eXentric

When I bought the modeling clay from Wallmart, I also picked up some nice black fabric that looked like speaker grill material to me. The fabric was actually really shiny on one side, but the other side looked almost identical to the stock fabric.

Once the screws were in place, I used a hot glue gun to slowly pinch down the fabric along the outer edge of the piece. When the glue cooled, I trimmed off the excess fabric.

eXentric

Heres a picture of the first attempt in place.

This piece will not shift around from side to side, but my simple approach of using the screws and drywall sinks won't keep the piece from possibly popping out if you hit a speed bump too fast. It relies only on gravity to keep it in.

eXentric

This took me a few hours because it’s not something I have a lot of practice doing. I actually made two copies, and the second one turned out much better then the first. The pictures I posted are from my first attempt because I didn’t have time tonight to drill and cover the second piece (it’s already an hour past my bed time ).

In my opinion, it would be worth it to just shell out the $60 and get the factory grill. It requires no effort on your part and if you decided to add a center speaker later, you could. Plus, there is no chance of it popping out over an un-expected speed bump.

On the other hand, if you’re hard up for cash, you don’t have the Bose, and you really want the 1-DIN, this is an option.

As for the two users that already got in on the deal with me and don’t have Bose, I’ll be PMing you shortly.

KC_RX-8

I am looking for just a in-dash motorized monitor without the dvd/mp3/cd player. Anyone know where i can get a cheap one?

LOL. Maybe we should find a place and try to get a group buy of that as well!!

How about twisted?! do they sell parts as well?

eXentric

Please see the first page or two of this thread. I list two monitors at www.digitalww.com. One is motorized, the other is not. They are both VGA.

KC_RX-8

Any new pics or updates?

eXentric

Not yet. He told me to plan and stop by one day this week and get the DIN slot angled to where it gives us the best room. He didn't tell me exactly which day yet, and I'm not sure he knows himself. I'll post when we do.

eXentric

If any of you ordered from DigitalWW or are considering ordering from DigitalWW, I would suggest you give them a call (1-847-546-5822) first.

Their displays do come higly reccommended, but so far their customer support has been utter crap in my opinion. The dww-7vga is still listed as in-stock and shipping with a 7 - 10 day lead time. However, I've been waiting for mine to ship for 20 days now. They are ignoring my e-mail requests for a status update and calls to their phone number go to voicemail.

If you already ordered, I would suggest you start sending e-mails and leaving voicemails telling them that you EXPECT a status update. If you are considering ordering from them, call or e-mail them and let them know that you want to order from them but you hear that their lead time is much more then their site states and that customer calls and e-mails are going unanswered.

I feel bad for reccomending them now... and I'm frustrated. I'll post again if they improve.

Rock-8

Well first off let me say i am a complete newbie when it comes to this... (hopes that gets him off the hook for anything stupid he might say).
Second of all, I am also very interested in this deal. I was looking into alternatives for the stock nav, and the first thing i saw was the pioneer touch screen/dvd/nav/cd unit they have which is about $2600 installed...
Well i don't have 2600$...
however i would like the nav/dvd option in my car and didn't go with stock nav...
So basically putting this in idiot friendly terms, this $150 would buy me a dash piece that would look stock (i also like the idea of the dash finish and not the black gloss) and would be able to house a touch screen display like the one from DWW which i think was $530? correct me if i'm wrong.
which would only be the display screen, touch/motorized.
Then I would need a laptop still... correct?

thanks

Japan8

Rock-8...

Not a laptop. You need to build a CPU for the car. A laptop can be used, but it's a real crappy solution... power cables, etc. running all over, easily removed (read stolen) from the car, etc.

Check out this site... http://www.mp3car.com for more info on car pc's.

eXentric

Got an update from DigitalWW.com

(emphasis added by me)

This makes me quite hot under the collar since their website still says that lead time is 7 to 10 days.

Just wanted to let everyone know. Seems like a great monitor at a great price, but their customer service is so far terrible and their website is blatently inaccurate about availability.

EstonRX

Is anybody else looking at any other screens? I really do like the quality on some of the nice all-in-one screens from Pioneer/Blaupunkt/etc, that include DVD, CD, MP3, and possibly NAV. The only problem with them is I can't find one of these nice ones that also has VGA in, only composite, and there's no way I'm gonna spend between 1 and 2 grand if I can't ever hope to get decent video if I wanna run E-manage or some other computer app through it.

eXentric

I haven't looked at any of those all-in-one solutions for exactly that reason. The display I'm purchasing is one of the first 1-DIN options I've ever seen. You can find the liliput options that mount on-dash on several eBay stores, but I haven't seen many options for 1-DIN. And as you stated before, none of the stereo choices give you VGA.

eXentric

Update from Twisted:

I was supposed to get with him last week and get the right angle between the first piece and the second piece worked out. They didn't have time to get to it before Easter weekend (they took Friday off) but he did try and get the second piece pulled over the weekend. Unfortunately, he told me, both the piece he pulled out and the second part of the mold broke. So he's got to do that part over again.

