An HDMI Input For A Laptop Screen, Minus Laptop

The lack of HDMI inputs on almost all laptops is a huge drawback for anyone who wants to easily play a video game on the road, for example. As to why no manufacturers offer this piece of convenience when we all have easy access to a working screen of this size, perhaps no one can say. On the other hand, if you want to ditch the rest of the computer, you can make use of the laptop screen for whatever you want.

This project from [Avner] comes to us in a few parts. In the first section, the teardown of the laptop begins and a datasheet for the screen is discovered, which allows [Avner] to prepare an FPGA to drive the screen. The second part involves building an HDMI sink, which is a device which decodes the signal from an HDMI source into its constituent parts so it can be sent to the FPGA. The final section of the project involves actually sending a video to this impressive collection of hardware in order to get a video to appear on the old laptop screen.

This build is worth checking out if you’ve ever dealt with anything involving digital video. It goes into great depth on a lot of the technical details involving HDMI, video devices, and hardware timing issues. This is a great build and, even though we’ve seen similar projects, definitely worth diving into if you have some time on your hands and a spare laptop screen.

11 thoughts on “An HDMI Input For A Laptop Screen, Minus Laptop

  1. Most modern laptop screens use display port signaling directly to the screen rather than the old school LVDS. Get a more modern screen feed it power and a displayport signal and done

    1. Well, I could go out and buy just a HDMI screen. But then how much wiser would I be?
      DIY, even if it costs more in just dollar terms, is an awsome way to spend money to essentially have a good time, and letting others know about it is a great step. This is the sort of enthuiasim that employers look for when hiring… and not “yeah, I watch a lot of science fiction movies”.

  2. Used the LCD driver boards from NJYTouch several times along with laptop screens scavenged from dead laptops for all sorts of projects such as a smart bathroom mirror and monitor for the glass panel on my server rack.

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