Any Car Audio/Video Gurus?

catfishblues said:
Yes and no. That first sentence is kind of misleading. They may be made in the same country, true. They are not made to the same standards, though. Fact is, the Chinese can produce whatever quality you're willing to pay for. Take a Pupug brand and a Pioneer unit apart side by side and you'll instantly see the difference in quality. The cheapo is typically going to look like a bunch of individual modules tied tenuously together through a clusterfuck of flying wires. The Pioneer is going to look like a well-engineered integrated circuit.

Eastern manufacturing is nearly unavoidable. Eastern engineering is much easier to avoid, though, and that seems to be where the difference in quality comes in. Sadly, electronics quality has slipped across the board as tech has started advancing so quickly. There's no incentive in building a product to last 20 years when most people are upgrading in 2-4 years.
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You are talking about chinese developed technology, I am talking about grey market electronics two similar but different concepts.
China does not recognize US patents, specifically as it relates to IP.

So when Pioneer uses an eastern manufacturer to make, say 500,000 head units you can bet your sweet ass that 600,000 actually get made. 500,000 get sold to Pioneer for $1.35 each and the factory
a separate unrelated company in the back of the same building, sells those other 100,000 for $100 each. Eastern manufacturing is cheaper than western for sure, but the great elephant in the room is often times that cost is driven by grey market opportunities. In short a factory builds a US company's products for cost or even a slight loss to learn the integrated tech and make a profit through nefarious channels.
 
Ron said:
You are talking about chinese developed technology, I am talking about grey market electronics two similar but different concepts.
China does not recognize US patents, specifically as it relates to IP.

So when Pioneer uses an eastern manufacturer to make, say 500,000 head units you can bet your sweet ass that 600,000 actually get made. 500,000 get sold to Pioneer for $1.35 each and the factory
a separate unrelated company in the back of the same building, sells those other 100,000 for $100 each. Eastern manufacturing is cheaper than western for sure, but the great elephant in the room is often times that cost is driven by grey market opportunities. In short a factory builds a US company's products for cost or even a slight loss to learn the integrated tech and make a profit through nefarious channels.
Click to expand...

It's a double-edged sword. What would the consumer market look like right now if we hadn't created this monster? Less variety, less tech, and prices probably 3-4x what we pay now for goods. People would have to save for that new TV, and "durable goods" might actually be durable again. Is it all worth it? I don't know. I take advantage of it, though.
 
jeepyj1129 said:
Are you planning on coming to pick up Your bender die from Matt anytime soon if so we can connect your phone my radio and see how good it works
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I've been wondering where that die was...
I might take you up on that. Maybe one day after work next week.
 
jeepinmatt said:
I've been wondering where that die was...
I might take you up on that. Maybe one day after work next week.
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Just let me know I can meet you over there
 
Bumping this back since I just got a $50 visa gift card that's only good at certain places (thanks Mr Employer), but crutchfield happens to be on that list. Here's another one with "Dualmirror" that mirrors your screen. Has decent reviews.
Axxera AV6225BH
 
catfishblues said:
The single knob to control everything is damn near impossible to use for anything while driving. The menus are a pain to scroll through and tweak anything without accidentally skipping to the next setting due to the stupid knob and questionably laid-out menus. I dare say they even have too many settings.
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This has been my biggest complaint about aftermarket radios for .... 20 years.

Cyd's Jeep has some aftermarket head unit in it. I can't even figure out how to turn the damn thing off. The preset buttons are these tiny little beads that are hard to differentiate by feel. And there's no seek function, so you have to tick through the frequencies one step at a time until you find something worth listening to.

So if anybody has recommendations on an aftermarket head unit that doesn't suck and costs $100, I'm all ears. Doesn't necessarily have to be able to play CDs, assuming it has decent Android/BT functionality.
 
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