Transreflective Upgrade - The Review - Page 2

rotarypower101 · 04-29-2006, 09:33 PM

Very interested in the outcome of this.

nameeri will you have access to a unmodded touch screen for comparison once you get it back, so you can do a true side by side?

If they can get anywhere near the readability of current transreflective devices this should make these much more usable.

Since FPD is so in to LCDs, did they have any opinions on upgrading brightness?
Do they deal with this aspect at all?

srcstc · 04-29-2006, 09:56 PM

Untill we have before and after shots side by side it's hardly a review. That monitor looks great but that's not to say that his Xenarc will.
If it does make a big improvement I am down for the upgrade though!

Quattro · 04-30-2006, 12:48 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by nameeri

Whats the point of having the screen mounted in the dash if you dont have someway of controlling your pc? This may be a good route to take for those of you with some kind of controller mounted close at hand, but otherwise the TS is a necessity

I said nothing about removing ur touchscreen and running your system that way.

All I said was your comparing apples to oranges. I said you can greatly improve the visiblity of the screen just by removing the touchscreen and you showed us pictures of a LCD that never have a touchscreen installed on it. Even without the upgrade that LCD would have been better then the screens in our cars. So it does not prove how well the upgrade will be on our screens.

scott_fx · 04-30-2006, 01:17 AM

it's a ray of hope, if you're not happy that he called it a 'review' then chill out and wait until he has his monitor installed and then form your opinion of the product. he's not here trying to sell us the product, just trying to help us out.

side note, I have had my laptop in my cars a few times and have never been able to read it in any type of daylight...so the example of just the laptop screen gave me some hope

nameeri · 04-30-2006, 01:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by rotarypower101

Very interested in the outcome of this.

nameeri will you have access to a unmodded touch screen for comparison once you get it back, so you can do a true side by side?

If they can get anywhere near the readability of current transreflective devices this should make these much more usable.

Since FPD is so in to LCDs, did they have any opinions on upgrading brightness?
Do they deal with this aspect at all?

I already have plenty of photos of my current stock xenarc TS in bright daylight. Once I get it back ill take more pics of it after the upgrade, with the same lighting conditions and post them. This way, no one can say that the comparison is not equal. Ill be doing this soon, as soon as this week possibly. So hopefully within the next 3 weeks Ill have everything back and everyone can see what the results are like.

As far as the brightness is concerned, they did not mention the need to upgrade the backlighting. The transreflective upgrade actually uses the ambient light to increase the brightness of the lcd during the day. Whatever light is present passes through a polarizer and light columnizing filter, then passes through the front of the lcd, reflects off a mirror layer in the back of the lcd and thus produces a brighter picture. This is what makes these screens "Daylight Readable" Atleast thats the theory. What happens when additional components are added like a TS, who knows. But ill find out soon enough.

nameeri · 04-30-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Quattro

I said nothing about removing ur touchscreen and running your system that way.

All I said was your comparing apples to oranges. I said you can greatly improve the visiblity of the screen just by removing the touchscreen and you showed us pictures of a LCD that never have a touchscreen installed on it. Even without the upgrade that LCD would have been better then the screens in our cars. So it does not prove how well the upgrade will be on our screens.

Ohh...i see what you are saying now. Yeah, you are right, if I had removed the TS before taking the pics it probably would have shown the stock xenarc (Hitachi) LCD better. Like I said, just wait until I get the upgrade done and then decide if you think its worthwhile.

nameeri · 04-30-2006, 11:20 PM

The monitor is out of the car and will be hand delivered to FPD tomorrow!

nmbenson · 05-01-2006, 03:29 PM

Nakeeb dropped of the panel to us here at FPD today, target (maximum) return date is May 22. I will advise when his LCD has been returned to him, he will probably post accordingly.

Total cost for his 7" Xenarc:
Enhancement: 245.00
Touchscreen: 164.00
Tax: 31.69
Shipping: none (drop off and pick up)
---------------------
$440.69

Additionally... I understand the lack of a comparison for an enhanced lcd with a TS... and words are cheap but our demo screen (the desktop lcd) was set to 82 brightness and 68 contrast ratio, the same LCD after the TS being applied may need to increase 3-5% in brightness and contrast to fully compensate for any particle interferance created by our aftermarket enhanced TS. This boils down to a 0 degradation of output and still available room for increased output visually in brightness and contrast.

srcstc · 05-01-2006, 07:03 PM

Looking forward to seeing the outcome. If it's as good as we're led to believe, I'll be sending you mine.

Rich

Quote: Originally Posted by nmbenson

Nakeeb dropped of the panel to us here at FPD today, target (maximum) return date is May 22. I will advise when his LCD has been returned to him, he will probably post accordingly.

Total cost for his 7" Xenarc:
Enhancement: 245.00
Touchscreen: 164.00
Tax: 31.69
Shipping: none (drop off and pick up)
---------------------
$440.69

Additionally... I understand the lack of a comparison for an enhanced lcd with a TS... and words are cheap but our demo screen (the desktop lcd) was set to 82 brightness and 68 contrast ratio, the same LCD after the TS being applied may need to increase 3-5% in brightness and contrast to fully compensate for any particle interferance created by our aftermarket enhanced TS. This boils down to a 0 degradation of output and still available room for increased output visually in brightness and contrast.

joego · 05-01-2006, 07:36 PM

This looks like an upgrade for me, but I can't afford it. How long do I have to come up with the money to ship my screen out?

nameeri · 05-01-2006, 08:57 PM

There is no time limit as of yet. FPD is trying to determine if there is a market in the carputer world for this type of enhancement. The price is not cheap, but I felt that its worth the investment. I would rather enjoy my carputer than get ****ed off that I cant read the screen during the day.

rotarypower101 · 05-01-2006, 11:04 PM

Very true^ I couldn’t agree more.

And cheers to you for taking the leap and seeing what is going to happen.

I have been waiting for this for a while reading what I could about readability solution, this is really the only route that makes sense. From transreflective we can work out the other problems, but I believe this will change what is expected of a carPC user interface.

I hope the very best for this.
Patiently awaiting the outcome.

monkeyBox · 05-02-2006, 06:42 PM

So, I'm curious. I haven't started my carputer yet, and I haven't purchased an LCD yet. I DO want touchscreen, and I'm pretty sure I want transflective. Having said this, what would be the overall least expensive avenue for getting this done? Do I have to get a ready-made touchscreen LCD? What if I find an open-frame (non-touch) LCD somewhere for dirt cheap? Is that a still a candidate for the transflective+touchscreen upgrade? Just curious what route would be most cost-effective if I haven't bought anything yet...

grayvader · 05-02-2006, 07:23 PM

Since so many people have been asking me, I'll post here too.

I've got an assembled monitor (8.4") coming to me that I *think* has a good panel in it. It should be here in a week or less. I'll take it apart and see if it looks like it's usable. If so, it'll give us all a starting point for a panel (it doesn't have a touchpanel -- which is good since FPD would be providing it).

Here's the big deal -- I only paid about $125 including shipping from hong kong (to US). I'll post all the info about where to get it after I find out more. I'm hesitant to post more right now because I've seen short term demand really cause a spike in prices. If we find it works, and everyone buys at once, there shouldn't be a price spike until after the fact. Make sense?

Cheers,
g

phreak480 · 05-02-2006, 07:31 PM

I am planning to put a 15" screen in my dodge ram and was wondering what it woucl cost to upgrade such a large screen and also to add touchscreen. And more importantly is there a specific screen that anyon would recommend for this.