Display color

I got this little problem... the colour of the display. I ordered my empeg w/the amber display, expecting it to be the same amber as in my Peugeot 206. Unfortunately the displays in the car are amber-red, and the empeg is amber-yellow. I was wondering if it was possible to get an amber-red display for the empeg so it matches the rest, or if i should get a blue one instead (dont really like the amber-yellow color...). I'm aware of the potential problems w/illumination, but I can live with less light than it has currently...

Yonzie

Emepeg only sells that shade of amber for the Mark 1. Mark 2's will add a red color, I'm not sure if it's the amber/red of your dashboard or not.

I have a similar problem. The green shade of my display is so much more bright and vivid than the green color of my dash lights that it's overpowering. I happen to LIKE it that way, but to each his own.

Altering the color of the display yourself (by adding some red art-store mylar over the front/inside or something) is worth a try, but be careful because you can't cover the IR interface or damage the little IR filter they installed on the inside of the faceplate.

Rob, can you give us more details on the new color for the Mark2 faceplates? Is it red-red or amber-red? Will there be red displays made available to Mark 1 owners?



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

I have a blue display , and now I selling my current Blue 86 CJ'7 Jeep tommorrow for a yellow 99' Jeep TJ. I wonder how that yellow amber would match the new Jeep?

Are the Mark2 modular? to allow for the changing of the faceplate at a whim?



Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

I seem to remember hearing that the mark2 displays would work on the mark1.. In fact, there was a discussion where the empeg folks said that they had to keep the volume knob on the left hand side to keep the display covers compatible...
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

No, the rotary control is on the right - it's *in addition* to the buttons.

The red is pretty red-red - well, it's audi dash red, or as close as we can manage!

What we said was that we made the interface compatible so that mk1's could use mk2 display boards, but you have to treat the front pastic and the new display board as a set.

Hugo

What we said was that we made the interface compatible so that mk1's could use mk2 display boards, but you have to treat the front plastic and the new display board as a set.

Wait a sec... are you saying that a Mark 1 owner could get a volume knob if they got a new display board and a new faceplate?

/me ponders how much it might cost...





-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

and now I selling my current Blue 86 CJ'7 Jeep tommorrow for a yellow 99' Jeep TJ.

Ack! Keep the CJ-7 for a beater Jeep! Trust me, when you get the brand new 99, you'll cringe every time you take it off-road through woods or whatnot with branches scraping up against your beautiful new paint job.. ;)

And the new yellows look SO sharp, especially with the top and doors off.

(O|||||O)
'98 Black Jeep TJ Sahara

ps: the empeg install into the TJ was a snap. VERY easy to get into the TJ console and work around, plus plenty of room behind the radio. They make a standard wiring harnass and mount-plate too you can pick up at any radio shop.

It's battling Jeeps! Everyone take cover!

-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Ack! Keep the CJ-7 for a beater Jeep! Trust
me, when you get the brand new 99, you'll cringe every time you take it off-road
through woods or whatnot with branches scraping up against your beautiful new
paint job.. ;) And the new yellows look SO sharp, especially with the top and
doors off.

I live in the city so I can only keep one jeep at a time. This is my first
TJ. I have had 4 CJ-7's. I think the EMPEG cost more than both of these Jeeps
put together. I go offroad often in the spring/summer , but what the heck. A
scratch can look cool sometimes. It's Solar Yellow! I'll take delivery for it
Saturday. Caught it for $3000 flat @ auction. Think amber/yellow willl look
better than blue?

ps: the empeg install into the TJ
was a snap. VERY easy to get into the TJ console and work around, plus plenty
of room behind the radio. They make a standard wiring harnass and mount-plate
too you can pick up at any radio shop.

Cool. Glad to hear you had a painless install. I had a completely painless
install into the CJ-7. I'lll take pictures this time though. Are we the only
two Jeepers with EMPEG's? Shock mounted drives? YES!

Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

Yes, that was the idea.

Not desparately cheap, as the displays aren't cheap and there's admin involved (ie, return to us), but we wanted to make sure it was *possible* :)

Hugo

Cool! Thanks, Hugo. I'll begin saving my pennies straight away.

