Possible cheap lvds controller supplier

[Claymonkey]

I've exchanged a few emails with the site owner. Instead of the normal $200-300 for a LVDS controller from an online store of those hard to find but not often great ebay LVDS controllers this vendor has a line in the $60-100 range that seems to be very reasonable. You email him with your lcd panel part number and he tell you if it would work with the controller you want. The kits include the external power supply, an inverter and the cables. He also programs it for your before shipment.

I haven't ordered from him yet but plan on giving it a try.

http://www.agilentpixel.com/category.php?id_category=7&orderby=price&orderway=asc

[Drewid]

Cool.  Keep us posted as to success. 

[bernard]

I also exchanged mails with the owner (Chen Ling - same guy as DIYProjectors btw).  His new site (AgilentPixel.com) is not limited to projectors projects. his mail: cityhunterbjathotmaildotcom

The lcd monitor kit board for my 1400x1050 14.1 inch samsung is 75$ + EMS shipping (24$ for Canada).-- still not sure about custom brokerage fees -- I have to check on that.
The board has both DVI (according to picture it looks like a DVI-I)  and RGB inputs which is nice. No RGB/DVI cables included. 

EDIT: Chen mentions RGB cables are sometimes included with their kits, so don't take my word for it

Parallel to that, I exchanged a few emails with Luly on ebay (http://stores.ebay.ca/professionalinverter) which still adapt & sell a cheaper monitor kit for 60$ + 18$ standard post shipping to canada (no brokerage fees in Canada in that case). The RGB cable is included (attached directly to the board). her mail: lu_xiaohaiatmsndotcom

Both are friendly and responsive (within china timezone of course). I actually told both about each other product and let them comment on each other to help me "choose".

I am not decided yet on which way I might go.  I am tempted on the DVI-based board which feels like it is of better quality and might give me more signaling option to fight potential jitter. Althought I have to double-check potential hidden brokerage fees -- which sometimes can be surprisingly high. 

I'll post my results.

[Claymonkey]

If you have a choice between no DVI and having DVI I recommend DVI every time. I know plenty of people that can't tell the difference. But these are the same people that couldn't tell when a CRT monitor was set to a refresh rate of 60hrz instead of 85hrz. Personally I can tell the difference between 85hrz and 100hrz.

Anyway, if you care about the clarity of your screen image it's generally a good bet that the straight digital signal will be of better quality. I'd even risk saying that the normal VGA connection on a dual output LVDS is likely to be a cleaner signal than if a board only has the one. The chips and parts tend to be a little more upscale. However, I haven't used either of these boards so it's really hard to say. 

[bernard]

Another thing (but that is completely theoric as I am judging from pictures)  about the inverter board:

Just by the repetitive chips and symmetrical arrangement, the one from luly seems to support more than one CCFL lamp (I just need one). The one from Chen seems to be for a single CCFL lamp (again this is 100% speculation, I have no real proof - the images might not even match the boards I will receive). 

So I would assume that "more driver circuitry = more EMF = more potential jitter". So that's another reason to pick the one from Chen.

 

[bernard]

Additional note: Googling a little made me believe that the "EMS" shipping option (from China) is a good shipping method to Canada. No weird UPS-style brokerage fees.  So I will go with the DVI-based board.

[bernard]

Well, Chen is full of surprises, it actually has a DVI/RGB board that would work for my board for 60$ with an RGB cable.  Now I have to select which one to pick again *sigh*.  My bigger concern is the frequencies/EMF that could lead to jitter.  http://www.agilentpixel.com/product.php?id_product=26

[bernard]

Got the LVDS controller and tried it -- see the post in the build log: http://forum.bongofish.co.uk/index.php?topic=1509.msg9818#msg9818

[hankjmatt]

Great and inspirational stuff!
Thanks for sharing.

[DonShole]

Got monitor and controller kit from agilentpixel a couple of months back.  On the whole quite happy with it.  The panel works well but was used - although it was described as new.  It's a good source for controller kits, but panels are probably best bought elsewhere.
The panel: http://www.agilentpixel.com/product.php?id_product=88
The controller kit : http://www.agilentpixel.com/product.php?id_product=51

[bernard]

How do you know it was used?

[DonShole]

It had unsighly stains and also appeared to have been takken apart at some point - one of the adhesive seals was broken.  Basically at first I thought it had been damaged in transit, but a closer look revealed the above.  It works perfectly though - no dead pixels.

[bernard]

For **230 US$**  you expect quality parts! But I am surprised of Chen. I only heard of good things from him so far. Well, at least it works as expected I assume.

Note: The 76 US$ controller is the same one I got myself for my laptop 1400x1050 LCD panel. I find this to be a good deal. Like I mentioned elsewhere, I had a minor programming quirk and Chen offered paying for the shipping of my panel + the controller board to fix it.

[bernard]

Just want to add that (if you ask) Luly can sell the "programmer" for an extra 30$ so you could reconfigure the board that she sells (60$) to another LCD Panel (if the board supports it). Her kit supports a wide variety of resolutions. Do not make a judgment just be reading her ads. Make sure you send your LCD panel model number.

[bernard]

I've put up a wiki page on this topic.

http://wiki.bongofish.co.uk/doku.php?id=bongofish:lvdsvendors