peacefrog226

Hi, im building my carmputer form a mac. My video card has TV out, and i see tat lcds with RCA and S-video in are alot cheaper than ones with vga, i have been eyeing the lcd here http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=77

and want to know what everyone thinks of it? Also, what quality differences will I notice using RCA instead of vga?

thanks

eric

MP3Car.com

 

evandude

let's put it this way. if you get a VGA screen, it will be readable. if you get an RCA screen, it won't. Everything is much fuzzier, and text is not readable unless it's very large (at 800x600 in windows, I can BARELY read song titles in winamp)

if you plan on using an RCA screen and don't have a separate screen, or laptop or something, to access your computer, you will have to use a magnifier program if you want to be able to see well enough to do anything.

This picture is a little too low-res to really show it... but this is the RCA screen I have.



and believe me, it's not MUCH more readable in person than it is in that picture.

it's not too bad if you use VNC on a laptop to access the mp3 box if you need to actually do anything (install programs, change things, whatever) because you don't need an extremely crisp display for things like winamp.
I now use the a desktop magnifier program, that shows a magnified view of the area around the mouse cursor in the lower corner of the screen. this makes it possible to see menu items and such, so i am not completely crippled.

However, if you don't think you can deal with these handicaps, then don't get a non-VGA monitor. I would be using a VGA now, but I needed a screen in mid-winter during my "broke college student" months... now that summer is approaching and the "rolling in dough" months are returning, it's very likely that i'll buy a touchscreen VGA, and take the RCA screen and stick it in the back seat for watching movies or something.

peacefrog226

yeah, i figured as much, but it seems that the vg monitors are realy expensive. Is there any vga monitors i can find that are 200 dollars max?

thanks!

evandude

there's a reason they are as expensive as they are. as my friend says... "you got to pay to play"

if you are going to be spending $200 or so... you might as well spend the extra and get a lilliput. if you find some no-brand one for $200, well then you can't be assured it's going to last. The lilliputs/xenarcs seem to have a good track record here, and people know a lot about them so you can see plenty of tutorials and examples of integrating them.

if you really have to go cheap... you can get a cheap screen like mine (under $100) and then in the future if you decide to upgrade to a nice VGA touchscreen, you aren't out much money.

gambit32

I say you save until you have enough for a vga screen. People sell them here all the time. I had the non vga lilliput at first when I was trying to cut corners. It sucked as carputer monitor. I got a lilliput vga screen and I couldn't be happier. I just wish I would've done that in the first place.

MP3Car.com