-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

I go offroad often in the spring/summer , but what the heck. A scratch can look cool sometimes.

Yep, thats usually the time I go, though since we really don't have THAT bad of a winter season, I go in the winter as well.. There are a lot of great trails around here, bunch of old logging trails, and just nice, deep, wet mud pits... :> But yes, you're right... I'm complaining about a scratch or two when I have a quarter-inch thick coating of red-mud on my Jeep most of the time... *grin*

It's Solar Yellow! I'll take delivery for it Saturday. Caught it for $3000 flat @ auction. Think amber/yellow willl look better than blue?

Er.. you got the JEEP for 3000$ flat at an auction? A brand new 99 TJ? Wow. You got one HELL of a deal. How many miles? Was it impounded I assume? And the interior of the Jeeps are more Green... I think that Green would look better than Blue... But Blue looks darn sharp as it is. :)

Cool. Glad to hear you had a painless install. I had a completely painless install into the CJ-7. I'lll take pictures this time though. Are we the only two Jeepers with EMPEG's? Shock mounted drives? YES!

Heh, double protection! Even moreso when I get my 4" Procomp lift installed that I just bought the other day.. :) I'm sure that there will be more Jeepers with EMPEG's pretty soon... It feels good to be unique, doesn't it? ;)

PS: if you are like me, I wanted a CD-player as well. Tuffy sells a GREAT stereo console for the 98+ TJs. I installed it in about 3 hours, with very very little drilling required... It mounts a second head unit to the right of the driver, and has a padded armrest and console. What's cool is I mounted the empeg in the dash, (of course, so people can ooh and aah at the visuals) and when I leave the Jeep with the top down, I can pull the empeg out, toss it in my center console, flip the cover over my CD-Player and lock the whole thing up (pryproof, pickproof, theftproof) with one key. If you want a url, here ya go: Tuffy Stereo Console (TJ).

Later!

(O|||||O)

Audi-dash-red is AFAI can tell the same color as Peugeot-dash-red, so I'm pretty much set... just wondering when I can get the new frontplate...... and the volume-knob-upgrade

Yonzie

Display upgrades for Mk.1 players will become available after we've been shipping Mk.2 players for a while. To start with we won't have any additional display boards, but some should become available with the second thousand Mk.2 players.

Red front panels for Mk.1 players may well become available more quickly, if you can live with the extra hole.

Rob

Can I give a recommendation? One of the things my friends most often notice about the empeg is the simplicity/machine cut look of it. Although I dont' mind this, i think the empeg would look alot more professional by simply including a sticker that could cover up the screw holes.

What do you think?
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

whtat about better loocing screws, perhaps chrome and 6pointed instead 4.(umbraco)

Mark
wait for mk III with a USB Host/slave
(USB->Ethernet)(USB->COM 1-8)(USB->You name it)

To be honest I think a sticker would look pretty bad. We have options to improve the look of the front panel significantly, but we have to counter the tooling cost against projected sales.

How many of you would really like a stylish moulded front panel, how many wouldn't care and how many would prefer the current flat panel? Would it affect your decision to purchase a player?

Rob

I'd still be inclined to stick with the "stealth" front panel as it stands now - it is pretty stylish, and it definitely (in my experience anyway) attracts attention.

I like the look of the current panel, with some minor mods... round over the edge a bit more, and make the handle go to 90 degrees.

Stan

I love the "plain-ness" of the current front panel. Very futuristic. However, the screws on the face are a sore spot. If there were a way to have the front panel as-is but without the visible screws, that would be the best of both worlds. I have no idea how you could possibly do this without breaking Mk1 compatibility, so I'm nervous about even saying it (since I like the idea of upgrading my display panel). Perhaps some kind of a friction insert into the existing screw holes?

While we're on the subject of the front panel, will the Mk2 do anything about the following points?:

- More clearance around buttons and handle to prevent sticking and scraping?

- Transparency blocker so you can't see inside the unit in direct sunlight?

- Handle extension to 90 degrees?

- Something other than silver paint around the edges so that it doesn't rub off?


Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe a redesign with a molded panel isn't such a bad idea. I mean, the list above makes it sound like something awful, which it isn't. Those points above are so minor. But the unit's face is its way of showing itself to the world. I know the idea of "looks" is kind of silly to think about- the Empeg is all about its internals, not about its looks. If you see visible screws on the front, it gives it a homemade look, which is fine if that's the effect you want to achieve. Something to think about, anyway.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

I, too, think the handle extension to 90 degrees is important. To be honest, I was rather shocked that it didn't do 90 degrees and at first thought I hada defective unit. People without the early-adopter mindset will EXPECT 90 degrees, as this is a standard for pull-out units.

I agree with Tony on the transparency reduction, too. The unit is stealthy in its plain appearance -- a big plus when it comes to theft-avoidance. However, in direct sunlight the glint off the unit may ATTRACT would-be thieves as it's unlike anything else in car dashes these days -- which generally screams "new technology!" What would help a lot with this problem would be to have the faceplate black-coat anywhere you -DO NOT- want light to emanate from inside the unit. This might result in a two-piece faceplate; molded black (?) smooth gloss plastic that snaps over the coloured clear part to reduce transparency. If designed properly this could also solve your screw problem (which doesn't bug me, personally) as the snap-on plastic piece could cover the screws and screw holes in the clear piece to which it (the black (?) plastic piece) attaches.

Not sure on costs. If it raised the cost of the unit by US$40-50 bucks it wouldn't bug me.

-- Bleys



"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

as this is a standard for pull-out units

You mean WAS a standard for pull-out units. Before they stopped making them in favor of removable faceplate units. I'm still stinging from the fact that my removable-faceplate CD was stolen. I only bought it because my pullout CD was old and didn't have any anti-skip memory. Oh well, the Empeg is soothing that wound nicely. Ahhhh.... nice Empeg...

This might result in a two-piece faceplate; molded black (?) smooth gloss plastic that snaps over the coloured clear part to reduce transparency.

I had thought of this, too. It would be cool if the black plastic were thick enough to end up flush with the buttons and the front of the handle, giving it a really "finished" appearance. It could cover the screws on the front panel as well as covering the screw that are visible on the inside edges of the handle when it's closed. You'd have to sculpt its shape a bit, so that the recesses for the display, IR, and standby light don't look odd. Also, you'd neet to put a sculpted notch at the bottom so that the user can grab the handle.

The black plastic could snap over the top edge of the clear-plastic part (you'd make the clear plastic part have smaller dimensions to accomodate it) and into new tab-holes cut on the bottom edge of the clear part.

Wow, if done properly, it could take care of the silver-paint-edge thing, too.

Ooo! Oooo!! Hey, you know how the latest trend in car stereos is different-colored plastic faces? Empeg could do that, too! You could buy different colored "lenses" for the video color, and different colored/patterned "faces" for the plastic part. Heh.

You know what? I think I'd whip up a piece of concept art for this and post it here. My only question is whether or not the IR interface has moved in the Mk2 version to accomodate the knob.







-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Here's the concept art I promised.

The concept is as follows: Modifications to the edges of the clear plastic Empeg faceplate could allow a snap-on molded plastic front. Such a cover would not only hide the visible screws, but would allow another level of customization: A user could order different colors/patterns for the plastic cover, in the same way that they can do it for certain models of car CD players. This cover would be about as thick as necessary to come up flush with the button tops and the front face of the handle. A small sculpted "notch" below the display (not illustrated very well in my picture) allows the user to pull the handle out.

(Note that I have no idea where the IR window or the knob will go, or how big they will be.)

I've drawn four different colors: Black, Dark Metallic Green, Dark Metallic Blue, and a psychadellic purple pattern. It doesn't have to stop there- the plastic could be molded with different cool patterns. (I'm hoping everyone's already seen this sort of thing on other consumer electronics products, so they know what I'm talking about.)

This is just an idea, of course. Empeg has made a great product, and I certainly don't have any delusions about thinking I can tell Empeg how to do their job. It's simply a response to Rob's question about whether or not the users would like a molded display. The purpose of this concept image is to better visualize what such a faceplate might look like.

