Making a digi frame using old monitor and RPi

Hertsman

Hertsman

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I have an old PC VGA monitor that I would like to use as a digital photoframe.

I plan to buy a Raspberry Pi preinstalled with XMBC and hope to network that the directory on my PC that has all pics on it.

Anyone done such a thing ?
 
Raspberry Pi doesn't have a VGA output, so that could be a sticking point!
 
I had one I made from an old laptop. Gutted the casing, turned the screen back on itself and mounted it on a board, then mounted that to a picture frame and cut dalerboard to fit. Being a full laptop, all I then had to do was load it with pics and set the screensaver to display that folder. I could also connect over the network to update it, and do stuff like use my Onedrive folder synced to it to automatically display images. Already has networking, storage, display etc all sorted and working, it was quite an easy project.
Plus you can remote desktop into it to control it whilst it's on the wall, and even use it as a small server.
 
You could use a HDMI to VGA cable to connect to your monitor.

I've used RPi as an XBMC media machine on various TV's around the house, but not specifically for sharing photos, it works absolutely fine.

Gav
 
gavlar80 said:
You could use a HDMI to VGA cable to connect to your monitor.

I've used RPi as an XBMC media machine on various TV's around the house, but not specifically for sharing photos, it works absolutely fine.

Gav
Click to expand...

My plan was to use a convertor cable, but Im not hearing good things about them IQ wise....
 
Hertsman said:
My plan was to use a convertor cable, but Im not hearing good things about them IQ wise....
Click to expand...
I guess it would depend on cable quality, I think that hdmi pins can map directly to vga without anything other than maybe a few capacitors or resistors to adjust power, so think if you get a decent quality cable you should be ok.
 
gavlar80 said:
I guess it would depend on cable quality, I think that hdmi pins can map directly to vga without anything other than maybe a few capacitors or resistors to adjust power, so think if you get a decent quality cable you should be ok.
Click to expand...
I thought HDMI was digital and vga was analogue so any converters would have to be powered?
 
gavlar80 said:
I think that hdmi pins can map directly to vga
Click to expand...
Nope. You're thinking of DVI-A cables..... You can't get analogue out of HDMI without a convertor.
 
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