Woojin slaps an 8.4-inch LCD on top of a 19-inch -- but why?

Here's an odd one: Woojin Inc. is showing off its new line of "Tenbuno" 19-inch LCDs that are normal in every regard... except for a random 8.4-inch "sub-screen" jutting out of the top. Yeah, weird, right? AVING, who spied this in the flesh, recommends a bit of home shopping TV up top, but we can't really make up our minds what we'd use that extra 8.4-inches of freedom for. Alls we know is that the boring old rectangular LCD on our desk just lost half its charm. Oh how you tease us, Woojin! As for specs, the 19-incher sports a 1280 x 1024 resolution, while the 8.4-incher hits 800 x 600 pixels. If up top ain't your style, the LCD can rotate so you can watch 8.4-inches of "Home Shopping Network" down below. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to see how far duct tape can get us in this direction.

[alex @ Nov 16th 2006 4:35PM]

http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/tom-hanks/breaking-poorly-executed-tom-hanks-death-rumor-you-hadnt-heard-is-untrue-215290.php

[delerious @ Nov 16th 2006 10:39AM]

BRILLIANT!

[Jonathan Keim @ Nov 16th 2006 10:40AM]

I think it's could be useful, I would love a little side display for watching my fast moving penny stocks

[kerunt @ Nov 16th 2006 10:40AM]

Great idea IMO.

There's always some small window that I want to keep on top, but don't have the space... iTunes... VLC... palettes from photoshop, etc...

Now if only they sold those small LCDs as SNAP-ONs for a reasonable price...

[GSP @ Nov 16th 2006 10:41AM]

Weird ... but cool.

[Beau @ Nov 16th 2006 10:44AM]

"Quaid, release your mind."

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 16th 2006 10:47AM]

Might make a good rear view for driving games or FPSs if they support that kind of thing.

[asher @ Nov 16th 2006 10:55AM]

palettes in photoshop and finalcut pro

[caitlin @ Nov 16th 2006 11:05AM]

sweet deal... i would love to have the extra space to separate the final graphic elements from the screen i'm designing on...

[soopergooman @ Nov 16th 2006 11:13AM]

I think it's a Great idea, now you can watch tv or a movie on either screen while continuing to surf the net. or you could have a video walkthrough of a game on the top screen and the game itself on the bottom, or say a status window in a game. Maybe even your RSS feeds streaming into the top one and your regular everyday activities on the main. I hop ethese come over to Canadian shores sometime soon. A must buy!

[Daan @ Nov 16th 2006 11:13AM]

Yeah, a permanent iCal screen, brilliant! Now.. if only is were a Cinema Display :)

[ramond @ Nov 16th 2006 11:16AM]

Amazing! Its annoying to watch tv shows when using visual studio, theres never a good place to put the always on top window. Never been a fan of side by side monitors, too much of a pain on the neck and the windows task bar doesnt deal with it well.

[alex @ Nov 16th 2006 11:17AM]

Yeah, I can think of a million uses for this. any news on price or availability? Of course not... =/

[Chris @ Nov 16th 2006 11:24AM]

This would be great for my iTunes or TV-in while I'm working on the large display. Or maybe even for placing an RSS aggregator widget so I see new feed posts in real-time.

[Ed Ciesielski @ Nov 16th 2006 11:36AM]

i think it's a great idea. So many uses

[Alex May @ Nov 16th 2006 11:39AM]

Great for video conferencing.

[Bernard @ Nov 16th 2006 11:50AM]

console output?

[Cameron @ Nov 16th 2006 11:52AM]

Palettes, ical, itunes, browser to test while working on the main screen...

I'm with kerunt, if someone would sell small monitors like this as an affordable add on, I'd be snapping one up straight away.

[BruceR @ Nov 16th 2006 11:53AM]

good for video conf or security cameras.

[kpluck @ Nov 16th 2006 12:05PM]

It is an interesting idea but poorly implemented. First, the secondary screen needs to be 1024x768. Second, you need to be able to mount it on the top, left or right of the main monitor to suit your desk area.

I am suprised we don't see more mini-screens for the desktop. No real reason it has to be part of your main monitor. An 8" to 10", slim bezel LCD with 1024x768 res would be useful.

[Joshua Sisson @ Nov 27th 2007 12:01PM]

Problem is, you can't get that high of a resolution at an affordable price on something that size. Minimum screen size you would want for that resolution would be a 15 inch monitor. To do what you want, you may as well just buy a whole secondary screen.