Would something like this affect my decision to buy a player? Not me, no. I bought the Empeg because I wanted an in-car MP3 player with enough capacity to hold my entire CD collection. I would have bought it even without the cool display. But "Joe Consumer" is another story...






-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Excellent work! that looks snazzy! Sexy as all get out... The Cat's Ass. Real Hot stuff. The last one is a little scary! :)


Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

Ahhhh.... nice Empeg...

Pat pat pat. Soothing as a dog sometimes. I confess I don't put mine under my pillow, however. No, not the dog, well I mean, errr.. well I'm not so sure I know what I mean.

Have you given yours a name yet, Tony?

Great! Unless one really wants 'industrial' look, Tony's design is excellent. Generally I concur with Tony and His Lordship B. about all their points. The handle really has to extend all the way out. I would also gladly pay extra $50 (or even pounds) for Tony's or similar design (I would stick with black, personally :). Of course, I will buy it if it stay as is, anyway (if only I can find a way to install it in my Twingo... Perhaps I should replace Twing? Nah, too radical! Dominic, HELP!)

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
#5196

Have you given yours a name yet, Tony?

I only call it by name when it's being bad. For instance, when a synch fails. In those instances, its name is "****** ******* piece of **** **********". You're always hardest on the ones you love the most.

Fortunately, this one's been a good boy most of the time. Even when it has occasional synch failures, it's always self-repaired the music database after a few attempts and then worked perfectly afterwards. And 9b seems to be really stable as far as synchs are concerned, so I haven't had to call it by name in a while. Most of the time, I just say gentle, soothing things to it like, "omigod that is so ******* cool", and "****, this sounds great".



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

This is an excellent idea!

Now if you can come up with a faux burlwood cover, it will blend in perfectly with the dash. :-)

Also make some colored carbon fiber coverplates, rosewood, and a "junk" radio plate. The junk radio plate is a faceplate that looks like a crap FM cassette radio not worth bothering to steal.

Calvin

The last one is a little scary!

Not quite as scary as these:



or this:





-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

To be honest I think a sticker would look pretty bad. We have options to improve the look of the front panel significantly, but we have to counter the tooling cost against projected sales.

How many of you would really like a stylish moulded front panel, how many wouldn't care and how many would prefer the current flat panel? Would it affect your decision to purchase a player?

---

As a techno-geek, I personally don't mind the front panel, but I know the number one complaint from my friends that've seen it, as well as the installers that worked on it was that it was too plain looking; and in perticular the visible screws seem to be a sore spot. Having it next to a stylish sony head unit in my car doesn't help either...
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

I like the first one.. (plain black) - I would think there's got to be a sort of sticky, gel-type material that mark1 users could use to give the impression of molded plastic..
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

Dude, I hope you have an alarm. Theft deterrence is limited to a blinking light. If someone gets in your car to steal stereo equip, dont you think thety will grab the pullout whatever and run? Steal first and ask questions later. The front of the Empeg is boring. Just a machined flat colored piece of polycarbonate. 4 buttons and 4 screws. This unit is an awesome device! Dont kill it with bad looks!

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

Definitly nice looking. It's definitly a step in the direction of making the empeg front look like other car stereos. Or possibly more professional looking. I like the look now, but it can look better on the front. I definitly think the player needs it's name displayed on the front somehow.

Reg 1640, 6gb Blue empeg-car mark 1. SN 00359

Although the fourth one looks like the remnants of a long night of drinking, colour me impressed on the other three.

I think of some of the later images have gone overboard, though. Empeg seems to adhere to an elegant simplicity of design -- which has a beauty all of its own. The first three images adhere to that mode of thinking and might not be too far-fetched to be unrealistic.

I look forward to Rob and Hugo's feedback on the two-piece faceplate suggestion; it seems to have some potential as it solves a host of small aesthetic issues that people have mentioned and it probably doesn't have too many design impacts...

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Tony,

Apolgoies, but I don't like it. Nice work though! (You definitely have too much time on your hands).

I think that the current 'look' gives the empeg (emma) a more refined and distinguished look. More like a high-class gentleman.

The plastic faceplate is a bit more 'biker' for me.

