PSOne LCD in a PC

To begin with, if any of you have gone as far disassembling a NTSC version of the PSOne screen as I have, then you have no doubt realized that the screen is a Samsung TFT-LCD module. If you look closer, at the corner, the model number is etched into the metal edging. The model number on mine is "LTS500Q1-GF1" because I haven't seen the PAL versions of the LCD, I have no idea if they are the same model. In fact, there is another model of a very similar, if not identical, thing. The model number for this is "LTS500Q1-GF3." Again, I don't know what the difference is, so if you want to know the answer, you'll have to find out on your own time. After several hours of searching, checking the Samsung website, as well as MANY other suppliers, I managed to find something I found out of the ordinary. The web page was supposed to be in PDF format, but I could not click on the link, because there wasn't one! I copied and pasted the URL, however, and found that the document was exactly what I had been looking for, and asking Samsung for, and asking LCD suppliers for, and asking Sony for...I had found the specs for the Samsung LTS500Q1-GF1 screen! It has everything on it, viewing angles, IC link pinouts, everything! And I'm going to give you people the link just because I'm a nice guy. It's Right Here!

Now comes MY question. Does anyone have ANY clue who the supplier is for the IC link?! I have searched fruitlessly for the past week, and cannot determine who it is. If I can find out who the manufacturer of the link is, then I'm sure I could persuade them to send me an extension 30-pin ribbon cable to the same width spec as the IC link. This would allow me to have my LCD screen nearly independent of the controller board. (ie: The screen mounted in a drive bay without the controller board, while the controller board is mounted in a fixed position in the rear of the case.) If anyone has ANY idea who this supplier might be, or if the manufacturer is Samsung themselves, let me know. I've learned not to trust brand name, considering that Sony has a Samsung LCD, and Foster speakers. Thanks in advance for anyone who can help!

Awesome, that's a pretty good find! I did a little searching and couldn't come up with anything either, it seems Samsung doesn't even make then anymore, and the IC link manufacturer seems inpossible to find :/

But can anyone answer these questions I have:

1) I'm getting a PC68, or PC60. Will the lcd board and screen fit between the case and the front panel? Or would I have to take out the floppy tray and put it inside the case? I'm hoping it'll fit inbetween...!

2) How does the S-Video mod work? You plug the S-Video side into your videocard, and then plug the other side into the rectangular port on the lcd? Anyone have pictures of the port?

3) If, for the PSU, I decided to do the car adapter method I'm wondering if I could place a 12v switch in there to turn on and off the LCD. Is a 12v switch too much? I don't know much about electronics...!

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Originally Posted by BakedGoods

Awesome, that's a pretty good find! I did a little searching and couldn't come up with anything either, it seems Samsung doesn't make then anymore :/

But can anyone answer these questions I have:

1) I'm getting a PC68, or PC60. Will the lcd board and screen fit between the case and the front panel? Or would I have to take out the floppy tray and put it inside the case? I'm hoping it'll fit inbetween...!

2) How does the S-Video mod work? You plug the S-Video side into your videocard, and then plug the other side into the rectangular port on the lcd? Anyone have pictures of the port?

3) If, for the PSU, I decided to do the car adapter method I'm wondering if I could place a 12v switch in there to turn on and off the LCD. Is a 12v switch too much? I don't know much about electronics...!

Thanks for any help you can offer!

My answer to Question One: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "between the case and the front panel," but I'm assuming that you mean you would like to have the LCD separate from both the 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays. If this is the case, then my answer would be no, to both the PC-60 and the PC-68. It will not fit, just looking at the overall dimensions of the front panel. If, on the other hand, you mean inside the drive bays, it will probably just fit inside the 5.25" top drive bay, as the controller board at its widest is just under this, at about 5.125". It will also replace the 3.5" floppy bays, though it seems from your question that this is not the desirable route to follow.

My answer to Question Two: I'm not very familiar with the different types of connections, other than VGA. So as far as S-video goes, can't help you too much there. You'll need to find the pinout for the "AV MULTI PORT" IN on the small PCB attached to the LCD. Then you should be able to make your own s-video connection cable. Research some more and see if you can find the NTSC version pinout. I'm not sure if the PAL versions are the same, but if it helps you any, there is a post in this forum here, about half way down the page.

My answer to question Three: Because the PSU has at least one +12 outlet, you should be able to mount a 12V switch on your cable. However, you must make sure that it is in front of the box (adapter part) of the cable, so that it is only switching the 12V on and off. Also, I would read a little farther up in this forum on this page, because if you do a VGA port PCI card setup, you can set it up to run the small screen during your startup and the large screen during your Windows session.

