Sat nav

[Bill_the_Bear]

Whilst the standard "Discover" looks nice, the screen on the "Pro" variant looks so much nicer.

It does, but not £1000 or whatever it costs nicer!  I bought a 46" TV with full media capabilities for less than that!

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

[Gryzor]

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

Oh for sure the volumes have a huge impact on price...but as you say, not necessarily quality!

[Bill_the_Bear]

Oh for sure the volumes have a huge impact on price...but as you say, not necessarily quality!

That TV should have cost you 10x what a GTI would.  That's probably an understatement... 100x maybe.  Each one contains somewhere in the region of 12 million transistors, more than most high end microprocessors do, and each one has to function adequately.  These things have features of the order of ~10nm and are made up of hundreds of patterned layers stacked each on the other.  To set up the production line will have cost somewhere in the region of $1billion, and probably a similar amount in R&D effort before hand.

They often sell these things at a loss just to get the line running.  An initial run of an LED screen Sony made was sold with a $1000 loss on each unit.  They had to make them to learn how to make them and to get publicity anyway, but no way they could be sold for a profit.

I want to ask what make, but given this is a car forum I feel I'm getting off topic.  I personally stay away from Samsung, but that said Samsung actually make a lot of the screens for Sony (who then double the price because they have better software to reproduce colours).  Panasonic are a small player but are my current favourite.  Quality is about 5x the Samsung level, but you'll pay about 50% more for it.

Ok, will try to stay on topic now.  I wonder who makes the Discover Nav Pro screens for VW?  That would be interesting to know.

[Mr Savage]

Whilst the standard "Discover" looks nice, the screen on the "Pro" variant looks so much nicer.

It does, but not £1000 or whatever it costs nicer!  I bought a 46" TV with full media capabilities for less than that!

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

I think we can safely say that VW are producing these at less than £300 cost a unit to themselves. Not that I blame them for charging the big money as they do always produce quality. The Pro Nav brings no extra functionality it's all cosmetic (apart from the 64GB SSD which just speeds things along ever so slightly). Hence I struggle to understand and justify the £1,000 jump for no extra features or functions and simply to have a better screen.

[monkeyhanger]

Ok, will try to stay on topic now.  I wonder who makes the Discover Nav Pro screens for VW?  That would be interesting to know.

The discover units are made by Pioneer, but they've never delved into LED/LCD TVs for screen tech, although they do seem to be collaborating with Sharp for their Bluray players now, so i'd guess at Sharp for the screen.

TV prices are crazy for the tech in them. I bought a 40" Sony LCD (1080i/720P, true 1080P screens weren't really out back then) in 2006 for the world cup. It was reduced from £2500 to £1900 and I thought I was getting the bargain of the century at the time. Build quality is superb compared to current models - cast aluminium chassis etc, weighs a ton. Our W series Sony 46" is very flimsy in comparison.

[mcmaddy]

Whilst the standard "Discover" looks nice, the screen on the "Pro" variant looks so much nicer.

It does, but not £1000 or whatever it costs nicer!  I bought a 46" TV with full media capabilities for less than that!

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

I think we can safely say that VW are producing these at less than £300 cost a unit to themselves. Not that I blame them for charging the big money as they do always produce quality. The Pro Nav brings no extra functionality it's all cosmetic (apart from the 64GB SSD which just speeds things along ever so slightly). Hence I struggle to understand and justify the £1,000 jump for no extra features or functions and simply to have a better screen.

You get bigger 8" screen and 3d mapping for starters. Thread on here somewhere explains all the differences.

[Jimble]

Whilst the standard "Discover" looks nice, the screen on the "Pro" variant looks so much nicer.

It does, but not £1000 or whatever it costs nicer!  I bought a 46" TV with full media capabilities for less than that!

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

I think we can safely say that VW are producing these at less than £300 cost a unit to themselves. Not that I blame them for charging the big money as they do always produce quality. The Pro Nav brings no extra functionality it's all cosmetic (apart from the 64GB SSD which just speeds things along ever so slightly). Hence I struggle to understand and justify the £1,000 jump for no extra features or functions and simply to have a better screen.

You get bigger 8" screen and 3d mapping for starters. Thread on here somewhere explains all the differences.

Can't watch DVD's on the discover, can't have photo's (although not sure why you would?) on the discover.

[Mr Savage]

Whilst the standard "Discover" looks nice, the screen on the "Pro" variant looks so much nicer.

It does, but not £1000 or whatever it costs nicer!  I bought a 46" TV with full media capabilities for less than that!

If the automotive industry is the Rolls Royce of cars, then the TV industry is the Ford Ka.  I'm just saying, I used to design those things and the only reason they are so cheap is that they mass produce to the extreme and cost cut like you can't imagine.

Oh yes, my point was they can't do that with low volume units like for cars.  That doesn't necessarily mean the quality is better though!

I think we can safely say that VW are producing these at less than £300 cost a unit to themselves. Not that I blame them for charging the big money as they do always produce quality. The Pro Nav brings no extra functionality it's all cosmetic (apart from the 64GB SSD which just speeds things along ever so slightly). Hence I struggle to understand and justify the £1,000 jump for no extra features or functions and simply to have a better screen.

You get bigger 8" screen and 3d mapping for starters. Thread on here somewhere explains all the differences.

Yes I know you get a bigger screen and you get 3D mapping even though the video for the Nav shows that the standard Discover has 2.5D mapping which is more than good enough.

DVD's & Photos, not something that many people would use in my opinion.

[Gryzor]

I'm sure that those going for the Pro nav are largely doing so because of the 8" screen, not the extra "features".

[Mr Savage]

Yes, I would think so too. Of course it's a no brainier which Nav unit is better. No one would choose the standard Nav over the Nav Pro given the choice. It's just the question of if its worth that extra grand. I would say no but of course some people will say yes.