There is also a slight difference in thickness: 2mm LL vs 1.8 other/ and groove pitch: .5mm LL vs .2mm other.

I love LL's site, and want to and will support them, but if their pro fresnel lenses are out of stock can I adapt these other lenses for use with LL's 500mm Pro Triplet lens? (I want to get this ball rolling as soon as possible!) Most lenses I've seen have only positive FLs. Can they simply be turned-around for use in the LL-type DIY projectors, or do I need to search for fresnel lenses with FLs specific to the general LL designs?

5. Am I wasting people's time: If there is a forum, or concise thread already dealing with the issues I've brought up then I would love to know about it. I've attempted varied searches on this forum and google, but they have been anything but authoritative. Perhaps this should have been point 1, but I didn't think to ask until now.

Thanks for any feedback.

P.S. Brainchild, if you happen to see this post, how is that wonderful Blue Ridge Mtn air? I grew up in Brevard, live in Raleigh area now. Hope to be back in those beautiful mtns soon though. You probably don't even know how good you have it there. Thanks for your input on the threads I've already read, and the many more that I soon will.

I apologize for the length of the first post, probably should've been split, and I've already found more information on these screens in the few minutes after this thread was created than I found in the hours prior. D@*& forum searches are useless !

However, I will greatly appreciate any responses to this thread, whether it be a quick two-word "give up" to a few sentences pointing in the right direction. Also, does anyone else think there should be a dedicated forum for these screens in the Advanced Projector Builder or even Projector Builder forums here? I spent so much time useing the search function here and on the web that I didn't smell what was under my nose (in the beginner forums) here. I haven't built one yet, but they seem to be unique in some aspects from the more common 15" and 17" desktop monitor builds.

Thanks again for any feedback to this PNOOBIE.

Wanna see a long post?!

Sounds like you are in the same boat that I was... months ago...! A couple days of reading is probably just going to be the tip of the iceburg!

1. I don't really know the model numbers, but I'm 90% sure that monitor falls under the "Dell WUXGA non-Sharp" category. It's contrast ratio is probably 350:1 (a little low, sure). The only 15.4" (that I know of) WUXGA that is higher than 350:1 is the Sharp branded LCDs. They're 400:1. All these monitors have a 25ms response time. I can't imagine you'll have a real problem with it. Just put the number in the back of your head and move on!

2. Do NOT buy one! You will not even hook it up in a LL projector. The inverter runs the backlight (think of it as a backlight ballast). In our projectors we completely remove the backlight from the LCD before putting it into the PJ. Unless you plan to make a cool lighted logo or something, don't worry about the inverter, much less the backlight. (Also, if you end up with a G2A controller; it comes with an inverter.

3. The controller is just the electronics of an LCD monitor. If you were to take a monitor apart you'd have 4 or 5 main parts. The main thing is of course the LCD assembly (including the backlight). After that is the controller, it'll be the large PCBs with capasitors and chips all over it. There will also usually be some kind of power input PCB thing too. Then you have the case, it's just plastic, no biggy. Then there are the controls, usually just a string of buttons with a wire coming out of it.
The screen you have + a compatible controller will pretty much give you an LCD monitor. Just like any other LCD monitor you can plug it into any computer. HTPC is just a nickname for a computer that is hooked up to a stereo system. If you take a mini jack to RCA cable and hook your computer's headphone output to your boombox's input you've just turned your computer into an HTPC...
About which controler to get: As far as I know the people on this forum have been able to buy a WUXGA controller from a grand total of 2 sources:
--1. Minoten, he had organized a couple group buys in the past, but is not longer doing them.
--2. Dobie Haung (or maybe it's Huang, I can never remember), he works for a company that sells them, but personally sells them to individuals.
They both sell/sold the Winmate G2A. IFAIK it's the only controller that has been used with a LL WUXGA projector.
Here's the kicker. The controller has to be compatible with the LCD. Minoten's G2A's have been shown to be compatible with a couple brands other than Sharp, but people willing to shell out the ~$350 just to see if the controller will work are few and far between. As far as I know Dobie's G2As have only been tried with Sharp brand WUXGAs. It's not all bad news though: I don't think there's been any confirmed cases where a monitor would NOT work with any G2A. Most people speculate that since the various brands of WUXGAs are all compatible with eachother when connected to Dell laptops then they'll all be compatible with the G2A... (but the $350 just to find out is too much for most people.

