Paracelsus

OK...

so, I am pretty much all set for my setup. Just the display is giving me worries and I can't decide on anything really.

I have a Double-DIN slot available, yet the opening in the console is slightly larger (193x115mm or 7.5"x4.5"). I want to use the console real estate es efficiently as possible. So, a 8" would be feasible. However, I would have to build my own mount and bezel to integrate with the car and mod the hell out of that thing to make it work.and look decently, and I think that is beyond my scope of skills (yet, might be a later project, maybe if I can score a defective 8" widescreen for testing and training)

So it looks like I might just have to settle for a 7" that is premodded and mounted to a DDIN-Frame already for easy of installation. I was pretty much settled for one of those pre-fabbed Lilliputs until I read about the failure rate of those displays... Now I am bugeying a Xenarc, but that sorta throws me back to the "heavy modding" path to make my own frame mount for the display. Why is no one selling the seemingly superior Xenarc in pre-fabbed DDIN? Or has the quality of the Lilliputs picked up decently in the past years? They still have a ****ty contrast/brigtness compared to Xenarcs, no?

Also, is the pre-fabbed Lilliput DDIN product EXACTLY DDIN dimension on the front plate? So that I could just put on a facia plate suitable for my car from any other manufacturer (like Pioneer) and it would look decent? Or are there deviations from the DDIN size?

So, before I start to ramble off I'll hit the submit button and hope to receive some answers to the bolded questions....

2k1Toaster

Lilliputs do not fail willy nilly. User error.

Insides are just like xenarcs. Only difference is one is US made supposedly but I doubt it (probably made in china "assembled" in the US) and one is 100% chinese fabbed and assembled.

The brightness/contrast of xenarc vs. lilliput is negligable too. Every monitor that xenarc sells has a lilliput counterpart with the same specs pretty much. Also it wont really matter what the gagillion nit sun hits it unless it is transflective ($$$) or aircraft grade ($$$$$).

Lilliput does not sell a double din screen so I dont know what you are talking about. If the screen is 7" it is NOT a double din compatible screen. Very very close, but you will need to make it look good.

Only double din screens are the DWW6500 which is a 6.5" screen (perfect double din size) with a built in slot load DVD player over USB, or the Panda unit which is a 6.5" screen too but looks like it came out of an early 80's timewarp.

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Paracelsus

Wow. That is a lot of user error. Or do you think this graph (taken from this thread) is skewed for some reason?

Or have the Lilliputs improved in reliability since that thread was made?

Cause, I mean they are the cheapest (and "you get what you pay for" holds true more often than not, sadly...) and it seems that replacement touchpanels are in such high demand that store.mp3car sells them in their regular portfolio. I have not seen replacement touchpanels offered for Xenarcs, although I have read that they are available from the manufacturer. So, demand must be low, and this had me assume that they are of a more solid quality / come with less flaws...


Well, I was of course talking about this: http://store.mp3car.com/Subaru_WRX_b..._p/dsh-013.htm

Ready to mount in a dDIN-Slot, widest part of the entire shebang is 7" (which is exacly DIN specs AFAIK), with the (visible) screen portion of course a little bit smaller. And that loss of real estate is exactly what bugs me about the available models .

But maybe I am just too perfectionist, trying too much for the first build or something.

2k1Toaster

Who posts "I bought product A, and just wanted to say it works".... Not too many people.

Who does post? People with problems. They are cheaper, therefore more people buy them. Same exact thing as the M2-ATX. Look for posts about them and you see a bunch of failures are blowing ups. Most are user error overloading it. What you dont see is the 10 times the amount of people where it is working.

And lilliputs "back in the day" used refurbished LCD panels usually from the old Jurassic Park arcade games, and the dino got burned into the screen! But quality has definately imporved from what I am told as it was before my time, and cost went down at the same time.

So to answer you question, yes the results are very skewed, and yes they have improved since 2004 I suppose.

And that subaru kit, is not a true double din. It is larger than some cars, hence why they dont sell it as a double din enclosure in general, ust for subarus which use the very large double din area. It works in some other cars, but usually the screen sticks out or something.

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