Hope all this helps! (i'm still learning, too!)

Originally Posted by adamjones01101
My answer to Question One: I'm not quite sure what you mean by "between the case and the front panel," but I'm assuming that you mean you would like to have the LCD separate from both the 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays. If this is the case, then my answer would be no, to both the PC-60 and the PC-68. It will not fit, just looking at the overall dimensions of the front panel. If, on the other hand, you mean inside the drive bays, it will probably just fit inside the 5.25" top drive bay, as the controller board at its widest is just under this, at about 5.125". It will also replace the 3.5" floppy bays, though it seems from your question that this is not the desirable route to follow.

My answer to Question Two: I'm not very familiar with the different types of connections, other than VGA. So as far as S-video goes, can't help you too much there. You'll need to find the pinout for the "AV MULTI PORT" IN on the small PCB attached to the LCD. Then you should be able to make your own s-video connection cable. Research some more and see if you can find the NTSC version pinout. I'm not sure if the PAL versions are the same, but if it helps you any, there is a post in this forum here, about half way down the page.

My answer to question Three: Because the PSU has at least one +12 outlet, you should be able to mount a 12V switch on your cable. However, you must make sure that it is in front of the box (adapter part) of the cable, so that it is only switching the 12V on and off. Also, I would read a little farther up in this forum on this page, because if you do a VGA port PCI card setup, you can set it up to run the small screen during your startup and the large screen during your Windows session.

Hope all this helps! (i'm still learning, too!)

Thanks a ton! You have a lot of useful information in there.

1) I want to put it in the 3 floppy drive bays. But I was wondering if the screen goes behind the case's faceplate (front) or inside the actual case?

2) I thought the PSOne LCD has a port for an S-Video/composite video cable to go into? In this thread: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=44865&page=5&pp=20 the modder didn't do any saudering (sp?) and was able to get it hooked up using his S-Video, so I assumed there's a spot on the back of the lcd to hook S-Video up to it without much additional work.

3) I'm a bit confused about the car adapters...I've seen PSOne LCD car adapters that just have the end (to the LCD), and the car adapter end (big piece of plastic). But the offical Sony one has a big bulky adapter block in the middle of them both! Any explaination for this...? Does the Sony one work and the others do not? Is this what you mean by attaching the switch before the adapter?

Originally Posted by BakedGoods
Thanks a ton! You have a lot of useful information in there.

1) I want to put it in the 3 floppy drive bays. But I was wondering if the screen goes behind the case's faceplate (front) or inside the actual case?

2) I thought the PSOne LCD has a port for an S-Video/composite video cable to go into? In this thread: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=44865&page=5&pp=20 the modder didn't do any saudering (sp?) and was able to get it hooked up using his S-Video, so I assumed there's a spot on the back of the lcd to hook S-Video up to it without much additional work.

3) I'm a bit confused about the car adapters...I've seen PSOne LCD car adapters that just have the end (to the LCD), and the car adapter end (big piece of plastic). But the offical Sony one has a big bulky adapter block in the middle of them both! Any explaination for this...? Does the Sony one work and the others do not? Is this what you mean by attaching the switch before the adapter?

At least I could help a little bit. Which makes me feel good. Rock on!

1) The screen should end up going right behind the face plate. There is a mod guide for this right here.

2) I actually didn't know this. If there is a cable already made for this, then I would research to find out where to buy it. I may think of doing that myself.

http://frontiernet.net/~adam.d.jones/diagram.JPG

3) Regarding the car adapters, I actually have one of the multi-plug power adapters myself. Mine has a 7.5V end for the PSOne, and a 3V end for a GBA. The difference between this one and the Sony one, is that the multi-plug one converts the power at the source, whereas the Sony one converts it a little way down the line. If you look at the diagram, then you can see that the first one, Sony, has the cut line in it, in a section that still has 12V of power running through it. In the second one, the power is converted right at the source, so that it makes it impossible to cut the cable at a 12V current. Understand what I'm saying? If you were to cut the third-party brand cable at the same spot (lengthwise) as the Sony one, you would already be at a 7.5V current, rendering a 12V switch useless, and probably making it more difficult to wire a molex connector onto the 12V source.

Hope this helps! :D

(P.S. - It's spelled solder)

Alright, so I'd need a Sony-brand car adapter for sure? Cool. About the S-Video. Here's a pic of a cable: http://edomekuvat.soneraplaza.fi/laiteuutinen_saitek_uutuudet_kevat2001/svideo.jpg

Is there no port on the lcd that the s-video cord will plug into? Ah, I guess there is: "All you need for S-Video is the right cable. There's a port on the back of the LCD that you plug it into, then plug the other end into the TV-out on your video card. No soldering, no messing around with Powerstrip or having to use a second video card. The picture's not too bad either." - MegaRouge found one! Maybe there is hope after all! Hopefully he can tell us which cable will work like this.