4. This is something I don't know much about either, but here's what I do know...
The other fresnels probably would work, but probably not as good... As far as I've heard the 550mm may be a better choice in some situations, but I couldn't tell you what situations those are... As for the 220, it's pretty much going to be the same, except the smaller groove pitch is actually worse for our application. Aparrently the smaller grooves make the magnified image more clear, but at the expense of collecting (or refracting) less light. In our application the 220mm fresnel only serves as a light collector (image quality has no bearing) - thus the LL fresnel is better.
The standard triplet lens will work, but since the 15.4 inchers are just as wide as a 17 inch LCD you'll have the same focusing issues as you would with a 17" LCD. On the other hand, the standard fresnels will not work, for the same reason, they're not big enough for 17" LCDs therefor they're not big enough for the 15.4" LCDs.
If you're thinking of buying a "pro lens kit" you may consider buying the one for sale here. It doesn't sound like the lenses are in the best condition ever, but it is also cheaper... check it out!

5. The best place for most/all of this info is probably the pinned "WUXGA" thread in the beginners' forum. Yes it's long. It might be worth while to just read the last 5 pages or so...

I don't know if my plog has any useful information for anyone, but you may check it out (linked in my signature).

Welcome to MY boat! I just got my hands on the LTN154U1-L01 (Event though I wanted the sharp panel) but anyway, I ordered the G2A controller from Dobie and should be receiving it in the next few days. I will hook it up ASAP and let you know if they are compatible.

Awesome!
I'm sure this info will help a lot of people.

Good to hear Lohkay. I emailed Dobie a little while back and hope to hear from him soon. If you happen to know when you controller is expected to arrive and when you might get a chance to test it out, I'd love to know. From everything I've read online, it SHOULD be compatible, but as impatient as I am I could wait a few days if it meant I could be sure that I wasn't throwing my money down the drain .

Well good news, it just came in today! I'll run home after work and test it out... crossing my fingers here... Worst case, I can return the LCD saying it wasn't the one I ordered.

I hope it works! Good luck!


About returning the LCD:
But wont they check the order and the screen and see that they match?
Oh that's right, that stupid company DID send you the wrong one... What company was it again? Screentech or something like that?
Yeah, you should make them send you a Sharp panel anyway! Incording to the specs they're better.

Right, thats exactly what I thought at first.... but then they would argue that they are compatible so a middle agreement would be that I pay shipping and they send me the right one. Not saying they would say that but I thought I would wait until I received the controller to test it out. If it works, I'll still try to make them send me the sharp with them paying shipping, if they don't accept I'll just keep the samsung. If it doesn't work though, I have no choice and will argue with them at its not compatible.

Anyway, going home now, will post back soon with the result.

Good point! If it truely isn't compatible then they'd better give you a new one!

On the other hand... Businesses cannot sell you one product then deliver another. Compatibility does not mean "same." I'd say force them to pay the shipping, they cannot just send you whatever they want when you order a specific product!

If I order a pizza with mushrooms, I'd better not get pizza with anchovies!

Alright, I just tried it and it works.... BUT... I can only go as high as 1680x1050. 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 don't work (even though they appear as options). Both resolutions will give me garbage on the screen.

I think the problem is the LCD as the resolutions wouldn't show up in windows if the controller wouldn't support them. I know for a fact that this kind of garbage happens when you go over what the screen is capable of doing and my theory is that the controller doesn't send the data exactly like the samsung can handle it but the sharp could.... maybe I'm wrong.

What video card do you have?

Hirudin u had this problem too right?...............

I have a Nvidia GeForce 6800 256Mb. I wouldn't see why it wouldn't support that res.

I just called screentek and they were very friendly and said they'd ship out a new LCD on monday with their account information for me to send this one back.

Kind of... I did not have the 1920x1200 option available to me. I also didn't have 1920x1080 until I manually added it.

I think I did actually get a fuzzy/garbled picture a couple times, I can't remember exactly why though. I think I was trying to "wing" the custom settings for 1920x1200, which of course didn't work.



On a side note, here's the settings I had to enter so my nVidia video card would give me 1920x1080 as an option.

Its giving me the options (1920x1080 and 1920x1200) but anytime I try them, it fails with garbage. Let me try the custom resolution just to see if it acts differently.

EDIT: Alright, I just tried a bunch of stuff from the nvidia control panel and I was able to make the 1920x1080 resolution work but barely and after a few secs I was hearing a hissing coming from the LCD which I wasn't hearing in other resolutions... so I guess thats bad. Oh and the 1920x1200 res didn't work at all... whatever I tried.

Did you get 1080p to work by trying the custom timings I posted above? If not you might want to try those as well...

Well my control panel interface ain't the same... I'm running forceware 84.25. Anyhow, I did go to the custom resolution panel and entered new custom resolutions... I first tried 8bit to make sure, that worked and I went up to 32-bit but thats where the hissing started. Anything I tried for 1920x1200 failed. :/

Oh, yeah, it seems nVidia changes their custom timings dialog in every release. I'm pretty sure the pic I posted is from the newest drivers.

Note also that you'll have to change the "Timing standard" drop box to "Custom" (or something like that) so that you can change the rest of the values...