Noob question regarding a camera to LCD display interface

[slow_brain_at_play]

Noob as in not only new to the forum, but also new to digital signal processing.

Here's what I'm trying to do. I want to make a camera / LCD display combination to be used as a video microscope type of setup.

You know those hand held borescopes that come with a built in LCD display? Like these:

borescope lcd - Google Search

Like that but not a borescope and not that small of a LCD. The LCD needs to be between 7 to 11 inches. Also, I don't want to use an analog camera sensor, rather I'd like to use a digital camera censor of some kind so I can obtain the best image quality.

I don't want a single board computer or microcontroller or anything like that for the interface since all I need is a high quality live feed from the camera to the LCD display panel. Although, I wouldn't rule this out entirely.

The reason I'm bothering you guys is the world is too saturated with key words like LCD, camera, interface and so forth, making the signal to noise ratio way low when doing searches. Although I did manage to find these Epson camera to LCD interface options here:

**broken link removed**

Yet, since I'm too much of a noob in this area, even with the evaluation boards available for these chips I think I'd have a difficult time getting something to work. Therefore, I'm looking more for a plug and play type of option that can cover the aforementioned criteria. Or, at the very least other options similar to the options provided by Epson.

I know you guys KNOW SOMETHING, cuz I keep seeing your forum pop up in my searches! HAHAHA! =D

Any kind of advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated. =)

 

[slow_brain_at_play]

Disregard my above post since I realize that I am going to need a microcontroller of some type. Here is a note I have just sent to Atmel product selection support:

Hi,

I would like to design a video microscope device.

Wherein a camera sensor is connected to a LCD panel through a microcontroller of some type.

The handheld borescopes on the market with built in LCD panels are an example of what I need to design, though the camera sensor would not be of borescope size, rather, the camera sensor would be in the 1/3” to 1/2” size.

Here are the criterions for the design:

LCD panel, that is around 8 inches diagonal with a resolution of around 800x600 at 8 to 10 bits. Touchscreen controls are not needed, but not excluded.
Camera, preferably digital, that can provide image data resolution of a least 800x600 at 20 to 30 frames per second at around 8 to 10 bits.
Microcontroller or SBC that can take input from the cameras live video and output it to the LCD panel.
Rudimentary control such as perhaps controlling two stepper motors or servo motors for zoom and focus.
It will NOT run on battery power.
No need to record or take snapshots of frames.
No need for a computer interface.

And that’s it!

I have nearly zero programming ability! So an easy to use microcontroller would be best for me, if possible. A few years ago there was a microcontroller on the market called oopic which could be programed in visual basic, that’s about about my level when it comes to microcontrollers.

I would most likely buy whatever starter kits you may recommend and install those directly into the product since the markup would be high enough to do that.

Let me know if you have any ideas.

All the best,
James

So if you guys have anything to add based on the above please let me know. =)

 

[yoramgr]

A microprocessor may be good for initializing the camera and LCD, control the motors, and take care of the user interface (control buttons?), but the video itself should be transferred from the camera to the LCD by hardware (in between them, some interface logic / LCD controller may be needed). The microprocessor cannot read the camera pixel by pixel and write them to the LCD - not practical in terms of bandwidth.
I assume you mean color camera and display, so it is probably 8 bit be color component (R, G, B) = 3 bytes per pixel.
600 x 800 x 25 x 3 = 36,000,000 bytes/Second
multiply it by 2 (read operation and write operation), that's 72,000,000 operations per second.
Each read/write operation takes several CPU clock cycles.

Not an easy projects, I don't see too many shortcut options.

Maybe there is a camera with RGB analog output, which can be connected to a PC type of LCD monitor (there are commercial 8 inch LCD monitor), which basically has RGB analog input. Some interface circuit may be needed (sync signals?)

 

[slow_brain_at_play]

OK! That's a big help!

So I'll try to look for an RGB analog camera then. Thanks for the input! =D