Just my 0.02.

Paul.

Paul Haigh, 6GB, Blue
Reg: 4120 - Serial 00254

I look forward to Rob and Hugo's feedback on the two-piece faceplate suggestion; it seems to have some potential as it solves a host of small aesthetic issues that people have mentioned and it probably doesn't have too many design impacts...

I dunno, after posting that picture, I've been thinking about it a bit. Sure, a two-piece design would work. But Hugo's probably already hashed through similar ideas, and much more carefully than we just did. Rob's original statement on the subject seemed to indicate that they had some options ready to implement if they chose to do it.

I'll bet that if they really wanted to make a molded face, it'd probably be much more cost-effective in the long run to create a proper one-piece unit from scratch instead of trying to modify the clear plastic panel's design to accept a snap-on addition. It's just that, being a Mk1 owner, I like the idea of being able to get the new display board and face when they become available, and a proper redesign would probably make the mounting points incompatible with my unit. Really, if you think about it, the only reason for a two-piece design would be to maintain Mk1 compatibility, and that's probably not something we should realistically expect.

And, as I've said before, I like the simplicity of the current Mk1 design just fine. I only drew up those pictures to help us visualize what a molded faceplate might look like.

And in any case, a molded face would probably push back the release of the Mk2's even further, and that's something that no one wants.

But what about Rob's original question: "How many of you would really like a stylish moulded front panel, how many wouldn't care and how many would prefer the current flat panel? Would it affect your decision to purchase a player?"

Now that we've seen one (admittedly pie-in-the-sky) idea of what it might look like, what would your (everyone's) answer to that question be?

My answer is: I would really like a stylish molded front panel. I am happy with my current unit, but I know that a stylish front panel would make it look more attractive to the general public. I like the plain, futuristic simplicity of the current one, but if both options were placed in front of me, I would choose the molded one over the flat one immediately.

It wouldn't affect my decision to purchase a player, but other people are a lot more superficial than I am. Many people buy things just for looks. Why else would companies like Blaupunkt and JVC be making gaudy units with colors so bright that they induce seizures when viewed for too long? My wife has a Nokia cellular phone which works on exactly that principle: It has a snap-on face that allows her to switch colors. It was a major selling point with her. She switches the colors to coordinate with her wardrobe. People buy cars based on looks rather than performance or economy. People buy furniture based on looks rather than comfort. Pagers come in bright, gaudy colors... pagers for goodness sake, something that was originally meant to hide in your pocket all the time. Oh, and have you looked at car amplifiers lately? They come in all sorts of bright, stylish colors to impress your friends or to show off at competitions. I just bought a subwoofer amplifier that's completely hidden away in my trunk, and yet its logo lights up in the neatest shade of electric blue. You can never see the logo, but if you could, it sure would be pretty. There's a new line of car speakers out that have bright red cones. It's not enough in the audio industry just to sound good any more, now you have to look good, too.

Actually, I think it's because, as a civilization, we've reached a stage of sophistication where the basic technology doesn't impress us like it used to. It's like Douglas Adams wrote:

The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question "How can we eat?", the second by the question "Why do we eat?", and the third by the question "Where shall we have lunch?"

I think we've reached the third level when it comes to technology products.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

A can confirm that the Mk.2 player has a handle that extends to 90 degrees.

The feedback in this thread is extremely useful, and may well have a direct effect on some important decisions being made at empeg right now. Thanks for your time, and please keep those opinions coming.

Rob

I must say I agree with Tony. I'm perfectly happy with the way the Empeg looks now, and it won't affect my purchase of the Mk II, but anything that makes the Empeg look better is okay by me. I don't think it's a bad thing to look like the mainstream (which I agree is getting funkier every day), even though we all know the Player is far beyond.
Jason

_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about having #99."

the Mk.2 player has a handle that extends to 90 degrees.

And there was much rejoicing!



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

So, just to be the first to ask the obvious question.....
Is there any chance of the new handle fitting the old model??
Just wondering... =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

Joy, great joy!

And the foldy did rejoice, joyfully oh joyfully ode. Great was the rejoicy-ode, and the rejoicy was greatiode.

