Behold, something we’ve always wanted. [Matthieu] mounted his Raspberry Pi board inside of a computer monitor. His work makes for the cheapest smart-TV modification we can possibly think of.
The image above shows the monitor’s driver board on the left, with the Raspberry Pi mounted on the back plastic cover. [Matthieu] used a short HDMI cable to connect the two. The HDMI connector plugs into the RPi directly. The other end has been cut off and the wires soldered to the DVI pins on the monitor’s PCB. This is not a problem since HDMI and DVI use electrically identical protocols. The one thing missing is audio. But if you were pulling off the same hack with a device that had HDMI (like a television) it would just be a matter of also soldering in the audio connections. While he had his iron hot he also connected a 5V source from the monitor board to the RPi. He completes his hack by cutting a slot in the monitor case to allow access to the SD card.
We’ve long wanted an XBMC computer we could velcro to the back of the TV and the RPi turned out to be just the thing. Now we’ve got to consider cracking open the TV to replicate this internalization hack!
I have a DVI-D (only) 15″ LCD monitor I’ve been wanting to use for something, so now I have a clue!
I would use hot melt glue instead of electrical tape on this build.
Also, is that anti-static foam he’s using to help keep the Pi in place?
Isn’t that stuff conductive? that seems like a horrible choice
Megohms, shouldn’t be a problem.
Conductive is the point. Static cannot build on the surface.
Hot glue or tape. In my experience it’s a toss up which one will keep things in place for the long term & release easily when you not it to, and not release when you don’t want it to.Personally I have never been a fan of hot glue. Here it wouldn’t be difficult to use stand offs that grab the board edges to mount the raspi, and create a mechanical strain relief for the cabling.
You can buy HDMI to DVI cables and adapters. It would save you a lot of soldering.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hdmi+dvi
But most tvs these days already have embedded linux systems running them…
(and I am a sad panda because mine isn’t one that someone has already hacked into, and I don’t have the balls to risk bricking it.)
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I made the same with a brand new TV, and i discovered that the TV has already an ARM inside, and it is more powerful than the RPI ! with usb and Ethernet.
So next time, it is better to hack the tv firmware than adding hardware
I don’t see a problem with simply duct taping the pi on the back of the TV/monitor.
I agree… wouldn’t be easier to design a little box and add something like velcro, so if either the RPi or the Display go bad, you can re-use the one that is still working?
…or when you get tired of the thing because something better has come out or the guy doing the Raspbian builds stops and you’re left in distro hell.
RPi inside my pre-smarttv samsung is the hack that was already on my list. now it jumped a few places up.
it is either a hack to make in internal or a RPi docking station with a 5v and hdmi (i own a reprap). Would be ideal opertunity to fix the “girlfriend: you broke the tv again by updating the mediaplayer” problem. Would be ideal to swap stable ad bleeding edge versions of xbmc.
lol @ rpi for a media streamer. yes it -can- do it…. just, poorly. unless of course you have very low standards and expectations. to each his own.
also, if you’re in a crowd, wear condoms on both your ears…. i think its funny.
This is wrong. I have two pis I use for xbmc and plex and they work great. Actually better than my xbmc loaded atv1. Maybe “your doing it wrong”
really? enjoying all that lag in your UI (very obvious with high res art and themes), barely functioning/unreliable script support, lack of HD audio support, and inability to play high bitrate HD video content (think bluray/UNcompressed content)?
cool. i have higher expectations and requirements, i suppose.
I had to replace the power supply in my TV. While I was in there I noted there is a whole lot of space in there. Enough to probably mount a full on mini-ATX motherboard were there not huge heat sinks. But a RasPi would work just fine too.
I’ve had a 2G Apple TV attached to the back of my TV for quite a while now — bought it the same day I learned that XBMC had been ported over. I used 3M command adhesive strips to attach it. It is secure and can easily be removed. Something like what I used can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Command-Poster-Adhesive-Value-48-Strip/dp/B001KYSAN4
I use a RPi VESA mount and a HDMI to DVI – a lot easier to reverse!
http://www.bc-robotics.com/shop/raspberry-pi-vesa-mount-clear/
my son needs a 7″ monitor for the raspberry pi set up for a computer class. What is the best option…..