Their idea is practical, and I bet quite a few other companies have thought about it, but never even tried to implement it. I think they did quite a god job. Would be great for multi-tasking in like others said, photoshop or even programming.

[Eric Law @ Nov 16th 2006 12:06PM]

Boring.
Just use two displays....
If you want a video feed, use PiP (Picture in Picture).

Can see why someone would buy this over two displays...
how much cheaper could this be than just another, more useful, and universal display?

spend a few extra bucks for a less integrated solution.
-E

[markie @ Nov 16th 2006 12:18PM]

>but we can't really make up our minds what we'd use that extra 8.4-inches of freedom for.

>we're going to see how far duct tape can get us in this direction.

I've been using a PS One display as an extra display on my desk for a while now.

http://geektechnique.org/projects/img/munchengoodies-7.jpg

I use it mainly to watch TV through my Media Center. The interface of MCE (or anything like it) works wonders on such a tiny display. :-) So there you have it, tele seems a good option for the 2nd display and it's a brilliant way of checking out programs, if it's not interesting enough I keep working at my desk. If I somehow find myself watching something on the tiny screen for a certain amount of time, I can still decide to watch the rest of it on a proper screen :-)

...and about the duct tape, you could tape such a PS One display somewhere... euhm... if you would...

[Mr. B @ Nov 16th 2006 12:21PM]

As a dual monito user I think this is pretty cool, but it would be so much better if the peripheral display was on some sort of rotating boom so you could move is all around the 19 inch display.

[ajneuman @ Nov 16th 2006 12:23PM]

I think this would be very useful! I have 2 screens at work but only 1 at home and I can't quite convince the wife that we need 2 at home as well. This would be perfect for little widgets, a calendar, music players.

[icerabbit @ Nov 16th 2006 12:25PM]

I have a multi purpose 15" HDTV / PIP LCD above my 20" screen.

[Jeff @ Nov 16th 2006 12:28PM]

Am I the only one who thinks this concept would be vastly improved were the smaller screen a touch panel? Then it would make a lot more sense for palettes and such.

[Greg Evans @ Nov 16th 2006 12:40PM]

You all missed the opportunity - Windows Vista Sideshow specifically supports just such a creature - put all of your gadgets in the small screen - like stocks, news, weather etc... I can't wait to get my hands on one of these...

[Civisi @ Nov 16th 2006 7:44PM]

Vista SideShow was my first thought too. And I love the suggestion from Jeff - make it a touch panel!

I'm still using a 17" CRT, so that should tell you how soon I'll be buying one of these...

[tekdroid @ Nov 16th 2006 1:04PM]

I would have to agree with others that while the concept is good (a secondary, smaller monitor) the inflexible implementation (no flexible add-on for existing monitor) reduces any enthusiasm for the product.

It would be interesting to see how anyone that makes a small monitor add-on prices the LCD. It *should* be cheaper than the main LCD/monitor, one would hope :)

[Dave @ Nov 16th 2006 1:31PM]

I'd use it for the timeline window in Flash, but I'm already rocking a Cintiq!

[Miguel @ Nov 16th 2006 1:31PM]

All I can say is this is an awesome idea. P2Ptv is huge in Asia and most of the rest of the world except the U.S., this would be awesome to have PPLive/PPStream/SopCast/etc. running on the top screen as you work on the lower screen.

[Brandon West @ Nov 16th 2006 1:36PM]

A decent idea, but I agree with Eric Law. The whole reason I switched to LCDs from CRTs was so I could fit multiple displays on my desk. If having 2 19" LCD displays on your desk isn't your bag, then get something like http://www.xenarc.com/product/index-monitor.html . At least then you can position it wherever you want and use it for a much wider variety of applications, take it with you easily, etc.

[Case Boyle @ Nov 16th 2006 5:03PM]

Did anyone ever think that this could be used for Windows Vista's sideshow feature...?

Cool monitor. Looks a bit weird though.

[Ross @ Nov 16th 2006 8:08PM]

Duh, it's for your chat windows while you game fullscreen.

[James @ Nov 17th 2006 6:39AM]

I kind of agree with Eric Law - two nice sized, large displays would be best but I use Pro Tools in my project studio and it would be great to have that little monitor on the bottom for quick glances at the mixer channels while working on the edit window in the main screen.

Worth it if not too expensive. Otherwise it's just a bit gimmicky. 6/5

[Henry @ Feb 19th 2007 3:14PM]

I spent some time with this monitor, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It does look a little gimmicky, but it really enhanced my computer time.
http://hallyutech.blogspot.com/2007/02/woojin-wj-1984tw-dual-lcd-monitor-aka.html