The fingerlodes were freely, and weebled the fingers freely in the lode. Great joy!

No, it won't retrofit to a Mk.1 - it would do horrible things to the main board.

Rob

I disagree. Past a certain point, it doesn't really worry me what
it looks like. If empeg had a choice between spending time and money
making moulded faceplates, and (for example) making a nice API
for UI extensions, or just further improving the software generally,
I'd say "Damn the torpedoes". I mean, go for the software.

Richard.

Well, I, personally, would pay a bit extra for a stylish faceplate. Like Tony, I see nothing wrong with the existing look -- its simplicity is something I find elegant. I definately DO NOT want funky colours -- I'd prefer to adhere to the simplicity model that Empeg has defined so well, thus far.

The only faceplate issue that bugs me on the MK1 is its visibility in direct sunlight; the glare off it is intense enough that my passenger cannot see the visuals and I cannot see the display easily when I'm working with the unit. By and large this is due to how much plexiglass (or whatever it is) the light diffuses through. If the plexiglass existed only where it needed to, it'd be much less of a problem, but as it is now the plexiglass covers much more than just the display -- which is more plexi surface area that captures and diffuses light through the rest of itself.

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Now if you can come up with a faux burlwood cover, it will blend in perfectly with the dash. :-)

You mean like this?



Sorry. Couldn't resist.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Eeeew.

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

You are a very bad man.

Corby
SN#320, 6-Gig Blue

I always hated radios with that plastic faux-wood grain look. actually not just radios.. anything with faux-wood.


But great work on your mock ups!


Empeg Kicks Ass
S/N 00203
http://www.iretro.com

I always hated radios with that plastic faux-wood grain look. actually not just radios.. anything with faux-wood.

Me, too. I just posted it as a joke (which Corby and Bleys got).

Oh, and as a punishment to Eternalsun for suggesting it.

-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

OK, schofiel, who do you think you are? Charles Lutwidge Dodgson?

Say hello to Alice for me, and watch out for the Frumious Bandersnatch!

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

You know, it looks to me like you could make your own faceplate(s) to tfabris' concept and attach them to the existing faceplate with a non-destructive glue such as rubber cement or maybe even small Velcro patches.

If you went the Velcro method, you could make up a second faceplate out of a piece of dash trim gleaned from a wrecking yard that was just a solid plate that would effectively make the empeg invisible.

I guess I'm just getting old, or perhaps incurably stylistically-impaired... but I don't think the faux-woodgrain design looks that bad, particularly if you made the panel out of the exact same dash trim as the rest of the dash so the effect would be just the empeg display embedded mysteriously in the middle of an otherwise stock dashboard.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Naaah, Stanley Unwin - famous UK eccentric who invented his own gobbly-gook speech.

Glad to see you're back, sir! Where've you been, then?

The radio station(s) where I work just installed new automation system and the other traffic person (besides myself) quit. (All of the on-air signal for all four stations play through a computer -- all the music is encoded MP-2 on a single server (150 GB hard drive space, 256 MB RAM, dual 500 MHz Pentium III's running through fiber optic cabling at 100 megabit/sec on Windows NT, makes the best damn DOOM server you ever played on!) I have been working 15 hour days, haven't even checked my e-mail since last Thursday. Steep learning curve, and of course since it's different from what I'm used to, it can't possibly be any good. It's gonna be about another week before I have it all back together again.

So, feel sorry for me. I am certainly feeling sorry for myself!

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

You're the man! :-)

Calvin

That's because you're a jeep owner! Which means a nice coating of mud and oil would do just fine. ;-)

Calvin

I cant remember where I read that the screen is made up of polycarbonate, but if it is, it could be coated with a anti reflective coating to reduce the glare during the day. (Is there any glare?)

Sean

It's already has an anti-reflective coating.

The problem isn't usually reflection - it's the sun shining right through the panel and overwhelming the display itself.

We're making some advances with the Mk.2 that may improve this situation.

Rob

This implies that a simple polaroid filter sheet would help, since it it coming in through the panel, scattering and then reflecting back.

But wouldnt that cut back on the brightness of the screen?