Thanks for the help adamjones! I appreciate it...!

I think I'm still going to try the soldering to the VGA, because the video cards are really cheap. You can get a Matrox Mystique for like $10, and that way you can have the 640X480 resolution that will look better. By default, the PSOne is set to 320X240 for everything that's displayed. But thanks for the link anyway! If I find it too hard to do the soldering and PowerStrip, then I'll just go S-Video. Much thanks BakedGoods! Rock on!

Okay, I'm kinda confused so I made a picture of what I think i'm doing.

I get a VGA cord, cut one end off leaving the VGA connecter. I take the wires and matching the colors, I solder them on the appropriate pins on the psone header. Besides the car adapter portion (i fully understand that) is that ALL you have to do basically? Here's a brutal picture I did in paint to illustrate my thinking:


http://www.gamerdesktops.com/images/pslay.JPG

Yep...in general. However, just as in the mod guide, if you travel the VGA route, you're going to have to use PowerStrip to mess with the frequency timings of the screen. This is mainly the reason that the other modder chose to use S-Video. When you use S-Video, you can force your computer to recognize the "monitor" without having to adjust any timings. They are already set with the cable, because you are not changing any of the inputs. The same exact signal is being sent through the cable. I went back and found Starfox's diagram on the solder points, and these are what you are going to need:
http://bit-tech.net/images/article/136/schematic.jpg

Also, check out this website, it may help you with the mod.

Again, check out the mod guide, because it will be invaluable to you should you decide to do this mod. Rock on!

Also, another idea is to use Cat5 cable, seeing as it has 8 individual cables running through it. If you use an existing VGA cable, you may run into some trouble, if you can't figure out which wires go to which pins. However, this would be the ideal choice, because then you wouldn't have to worry about soldering anything onto your video card. If you decide to go Cat5, then the connectors and the boot can be found on All Electronics Corp.

One thing I thought everyone on this thread should know, is that all of the PSOne LCDs react BADLY to UV light. I know many people like to use UV CCFLs, and UV LED lights. If the screen side of the LCD is exposed to ultraviolet light, it will gradually degrade. This basically translates into the visual quality of the screen getting worse and worse. So just to let everyone know, keep your LCDs away from UV light!

And remember to always... Rock on!

Solder onto my videocard!? You don't have to do that to this mod right?! Hey man, do you have MSN? Thanks for the tips! The Cat5 idea actually sounds pretty good...! And the UV's, I'm planning on having the LCD at the front of the case with lights inside, as long as their inside and the LCD isn't facing them it's all good, right?

You're welcome. By the way, I don't have MSN, I use AIM. If you want to contact me using this, then my screen name is ScironTheBandit. You should be fine using the UVs behind the viewable section of the screen. Soldering onto the video card is one of the things meant to be done on this mod, though, obviously, there are ways to get around it. One of these ways is to make a VGA cable, and use the solder points to connect to your PSOne controller. Another is to solder it to the VGA port on your *expensive* video card. (ie: ATI Radeon 9800Pro, or nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra) The way I'm planning on doing it is to buy a cheapo video card, probably a Matrox Mystique 4MB video card. One thing you must remember is that the card has to have C-sync. If not, you're going to have to do the H-sync + V-sync mod to make your own adapter. You can pick up the Matrox Mystique on eBay for about $12.00 should you decide to do the same thing I am. Again, hope this helps! Rock on!

alright, well lets try this again. After looking at the provided doc for the specs (thanks for that btw) I see that the board the scree sits on dimensions still haven't been listed. so someone, please, tell me what they are! I can't find anyone here who still caries the screen, so I'd like to know if it'll fit before i order one from the net.

I was wondering if anyone has measured the current of the power supply. I've made my own using a LM317 to get the 7.5v and messured 800mA. Is this about right?

Originally Posted by tawatt
I was wondering if anyone has measured the current of the power supply. I've made my own using a LM317 to get the 7.5v and messured 800mA. Is this about right?

The Rating on the the power supply that came with the screen is 2a so is the car adapter. It does have extra power for powering both LCD and PSONE.

Originally Posted by acidfire
alright, well lets try this again. After looking at the provided doc for the specs (thanks for that btw) I see that the board the scree sits on dimensions still haven't been listed. so someone, please, tell me what they are! I can't find anyone here who still caries the screen, so I'd like to know if it'll fit before i order one from the net.

