Building/obtaining LCD controller

Apoch

New member
I've acquired an old and apparently fairly obscure LCD unit from a second-hand parts sale. The model number is Sharp 4L-U4EB. I've spent a few weeks idly scanning the web for any mention of the display, but the only thing of interest I've found is a very poorly scanned product spec sheet.

Anyone have any good pointers for acquiring a controller for this LCD, or (worst case) trying to put one together myself? How feasible would it be to rig up a simple microcontroller to try and emulate the correct signal formats?
Looking for additional LCD resources? Check out our LCD blog for the latest developments in LCD technology.
 
This is a video LCD panel, so I'd assume it has a built-in controller, especially since the poorly scanned data sheet shows video input pins. You would not be able to adapt this display to digital inputs.

Unless you have a red hot idea on what to use this display for, IMHO, I wonder whether its worth going to very much trouble to use it. The spex are not real good, and its a power gobbler.
 

Apoch

New member
Practical applications don't concern me. Having one running is good enough ;)

Realistically speaking, given the fact that it supports composite NTSC input, what would I be able to display on the thing? Surely if I'm crazy (and patient) enough I could hack up something to get me a composite video signal from an arbitrary input... heck, one of my PCs has a TV-out port that does NTSC composite. Being a bit of a neophyte in the realm of video signals, I'd assume that composite video is composite video and I could at least downsample a TV/video card output into the range that the LCD's controller expects...

I'm more interested in doing something with this LCD than how easy/cheap/useful it is. As far as I'm concerned, wacky adventures and hijinks with a homebrew interface to the unit is a bonus, not a deterrent ;)
 
Top