So I walk into Best Buy on Boxing Week and find this $200 LCD TV with all the inputs I'd want and wonder if it would make for a good DIY starter.

Here's the Box:
Click to view attachment

Here's the inputs:
(left to right)
Composite Out, Stereo Out, DSUB In, Component In, Audio L+R In, Stereo In, SVideo In, Composite In, TV Tuner
Click to view attachment

So I strip it down, and what do I find??
Click to view attachment

Pretty short cable hey? hehehe

That's one tiny FFC:
Click to view attachment

All I needed to do was flip up the lever to disconnect:
Click to view attachment

Fully disassembled top view, I've got a fair distance to go on the FFC:
Click to view attachment

And isn't THIS interesting!! The back side of the LCD panel looks practically like a mirror!!

Click to view attachment

How does light ever get through THAT!?!

So I get my butt onto the digikey canada website and order:

2 x WM10241-ND (8" FFC cable)
2 x WM7716CT-ND (connectors to extend)

Today they came in (FFC is a bit out of focus on my macro shot):
Click to view attachment

And the connector:
Click to view attachment

I think I'll be stripping the Anti-Glare layer as well, look at how dull it looks:
Click to view attachment

My plan is to follow in tgreenwood's footsteps with this project idea.

So I found these bulbs and ordered some:
eBay Bulbs

Then I ordered some reflective mylar from http://www.canadianwholesalehydroponics.com/

There's quite a bit of work to do, but I'm confident it will be a success.

Yiltz,
Welcome to Lumenlab. It is a great DIY project and even better to be part off this group. Looks like you're off to a great start with your panel. It appears to be exact like the panel I'm using in my PJ and I'm very happy with it. You can check it out in my PLOG. A little piece of advice from my exoerience wiith that FFC cable...
Be Very Careful w/ the Connection to the Side Bar

Thats where I got in trouble but got myself out of it with a much more detailed solution. Let me know if you attempt the AG removal on the panel. I haven't gotten around to it on mine and would be interested to see how you approach and accomplish it.

Great start and once again good luck on your build. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to help

Buzz

You might want to leave the anti-glare on if you are going to be using fluorescent bulbs in a reflective box.

I tried my PSOne projector with a smaller lens (2 1/2 inch diameter) and the lighting in the projection was very uneven. It was darker in a "+" shape with the four corners brighter. You could definitely tell that there were four light bulbs in the box and what positions they were in. I fixed it by putting one of the light diffusion sheets from the original backlight assembly on the LCD (I'm glad I kept everything). It diffused the light beautifully, but it cut down on projector brightness by about 20% to my eyes. Possibly the anti-glare will do the same to make the lighting more even.

Another thing that I will definitely be doing on my 15 inch projector is aligning the bulbs parallel to the LCD and covering as much of the surface as possible to make the light even without having to use a diffuser. I hope it works. This is uncharted territory.

Good luck with yours. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Tgreenwood

Yeah Buzz, looks like our panels are exactly the same. I'm glad I ran across someone mentioning digikey, they had exactly what I needed

That's interesting tgreenwood, I've also kept everything, and there is a thin white diffusion sheet that was sitting on my backlight, I might need to use it. I'm thinking I'd want the difussion in back where the light is already difuse instead of at the front because I want all the light I can possibly get to the triplet (not difuse it with the antiglare).

One thing I was thinking of, the back side of my panel is so incredibly reflective, I might have the scenario where any off-angle light is reflected, and the rest passes through. In which case, this LCD would be the perfect candidate for the fluorescent light engine, since reflected light would bounce around the mylar and have more chances to make it through in a direct path. I wish I could test this theory.

Okay I decided to take some quick pics...

1: regular lighting - shows reflective quality
Click to view attachment

2: lighting off, camera at angle, LED shining straight into panel
Click to view attachment

3: lighting off, camera at angle, LED shining at an angle focusing toward camera
Click to view attachment

I don't think this is a very scientific test, however. I'm not sure what it proves (or disproves).

Yiltz

I figured that you were going to go with a straight shooter projector, that way the antiglare side would be facing the bulbs. So you are going with a folded design?

Tgreenwood