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Touchscreen Overlay Review


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As linked in this thread, I acquired a 19" Touchscreen overlay to put into my next jukebox build. I said that I'd give people my "review" of it.

 

First off at $100.00 BIN price compared to other auctions it was too cheap to ignore and I snapped it up. The transaction and payment was flawless and my package arrived exactly 7 days later via Fedex.

 

I have to say they took great care with the packaging as essentially this unit is a piece of glass being shipped from China. Check out the box as delivered

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/package.jpg

 

and opened with my precious inside it:

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/opened.jpg

 

And heres my precious:

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/treasure.jpg

 

This system is essentially the touch module part of a touchscreen. The idea is that you sacrifice a normal LCD monitor to overlay this on. Your not really sacrificing it as all your doing is taking the bezel off and placing the overlay on it. The unit is supplied with the overlay, modded USB cable, cable extension and the logic pcb.

 

Heres a picture of the monitor I'm using. It's a Samsung 19" LCD. Nothing special but VGA and Digital, though that doesn't mean much as it's going into a jukebox.

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/victim.jpg

 

The bezel has those friction type plastic slots. A small screw-driver fixed that up pronto.

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/beheaded.jpg

 

I carefully removed the protective plastic sheets from the touchscreens glass overlay. I then cleaned it off with a bit of Iso Pro and a soft cloth making sure to include the actual monitor. Can't have any smears or bits of dust in the way ;)

 

Once happy with the clean I placed the overlay on top and centred. This photo still has the protective sheeting on it.

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/layered.jpg

 

Okay, the ribbon cable to the logic board needed some clearance so I carefully cut out a section of the bezel to give it room and filed it smooth incase any adverse vibration or movement wore through it. you can see the slot I made in the following image. It can't be seen from the front and once mounted hidden:

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/sidecut.jpg

 

Look at the gap between the back of the monitor and the bezel. The overlay is about 1.5-2mm thick. I "could" force the bezel into place but the extra force and tension would either have broken the overlay or at best stressed it enough that an overzealous push at some time would have cracked it. So once I secure the bezel there will be about a 3-4 mill space around the entire edge of the monitor. This apparently is quite common and theres not a lot you can do about it. I'd appreciate any tips on the best method of securing it. So far I'm favouring gaffer tape :unsure

 

The suppliers recommend that you use double-sided tape to secure the logic board to the back of the monitor. I'll worry about that once I'm ready to mount it inside a carcass.

 

Heres the screen with it bezel back on top:

 

http://www.emuchrist.org/images/juke/playing.jpg

 

Okay enough photos and onto installation. The unit comes with a disc containing drivers, software and manuals in Chinese and Chinglish. first and foremost do NOT bother with the instructions. They are in Chinglish and for a completely different model. For instance it's for a serial port, CRT model!

 

The software you want is in the folder called "Driver of resistive" It's called Touchkit and seems to do the job. Your supposed to plug the hardware in first before the software can see it. It has a relatively straightforward calibration routine with basic and advanced options.

 

I had some issues with installing it initially as Windows just refused to see it. I strongly suspect I have a suspect USB cable but I can replace that fairly easily. Now it sees it every time but further testing will be required.

 

One concern I had was I hit the net to see if there were newer drivers and software as these are dated from 2005. The chipset on the logic board and software is copyrighted to these people:

 

http://www.eeti.com.tw/

 

Now click on the Urgent Announcement: http://home.eeti.com.tw/web20/URG.html and you be greeted with more Chinglish talking about conterfeit products.

 

The 2 photos displayed are NOT the same as the one I have but I wouldn't be surprised if this was also a counterfeit. I just hope that mine does not suffer similiar symptoms as described. For further info apparently the REAL manufacturers have a local authorised distributor but I shudder to think at their prices as none were listed:

 

http://www.entechelectronics.com.au/

 

As to performance, I need to tweak it a little or at least try. I haven't had a lot of opportunity to really put it through its paces. In skjukebox it's perfect as there aren't a LOT of areas that require touch input. I have been giving freejuke a whirl though and whilst it's mostly damn good, the screen does have issues with the alpha slider on the right. This is placed right near the ribbon cable for the logic board and "might" have something to do with it. I';ll need to browse th freejuke support forums to see if it's common. I mean it works but control is not very precise. The rest of the functionality is great and very feature rich which the screen seems to handle quite well.

 

So all up although I'd like to give it a good week of testing, I'd say go for it as this price. Time will tell if the unit lasts or not though.

 

Feel free to ask questions and I'll try and sort it out. I also took more video but couldn't be arsed converting and uploading it ;)

 

Cheers,

Brad

Edited by Brad
typos
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Nice review.. I agree the drivers suck hard. I got a better set that are in English with better utilities.. I'm sure if you Google you can find em. I got them with my 7" touch panel kit. It's the exact same thing only the panel size is bigger.. The software does the same thing. I've been using mine for a few years now. Hasn't skipped a beat. They are pretty accurate too. If you try, it's possible to fit the little curcuit board inside the screen bezzel so it won't get damaged. You can see that in the video.

 

 

Here's another small video I took.. Better res this time of the jukebox running Partytime.. PS: This is a 17" Screen I'm using here.

 

[ame=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XBb_BUD1EF0]YouTube - My Home-Made Jukebox playing Partytime Jukebox[/ame]

Edited by Nidzdotnet
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Thanks guys. I'll give the ELO drivers and google a shot for something a little newer. I can't say that It's bad, I'd just like to be able to tweak it a little more is all.

 

Cheers,

Brad

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If I can remember, I'll upload the ones I'm using. They seem to work good. They have the 4 point adjustment utility and other things you can do. Beep on touch and you can turn it off etc..

 

Same as the one I'm using, it's just 3 years old. I'd appreciate a newer copy for sure!

 

Cheers,

brad

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So, all in all do we rush out and buy one of these 19" overlays..? I'd prefer a 19" touch to the 15" that I'm playing with..

 

Read my second last sentence ya slacker ;)

 

If I needed it I would buy another one. It seriously makes my 15" touchscreen look like a toy. I mean this screen looks BIG.

 

Brad

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  • 3 months later...
Guest Burra749

I have just purchased a 19" touch screen through virtual village & I must say Im mighty impressed with it all.

 

They are easy to install, well packaged & super fast postage. I ordered it NYE & it arrived in 5 days from China. Excellent service given the time of year.

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i get some stuff from them .the microswitches are good. nice strong terminals also

also i got in my order a 25% discount voucher which if i find happy to give the code to someone

 

makes a nice cut off a touchscreen

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Guest Burra749
So you had no luck with your other overlay Burra..?

 

Nah, it was rooted.:cry

I think Jas must have done something to it whilst he had it.;)

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So you had no luck with your other overlay Burra..?

 

It was ratshit. Sad really as it looked pretty damn good but it just does not work. The logic board seems fine and installs perfectly :unsure

 

Brad

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Nah, it was rooted.:cry

I think Jas must have done something to it whilst he had it.;)

 

Yeah i sat on it :D

 

and then farted on the pcb :D

 

Got mine ELO 15" installed and love it. I think the overlays are a tad to sensitive.

 

The ELO handled some pretty drunk hands on NYE.

 

On a side note you boys tried to persuade me to goto 19 inch but I couldnt let the 15 inch go. Anyway when you have it eye level it really does the trick and looks pretty good in the wall

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