Starvision 7" VGA touchscreen pictures/review

NoPistonPC · 05-02-2004, 05:03 AM

I just discovered this forum last week and decided to put together my own CarPC. For my display, I decided to order the Starvision VGA touchscreen and it just arrived yesterday. It provided a surprisingly good picture despite being so cheap. Here are some pros and cons:

Cons:

1) On the left edge, there is a visible strip that is a different shade from the rest of the screen. When I opened up the case, I realized that this was actually part of the touchkit that was in the visible area.
2) There is no auto-on feature as far as I can tell. Unless you modify the screen, you will have to hit the power button in order to turn it on.
3) The dimmer, mode select and mirror buttons don't function on the remote.
4) I didn't notice it at all, but others have complained that the screen had a yellow-ish hue to it when compared to the Lilliput.
5) The vertical viewing angle range is not that great.
6) Very poor documentation
7) No dimmer
8) Mine arrived with 2 dead pixels.

Pros:

1) Very bright and sharp. The picture quality looks good.
2) The touch interface and its associated software works very well
3) Nice square case that is compact and easy to mount.
4) Disassembly of the LCD display from the case is easy.
5) Three video inputs (1 VGA, 2 Composite)
6) Nice OSD menu for changing settings

And now some pictures...

Everything that comes with the screen:

A close-up of the screen:

A close-up of the power/input cable:

A close-up of the remote:

The settings menu:

The touchscreen configuration utility:

A comparison of the Starvision to my laptop screen:

Playback of a movie:

LCD display separated from the case (notice that the buttons separate easily from the display)

The back of the display:

In this close-up you can see how the green touchscreen edge overlaps with the left part of the visible screen:

Here you can see how the screen almost fits into a standard double-din size slot but is just slightly too tall (by about 5mm):

Sirius · 05-02-2004, 05:49 AM

oooo, you voided your warranty! I dont like the fact that they glued the ts to the lcd either.

rando · 05-02-2004, 09:47 AM

Nice review!

It looks like the internals are a bit more compact than the Lilliput. Do you have the dimensions of LCD and circuit boards?

Yang · 05-02-2004, 10:48 AM

I like how they gave us nice short stub cables for the power/vga, but a really long cable for USB. Those of us who have to dash mount our displays will have to mod the cable if we want to be able to remove the display at any time.

sq_geek · 05-02-2004, 11:18 AM

Regarding the lack of auto-on, have you tried holding down the power button to see if that sets it to be auto-on? Some said that worked for the Lilli..

Also, it should be simple enough to wire up a pulse from your ITPS or other power supply, so that when your other stuff comes on, like your PC, since you're already sending a short pulse to your PC to turn it on, it should be easy enough to route that pulse to your LCD also...

It should just be one wire which you need to splice into the power button's wiring (via solder probably).

I'll experiment with this some day, too, but not for a couple weeks.. Too many other things going on (like the rest of my instrall) for me to really get into fixing this problem.. :\

spectrrr · 05-02-2004, 01:24 PM

nice review, much appreciated... looks like it just might fit ok in Armen's indash housing.... suppose if no one else has tried it come late june i'll be the test dummy =)

NoPistonPC · 05-02-2004, 01:37 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sirius

oooo, you voided your warranty!

I like to live dangerously.

Quote: Originally Posted by rando

It looks like the internals are a bit more compact than the Lilliput. Do you have the dimensions of LCD and circuit boards?

LCD (the glass face, not the visible screen): 170mm x 108mm

There are three circuit boards connected to each other with short cables. The biggest one is 113mm x 84mm. The other ones are 85mm x 20mm and 68mm x 19mm.

Quote: Originally Posted by sq_geek

Regarding the lack of auto-on, have you tried holding down the power button to see if that sets it to be auto-on? Some said that worked for the Lilli..

I tried it, but that doesn't seem to work. I'm going to try something similar to Coyote's mod: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...highlight=auto

DavidL · 05-02-2004, 06:40 PM

I just started looking at putting the Starvision into an Armen housing. Looks promising. Looks like there is the choice of putting the screen into the Armen housing, or putting the screen in the back of Armen's housing (to maintain the screw holes for the pivot, as well as the shape of the back so that when closed it looks finished) and using the front of the Pixelon (Starvision) housing. The two halves pretty much line up. One advantage I see to this is that the Armen's back is a little deeper than the Pixelon. This might give the breathing room needed for the touchscreen contact problem. This would also allow reuse of the Pixelon button front with no wiring mods. Also, I kinda like the look of the Pixelon front better.

To put the Pixelon screen into the Armen front (and back), one of the hooks intended to hold down the Lilliput screen has to be removed as the Pixelon screen looks a little bit thicker there.

I'll post back what happens.

Any one else looking at this? Please post your observations / findings.

