Does anyone have any experience with sourcing microdisplays? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Boscoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2023, 03:03:44 pm
content: Hi all,I'm looking for some advice, documentation or a little nugget of info from someone who has some experience sourcing microdisplays!Now, microdisplays seem to be stuck in that new technology lock where they are difficult to obtain, expensive and have obfuscated documentation.My application is a digital camera, I have pretty much everything else sorted such as image sensors etc. (which was also a PITA).I would like a single microdisplay with optics with a resolution above ~1024x800 and an FPS above 50Hz. I do have some Sony ECX334As with optics I bought from Alibaba as replacement parts and I have the main datasheet however the vital register descriptions are missing...I would like to use the SY103WAM01 display. They are amazing quality however the documentation is weak. For example, it has two MIPI ports but zero information on how data is used on each respective port, so I'm not going to risk developing for it...I'm looking for a source to get a reasonable display, strong documentation, optics and who will sell in low quantities for development without knowing my life story... not sure if this is possible.Any advice would be amazing!Thank you!

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2023, 10:35:49 pm
content: Quote from: Boscoe on April 20, 2023, 03:03:44 pmHighly unlikely, particularly if you also want ongoing supply/production (an issue even for people ordering 100k units). Lifetime buy, or deal with the poor supply and support from resellers.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2023, 01:22:09 am
content: Quote from: Boscoe on April 20, 2023, 03:03:44 pmIsn't it clear in the datasheet?QuoteSurely its in whatever standard MIPI format for 4 lane.

author: Boscoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2023, 08:09:49 am
content: Quote from: Someone on April 20, 2023, 10:35:49 pmThank you for the reply, I thought this might be the case

author: Boscoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2023, 08:11:41 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on April 21, 2023, 01:22:09 amSo not really. The display has two MIPI 4 lane ports for the extra needed bandwidth. There isn't anywhere in the datasheet that tells us where the pixels go for each port. Are they odd / even rows? Is it split vertically, horizontally? Are there any constraints between the two ports?

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2023, 11:43:13 am
content: Often resellers are able to supply obscure chinese data sheets and sometimes even sample code, maybe ask (again) or even ask other sellers?

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2023, 05:48:02 am
content: Ask the seller of the display for documentation.Even with normal mature technology LCD displays the documentation is often not just easily available on the open internet. Once you find the display controller IC partnumber (since LCD manufacturers don't make there own controller chips) you can find the datasheet for that chip. That's where the meat of the documentation comes from. The rest is just the LCD pinout and how to configure the controller for the display glass connected to it (usually you get an example init sequence)The problem is that the Chinese have a mindset where the only way to protect IP is to keep it secret, so they don't give out documentation without having a good reason for giving it to you. There is even a website where they 'trade' datasheets for profithttps://www.panelook.com/