Meant to be Seen

I've decided to bite the bullet and build a DIY HMD based a few different designs around the web. Unfortunately, it looks like the whole project is off to a rough start. Anyone here experienced an LCD that lights up, but doesn't display any picture?

I ordered this kit from China: http://www.ebay.com/itm/400577697703

It all looked very plug-and-play. After hooking up a few cables and power, the backlight turns on. But, I can't enter the Menu and nothing comes through the HDMI, VGA, or DVI connectors. Just a black screen. Bummer. Any thoughts?

Pictures here: https://drive.google.com/#folders/0By28 ... EdwdWE2VEk

Thanks in advance!

Matt

I've got a similar display + controller board from ebay (njytouch or vitrolight store, can't remember) and it did work correctly out of the box. What power converter do you use for the controller board ? And does the LED light up when clicking on the power button ?

Fredz wrote:I've got a similar display + controller board from ebay (njytouch or vitrolight store, can't remember) and it did work correctly out of the box. What power converter do you use for the controller board ? And does the LED light up when clicking on the power button ?

Thanks Fredz,

I've been chatting elecrealms, and they are very responsive (despite the time difference). I order the 12V / 3A power adapter from them as well. It's the one recommended for this product.

Here's a video of what happens when it is powered on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_pYaTtZ7Q

It's supposed to show the following text: ATTENTION NO SIGNAL. Instead, the backlight comes on but nothing is displayed.

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to return it and wait another three weeks for a new one. With express shipping, maybe it won't be too slow...

On the upside, the IMU is working great!

Matt

Looks like a defective unit then, too bad.

Which IMU did you buy ?

Fredz wrote:Looks like a defective unit then, too bad.

Which IMU did you buy ?

I ordered a couple different ones. The first one is the ridiculously expensive Razor from Sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10736. I got it because there is a lot of code available and nice tutorials.

I also ordered a few of these from DX: http://dx.com/p/gy-85-6dof-9dof-imu-sen ... ino-148436. They haven't arrived yet.

The Razor IMU was almost plug-and-play. I couldn't flash the firmware on my Mac, but it went smoothly on Windows. After the update, the IMU works on both Mac & PC.

The Processing sketch is working fine. The next step is to get it working in Unity3D. I'm working on other components right now, but I'll probably tackle that while i wait for a new LCD kit.

It seems like the easiest, hackiest approach is to just output the quaternion from the Processing sketch over UDP. But, if I get a wild hair (and since this is a learning exercise), I might go ahead and reimplement it as a Unity script or plugin.

I don't think I'll be the first to solve this problem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyE_vGy_e0

Some people have had good success with the YEI 3-Space Embedded, and now a new version with USB support is available as well (YEI 3-Space Micro USB for $100) : http://www.yeitechnology.com/productdis ... -micro-usb

There is also the STM32F3DISCOVERY which is quite cheap ($10.66) and had support in the Oculus SDK at a time (in version 0.1.5) : http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/ ... 2/PF254044

If you have some soldering skills and want a wireless tracker you may also try to build this one (designed by the creator of the sensor in the Oculus Rift) : http://adjacentreality.org/

Fredz wrote:Some people have had good success with the YEI 3-Space Embedded, and now a new version with USB support is available as well (YEI 3-Space Micro USB for $100) : http://www.yeitechnology.com/productdis ... -micro-usb

I totally dig their stuff! You're right, that's a great idea for the future. The fact that it's USB is convenient. Also, they are very nice people. (They spoke at the San Francisco VR Meetup a few months ago).

Fredz wrote: There is also the STM32F3DISCOVERY which is quite cheap ($10.66) and had support in the Oculus SDK at a time (in version 0.1.5) : http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/ ... 2/PF254044

Another good suggestion! Love the price-point on this one.

Fredz wrote: If you have some soldering skills and want a wireless tracker you may also try to build this one (designed by the creator of the sensor in the Oculus Rift) : http://adjacentreality.org/

It's great that Nirav went on to work at Oculus. His project is really cool. I remember seeing a globe at Maker Faire last year, and I guess it was his. Not sure I'm interested in building his tracker right now. But, it does sound like a fun project for the future.

Thanks Fredz for the links and inspiration. This whole thing is a rabbit hole, isn't it?

Yes clearly. And I guess you don't have that much time on your hands with hardware projects because of VirtualReality.io. By the way I'm still interested to add Linux support to it, I've got some days off work so that could be a good timing.

Fredz wrote:Yes clearly. And I guess you don't have that much time on your hands with hardware projects because of VirtualReality.io. By the way I'm still interested to add Linux support to it, I've got some days off work so that could be a good timing.

It's all one big project, you know? About 50% of my time is dedicated to VR R&D now.

It would be great to have VRIO working on Linux. Thanks! Ping me via email: matt AT virtualreality.io. I'll get you shared on the repos.

Nice, thanks. E-mail sent.