[nocturnal]

Please post all iDrive related questions and info here
Thanks!!



MY QUESTION:
1. IF the iDrive screen is on all the time, will it eventually burn out? or Fade?

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by nocturnal

MY QUESTION:
1. IF the iDrive screen is on all the time, will it eventually burn out? or Fade?

Depending on how much you drive and how bright you have the display is the answer. Here is an extract from a post on LCD vs Plasmas on a sound and video website which may be of help:

LCD monitors suffer no such problem. Granted, the individual pixels can become stuck if any of the TFTs fail. But that's not as much of a problem as it was a decade ago. What will eventually burn out is the fluorescent backlight, for much the same reasons as plasma. The gas discharged through the backlight tube will eventually cause the backlight phosphors to drop to about 50 percent of their original brightness.

At this point, the backlight is considered exhausted. But it can be replaced separately from the LCD panel. The only question is, would anyone bother to do so, given the depreciated value of the panel after 40,000 to 60,000 hours? That's what Sharp and other companies claim for backlight life.

To put that number into perspective, if you watched 4 hours of TV a day for a year, that would total about 1,450 hours. Assuming you could get 45,000 hours from the LCD monitor's backlight, it should last you about 30 years. Even if the backlight reached half brightness after 30,000 hours, that's still a 20-year duty cycle.

[nocturnal]

THANKS!! That's quite long, if the iDrive monitor lasts that long, then we got nothin' to worry about!

(What's "Business Navi"? Is it any different from normal Navi?)

Thanks again!

[JamieA]

Yeah, you would think that BMW put the good stuff in it, so that the backlight lasts a long time.

In Oz, there are two forms of Navigation, Business and Professional. Pro is a package with full map display, TV, the larger LCD and voice recognition etc. Business is the smaller LCD with navigation by spoken directions and arrow display (I think it is also called Radio Nav in some other markets). Both come with iDrive, which is why I got it, plus all the navi systems I have used in the past have been with speech and arrows and I found them very easy to use.

The business navi option was $AU3,600 ($US2,700), the pro was $AU8,500 ($US6,375) including luxury car tax and sales tax. I think the navi options are way overpriced, and the Pro package should cost what the Business one does.... but I wanted the iDrive because it makes the interior look better, and enhances the functionality of the car, so I was happy to get the lower end one.

[Squawks]

I've been a huge research in the field of HDTV before purchasing my own last year, so eventually I became a pandit in the field.

LCD does not burn out, lose brightness, or acquire burnt/dead/stuck pixels over time. LCDs can, however, have transient 'image retention' if there's a still image on the screen for a long, long time - just like JamieA mentioned. However, that's temporary. It's against the physical attributes of LCDs themselves. Any damage to any pixels would mean harm done to the TFT itself, which means physical damage.

The only burnt/stuck pixels on an LCD will be the resulting ones straight out of the manufacturing center. Most companies have standards in which they reject panels from going into the market if they exceed a certain number of defective pixels...but this standard is pretty low - they go off by percentage - 0.01% of a 1200x700 screen means the threshold is 84 defective pixels! It's quite hard to get a perfect LCD but these days, technology is slowly advancing and the quality is improving.

http://www.avsforum.com - that's the only source you ever need for video purposes.

EDIT: Regarding backlight sources, let's assume the lower end of 40,000 hours like JamieA mentioned for some LCD TFT's: if you drive an average of 2 hours a day (which is rather high unless you're importunate enough to live in LA, Bay Area, or NY), then that would mean the iDrive screen would last 54.8 years. By then, your great grandkids wouldn't even want your hooptie E90.

[JamieA]

Great forum Squawks, thanks for that.

What I am looking forward to is the new LCD manufacturing process they have been playing around with for the past 5 years where they print the LCD onto a film that can be as large as you like that doesn't have the issues they have at the moment with the current manufacturing techniques, which have certainly held back (until recently) the largest commercialy viable size that an LCD screen can be, but this is all

I certainly agree that LCD lifespan is not an issue... we will be driving fusion powered 3 Series before those suckers die in the E90s.

[orso]

Can't decide if iDrive will just be more hassle than it's worth....would appreciate some help:

1) do polarized sunglasses make it hard to see the screen?

2) is it necessary to make bluetooth phone access work?

3) does it help the shop upgrade other systems?

I just was not that impressed with how it functioned and think the button on the center console is kind of clunky and thus inconsistent with the incredible power and precision of the car....

Thanks for any help with this, folks.

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by orso

Can't decide if iDrive will just be more hassle than it's worth....would appreciate some help:

1) do polarized sunglasses make it hard to see the screen?

In theory yes because LCDs work by polarising light.

Normal ligh is two waves travelling at right angles to each other. A polariser chops off one of these waves and allows the other through, therefore if you get two polarisers at 90 degrees to each other, both waves will be stopped - ie no light will shine through.

LCDs use this principle to light and darken pixels. Each pixel emits either polarised or non-polarised light (depending on the pixel being on or off), and this light comes through another polariser at 90 deg so when the first polariser is activated no light comes through, and when it isn't light does. This is done for each of the red, green and blue colours to build a colour picture.

If you are wearing polarising sunnies, they will cut out the light when you turn your head so that it is 90 deg to the final polariser in the LCD display - hence the black out effect.

Having said all this, BMW will have made the orientation of the polarisers in their display so that with your head at a normal angle you can read the screen. I didn't check that when I test drove the car, or more accurately I didn't notice any problems reading the screen with my sunnies on.

I have just done a test with my polarising sunnies and my laptop screen (my staff now think I am completely insane!!) and it happens when I tilt my head 45 deg to the right - no relationship to iDrive because BMW will probably have the polarisers at different angles to those in my HP laptop, but it does prove that with a colour LCD, sunnies do block the image when they are at the wrong angle for the display. I am sure BMW will have thought of this though - and I didn't notice any problems when test driving...

Originally Posted by orso

2) is it necessary to make bluetooth phone access work?

No, it works through the radio without iDrive, like most of the other functions - have seen it work on a non-iDrive car.

Originally Posted by orso

3) does it help the shop upgrade other systems?

Can't help you with this one

Originally Posted by orso

I just was not that impressed with how it functioned and think the button on the center console is kind of clunky and thus inconsistent with the incredible power and precision of the car....

I like the iDrive, but I think the button is poorly positioned. If you are resting your arm on the centre console - like you would if you were using it - your hand has to be at a very sharp angle to grab the dial, I wasn't happy with that, but I am sure you can adjust the centre console angle, or get used to it or something...

Hope this info helps.

[orso]

I have seen some pretty definitive sounding posts in other threads saying that the polarized issue is only a problem with the non i-Drive radio readout.

I am leaning towards getting it just because of the voice command feature which might be fun....

[pooch]

Does the iDrive come with its own user manual or is it part of the cars owner manual? Are their helps files on the DVD? Are symbols used to display example Fuel, Food etc.?

pooch