It just as wide as the 5 1/4 cd rom I will get all of the dimention tonight when i get home

Originally Posted by BakedGoods
Alright, so I'd need a Sony-brand car adapter for sure? Cool. About the S-Video. Here's a pic of a cable: http://edomekuvat.soneraplaza.fi/laiteuutinen_saitek_uutuudet_kevat2001/svideo.jpg

Is there no port on the lcd that the s-video cord will plug into? Ah, I guess there is: "All you need for S-Video is the right cable. There's a port on the back of the LCD that you plug it into, then plug the other end into the TV-out on your video card. No soldering, no messing around with Powerstrip or having to use a second video card. The picture's not too bad either." - MegaRouge found one! Maybe there is hope after all! Hopefully he can tell us which cable will work like this.

Thanks for the help adamjones! I appreciate it...!

Hi Baked,

The cable I used doesn't look a lot like yours. Mine has the yellow, red and white connectors on one end, and on the other end has a connector that looks like a headphone jack. It plugs into the jack on the back of the LCD (I can't remember the color, but if I remember right it's right beside the headphone jack). No soldering required, no messing around with Powerstrip and no need for a second video card (just use TV Out on your primary card).

I'd take pictures of my AC adapter mod and the AV cable, but I spent quite a while hiding the wiring and I don't want to undo that. Here's a pic I found on Amazon of the cable I have:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008ZGSD/002-7324124-5682449?v=glance&s=photo&me=A37H4CWFAY84XB&vi=pictures&img=14#more-pictures

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by adamjones01101
You're welcome. By the way, I don't have MSN, I use AIM. If you want to contact me using this, then my screen name is ScironTheBandit. You should be fine using the UVs behind the viewable section of the screen. Soldering onto the video card is one of the things meant to be done on this mod, though, obviously, there are ways to get around it. One of these ways is to make a VGA cable, and use the solder points to connect to your PSOne controller. Another is to solder it to the VGA port on your *expensive* video card. (ie: ATI Radeon 9800Pro, or nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra) The way I'm planning on doing it is to buy a cheapo video card, probably a Matrox Mystique 4MB video card. One thing you must remember is that the card has to have C-sync. If not, you're going to have to do the H-sync + V-sync mod to make your own adapter. You can pick up the Matrox Mystique on eBay for about $12.00 should you decide to do the same thing I am. Again, hope this helps! Rock on!

I gotcha now, yeah that MAtrox Mystique is actually a good idea =D

Originally Posted by MegaRouge
Hi Baked,

The cable I used doesn't look a lot like yours. Mine has the yellow, red and white connectors on one end, and on the other end has a connector that looks like a headphone jack. It plugs into the jack on the back of the LCD (I can't remember the color, but if I remember right it's right beside the headphone jack). No soldering required, no messing around with Powerstrip and no need for a second video card (just use TV Out on your primary card).

I'd take pictures of my AC adapter mod and the AV cable, but I spent quite a while hiding the wiring and I don't want to undo that. Here's a pic I found on Amazon of the cable I have:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...4#more-pictures

Hope that helps!

Thanks Mega! That saved my from buying the wrong cords =S Is that the exact cord you're using (minux the s-video) ? I didn't a little bit more searching and I guess that cord is made for Sony VIAO computers, but it also works on the PSOne LCD? Oh and also, that doesn't have s-video on it right? So you need a card with AV jacks not just S-Video...!?

Originally Posted by BakedGoods
I gotcha now, yeah that MAtrox Mystique is actually a good idea =D

Thanks Mega! That saved my from buying the wrong cords =S Is that the exact cord you're using (minux the s-video) ? I didn't a little bit more searching and I guess that cord is made for Sony VIAO computers, but it also works on the PSOne LCD? Oh and also, that doesn't have s-video on it right? So you need a card with AV jacks not just S-Video...!?

The cable Rouge has pictured is a composite AV-IN cable, with the RCA connection on one end, and the composite video is the one that looks like the headphone plug on the other end.

