IKAN 8000 HD LCD monitor

Have you seen this garage DIY focus monitor with real HD 720p (not poor 480p!) from Bruce Allen?!?
Panel size is 10.6", 1280x768.

http://www.boacinema.com/projects/lcd_monitor/
http://www.boacinema.com/projects/lcd_monitor/faq.htm

"Bare panel and controller is $450 right now plus shipping. No long-term warranty. No guarantee it won't catch on fire. It's a hobbyist project.

Current case is coming and will be very nice but unfortunately very expensive. Am working on a cheaper case alternative. But until then, the final price for the finished package might be around $750 or so (with AC adapter, hot-shoe mount adapter, threads for Noga arm, etc), plus shipping. Hopefully less but I don't want to promise anything.

Again, this is a hobbyist project."
 
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NO warranty and a chance to catch on fire. What that that tell you. RUN FORREST RUN.....
 
smithy said:
NO warranty and a chance to catch on fire. What that that tell you. RUN FORREST RUN.....
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yea, decision is on you :smile:

but mostly everything started like DIY stuff from scratch even your mouse and computer were at first boxed in flameable wood :violent5:
first_mouse_underneath_enge.jpg
Apple1.jpg
 
smithy said:
NO warranty and a chance to catch on fire. What that that tell you. RUN FORREST RUN.....
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Haha, I am just being honest because I hate marketing hype. I really don't think it has a chance of catching on fire. That is just my "if you plug it into the wrong AC adapter and it emits a spark or something that sets fire to your set or house" DO NOT SUE ME clause. And where did you get "NO" warranty from?!

Here's the quote:
"It'll have a 90 day or less warranty. I also can't guarantee that it won't explode and set fire to your set (although I am checking for this by leaving it on for long times and doing various scary things to it)."

I've already sold panels to people. I told them that if they didn't like it, they could have their money back and I would pay for shipping both ways. This policy may change with future customers but so far it works. I haven't had any returns, in fact one guy who ordered one liked it so much he immediately ordered another one.

Again, I am just being honest, not trying to pull some kind of scam. If you want someone that promises the moon, look for a company that actually has a marketing department ;)

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
Hey Bruce,
how far is this from being a "professional product", I know you call it a hobbyist project, but you also state you got some great response and obviously you are going to sell it to people right;o)?
I´m just worried about everday use and abuse in the field...
Also, how come you just come up with a solution that offers true 720p (well with some distortion...) and all the "big ones" still seem to offer low quality at a high price (excluding Marshall which most agree on as the only alternative sub 2K to the highend LCDs...) - I won´t accept "genius" as an answer here ;o)...
And do you have an electrical engenering background? (Or is it genius after all;o) )
Anyway, keep up the good work!
 
Yeah I'm interested in this - can you provide more pics of the case and connections and how the battery adapter attaches? I'd like to see the two different styles of cases. Nice work though, just may have to get one of these...
 
Spartacus said:
Hey Bruce,
how far is this from being a "professional product", I know you call it a hobbyist project, but you also state you got some great response and obviously you are going to sell it to people right;o)?
Click to expand...
I am a film professional working in Los Angeles. I designed this primarily for myself, so yes, it is for professional use ;) But I am not hugely interested in starting a business with this. I make a decent day rate doing what I do and I'd have to sell 1000+ panels a year to match that. Too much stress for too little return. Similarly, I don't want to get into huge liabilities with 3 year warranties, insurance, etc. Again, that takes the fun out of it for me.

I just thought I'd sell a bunch to other people because I put multiple 100s of hours into this project and also because certain things such as manufacturing runs go in orders of 10 or so. I know, I should have just gone and bought a Marshall, but it is too low-res, damn it!

Spartacus said:
I´m just worried about everday use and abuse in the field...
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Me too. The case will be made out of either steel or aluminum. I don't want to be laughed at on set and I don't want it to fall apart either ;)

Spartacus said:
Also, how come you just come up with a solution that offers true 720p (well with some distortion...) and all the "big ones" still seem to offer low quality at a high price (excluding Marshall which most agree on as the only alternative sub 2K to the highend LCDs...)
- I won´t accept "genius" as an answer here ;o)...
Click to expand...

Quick note: Marshall does not offer true 720p in a small form factor as far as I know. They count R, G, B as separate "pixels" with their "megapixel" monitors.

As to how I do a cheap 720p monitor: most monitor manufacturers spend vast amounts of money on a custom-programmed controller chip & circuit board for the panel. Problem is, then they don't have much money left to spend on getting a nice panel.

