ELO Touchscreen and HD content

[Ira]

The ELO 1900L widescreen touchmonitor is not HDCP compliant. ELO tech support said they do not know what will happen if it is presented with HD content. In my case, I want to feed it HD content directly from a DirecTV HR2x HD DVR using the DVR's HDMI output going thru a HDMI-DVI converter to the Touchscreen's DVI input. I realize that audio will have to be handled using separate analog cables.

Does anyone know what will happen with this setup? Will I see anything on the monitor? Will it just be at a lower resolution? If the video output from the DVR is widescreen format, will it show up as widescreen on the touchscreen (the touchscreen has a 16:10 aspect ratio)?

Thanks,
Ira

 

[pipeman]

I know there are different flavors of DVI. I've got an old box of cables with slightly different pin arrangements.
I think the ELO will be analog, HDMI digital.
My guess is if it fits, it'll work. Let us know.

My problem is similar. I have a new/used 15" ELO that will need to do double duty, . It will replace a wall mount TV in the kitchen.
Wife says no go till the TV end functions at the "K.I.S.S." level.

If you get any help elsewhere, please post.

Sonny

 

[Ira]

The diagram in the ELO 1900L User Manual shows a DVI-D input. I think that's the same kind that most of my "regular" monitors have.

The other hard part is getting audio to the touchscreen's speakers (assuming the built-in two watt speakers are good enough). I imagine the audio inputs (3.5mm TRS stereo plugs) expect speaker level input instead of line level. The DVR analog audio outputs supply line level via RCA plugs. Plus, you need a way to control volume. I found this volume control with IR remote capability. Then you would also need something like this power amplifier. At about $200 for the volume control and almost $100 for the amp, it's cheaper to buy a HT receiver.

Then, if you want the touchscreen to be dual purpose (TV monitor and HA touchscreen), you have to buy a DVI switcher (that also switches analog audio and has IR remote capabilities) and various cables/adapters that get you from HDMI to DVI-D and dual RCA stereo plugs to 3.5mm TRS plugs. That's probably another $300 total. Then throw in the IR blaster/receiver components.

Looks like close to $1500 for the 19" widescreen touchscreen and all the boxes, etc. necessary to get it to serve dual purposes (in my case, a TV monitor and HA touchscreen for the kitchen). But if it works, it would be really nice and my wife wouldn't question my HA projects for years.

The big issue for me is whether or not I'm willing to shell out almost $1000 for the touchscreen just to see what it will do with the HD signal, with possibly no chance of returning it if it doesn't work.

Ira

 

[TXFlatLander]

Based on the specifications of the ELO 1900L, the highest resolution it will support is 1680 x 1050. 1080 is a resolution of 1920 x 1080; therefore, you will not get 1080 resolution on that monitor. Even if your card supports it, it still won't display because the monitor doesn't. The optimal resolution for the monitor is 1440 x 900. The closest you will get to HD (720) is 1280 x 768 and isn't exact 720 since 720 is 1280 x 720.

As far as displaying HD content, you will not be able to display anything that requires an HDCP handshake since the monitor isn't HDCP compliant. So you wouldn't be able to play Bluray movies or anything that has content protection via HDCP. Basically, you will only be able to play non-content protected such as DVDs, non-DRM digitized content, or content recorded from analog sources along with DRM digitized content that don't require HDCP.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ira]

I'm still confused. Right now, (for testing) I have an older (2003) Hitachi LCD monitor model CML175SXW (used to be hooked up to a computer) that has an aspect ration of 4:3 and max resolution of 1280x1024. I doubt it is HDCP-compliant. None of the markings on the back of the monitor say it is. I have it directly connected to a DirecTV HD DVR model HR20-700 using a cable that has an HDMI plug on one end and a DVI-D dual link plug (24 pins) on the other. The HDMI plug is plugged directly to the DVR's HDMI port. The DVI-D plug is plugged directly into the monitor's DVI-D input. The DVR is set to only support 720P, and that's what the LED indicator on the front panel of the DVR shows. I also set the DVR's aspect ration to 4:3 to match the monitor.

Channels that are not widescreen display normally. Channels that are widescreen display with the horizaontal bars across the top and bottom of the screen. The picture quality is pretty darn good to my eyes. Is it 720p? Don't know how to tell to be honest, but that's what the DVR says it's showing.

Don't know if it helps, but here's some other info I see on the display when I run thru the various resolutions on the DVR...

1. 480i results in 1440X240 on the monitor
2. 480p results in 720X480 on the monitor
3. 720p results in 1280X720 on the monitor
4. 1080i results in 1920X540 on the monitor

I paused a picture that showed a lot of fine details. I could see a significant difference between 480i and the others. The others looked pretty close to identical, with maybe a little better picture going from 480p to 720p.

So...all of this leads me to believe (but I still have my doubts), that if I connected the ELO 1900L, it will show the picture, and if it is a widescreen picture, it will be in widescreen. Where am I going wrong here?

Thanks,
Ira

 

[potts.mike]

you probably want to double check on the speaker amp as well. Since it has a wattage spec (2 watts?) that seems to me that it would take a line level input. I have a 20 something inch samsung lcd tv and the VGA pc input also has a line level audio input.

 

[Ira]

you probably want to double check on the speaker amp as well. Since it has a wattage spec (2 watts?) that seems to me that it would take a line level input. I have a 20 something inch samsung lcd tv and the VGA pc input also has a line level audio input.

If that's the case, I would still need a volume control capable of IR remote control, but it would do away with the need for the amp.

You are probably right, now that I think about it. Isn't the audio output from most PC sound cards line level? And that can go directly to the speakers embedded in my monitor or to a set of external powered speakers. So I guess the monitor does have some type of amp built in. I was thinking that two watts meant that was all the power the speakers could handle.

 

[Ira]

I bought a $.99 RCA-to-TRS stereo adapter (cost me $10 at Radio Shack) and a small inline thumbwheel volume control worth about $.99 (but cost me $10 at Radio Shack). Hooked them up to the analog audio out jacks on the DVR and the analog audio in jack on the old monitor. It works, but it's not very loud. Taking the volume control out doesn't make it any louder.

If there is any background noise in the room (in the kitchen, there would be), the speakers would probably be drowned out. Since the speakers on the 1900L touchscreen fire downward (instead of forward like on my test monitor), it would be even worse unless it amplified the audio a lot more.

There are three prototype steps left...

1. Get the DVI-D/analog switcher (about $250) to see if that part of the equation will work using my non-touchscreen monitor and non-amplified audio setup. The assumption being that if it works with my non-HDCP compliant test monitor, it will work with the ELO touchscreen.
2. Get an amplifier (about $100) to see if it can raise the volume up enough on the monitor speakers to make it usable (although if I get an adapter so I can connect two male TRS jacks, I can test the audio volume with the external powered speakers I use with my PC). I really doubt that the monitor speakers will be good enough audio quality, even if they are load enough.
3. Get the ELO touchscreen (almost $1000) to see what it does with a direct DVI-D connection, assuming that if it does, it will work with the DVI-D switch.

Any suggestions on which to do next?