Topic for this week is choosing a headunit. I have been seeing a ton of
questions about this lately. I think that a description of basic
features and options is worth discussing as well as brand
characteristics, displays, etc. Please feel free to get into MultiMedia
Head Units like those with flip out monitors and built in dolby digital
decoders. What is time alignment? How do I calculate it and all that
good stuff.

Go crazy fellas...lets try to help out the people that need it.

EFFENDI

EFFENDI wrote:

Topic for this week is choosing a headunit. I have been seeing a ton of
questions about this lately. I think that a description of basic
features and options is worth discussing as well as brand
characteristics, displays, etc. Please feel free to get into MultiMedia
Head Units like those with flip out monitors and built in dolby digital
decoders. What is time alignment? How do I calculate it and all that
good stuff.

Go crazy fellas...lets try to help out the people that need it.

EFFENDI

I haven't been posting to my own thread so i might as well start. First
off the biggest pieces of advice I have for someone try to decide which
head unit to buy is:

1. Set a strict budget for yourself
2. Make a list of the features or things that you want to be able to do
with the head unit.
3. Choose a head unit that will fit your vehicle.
4. Buy the one that YOU think is the best.

Now lets get into the features. I'll try to discuss displays.

Basically all head units have some sort of illuminated display (one that
you can see at night). The most basic form of this is a gray LCD with a
back light (like an Indigo watch) There are a lot of other forms too
though. LCD, Organic EL, Fluorescent, the list goes on. All of them
basically are the same. LCD and EL are the best choices simply because
they have the highest visibility and most vibrant colors. Most modern
head unit manufacturers realize that the display is the most important
aspect of a quality head unit and accordingly the technology has
advanced pretty quickly. I personally like an LCD. There are head units
like some higher end Sony's that have a LCD monitor built in and can
play full motion video sequences in millions of colors. These are pretty
impressive but accordingly expensive. M basically talking about the
regular DIN-size head units. Now, we have a whole other market of video
and with that comes the multimedia head unit. Basically I suggest you go
to Pioneers website and look at the AVH-P7500 to better see what I am
talking about. These head units have not only a regular back lit LCD
display, but a built in 7" LCD monitor that folds out and can play
whatever video sources you throw at it. The biggest factor to consider
when deciding between these types is the quality of the LCD. A TFT LCD
is the thinnest and in my opinion brightest and best looking as far as
colors. Also look at the resolution and number of pixels. The higher the
better (sharper and more detailed picture). Alpine's IVA-D900 is worth
taking a look at the local shop if you want to see a great quality LCD
monitor that is built into a head unit. Best piece of advice for
distinguishing displays from one another and making a choice is to find
one that you can read well from an off-axis point (from the side
horizontally or vertically and all angles in between) and one that has
good illumination but a built in automatic dimmer so that you are not
distracted during late night driving. Between that its all up to you.
What color you like, what information do you want to see while you are
listening and watching.

EFFENDI