DIY Flatscreen Monitor/TV

[squeegy200]

I've always liked the DIY approach to HiFi and I recently got the opportunity to dabble in Home Theater. My brother is an engineer for a firm that manufactures the glass for many of the LCD Screens used in TV and Computer applications.

So after a brief instructional, he gave me a barebones 32" LCD screen with the backlit Flourescent light and transistor array. Then he provided me with the two necessary power supplies(24V & 5V). Finally he built an interface, changed some DIP configurations, and burned an EPROM for the most basic connectivity. It is the interface on most TVs that is proprietary and each manufacturer makes them differently. Most monitors accept VGA or DVI and TVs would have Composite or HDMI interfaces. Since my brother's company only makes the glass, he created a very simple DVI interface for me.

I then constructed a frame for my bare glass monitor, assembled the components, and powered it up. It is crude but it does work. I now need to conceal the power supplies and safeguard the expose wiring. But it does work well. Apparently this can be done with any size screen.

I now have a 16:9 widescreen Television to replace my old fashioned CRT TV.

Total cost ~$50