LCD display network

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Thread Starter

Abdul Mikati

One server located in a central location has to control the 43 LCD monitors. It is easy to have LAN and a PC with each of the LCD and have the server control the PC of each of the LCD. However, the location does not permit us to have a PC with each of the LCD monitors. The displayed information is text only and maybe some graphics, video will be a plus. Is there any device or software that could do the above without using a PC with each of the monitors
 
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Timothy Hines

I am a Project Engineer for a company that has developed a 4 line LCD text display for large vehicles that can be networked using CAN technology. It might be possible to utilize these in your application. Email me if you are interested.
 
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>One server located in a central location has to control the 43 LCD >monitors.... Is there any device or software that could do the above >without using a PC with each of the monitors? The problem here is that each monitor requires a video driver to work. I haven't heard of any software out there that allows the sharing of one video driver among several monitors. Have you considered using a flat screen monitor integrated with a PC? There are several models available, and they aren't much larger than an ordinary LCD monitor. Allen-Bradley's RAC6181 is one example. Dean Reimer Westroc Inc.
 
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darcy oldfield

Depending on what you are doing you could use LED signs like the ones you see at at the movie ticket booth. This would allow you to control the signs from one location over ethernet. The sad thing is the communication is only one way and no video. If you need information to come back from the signs then I would suggest also using some of the ethernet I/O devices with a small pushbutton box. There are also video cameras which will communicate over the ethernet also.
 
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D. C. Pittendrigh

I have a supplier who sells a PCI VGA interface module with 4 monitor ports on Firewire and claims you can use as many of these cards in your machine as you have PCI slots, now I don't know if you have a motherboard with 11 PCI slots in it, and I don't know if you need to control each monitor independantly, but if you are interested, contact me off the bulletin board at the following address sendmailto:[email protected] and I can send you the specs. There are other solutions such as terminal server where very small machines with very favourable price tags are used, the MS licensing is a _itch but there has to be a price to pay. I have once again a supplier who sells a machine with a bracket which can be used to fit the thin client device onto the back of the monitor. No fans or hard drives or CDroms required, machine boots of the network. Last but not least there is an interface available from Hirschmann for remote interfacing to a VDU, I don't know if it has the possibility to "multi-drop" a multitude of monitors but I am going to guess it's worth checking out. All of the above options will theoretically offer you video and graphics to your hearts desire on each monitor, I will only vouch for the thin client option, it will work, the other 2 entail a risk factor. Regards Donald Pittendrigh
 
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You could do something with Z-World modules. They have small LCD units with RS485 and you can get software libraries for networking. Don't think they do anything with a 15" LCD on it though. It's worth remembering that a "PC" doesn't have to mean a big box and a big monitor with a keyboard and a mouse. You could use flat panel PCs mounted on the wall, there are lots of manufacturers of this kind of thing you could find with a search on the net. Anything with a 15" LCD on it is going to be pricey. At least if you use a PC you can do what you want with pretty much off the shelf software components and you're not going to have to learn anything new to develop your application (or if it's something you're not familiar with then you'll be able to find someone who can do it for you without charging an arm and a leg). I would have thought that the attraction of a short development cycle, off the shelf spares, off the shelf software components and well understood technology would have made the "no PCs" argument a little weak. What kind of environment could it be that would allow you to put an LCD but wouldn't allow you to put a rugged flat panel PC?? That's my opinion anyway! Geoff Moore ==================================== Straight Forward Solutions Ltd Maynooth Road, Prosperous, Naas, Co.Kildare, Ireland Phone : +353 (0)45 892739 Fax : +353 (0)45 893880 Mobile : +353 (0)86 8179683 email : [email protected] ====================================
 
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For a start, here are some ideas. Raritan www.raritan.com 800-724-8090 x59 VideoShare "Split and drive 2 to 16 monitors from one PC. Place monitors up to 300 feet away." Similar items from: Rose Electronics www.rosel.com 800-333-9343 Black Box www.blackbox.com 877-877-2269 Have you considered using a VGA to video converter? They are available in stand alone form or you can get video cards that have video ("TV") out. Then you could use cheaper video LCDs and have all kinds of choices for splitting and distribution. If you only want to do low resolution text and some simple graphics this might work well for you. I have seen converters to go from video to VGA as well. You can't use one of the LCD/PC combos that pack a PC and screen into a case only 3 or 4 inches deep? Try Advantech adirect.advantech.com 877-294-8989. Good luck! I would be interested in what you finally use. Ed Speaking for me, not for Starbucks. . .
 
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You could use a product called a "video splitter". Many of these products allow up to 100 monitors to be connected to a single video source. It's a low-tech solution. All monitors will display the same information, and input will only be accepted at the server. I doubt this will work for you; however, it illustrates that without any processing power at the local terminal, you are very limited. You will probably need to consider another solution such as a thin-client. Dustin Beebe ProSys, Inc. http://www.prosysinc.com
 
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Scott Cornwall

Hello Abdul, Is this for an airport related project, as this kind of functionality is common in airports. Some of the purpose built products can operate over a thousand displays, with dual or triple redundancy in the servers driving the system. For our own airport applications with a small number of displays (like your application) we have developed our own software. We have not packaged this software into a separate saleable product yet, but do have the intention of doing this (We provide baggage handling system software). Our "Information Display Server" software uses multiport video cards (from Appian). I do not know if your LCD displays will interface to a PC video port. We can run 16 displays off each Display Server PC. We have a software application that configures the displays - essentially assigning an HTML page to each display, and a server application that presents the dynamic information to be displayed in XML format - the source of the information being either ADO from a database, or TCP/IP from a device like a PLC. We also use video extender boxes to get the distance from the server PCs. This may give you some other ideas for your application. Regards, Scott Cornwall _________________ www.sentech.co.nz
 
Dear sir,
I am designing a pulse oximeter. I have already completed the analog part. I need your help urgently in this matter.
Actually i need to display the pulse rate, percentage saturation of oxygen in blood and the pulse, I would like to use one LCD display. How it
is possible. can you suggest me some text or sites which can give me the basic concepts for working of LCD. My LCD display will get all the inputs from some microcontrollers.
Thanx.
Amit.
MY e-mail id is-
[email protected]
[email protected]
 
I am working as a programmer in software company. my project is to automize the prize boards in one super market using centralized database. the displays will be any dot matrix or LCD. i want to administrator( change values) all displays from central place (eitheer wired or wireless). can you please help me in this matter.

yogesh

 
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