The Power Up feature - has anyone looked at what points components need to be soldered for Coyote's wiring upgrade to work?

dettman23 · 05-02-2004, 08:22 PM

If you have a chance do you think you could move the circuit boards away from the screen so that I have an idea of what kind of wires or ribbons are holding them together.

digitalww · 05-02-2004, 09:16 PM

Picture is worth a thousand words. This is the same LCD as the TView (http://www.digitalww.com/VGA_TM_700VGA.htm). Same Panasonic LCD (250 nits) and the same VGA controller. The only difference is the button board (Due to different housing )and the housing. Even the remote is the same.

The touch screen panel is upside down, that is why you see the lines on the left side of the screen. It fits perfectly when the connector is on top. Most likely it was done this way so that the controller could be positioned at the bottom of the screen.

Lilliput is definitely better because it is still brighter. Also it is funny how the guy at starvision said that he designed it himself and that is better then the lilliput

.

TView is coming out with a touchscreen version as well. Should be in stock next week.

Armen

digitalww · 05-02-2004, 09:19 PM

This guy did this (http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show-off-your-project/25282-my-2000-mitsubishi-eclipse-setup.html) with TView (same monitor). He should be able to help you.

Armen

Quote: Originally Posted by DavidL

I just started looking at putting the Starvision into an Armen housing. Looks promising. Looks like there is the choice of putting the screen into the Armen housing, or putting the screen in the back of Armen's housing (to maintain the screw holes for the pivot, as well as the shape of the back so that when closed it looks finished) and using the front of the Pixelon (Starvision) housing. The two halves pretty much line up. One advantage I see to this is that the Armen's back is a little deeper than the Pixelon. This might give the breathing room needed for the touchscreen contact problem. This would also allow reuse of the Pixelon button front with no wiring mods. Also, I kinda like the look of the Pixelon front better.

To put the Pixelon screen into the Armen front (and back), one of the hooks intended to hold down the Lilliput screen has to be removed as the Pixelon screen looks a little bit thicker there.

I'll post back what happens.

Any one else looking at this? Please post your observations / findings.

The Power Up feature - has anyone looked at what points components need to be soldered for Coyote's wiring upgrade to work?

DavidL · 05-02-2004, 10:34 PM

I tell ya Armen, I don't know how you do the install into the rectractable housing for $20. For anyone thinking about doing this - pay Armen!

slasherx · 05-02-2004, 11:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by digitalww

Picture is worth a thousand words. This is the same LCD as the TView (http://www.digitalww.com/VGA_TM_700VGA.htm). Same Panasonic LCD (250 nits) and the same VGA controller. The only difference is the button board (Due to different housing )and the housing. Even the remote is the same.

The touch screen panel is upside down, that is why you see the lines on the left side of the screen. It fits perfectly when the connector is on top. Most likely it was done this way so that the controller could be positioned at the bottom of the screen.

Lilliput is definitely better because it is still brighter. Also it is funny how the guy at starvision said that he designed it himself and that is better then the lilliput

.

TView is coming out with a touchscreen version as well. Should be in stock next week.

Armen

Yes but compare the price of your screen and the one he has. The difference is $10, but there is a touchscreen. That shows me which is better.

zijester · 05-02-2004, 11:09 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by digitalww

Picture is worth a thousand words. This is the same LCD as the TView (http://www.digitalww.com/VGA_TM_700VGA.htm). Same Panasonic LCD (250 nits) and the same VGA controller. The only difference is the button board (Due to different housing )and the housing. Even the remote is the same.

The touch screen panel is upside down, that is why you see the lines on the left side of the screen. It fits perfectly when the connector is on top. Most likely it was done this way so that the controller could be positioned at the bottom of the screen.

Lilliput is definitely better because it is still brighter. Also it is funny how the guy at starvision said that he designed it himself and that is better then the lilliput

.

TView is coming out with a touchscreen version as well. Should be in stock next week.

Armen

Mmm no. Its a different screen Armen. I have both screens and the one I got from you is actually more crisp, better detail. I dont have a way to power both screens or id have pictures posted. I always said that monitor had a great picture and better viewing angles....uh once i got the vga cable problem sorted.

digitalww · 05-02-2004, 11:38 PM

You get what you pay for

Unfortunately, from my own experience, it seems like a low price tag just means more problems. Even with the TView monitors that I sell, there is usually a problem with every 3rd or 4th monitor and I end up sending some of them back to the supplier. I already read about a few touch screen problems and dead pixels and that shows poor Quality Control by the manufacturer.

Is the price your only criteria for making a decision about a monitor? I hope not.

Armen

Quote: Originally Posted by slasherx

Yes but compare the price of your screen and the one he has. The difference is $10, but there is a touchscreen. That shows me which is better.