I can tell you that I'm just as dissapointed by this as anyone. We're only 3 weeks through the 4 - 6 weeks he told us, though, so I believe we're still fine. I just wanted to keep the updates going.

Japan8

The one major point you miss is that the Panasonic TFT screen that DWW uses in that unit is only 250nits (measure of brightness)... if this is before or after the touchscreen is applied is unknown. You need good brightness for daytime use. Thus many have tried to fit a lilliput screen into that case... and it does barely fit. The lilliput is 400nits before touchscreen if I remember correctly...

eXentric

You're right, that is quite a huge difference in brightness. Unfortunately, I looked at their guide for converting the Liliput to an in-dash and I just don't have the time / patience to do that.

Their housing kit is $100 and thier 7" touch kit is also $100. Although I did find a Liliput converted to VGA with touch on eBay for $388 AU (~300 US I think). So if you were willing to do the case conversion, you could end up with a nicer monitor for about $150 cheaper. That's really tempting, but those conversion instructions aren't too simple...

Well, for now I guess I'll just have to hope that my screen is bright enough in my car. The most important thing to me is clearity to be honest with you. I do need enough brightness to see the display in the daytime, but I can't spend time trying to make out blurry text on that small a screen while I'm driving (I don't know how the two displays will compare, mind you, I've never seen either). I've already paid for mine, though, so there's no use worrying about it now.

But thanks for pointing that out, it may be useful to someone here.

Japan8

No prob. I agree... it's pretty complex and a PITA to do a case conversion. Just thought I'd mention it for the perfectionists...

eXentric

My display should ship tomorrow, nearly a full month after I ordered it. Lack of communication with DigitalWW did infuriate me, but they did make an effort in the end to change my opinion.

DigitalWW made me a deal (that they have apparently made with a few others before) and they are now ready to make the same option available to everyone. That deal is as follows:

Lilliput VGA (400 nits) + USB Touch + In-Dash + Labor + Shipping (Continental US I assume) + 1 yr warranty = $450 USD.

For now you will have to contact them directly to request that deal, but they will be making it an option on their website eventually.

He did want me to let everyone know that although they have a few of the 250 nit VGA displays still in stock, it will be several weeks before they have more Lilliputs available. I have heard of people buying Lilliputs and shipping it to them to have the conversion done. I didn't do that and I didn't ask them so you would need to take that up with DigitalWW if that is a route you would like to try and go.

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is a pre-fabricated 400 nit option.

I also heard about another vendor selling in-dash units, but I did a quick search and couldn't find it again. If I run across it, I'll post it.

Japan8

Check out this thread....

eXentric

Those look quite nice. But just curious if you did the conversion rate...

Unless convertit.com is wrong,

Japanese yen to United States dollar
45,000.000000 ¥ = 414.493023 US$

ouch.

I like the pictures though. It does look nice.

RDS_L2G

Can you post the contact info for twisted for me? If not can you pm me with it?

eXentric

**** UPDATED *****

Since the project changed hands, it doesn't make sense to have twisteds number here any longer.

eXentric

I will hopefully be receiving my display on Monday, and I'm going to try and get with Twisted on Tuesday or Wednesday to get the angle set with the actual display.

If any of you would like to give them a call and mention that you'd like to see pictures, it may be helpful. I've asked him a couple of times and I think he just forgets about it when he heads home. Maybe if it's more then just me asking he might remember.

I can't wait...

huhsler

COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO DISPLAYS...oops, emphasis, not shouting...

eXe and Twisted, is there enough room in front of the DIN slot such that you could put in a false front? It could be hinged, so that when the display motors on out, it would push the false front up and away. Any possibility that something like this could be ginned up? I drive to DC all the time that the number 2 thing that gets stolen out of cars in DC is DVD head units.

Thanks.

eXentric

The display will stick just as far out of this mold as it would a regular dash. You can look at the pictures of the displays we've been commenting on to see how far that is.

I don't think it would be asy to make a door like you said. It would have to extend around the outside of the display.

More importantly, though, anyone that knows anything about cars (and especially the RX8) will know right away that the dash has been modified. Not because it doesn't look nice, but because you'll have the factory stereo AND something else. I think it would be tempting no matter what.

eXe