Check it out, folks:

http://www.riocar.org/lens.php

I am also working on an actual "shopping cart" page for Darkstorm which hopefully will include more photos. In the meantime, you can get his lenses by e-mailing him from the link on the Lens Compare page.

Note that this page has a LOT of images to preload, so your clicks might not work at first until it's all loaded up. I'm trying to figure out how to implement a proper "please wait" message, the one I've got there doesn't work all the time yet.

tony, those neon lens look pretty slick, do they accully have a glowing all around as it looks in the picture?

IIRC Tony posted about that a couple of days ago and said it was due to the fact that the lens material is thicker than "stock" and that the areas where the fascia goes is milled down (ie the visible parts are raised above the "background") and where the edge is, light can escape.

/Michael

so its not just the picture, thats how it accully is? amazing... i may have to invest in the red one.

Correct. Haven't you ever seen that kind of plastic that's embedded with fluorescent color, so that any cut edges practically glow when the plastic is hit with light?

That's what DarkStorm's Neon Green, Neon Red, and Orange faces look like. If you have the backlit buttons, it's particularly cool, too, because the LEDs light the fascia edges.

Here, lemme stick the neon red lens on and get a pic for you...

Ah, here we go:



I think I'll use that one on DarkStorm's shopping cart page. "Backlit buttons not included."

oh my. wow.

Just as a follow-up, that photo is not a photoshop-doctored April Fool's joke, it really looks like that. That's Brian's backlit buttons hack with Darkstorm's Neon Red faceplate. A very interesting combination.

You can't tell from the overexposure in that picture, but the pixels of the VFD actually glow a rather pretty shade of pinkish violet through that lens. Combined with the pink-orange fluorescent cut edges and the electric blue of the buttons, it's very striking, even in regular indoor light. I haven't tried this combination in the car during the day yet...

See, all of the lenses except for the clear and smoke lenses are sculpted to notch into the player's fascia. Hence the glowing edges on the Neon ones:

omg i must have that. darkstorm must be glad he gave u those faces :-P im going to order one tonite or tomorrow. thats amazing, its a lil too much. but its just neat.

Man, that's amazing. Does it really look "that cool" in real life? I'd wanted lighted buttons, but the combination there is gonna be hard to resist for too long.

Would you actualy like the way it looks on a daily basis though?

Matthew

exactly i couldnt deal with that on a daily basis, maybe with red buttons i could. or with no button hack, and just the regular buttons it would look nice as well.

Holy smoke, batman, it matches your car!

-Robin

How difficult is the LED installation? I want it.

Tony - Darkstorm - Way to go! Wow! I've been one of Darkstorm's biggest supports as far as posting pics of the smoked lens go... but I had no idea! Orders are going to start pouring in! Suuuuhweeeeet!

Can someone post a message about this on RioCar.org?

Yes, anyone can. Simply submit a news story and an admin can approve it.

It has been like 3 seconds and I don't see it yet!

yah that looks really great. One question, how come there wasn't a neon blue reverse that , neon blue with red buttons , wohoo away we go.

I also really want the led kit for the buttons i just don't know if i trust myself to do it. I wonder where one could go to have a "professional" do it for a reasonable price

exactly i couldnt deal with that on a daily basis

Well, it's very easy to swap faces. Buy a few, and swap them around regularly.


Holy smoke, batman, it matches your car!




How difficult is the LED installation? I want it.

Opinions on the subject are here.

It seems as though the biggest problems folks encountered were:

- Soldering the LEDs themselves backwards, not looking closely enough at Brian's picture which very clearly shows the directions.

- Plugging in the display board connector "off by one pin", therefore blowing the fuse on the motherboard.

But before you can even get to that stage, you need to be able to solder SMT components. Again, my opinion on that is here.

One question, how come there wasn't a neon blue

Hmm. The "light blue" panel is almost a neon blue. It's not as striking as the neon red, but it might look cool with the backlit buttons. If someone reminds me when I get home tonight, I'll try to put that together and get a picture of it.

yah , i'll remind you, thanks tony!

edit- also what is the url to the darkstorm install page, i can't seem to find it

The neon colors with backlights are nice and all....if you were into playing "lite brite" as a kid..

Based on the comparison page, the neon lenses aren't very good in anything but low light. The light blue appears to be the best. Then again, that's how it looks in the pics.

Which one has the best visibility in a high ambient light environment?

That is what I want - to be able to see the freaking screen in the day time. Frankly, that is the most disappointing aspect of the empeg, and I am a little surprised the VFD screen was used. At least in my situation, the display is inadequate quite often during the daytime. Yes, the dimmer is all the way up.

Is the controller for the VFD compatible with any other display types? I would be happier with an LCD with a backlight even if it was in just 2 color mode...

Otherwise, the empeg is a great unit for me, but I rarely look at the display during a sunny day because it is just not usable. I guess I have a bright interior..

Oh, I refuse to put any sort of visor around my empeg..

-John M

Which one has the best visibility in a high ambient light environment?

From what I can tell (and this is in the FAQ entry linked from that page, by the way), the best ones are the Empeg Green and the Darkstorm Smoke.

Ok well the pics do not show that. This might confuse or mislead a *few* readers/purchasers..

Well #1 the FAQ entry link is in fine print and I never noticed it before but it doesn't matter because it does not cover the newer lenses..

-John M

Ok well the pics do not show that.

I think they do show precisely that.

It is possible that there's a problem with your browser and you may not be getting the proper images. Those images take a while to load and the Javascript can screw up the cached images, I've seen it happen. Try clearing your cache and reloading the page.

but it doesn't matter because it does not cover the newer lenses..

Yes it does, if you read the text.

What about a source for practice components? If I was going to try this, I would like to "try" it first. Any suggestions?

how ironic. over in the rio receiver bbs, there's a recent thread about replacing the backlit LCD display panel with a compatible VFD.

ya can't please all the folks, all the time...

--dan.

What about a source for practice components? If I was going to try this, I would like to "try" it first. Any suggestions?

Got any old piece-o-crap ISA or PCI cards lying around? You can practice desoldering and resoldering the components on them.

that is EXACTLY what i am going to do, but on an old crapped out mainboard hmm maybe a pci car will have smaller components.. i will have to do it 100 times before i feel even SEMI confident about the empeg.

> I think they do show precisely that.

> It is possible that there's a problem with your browser and
> you may not be getting the proper images.

I got them fine, but on my two systems the best two screens in Ambient light in order are the Darkstorm Lt. Blue and then the Rio Green. In Direct Sun only the Darkstorm Smoke and Lt. Blue are remotely readable.

> but it doesn't matter because it does not cover the newer
> lenses..

> Yes it does, if you read the text.

The only mention of the Darkstorm lense is his smoke one but no mention of the Neon ones.. In any case, I don't see any specific writing of which is best in AMBIENT light(including the darkstorm lenses), which was my original question. I only see a general statement on readability and a mention of the colors(assumed to be factory)..

I guess any time the empeg gets criticized in this forum a few people can get pissy, and it was only a mild criticism at that..

Oh, wait, I guess I'm being pissy too..

-John M