Cutting down on glare w/ a circular polarizer

**netchris** · 03-06-2007, 01:33 AM

The most glare comes from the surface of the touchscreen so for the circular polarizer to cut down on the most glare it will have to be on the top of the touchscreen's surface. (so your finger will be touching the polarizer)

Originally Posted by Motorcity

Having this film applied directly on top will create a larger surface area that receives the touch, since the adhesive will bond the touch sensor more closely and not allow for as much free movement. So if you touch a point now, the touched area is the diameter of your finger tip. With the film added, the touch area becomes the size of a quarter, or even a half dollar.

While it's true that the 'sensed' touch will be larger than without the polarizer applied, it's totally dependent on the stiffness of the polarizer. It's a pretty bold statement to go ahead and say exactly how big the size of the sensed touch is going to be, if it's even significantly larger. From what I know about polarizers.. they aren't that stiff. From what I know about touchscreens, they work best when used with a fingernail, so even if the sensed touch size was 10x bigger than the surface area of your fingernail on the screen, It'll still be pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by Motorcity

Yes, it might actually work.

There's the attitude to have!

Honestly though, RickS bought a sheet and anything we say until we hear back from him is just pointless speculation. He's going to test it out and give us the REAL verdict on whether this is a viable option or not.

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

well it was 2 parts something, I just figured glass.

But why would it not work on the bottom side? If you keep it facing the same way, basically the adhesive side would not be stuck, as long as it is between you and the lcd, it should be fine right?

You could just get the polarizer without the adhesive..

**Motorcity** · 03-06-2007, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by netchris

The most glare comes from the surface of the touchscreen so for the circular polarizer to cut down on the most glare it will have to be on the top of the touchscreen's surface. (so your finger will be touching the polarizer)
While it's true that the 'sensed' touch will be larger than without the polarizer applied, it's totally dependent on the stiffness of the polarizer. It's a pretty bold statement to go ahead and say exactly how big the size of the sensed touch is going to be, if it's even significantly larger. From what I know about polarizers.. they aren't that stiff. From what I know about touchscreens, they work best when used with a fingernail, so even if the sensed touch size was 10x bigger than the surface area of your fingernail on the screen, It'll still be pretty accurate.

You could just get the polarizer without the adhesive..

I was refering to the fact that the adhesive itself would be the largest contributing factor as to the increase of the "touch" area. It doesn't matter if the polarizer film is very flexable. The fact is that once applied to the touch panels' surface, The touch sensor and polarizer become bonded as one, and the flexibility of both will be reduced. Maybe not as dramatic as I mentioned, but you get the idea. Like you said, all speculation at this point. Hope to read more after a real world application and testing is performed.

**parksgm** · 03-06-2007, 02:08 AM

Interested. And subscribed.

**netchris** · 03-08-2007, 04:38 PM

Well I don't have a circular polarizer (yet) but I tried placing a sheet of printer paper over my touchscreen and it still felt my touch just fine through the paper.

**RickS** · 03-08-2007, 06:12 PM

Got the film yesterday but it was overcast. Wife's b-day today so nothing tonight either. Will have time tomorrow and it's supposed to be sunny. The film is a little heavier and has a bit more tint than I expected but the proof will be when I get it applied.

I decided on the adhesive because it needs to be held in somehow (though you could sandwich it between the TS and the bezel) and I've used screen protectors on my PDAs for years with no effect on the TS capability.

Will post pics tomorrow...

**sdat1333** · 03-08-2007, 07:40 PM

I sure hope this works. If it works even moderately well, this will be a huge benefit for me.

**john1701** · 03-08-2007, 10:06 PM

same here. I tried the photodon stuff, that dint work.

**RickS** · 03-09-2007, 04:30 PM

As expected (even though I had hoped differently), the polarizer doesn't do a whole lot (it definitely doesn't hurt). Here's a comparison pic I just snapped. I didn't have a ton of time so I didn't get all of the bubbles pressed out of the film. The good news is the adhesive isn't so sticky that you can't get it off and it didn't seem to affect the touchscreen at at all. I will probably stick it on a screen that's not in the car where I can push the bubbles out better and install that later.

**sebberry** · 03-09-2007, 04:48 PM

Actually, it looks like it does a good job of reducing glare. I have a big sunroof and most of the sunroof is reflected off the screen directly into my eye, so it really hurts/blinds me when the sun is out...

**netchris** · 03-09-2007, 04:53 PM

Ohh, definitely an improvement! Might be even better after some gamma/color/brightness adjustments in the carputer since the film seems to darken the image a bit and give it kind of a color cast.

Technically your contrast ratio should increase w/ the addition of this polarizer too. I'm pretty sure about that anyway.

[edit]
Try running Monitor Calibration Wizard on your carPC and see if it helps the image any. I think it will.. (it definitely helped on my Xenarc and thats w/o the polarizer!)