On the other hand, I use an existing controller chip & circuit board that is designed for HDTVs but coincidentally also drives the particular panel I have found. This is not easy to find - there are lots of complicated things related to timings, etc. If the controller board isn't perfectly matched, your picture will be offset, certain resolutions will not work, etc. But my setup works 100% - with HDMI, HD 1080i, 720p, NTSC, PAL etc. The controller I am using also has some fancy features such as aperture control, etc. I even discovered that is has R,G,B balance available via a factory menu.

Now, since I don't have to spend a ton of money developing a controller chip and circuit board, it means I have MUCH more money left over for the panel itself, so I can get a top-end panel.

Personally I think this is a much better way to do things.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
jdajda said:
Yeah I'm interested in this - can you provide more pics of the case and connections and how the battery adapter attaches? I'd like to see the two different styles of cases. Nice work though, just may have to get one of these...
Click to expand...

Thank you!

The case will have multiple 1/4"-20 mount points. I have a Noga arm and will make sure it works with such. I will also include a camera hot-shoe mount with the monitor, so you can stick it on top of your camera that way.

Battery is anything that can provide 12V DC +-0.5, approx 1500ma (maybe less?). I am currenly using a Tekkeon MyPower 3400 battery for testing (it can power many things including laptops, cellphones, as well as cameras), have not succeeded in running the monitor down in a single sitting yet. It lasts for hours.

One thing I didn't like about existing designs is that having the battery on the back of the monitor contributes to the overall weight and makes the whole camera top-heavy. I would rather keep the battery separate from the monitor so that you can mount the battery somewhere lower down and have a lightweight monitor on your monitor arm. But I will try to have screws, etc as an option in case you do want to mount a battery adapter to the back of the monitor.

I want to also make it an option to allow you to use Panasonic, Sony, etc. batteries. Problem is, the battery adapters (Nebtek, etc) cost $100 - for the same price you can buy yourself a pretty killer standalone battery pack. So it doesn't make much economic sense. Anyone want to point me towards a cheaper battery adapter?

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
I was looking at one of these things...the Ikan 8000. After looking at the specs and the price I opted for a JVC Production Monitor that had 750 Lines of Rez. HD monitor or not...800x480 is gonna look like crap. The JVC isn't as portable and its not HD but if you hook it up right I bet you'd get a much sharper picture to look at.

O...and its almost 200 bucks cheaper.

- Kyle
 
Anyone tried using a gold mount / Panasonic adapter (QR-DVX) with these monitors? The PowerTap should be easily modified to run any 12vDC monitors and might provide longer run times.

e
 
overlandfilms said:
Anyone tried using a gold mount / Panasonic adapter (QR-DVX) with these monitors? The PowerTap should be easily modified to run any 12vDC monitors and might provide longer run times.

e
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Are you talking about the $180 adapter?

I am confused. Why would you want to buy this when you can get a fancy lithium-polymer-based battery-and-charger-combo such as the Tekkeon MP-3400 for about $130 (eg less than the price of the battery adapter alone) that gives you many, many hours' run time, shows power status, has selectable regulated voltage, can power many other devices, etc?

I am just curious because I am designing my monitor case and it seems lots of people seem to want to the battery adapter route. I would sincerely appreciate insights on this!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
Bruce,

I'm not from the same camp as many of the other users here - we routinely mix up to 12 cameras on our shows and a good many of those are Varis or CineAltas fitted with Anton Bauer Gold Mounts.

Beyond the pure convenience of having the same batteries power all of our cameras, I'm looking for longer run-times. The Anton Bauer 14.4 Real Time battery system provides this in addition to giving the operator in the field a great deal more information on what's going on from a power management standpoint.

Also, AB Gold Mounts provide the inexpensive, industry-standard Power Tap for accessories. Why run multiple consumer batteries when I can run one larger, more accurate one?

That's my philosophy.

e
 
Overlandfilms, thank you very much - that totally makes sense. I want to make my monitor work nicely with Anton Bauer, V-mount etc. Now it is just higher priority than before ;)

Any more requests, let me know.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
The beauty of the PowerTap is that you don't really have to provide anything more than a short power cord from your board to the PowerTap plug. If you want to get really crazy, make it a really nice coiled one.

e
 
Am I the only one who cannot edit his posts after the server upgrade?

Anyway, because you're taking power from the camera, there's no need to provide a mount for the batts to your monitor back - though you could, I suppose.

e
 
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