Mystery multimedia panels

Feb 07, 2010 2 Replies

Hi,



I rescued a pair of multimedia (audio + video) "picture frames". Handles CF, MS, MMC and SD cards.



Typical of most chinese products, no "identifying marks" on the cases (model number, etc.). But, when powered up, a stylized "fR DMP" appears in the upper right corner.



Also as typical of chinese products, the user interface is pretty poorly thought out -- i.e., it exposes the file system on the card directly to the user (instead of being smart enough to scan it and present *media* choices to the user, instead).



While there are half a dozen (or more?) buttons on the rear, these do little besides change volume, on/off, etc. I.e., you can invoke the "system menu" but can't *do* anything with it!



It appears that the user interacts via an Ir remote -- which, of course, is dutifully missing! :>



I'd like to find out what they *can* do before repurposing them (their small size and audio makes them good candidates for dedicated home automation interfaces).



Anyone seen this *particular* beast before? Google hasn't turned up any suspects. Even a visual serach of google images has been fruitless.



I'd like to salvage something from them as recycling perfectly working devices really is "painful" :-/



Thanks!



--don


...

Tell me. I've got an original Ceiva frame that I'd like to do something with but AFAIK the only hack that's doable involves Linux and a no-longer-available custom serial board add-on.

Mark L. Fergerson

Yeah, I've got a Ceiva 3 in the garage that is a fallback (smaller, not quite as nice as these "fr dmp" gizmos). I'd have to repackage it as it really isn't suited to wall mounting.

I think the Ceiva 3 is relatively simple to hack -- is the serial board you talk about just a MAX232-ish thing? (e.g., level Xlate) I think that is the case with the Ceiva 3...

IIRC, the Ceiva 3 is only about 6W which was my reason for salvaging *that* one. (these other ones are a bit more but I can cut out portions that are not needed)

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