Thread: Real World Perspective

What you see are the complaints. When something is working correctly, people don't have anything to say.

Judging from the number of complaints, I'd say that the Lilliput quality is lower, because there are more complaints. Newer models are less prone to failure. There are also external factors that could lead to a unit failure such as shipping damage, user damage (especially in a custom fabricated situation where the unit has to be disassembled), etc.

So it's tough to judge. If you're going to purchase an LCD, I'd recommend using a reseller that's going to fully test and stand behind the product. That would include mp3car.com and DigitalWW int he US. There are other suppliers as well, but I mention those because of their obvious and overwhelming support of this hobby and community.

And for what it's worth, this is my 3,000th post. Yay?

For what its worth:

I started of with a trident 6.4 vga touchscreen kit.
This is a top-end bit of kit (u.k. retail price of £600 / $800-$900)
The picture is mindblowing, and it will run flawlessly for ever and adjust to ANY input.

Problem is the kit part. I got 1 tft, a backlight controler, a vga board, an inverter, a video interface, a touchscreen controler board and the touchscreen glass overlay.
I never worked out how to put it all together and fit it all in the car so i am saving it for a HTPC project.

Next i got a cheap no-name 7" display from ebay. This was £120 inc.
The picture was ok when looking at frodo with the rex skin, better at night but got some sort of scaling (dark grey lines cycling around) over any black areas of background. looking at the windows desktop was pretty poor (800x600) and the map on my nav software was unreadable (road names) when you zoomed out.
Quality (of the plastic at least) seemed ok for the price, only thing was the mounting bracket, it moved on a ball type thing with a ring around it that you screw tight to lock in place, after about 10 mins driving it would come lose and the screen would drop down. i did this up so tight it cracked after a week and i used glass resin to stick it in place. In sunlight i was unreadable so i gave it to a mate who fitted it at the end of his bath for watching tv. it died 3 weeks later, dont know if he ever worked out why!

I have now got a xenarc 700idt in dash vga. After reading up on this site and others this seems to be top-dog of in-car tft at the moment.

The picture is pretty good and it is fairly well built but the finish is way off that of the alpine and kenwood screens. You can see loads of steel from the mechanics when its open, when shut the screen wont sit square, the paint is all scratched on the back from opening and shutting it and the xenarc badge fell off and is still rattling around inside.
I have only used it for 4 weeks and the touchscreen has had to be re-calibrated 3 times. This could be to do with my pc but i have a fealing that the glass is loose (they had problems with it cracking and maybe they have slackened it off a bit?) and is moving around.

Also, The auto switching for a rear view cam will only work in av mode. it will not switch over if on the pc imput so thats no use whatsoever.

The in-built speaker is not in-built.
There is a phono socket on the loom marked audio in, a grill on the back of the screen, refrences in the manual and even volume buttons and on-screen volume bar. They just havent fitted a speaker!

The main problem was that it is not true din size. ok, the unit might be but the 2" plug that connects to the back of it ment i had to cut a hole in my AC ducting then remould it in glass.
You also fit the cage then put 4 bolts through it into the sides of the unit. It is not possible to do this without removing the whole dash from the car so xenarc have made the unit over size by 2mm allround so you fit it with a sledgehammer and forget the screws.

The next main problem is the fact it is compleatly invisible to the naked eye in any form of light above dull moonlight.
It is winter here and i spent last weekend removing the light smoke tint from my windows and i fitted limo black to the rear and dark smoke to the front.
It has made no diffrence.
The screen is low down and unless the sun is right in your face (so you are looking at the road not the screen anyway) it can be real hard to make out anything. If the sun is behind you, forget it.

Also, this cost me £390 with shipping and tax.
I am not having a go at this screen, just unsure how much real-world testing xenerc have done with it!

After talking to the few others i know with fitted pc's i am not alone.
The sunlight issue is the biggest. Go to a car pc meet and at lunch everybody starts the cars up and turns them round!
Also, i dont personly know anybody who has had one die (apart from 1 in a bathroom) or suffer from dead pixles or screen burn.

I think the tft panels themselves (mostly from panasonic) are good.
The touchscreen glass is also very good now.
The price you pay will determin how well it is all put together.
The problem as i see it is that companies like xenerc just dont have access to the hi tec molding etc that alpine and the like do.
My 700idt could have been made from an adult version of a construction kit!

Once/if the car pc thing takes off and the big names get on board prices will go through the floor and the quality will go through the roof.

That will be the time to buy a screen.

Darque first congrats on the 3000th post. That really is a milestone.

And you are right on target about the factors that determine the reliablity of each display installation. I also agree with trying to purchase from someone who supports the hobby. I am a big believer in when ever possible supporting my local reseller when doing business. I don't mind paying a few dollars more if I know it help will keep them in business.

hotponyshoes I think your experience is typicial of what I have seen from others. Because this is my first attempt at a car pc I would like to try to get into this on a budget. This way if I can get my feet wet and see if I like have a pc in the car. So like most of us we want the best value for the money.

I also agree about the future pricing and quality. It amazes me at what they charge for a 7" LCD vga monitor. Now days you can buy a 19" cheaper than a 12 volt 7" monitor.

Not sure if this is the right way to go but I think that investing in the best monitor I can afford is the way to go. And if I am going to try to save some money it would be in area of the PC. I can always put together a pc using existing gear and upgrade it later to a micro itx.

Right now because Xanarc is offering an 18 month warranty I am leaning in that direction.

Lee

Originally Posted by LeeL

Darque first congrats on the 3000th post. That really is a milestone.

Meh. It's just postcount. It really doesn't mean anything more than I talk a lot and type quickly.

And you are right on target about the factors that determine the reliablity of each display installation. I also agree with trying to purchase from someone who supports the hobby. I am a big believer in when ever possible supporting my local reseller when doing business. I don't mind paying a few dollars more if I know it help will keep them in business.

Right now because Xanarc is offering an 18 month warranty I am leaning in that direction.

Also remember that the mp3car.com store offers a NO DEAD PIXEL GUARANTEE. I dont know of any other reseller that offers that much support of their products. In my mind, that's pretty damn significant.

DarquePervert I am not as concerned about dead pixels as I am about a dead display. )

What is the warranty/repair for the Lilliput ?

Lee

I don't know.
Contact Lilliput and ask them.

Building a PC and putting it in your car is completely experimental. You often have to void the warranty on the display to install it, and the installed life of one of these screens is basically unknown. Some people have had good luck with them and others have not.

Don't do it if you are going to be really upset if the display quits.

my lilliput has been working fine for over a year and i dont think id get n e thing else :-)