changeip

its the weekend and short on time, but figured id post a quicky here.

the xenarc i have looks different, its the 5 wire w/ a different panel it looks like. The one pictured above looks like the lilliput 701 almost - i think they used the same panels, ribbon cables, etc

this xenarc has 3-4 films - i believe they are bef and dbef, but i dont know exactly which yet. xenarc told me the panel mfg won't specify for obvious reasons. looking at them makes me think they are bef.

if you hold up the bef and look thru it you can definately tell which is the right way. One way you can see thru from a few inches away, the other just reflects everything back. Put the see thru side so you will be seeing thru it.

i will post the quick video i did on monday most likely - nothing spectacular as far as teh process, almost exactly like above but showing the newer style board / panel. the new models definately have a different housing with specific room for film - probably how they got the extra brightness.

my truck is in the shop, melted alternator, so i can't test this new xenarc in the truck / sun yet. the upgrade totally helped the lilliput, but i suspect this xenarc is comparable out of the box... will know more when my truck is back tuesday and i can compare them.

i dont know if they used befII 90/50, 90/24, etc ... there's about 5 flavors out there.

i received 50 sheets of BEFII 90/50, 17x17. If anyone is interested look for an ebay listing here shortly.

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Phatsacks

thanks changeip/2k1Toaster/Sonic

This is really helping me to determine if it's a worthy DIY project, and then, which to buy period, the lilliput or the Xenarc.

Snortonnorton

will there be a how-to-thread on installing this on a 629 or 619?

how difficult will it be to apply this?

2k1Toaster

the how to is as described above.

And it is not as much difficult as it is scary.

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antimatter

I am very interested in hearing and seeing more results and reviews

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-Jesus- King of Kings Lord of Lords

2k1Toaster

Ok, well not the results I expected. I will be flipping the BEFII tonight because I might have put it in upside down.

It seems more readable, but nowhere near the first pics, and not even close the transflective I saw. This leads me to believe I did put them in upside down. Oh well.

I am going to get some lunch and then tqake a photo for you. I am also using the BMV2 skin, so it is really dark to begin with. The white however shows up brilliantly.

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Homebrew

You don't mean upside down as in rotated 180 degrees do you? You mean flipped over right? The reason I ask is that nothing I've read has led me to believe that the film being rotated 180 degrees would change anything. Rotating it 90 degrees would change the optimal viewing angle(going from better up/down viewability to better side/side viewability), but 180 would bring you right back to where you were. Just curious.

-Kevin

2k1Toaster

No I mean upside down, as in the prism side is facing towards the backlight.

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Homebrew

Ok, thats what I thought you meant, but figured I'd check. Question for everyone thats worked with this stuff now. The BEF-II when held to a light source, looks different depending on which side is facing out. With my DBEF-E 0 degree, I noticed no such difference. To the naked eye, I could see no difference in the DBEF-E when flipped over. Just wondering if those with the DBEF-E 45 degree notice a difference depending on which side faces out.

Hopefully you get better results this time. If you do, then maybe that's my problem. Mine seemed a little brighter, but sunlight readability didn't seem much improved, unlike the pic that changeip posted.

-Kevin

Homebrew

Well after some further reading I may have found at least part of my problem. The DBEF-E install guide says that the DBEF-E should have it's transmission axis parallel to the first(bottom most) sheet of BEF-II. The way it currently works out, I have it parallel to the second(top most) sheet of BEF-II. Here's what I mean:



The lines in the boxes represent the transmission angles of each sheet. You can see how I currently have it and how it should be. Now I either swap the sheets of BEFII(which I'd rather not do because then the side/side viewing angle will be affected) or cut a new piece of DBEF-E. Thats what I get for not paying more attention.

-Kevin

antimatter

I hope you get the results you are looking for. Keep us updated

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-Jesus- King of Kings Lord of Lords

Homebrew

I haven't made any changes yet, as I spent most of the day working on repairs to my bezel and re-optimizing my system. I'm also hoping to hear some other people's results. While I don't think any real damage is being done, I don't want to keep disassembling the lcd/backlight unnecessarily.

PhatMo

i just got my films in on friday and the results are amazing. I can use the night skin in the day if I want and I can still read the screen fine. I will get pics when I get hold of a camera. I cut the films without rotating them (notches in the top right). I forgot to put the original diffuser film back in though, so I have to go back in tomorrow.

Homebrew

PhatMO: How new is your Xenarc? Does it have a different LCD assembly than what I have pictured in my previous post. Also, was your install procedure like what I posted or did you do anything differently? Also what films do you have applied? Did you use one or multiple sheets of BEF-II? Did you end up using any of ARMR-200?

In the future, those who try this, if you would post up you're combination, we can all compare notes and find out what is working, what isn't. Things that are useful to post:

1. Make and Model of screen
2. Approximate age of screen: So we can try to nail down differences between older
and newer screens.
3. Where there any similar films already installed on the screen.
4. What films you used.
5. How many of each film you used.
6. The order in which you installed the films starting from the backlight.
7. Anything you think is wrong with the install procedures we've mentioned thus far.
8. Summary of the results
9. Any pics you have of the procedure or results.

After we've had a number of people try this out, we should be able to determine what works best on what screens. If this works out well and catches on, this thread we'll be flooded with questions. If this info is posted, we can hopefully minimize the questions.

-Kevin

PhatMo

Hey guys--

I didn't end up using the ARMR-200 because it was too small for the screen. I will probably pick up another sheet of it because it did make a noticable difference when used on its own.


Here is some more info...

1. I have a Xenarc 700TSV 5-wire resistive.

2. About 1.5 years old. Looks just like the other pictures posted.

3. I had 2 films already in the screen plus a diffuser sheet (making 3 total)The diffuser sheet should have been left in the screen but I accidently left it out. I will have to go back in to put that film back in. As far as the other 2 films, I didnt analyze them, I just pulled them out and put them aside.

4. I used the following films with the notches in the top right corner when cut:
BEF III 90/50-T
DBEF II 45 Degrees
ESR

5. I used one of each film. I did not want to restrict visibility of the screen in the vertical direction with the BEF because my screen is placed pretty low on my dash. I replaced the white sheet behind the diffusing glass of the CCFLs with the ESR. The other two were installed just as the directions stated.

6. I forget the order right now because I dont have the directions with me, but I will edit this later.

7. I do notice one thing wrong, but check my next post for details

8. Visibility was improved so much that I dont have to struggle at all to read the screen in the daylight. I am currently using the night skin of centrafuse and I still have no problem reading it.


9. Its gunna take me a little longer to get some pics up.

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