VFD / LCD Display (1 Viewer)

[Elfish]

i sadly bought a case without front display. Well i want one now tho :/

which would be best to choose? Which is one does work with mediaportal? Which one works without any flaws :O
I'd like to do some soldering i guess thats way cheaper.
i'd preferable like to adapt the display through usb. i got a serial/parallel port tho.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

 

[etheesdad]

My only experience is with IMON, but I wouldnt recommend it. The software is really crappy, and Soundgraph are pretty unhelpful with responding to support requests.

Personally I think VFD is overrated. All the information it provides is available in the MP interface itself. Its a personal thing though.

Good luck with it.

 

[yngve0]

Personally I think VFD is overrated. All the information it provides is available in the MP interface itself. Its a personal thing though.

From my view; The main benefit with a display is not have infortation that not availble on MP-interface itself. But I find it a bit overkill, if must turn on a 52" television for listening to radio or music.

Yngve

 

[etheesdad]

aha IC, well perhaps a LCD would be more suitable than vfd for that purpose then

my only experience is with IMon - it has only 2 lines of display. Not sufficient to operate MP without TV on.

 

[cecolon]

I disagree. I have a VFD (or LCD? Two lines of text anyway) on my Antec Fusion Remote, and MediaPortal uses this in a great way. If the TV is turned off, and I start to navigate the menus, I can see which menu I am browsing and which item that's currently selected. This enables me to start listening to radio or playing songs. When I watch a movie, it shows how long I have watched and how long the movie is, another great feature.

 

[CalamityAce]

I disagree. I have a VFD (or LCD? Two lines of text anyway) on my Antec Fusion Remote, and MediaPortal uses this in a great way. If the TV is turned off, and I start to navigate the menus, I can see which menu I am browsing and which item that's currently selected. This enables me to start listening to radio or playing songs. When I watch a movie, it shows how long I have watched and how long the movie is, another great feature.

Cecolon, can you explain what you had to do to make this work? I also have the Antec Fusion Remote and would like to use the VFD with Mediaportal.

 

[eetaylog]

you have to enable the display on MP configuration. Select 'miniDisplay' under plugins, and then in your case choose the 'Soundgraph IMON' display driver in the configuration. MP should then be compatable with the display.

*you may also need to disable the driver in windows, otherwise the OS will be driving the display rather than MP, but i cant remember exactly*

 

[dir]

Most VFD 2-line displays are useless in the living room, since the characters are too small to be seen from more than about 2m away. If you don't have your PC in your living room, and have it near you, you'd probably think it's useful. You really have to try it out for a week at >2m away to realise that you simply don't use it.
I can see the point if you want to use it when you go up close to the display/PC, but unless you do that fairly often, you're talking about using a feature less than a few seconds every once in a while, and should consider whether it's worth changing cases, paying extra money, and having to fiddle with configuring it to make it all worth while.

 

[eetaylog]

 

[yngve0]

Most VFD 2-line displays are useless in the living room, since the characters are too small to be seen from more than about 2m away. If you don't have your PC in your living room, and have it near you, you'd probably think it's useful. You really have to try it out for a week at >2m away to realise that you simply don't use it.
I can see the point if you want to use it when you go up close to the display/PC, but unless you do that fairly often, you're talking about using a feature less than a few seconds every once in a while, and should consider whether it's worth changing cases, paying extra money, and having to fiddle with configuring it to make it all worth while.

Thanks, dir, for sharing your view.

I understand that the readability on distance is far from satisfying, but what is the alternative?

To turn on 52” television when playing music is from my view a bit overkill and I guess it may be disturbing as well to have it switched on when I have the living room filled with friends who dropped by for tea and listening to music.

As long as the display gives sensible information, I can live with the fact that I must be close to monitor when switching radio-channels or to change music-album. I presume changing album will I normally do once pr hour (1cd = 60minutes?).

The display on my actual HiFi has more or less the same size, and we have lived together for 15 years.

Its a personal thing though, and I have not any experience with MediaPortal yet.