Most newer video cards come with the S-Video connection, as well as an S-Video to Composite adapter. However, I found a video card that will let you have a VGA port, a DVI port, and a composite video TV-Out, for about $40. I'm not sure if the card has C-Sync, though. It should, because it's a Radeon 7000 Chipset, but don't quote me on that (no pun intended). This would be a great idea, though, considering it has 3 options for video output.
http://frontiernet.net/~adam.d.jones/VGA-DVI-Composite.jpg
Next is a ATI Radeon 9800Pro video card, and it comes with the stuff pictured with it.
http://frontiernet.net/~adam.d.jones/adapter.jpg
This will allow you to have the original composite video connection active on your LCD. That cable, though, the one that you posted before, is a good idea, considering you won't need an adapter sticking out the back of your case. Either way you look at it, you can go S-Video, or you can go VGA. However, I know I'm beating a dead horse, but the picture quality of the S-Video connection will be about half as good as the VGA option, simply because the default composite resolution is 320X240, whereas the VGA adjustable resolution is 640X480. The drawback to this is, it will take some serious messing around in PowerStrip to configure the screen correctly and make it display without scrolling the screen. If you think you're up to it, do yourself a favor and go with the better picture quality (because I don't think you're going to be using the LCD for any hardcore gaming). Peace out and Rock on!

One last thing...on the right in the picture is the DVI-VGA adapter. Most likely, your primary monitor is set up to run VGA anyway, so if you go VGA, you'll probably need to use the DVI-VGA adapter (unless your video card isn't brand new). I'm still working on a way to use the DVI connection to run the LCD screen, though I'm still not even close. Personally, I'm going to go the VGA route and buy the Matrox Mystique 220. Have an AWESOME day! ( )

~Adam

Originally Posted by acidfire
alright, well lets try this again. After looking at the provided doc for the specs (thanks for that btw) I see that the board the scree sits on dimensions still haven't been listed. so someone, please, tell me what they are! I can't find anyone here who still caries the screen, so I'd like to know if it'll fit before i order one from the net.

Here are the dimensions, roughly measured with my ruler. But it's the best I could do, don't have my Vernier calipers here! It should just barely fit inside the drive bay the wide way. If for some reason you want your screen to sit the long way, then it'll fit quite nicely, being 5.25" tall. Have fun and Rock on!

http://frontiernet.net/~adam.d.jones/Dimensions.jpg

Thanks Mega! That saved my from buying the wrong cords =S Is that the exact cord you're using (minux the s-video) ? I didn't a little bit more searching and I guess that cord is made for Sony VIAO computers, but it also works on the PSOne LCD? Oh and also, that doesn't have s-video on it right? So you need a card with AV jacks not just S-Video...!?

You're right, I forgot that I plug my A/V cable from the LCD into an adapter. That is the exact cable I am using but the adapter goes from the S-Video in the back of my video card and plugs into the yellow cable on the A/V cable.

I have a TI4200 on my main box that has S-Video out, so I need the converter, but my DIVX box has a Radeon 9200SE with a video out port that I could directly plug the yellow cable into, with no converter needed. It depends on what type of video card you have if you need an S-Video converter or not.

Awesome, thanks guys. I have a 9800Pro and I did infact get one of those converters. Looks like I'll try that out first, and if I feel I need 640x480 res then I'll do the soldering =D I really appreciate the help! Rock on! ;)

I did the mod and have a picture on the lcd. It is divided up into 4 pieces though and the color red shows up as black, and green shows as yellow. I have it hooked up to my iBook which has an ATI Radeon 7500 and no Powerstrip software. I really just need to know why would I not be able to see the color red and why is green showing up yellow? please help

Thanks :(

ok got my matrox mystique pci as recomended i also have a agp G4 ti4600

i cant install em together if both are plugged in the matrox overides the g4 and it all hangs up when starting windows.

i can run both cards separatly but not together can anyone help?

Originally Posted by buckitrade
I did the mod and have a picture on the lcd. It is divided up into 4 pieces though and the color red shows up as black, and green shows as yellow. I have it hooked up to my iBook which has an ATI Radeon 7500 and no Powerstrip software. I really just need to know why would I not be able to see the color red and why is green showing up yellow? please help

Thanks :(

First, which connection are you using? If you're using the VGA connection, then you will definitely need to download PowerStrip and utilize it. If you're using the S-Video connection, then maybe there's something wrong with your controller board? Not quite sure...post a pic of your connections, and we can see if we can figure it out.

Originally Posted by karrektor
ok got my matrox mystique pci as recomended i also have a agp G4 ti4600

i cant install em together if both are plugged in the matrox overides the g4 and it all hangs up when starting windows.

i can run both cards separatly but not together can anyone help?

You're going to need to change the priority of the video cards in your BIOS, as well as then switch the priority in Windows to use G4 during your Windows session as a primary. So the priority in BIOS should look like this PCI-->AGP, and your windows should be set up like this: AGP-->PCI. You then should be able to make the Matrox/LCD combo an extension of your display. Look back a few pages in this thread, because I think there was a conversation about this same subject.

Have fun and Rock on!