MGL Avionics User Forum

Hi !

Just a question. I have a 10' IEFIS Challenger and very happy with it... Except when I open a plate.

It is difficult to read everything clearly, due to the resolution of the screen.

So, I was wondering if MGL was working on a high resolution screen like we can find on Garmin or Dynon with AMOLED screens (much much more expansive I know).

But I would upgrade..

I do not think these are amoled displays - at best they are IPS, same as the one used in your Challenger. If you can't read your plates - it's not the display - it's the resolution the images where converted at. If the conversion has been done correct the images will appear crisp. If these are low resolution conversions then it will use several screen pixels to represent one image pixel so resolution is poor.

My plates come from EasyVFR (ex pocketFMS). I don't know how they convert them.

Skyview HDX is a retina display

Retina display is a simply a branded display by Apple - it's nothing special at all. Most of them are IPS (In-plane switching). AMOLED tends to be used for very small displays such as on watches and is related to OLED displays which tend to be used for large displays now. However these are not yet in a position to be used in cockpits as the images are not bright enough in sunlight. With these displays each pixel is made up of three LEDs so the pixel itself creates the light. With IPS (or LCD) displays you have a bright backlight - normally a white color and the pixels are made as a light valve (letting light through or not) and each pixel is actually three of them each with a different color filter.
In principle the LED screen can be better for our use but not quite yet - it needs to produce significantly more light first.
Current technology IPS displays are the best solution for an EFIS right now.

As far as pixel resolution goes - a 10 inch XGA display is pretty good - you need to consider the viewing distance vs pixel size - the bigger the pixel the more visible it is (less light loss). So it is a compromise. It's easy to source very high resolution displays but they are not suitable for use in a cockpit environment just yet.

When we released our first color EFIS many, many years ago - the first version of the Enigma had a 320x240 pixel resolution and it was a passive display but we chose it as it was probably the first color display that was actually usable in sunlight. Only several years later did TFT displays improve to an extent they became usable (and then then went into the MK2 Enigma).

Getting back to the plates - the conversion of the actual plate images depends on the vendor - typically these can be converted in any kind of resolution but that should be chosen such that the smallest detail (typically small text) is easily readable. Could you perhaps post an image of a plate showing on your EFIS that does not look good ?

Note: If you are referring to the plate that appears overlaid onto a map automatically this tends to be scaled dramatically and rotated to correct orientation and is not intended to be readable (it can't) - this is to allow the plate to be shown in correct georeferenced size and position on the map and you will certainly loose detail here. The idea here is so you can actually "fly" the plate - for detail you would switch a map to plate viewer mode.
Consider using two map screens - use one to show the normal map and the other to be able to view the plate (also in correct orientation) so you can read the instructions. Now you can easily switch between plate and map anytime while still enjoying the ability to "fly" the plate.