Sonar VGA and flat screen

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nookiechinookie

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Greetings, I am wondering if anyone has hooked up a sonar/GPS unit that is under 1500 bucks to a video input for a regular TV? It would be great if companies would provide a video output, but I guess that may cut into sales for units with larger screens.
 
Some of the units have a computer output, such as SVGA--but I am not aware of any which have a video output. The SVGA would be a better resolution. I doubt if it would cut into sales, since the units with the computer outputs are higher end units to begin with. I suspect that with a little hacking (and voiding the warantee) you can get a compatible output from most units.
 
I think the term video out as we know it is going away in the next few years, since the output of most new video devices, DVD players, satellite and cable boxes, and game consoles, is going to be HDMI or possibly SVGA. Most of the high end chart plotters I've looked at with the large displays have a video in (SVGA) but no video out (SVGA). They move the "video" to a second multifunction display through a data network.

When it comes to big screen displays in boats, you can use a cheap notebook and be your own system integrator, or you can use $$$.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have thought about the notebook approach. Do you have a suggestion for a brand that is reasonably priced,does radar/sonar, and can be interfaced with a notebook?
 
Notebooks come in a wide range. I spent about $1K on a Dell Tablet PC with a 12 inch touch screen. HP has a tablet PC for less. It fits nicely in a RAM mount at the helm. I don't know of any affordable PC based packages that do sonar. I could add radar to my Coastal Explorer system, but already have a separate radar so don't see the need for the expense. I do send depth information to Coastal Explorer from my Lowrance Sounder/Chart Plotter. I leave the Lowrance in the Fish find mode.

I am not sure what the advantage of overlaying the sounder on the chart plotter is. Unless you buy a really expensive 3d sonar, the amount of data available from sounders to overlay is limited. You might be thinking of the 3D chart rendering done by some systems where you get a 3D view of the land, water, and bottom. I don't think the sounder directly contributes to that.
 
I am less concerned about the notebook and more about the image being projected on a large screen. So, what I really would like to do is get a small flatscreen TV or monitor that is hooked up to the sonar. I was just curious if you knew of any units that allow this kind of interface. I could jerry rig something as Bob suggested, but this seems like something units should offer. It is commonly done on commercial vessels, but those units are 5 grand and up. In fact I know of one vessel that has a 47 inch TV in the stateroom tied into the sonar.
 
Curious--why do you want such a large blow up of the fish finder? I have always found that 5" to 7" was plenty. Sure the commercial boats use larger screens. The true scanning sonars cost upward of $50,000, with a retractable dome etc.

When you say "TV"--remember than many of the new flat screen high def televisions have a PC (SVGA) input as well as component and HDMI inputs.
 
It's fairly common for folks up here wanting a larger screen to make it easier to see structure, bait, and target species. I do some personal use longline and crab fishing, so it would just be a luxury. It would also be nice to be able to have multiple screens without installing an additional unit. I talked with a few charter operators up here and they actually have used the following Interphase se 200 unit: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sku=299968

There are variety of commercial units in the 5-10 grand range that do have the option for a tv hookup. I do not need the 360 view that you get with a retractable dome.

The problem with the interphase unit is that it has a thru hull transducer, which I am not crazy about. The other problem is moisture, which I think maybe a serious problem with the whole flat screen idea.

I've also go a an Aqua view fish cam that could be ran through the same screen, which would just fold up above the dinette table.
 
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