The 49" TouchScreen TV

In the end of my previous build, I became aware of a IR based Touch Sensors. I wanted to get one of those to play with but never had the time. Last year when I bought a new TV, I specifically had the touch sensor in mind. 

These touch sensors are really LEDs and IR sensors in 2 pairs of strips. They are typically used in malls for interactive guides, etc. It even comes standard with USB interface. With the trade wall with China, I don't want to wait any longer. I ordered the sensor strips during the 11/11 Single's Day sale from AliExpress. The one I bought is branded "Xintai". If you search for "Xintai touch", you can find the company along with instruction to assemble the sensor. It costs me $122 shipped after discount. I was surprised it arrived my home within a week!

The strips are shipped in a PVC Tube and well packed so they don't shake around. The sensor strips is like LEDs strips, there are 3 corners (labeled A, B and D) that needs to be connected using ribbon cables, 1 corner (C) does not need to be connected because they are end points of 2 strips. I unpacked it and tried it out using a Windows 10 laptop. It worked instantly!

The touch sensor can be purchased with a glass screen but I figured it must be extremely expensive to ship a glass screen across the Pacific. And I am sure the glass will affect the image quality as well. My solution? Cheap TV! After confirming that the sensor works, I proceed to screw the sensor bars together to form a rectangle and attach it on to my 49" TCL 49S405 TV, which costed me about $300. 

The result is extremely well. The TV's bezel is almost identical to the touch sensor. I cut up 4 pieces of hook-and loop-stickers and attached them between touch frame and my TV. Besides those A/B/C/D stickers and the wire, I bet most people can't tell the touch frame is even there! I previously had concern that the frame may block the TV's IR sensor. Turns out it is not an issue.

From taking the sensor strip out of the tube to putting it on TV, it took me about an hour. The only issue I noticed is that somehow the touch experience is not very good with Windows 10 Modern (Metro) Apps, this includes the Tile Menu. However, in Desktop mode, it works surprisingly well.

Then, I decided to just hook my trusty MK809III Android TV to my TV and plug in the USB. To my surprise, the Kernel I built over 3 years ago had built in support to the touch sensor. I was up and running in no time.

The touch detection is also better than Windows 10 Modern Apps.

Overall, this whole experience sounded just kind of... boring! Everything just worked without incident. I cannot really complaint. The only issue so far is that because the Android Stick has really weak Wi-Fi antenna, putting it behind my TV essentially cuts the network off. I am sure this can be fixed using an HDMI extension cable. But I think I have had enough fun for the day!