LCD

If it does turn out to be LVDS . . .

               Righto, here is an eBay.co.uk link to a board (and screen - which I know you don't need).

               Included in the listing is a bunch of compatible displays and - more helpfully maybe - they offer a match-up service to your screen.

               Could be a starting point.

               HDMI VGA DVI 50PIN TTL LVDS Controller Board+8inch LCD Display for Raspberry PI | eBay

The "less than 5 pounds" boards that you can buy on ebay seem to be boards for a specific monitor or laptop. Not generic HDMI to LVDS conversion boards.

They are, but a TV repair friend of mine has used them to 'test' LCD panels in the absence of alternatives - hence the 'sort of work-ish' comment. Whether he purchased a specific type I don't know, the gist of my comment was - buy better ones.

I'm kinda crossing my fingers for the DPI option . . . .

P.S.  Multiple posts as 'unexpected errors' were stopping me from editing posts!

Andrew Elvin-Dunham wrote:

 

They are, but a TV repair friend of mine has used them to 'test' LCD panels in the absence of alternatives - hence the 'sort of work-ish' comment. Whether he purchased a specific type I don't know, the gist of my comment was - buy better ones.

Often essentially the same stuff is sold for less, especially when there is a drive to cheaper stuff, like on Ebay. In that case, "more expensive" doesn't often mean that you're getting better stuff. So I would normally still investigate the cheaper option to see if that would work. This tendency to buy the cheapest variant sometimes gets me burned. I know the risks. In this case I would probably be hesitant to try it because I have more confidence in the more generic variants.

So, even if your friend managed to get an LCD panel working, it just might be that he happened to have a panel with the same dimensions (in pixels) as the original. Maybe because he knew that this was required, maybe because he was lucky. The story from "a friend" never tells that kind of details. :-) 

I agree with you there Roger, was I said, I have few (read none) real details - all I was driving at was the cheap items can work (panel dependent I agree), but not necessarily how you need / expect.

If it is LVDS then the eBay link gives at least a small chance that the seller can supply the correct board, and If they screw up then nothing is (hopefully) lost except time - seller refunds if it's their fault.

TBH I'm going down a similar line here, old XVGA laptop monitor that I'd like to reuse, previous searches (about 7-8 years ago) yielded converters at about £100-200 GBP!! Alternative screens were cheaper!

Now with the prices between £5 and £50 it's a viable choice - and one I'm willing to take for a fiver.

               (Note I say I'm willing to take - not I'm advising anyone else takes).

So yes, both options should be investigated, if possible the panel and driver should be matched too. Hopefully what I have provided is what was requested - some direction with what to search / investigate. 

I agree with you there Roger, was I said, I have few (read none) real details - all I was driving at was the cheap items can work (panel dependent I agree), but not necessarily how you need / expect.

If it is LVDS then the eBay link gives at least a small chance that the seller can supply the correct board, and If they screw up then nothing is (hopefully) lost except time - seller refunds if it's their fault.

TBH I'm going down a similar line here, old XVGA laptop monitor that I'd like to reuse, previous searches (about 7-8 years ago) yielded converters at about £100-200 GBP!! Alternative screens were cheaper!

Now with the prices between £5 and £50 it's a viable choice - and one I'm willing to take for a fiver.

               (Note I say I'm willing to take - not I'm advising anyone else takes).

So yes, both options should be investigated, if possible the panel and driver should be matched too. Hopefully what I have provided is what was requested - some direction with what to search / investigate.