Matrix Orbital Corp

Is the display supposed to stay powered on after my PC shuts down? The screen shows "display is idle" until I turn my PC on again.

My only issue is that the display functions as a night-light in my room while I'm trying to sleep. Maybe in a future firmware update, the backlight could turn off after 10min at idle.

Ya, we know about this and it's on the list of things to do....

In my experience, this happened on the previous Matrix Orbital (my MX2, MX5, and MX6) units whenever your particular motherboard kept power to the 5V line on the USB.

With LCDC I would just tell it to turn the backlight Off on Shutdown.

I am confident we will get Color and Backlight control in LCDStudio sometime in the near future.

On the MX units it was more of a hardware issue, on the GX it's a firmware fix.

I am nearing the end of my mod that includes the GX, and I have it connected to an internal USB header. Therefore I will be unable to power off the unit when my PC will shut down (I've seen it remain powered while testing).

It's not a huge problem, and it actually adds for some interesting options in the future. Still, I do have some questions regarding this:

1. Is the GX (I have the blue & white version) susceptible to burn-in? Can I leave the same bitmap up on during the nights and all throughout the weekend, or will this hurt the unit?
2. I haven't tried it yet, and this is more of a question for Ray: when I change the backlight through the DriverCore, then end the session and connection and shut down my PC, will the unit retain its backlight value until I change it again?

Thanks!

cipher_nemo wrote:

1. Is the GX (I have the blue & white version) susceptible to burn-in? Can I leave the same bitmap up on during the nights and all throughout the weekend, or will this hurt the unit?

Thanks!

No, there is no burn in on these units.

Awesome. I think I'll leave mine on then, with some sort of bitmap that mentions the PC's security system is active. The PC will be at my workplace, so I do have to use locking screws and lock it down to the wall for peace of mind. We have many interns in and out of my area when I'm not around. So for me, it will actually be fun to have it on all the time.

On that note, do you guys have an estimated number of hours for the MTBF stat? Thanks!

Hey,

MTBF, this is not a number we supply. For us it is very subjective.

We live by the half life of the weakess part of the LCD display which is 100,000 hours for the backlight.

Thanks!
Clare

Thanks, Clare.

Wow!

Leaving one of these units on 24/7 for 10 years still wouldn't reach 100,000 hours. By that time, your newest LCDs will be at monitor resolutions, but small enough to fit in a 5.25" bay, lol.

Hummm, as I was thinking more about this, 100,000 hours is the half life for the yellow/green backlight however, it may be lower for the tri-color backlight.

A white LED backlight has a half life of 20,000 hours. The tri-color backlight has a red, green and blue LED backlight so it is hard to say which half life applies.

Either way, those are the numbers I have that you can use a reference.

Thanks!
Clare

Thanks. I have the blue and white display, so I assume my LEDs are blue, white, or both?

Ya your display would have a white LED so go with 20,000 hours as the half life.

cipher_nemo wrote:2. I haven't tried it yet, and this is more of a question for Ray: when I change the backlight through the DriverCore, then end the session and connection and shut down my PC, will the unit retain its backlight value until I change it again?

I was able to answer my own question while testing it. This is just an FYI for anyone wanting to know who found this thread:

With the backlight set through the DriverCore by LCD Studio or your own code, the DriverCore will not reset the backlight when LCD Studio or your own code breaks connection (fortunately). Even when the DriverCore service is restarted (ie: PC reboots into Windows), the backlight value is not changed again until LCD Studio, your own code, or the LCD Defaults utility changes it.

Again not in it yet, but any new session should start with the default backlight values set by the defaults utility.