Atticus Suddendorf
Good Product with Excellent Service
Reviewed in the United States on April 25,
I bought this infrared overlay to use with an in-person D&D session I was hoping to host on the ship I'm on. The frame came in a rectangular white box that seems very sturdy, and was wrapped in separate pieces in plastic packing material that seemed to hold it well and securely, if a bit tight. A screwdriver and spare screws was included in the packaging, which I quite like.
While I was assembling the frame, I was alarmed at first at how easily the circuit boards that hold the electronics and IR beads slid out of the frame itself, but I think this is normal and shouldn't cause too much issue with the operation of the frame; the only caution I give is to make sure to be careful when assembling that you're not bumping any of the little beads on the boards or scratching any of the electronics with the frame; make sure especially that the internal metal bars don't pivot and hit any of the IR beads inside. I think when inserting the pins into their receptacles, it's good practice to maintain good leverage on the board that holds the pins and the frame that holds the receptacles, so you can insert the pins fully into the holes. This will also help to keep the black frame screw holes lined up with the internal guiding metal bar holes, so you don't have to push them together super hard to get the screws in. Speaking of, as I mentioned there were a number of small black screws included in the set, including spares. They're easy to insert if the frame is lined up right, although I did struggle to remove them afterwards, which I think is entirely because of how tight I made them.
After assembly, I laid the IR frame (32") over my 32" TV; it lined up extremely well and looked good on the black surface. I plugged the frame into my computer, and went to Foundry VTT (with a module installed to get touch interactions to work). The frame worked very well, and I was able to move tokens around on the battle map, but I kept having an issue where my touches on the screen started a rectangular selection, instead of "clicking" and dragging the token. When this would happened was pretty random, but it made moving tokens around difficult.
I saw that a number of reviews on this page mention contacting support, so I decided to do that myself via , and sure enough Robert reached back to me relatively quickly. At my request, he provided a program for me to install; I find it odd, as a side note, that the program can only be reasonably obtained by contacting support, but either way it worked well for configuring and calibrating my touch screen. After some back and forth, Robert helped me figure out that my touch screen had had two of it's IR beads damaged, presumably from my initial fiddling around during installation. He troubleshooted with me, and offered immediately to send me a replacement to my address. I gave him my shipping info, and also took the time to MacGyver a fix by scotch taping the IR beads (which had come loose from their solders on the boards) back onto the board. The touch overlay unfortunately still suffers the issue, but the diagnostics show that the IR beads are actually being registered, so it's possible my solution needs playing around with, or that Foundry just has issues with registering touch (it is a known issue for some versions).
Currently, I am waiting for a replacement from GreenTouch, but I am satisfied with the product either way. The issues I'm having are mostly passable for what I'm trying to do, and might be entirely related to the program I'm trying to use. I'll update my review when I recieve a replacement, but I do hope it'll work; either way, the support I recieved from Robert and the engineer at GreenTouch, and the ease of set up, well sized fit for my TV, and generally working condition is a hallmark of good effort for me, despite the relatively simple design.
TL;DR Product works pretty good, issues with Foundry VTT, might have been my fault, GreenTouch Robert is sending me a replacement, good stuff! Thanks Robert.
Edit -04-30: A few days ago I discovered what might have been the cause to my issue with trying to get the IR overlay to work with Foundry VTT. It seems as though that my issue had stemmed from having a gap between where the screen of the TV (and therefore where the tip of my finger) was, and where the IR overlay was positioned. To remedy this, I used a large plastic TV screen protector that I had coincidentally purchased beforehand for just protecting the screen (also purchased on Amazon, essentially a large plastic sheet that fits on the TV), and after putting it on my horizontal TV and the IR overlay on top of it, the issue subsided, my touches were recognized on Foundry VTT, and the frame has worked even into someone else using it for three hours to move their character token on the screen. So, the IR overlay I have works great for what I'm using it for, and GreenTouch is still sending me a replacement. Good stuff! Oh, and the screen protector that I'm using isn't creating too much of a visual issue with figuring out where my touches are going to be registered on the frame, even though my TV's bezel is pretty tall (so there's a bit of a gap between my finger and the TV picture), so no issue there, at least not yet.
TL;DR The gap the TV bezel was causing between the TV screen and the IR overlay was creating issues (see attached image), eliminating the gap through a plastic screen over the TV stopped the issue. Good product!
Images in this review
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There are many different technologies that power touchscreens. Some touchscreens are powered by capacitive technology, whereas others are powered by resistive touchscreen. A lesser-known touchscreen technology, however, is infrared (IR) grid. To learn more about IR grid touchscreens and how they work, keep reading.
IR grid touchscreens rely on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and sensors to detect touch commands. They are designed with LEDs and sensors around the edges of the display interface. During operation, the LEDs beam light to the corresponding sensors on the opposite side. Any touch commands will disrupt the light in that area of the display interface, thus allowing the IR grid touchscreen to detect the touch command.
One of the main benefits of IR grid touchscreens is durability. They are more durable than many other touchscreens. This is because IR grid touchscreens don&#;t require patterning on the display interface. Therefore, they can be used outdoors and in other harsh environments without suffering from premature wear and tear.
You can control an IR grid touchscreen with a bare finger or with a gloved finger. Capacitive touchscreens, on the other hand, typically only support the former method of control. You can&#;t perform touch commands on a capacitive touchscreen while wearing gloves. Rather, you&#;ll need to use a bare finger so that your finger will absorb some of the device&#;s electrostatic field. Fortunately, this isn&#;t a concern with IR grid touchscreens. IR grid touchscreens work with any type of object, including a stylus, a gloved finger or a bare finger.
Another benefit of IR grid touchscreens is excellent image clarity. They produce crystal-clear images that are oftentimes superior to those produced by other touchscreens. You can find other touchscreens with high-quality and clear images. In terms of overall image clarity, though, few compare to IR grid touchscreens.
All touchscreens require backlighting &#; and IR grid touchscreens are no exception. Touchscreens feature a display technology, such as liquid-crystal display (LCD). Regardless of the specific display technology, though, backlighting is needed to illuminate the pixels. IR grid touchscreens typically use LCD display technology. LCD display technology, of course, supports several types of backlighting, some of which include LED, cold-cathode fluorescent (CCFL) and light guides. Backlighting is essentially a lighting system that&#;s responsible for illuminating the pixels in a display device.
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