Raymarine G-Series, hints!
When Ask Jack Rabbit recently got the goods on Raymarine’s new 12– and 15–inch G-Series monitors, brochures and manuals included, he hinted that perhaps other models or a coming black box would add “storage and processing capacity.” Apparently so, as here’s the “launch” description from the Southampton Boat Show:
Offering more than just navigation, G Series is a complete information, command and entertainment system providing a comprehensive and powerful solution for all onboard requirements. This high performance networked system features a built in high-capacity hard drive, pre-loaded with Navionics Platinum cartography providing detailed navigation charts, 3D topography and aerial photographic views. The G Series sunlight viewable, low profile, LCD displays are available in 12 inch, 15 inch, 17 inch and 19 inch sizes, providing unrivaled detailed on clear and easy to see screens.
Very interesting! But note that the screen shown above appears to be the PC program RayTech 6.0. (Remember that these ultra bright, ultra high-end monitors have nine video inputs, including two or three PC types.) There’s got to be at least a somewhat newer interface to fulfill the G-Series mission of “information, command, and entertainment” system. I also suspect that 2008 is the year that embedded marine electronics and PC software melds into something hard to differentiate.
PS Today Furuno put about another NavNet 3D teaser, this one about a flurry of “new digital sensors,” including a slew of Ultra High Definition radars (2.2 — 25 kw), a black box network fishfinder, and a GPS (new and digital how?).
Ben,
I know electronics are your bread and butter and I love me some cool high tech gear, but this is really getting insane… how fast this stuff is changing and how are cutting edge gear turns to antiques before our eyes.
When will this end?
Where do you see this all going?
Have you used touch screens and mouse based commands in a sea way? Does this really work?
I’m not sure using a touch screen in a rough sea is that much of an issue. I’ve actually hit the MOB button a couple of times by mistake on my Navman unit in a rough sea. So it can happen with conventional buttons as well as touch screens.
I’m a bit more concerned about a touch screen’s resistance to scratching and damage from natural oils as well as suntan lotion residue.
Raul
The displays look nice, but $7,000 for a 17″ display? I don’t care how many inputs it has, that’s absurd!
Raymarine is buying off she shelf displays, they don’t have any exclusive “ultra bright” technology that you can’t buy on the open market. The value add is “marinization” and a little circuitry. A very high end 17″ NEC or Samsung computer monitor is $250. Is there another $6,750 of added value by Raymarine?
According to the raymarine products page …
http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/ProductDetail.asp?site=1§ion=2&page=1652&product_id=3909
… the G-series is described as either a display for a PC with RNS 6.0 or as a remote E-series display. Given the dependence on either one, it just seems to be a wildly expensive 12v display with many inputs.
“But note that the screen shown above appears to be the PC program RayTech 6.0. ”
Actually it looks like it is running on a Mac, probably on a virtual machine. That’s what I do. But I wonder why Raymarine used that setup for the screen shot?
Raymarine the marketing machine.
I agree that these prices are ridiculous. I was recently looking at Furuno’s 15 inch monitor and the street price was about $4500. I thought this was really expensive (I didn’t buy one), but I thought Furuno makes a quality product, it should last.
Raymarine’s monitors are even more expensive and they have a reputation for very delicate screens (I can’t count how many posts I’ve read where Raymarine has had to replace monitors because of scratches from even delicate use).
The E series units are really overpriced also.
Raymarine does market well. They keep the retailers supplied and happy, but I’m hearing quite a few people in my area unhappy with Raymarine.
NINE video inputs! That is pretty excessive and adds a lot to the price. I do not see the point of it — the megayachts that can afford this price of monitor have the space to install many of them. They will be watching their movies on the (much cheaper!!!) 47″ plasma display in the saloon rather than the 17″ LCD in the pilothouse.
I think that Raymarine has lost their way. The monitor that they discontinued was expensive, but not “faint on the showroom floor” outrageous. There is no way in heck that a sub-$1M boat can justify a monitor in this price range.
Having just come back from the Seattle boat show I have some sad news for Raymarine — the glory days of the bubble years are over for now. They need to concentrate on stuff that real people can afford, or they are going to go the way of one of my old companies. We made a good consumer level product and then got greedy — it killed us.
I agree that Raymarine is missing the mark here with their products of late.
I understand that these monitors are expensive to make waterproof. Maybe the typical 15 monitor customer doesn’t care about the cost, but I do.
I almost purchased a Furuno Navnet Black Box and 15″ monitor. I figured I could easily upgrade to Navnet3 black box or even Maxsea (which I’m still trying to arrange a demo of). The cost of the monitor was the about the same as the black box with 6kw radar.
The SR50 Sirius Weather system installation guide mentions the g-series processor, this guide is downloadable from Raymarine http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/SubmittedFiles/Handbooks/e_series/87069_1Web.pdf.
From Page 8 under “SeaTalkhs network cable (SR100 only)”, “This cable should be used to
connect your SR100 weather receiver to either a SeaTalkhs Network Switch
or cross over coupler to connect to your E-Series display or G-Series
processor.”
As mentioned elsewhere there seems to be a G-Series processor in the works 🙂
Could it be that the “G series processor” … is just a reference to the E-series or a PC/MAC with RNS 6.0 you need to drive the G display ?
I believe that G-series will have a black box that will work of any PC monitor. To me it looks like an expensive version of Raytech software?
Two UK dealers have listed a GPM400 (EU) & (ROW rest of the world) processor with dual display output and built in Platinum cartography for the G-Series.
http://www.cactusnav.com/product_info.php?products_id=9664
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11075
Both are listed as Raymarine products.
There are also various addons G-series Keyboard, with wireless keyboard option. A video server, and open arrays.
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11078
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11080
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11077
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11068
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11067
The intent I think ia to target a slightly more high end market, which seperates the computing from the displays.
I hope the Openarrays are SetalkHS, direct plugins.
Found this 🙂 (BOUNCE)
Pictures and specifications of the Raymarine GPM400 and other options in French http://www.sdmarine.com/img-sd-marine/pdf/tarif_2007_septembre.pdf page 9.
Yikes … and we thought the displays were expensive, .. the GPM400 processor in the french liturature are 4995 euro’s, or $ 7,040 U.S. and there is no mention of any real specifications other than what type of cartograhy is included and how many ports it has. e.g. no mention of processor power, memory, etc. just nmea ports, n2k ports, and video port.
Somebody at Raymarine is on drugs.
… I guess it’s smart marketing to leave out memory and processor speed. Wouldn’t want anyone comparing these processors to off the shelf computers for a fraction of this cost.
I don’t think the gear is expensive at all for the market segment (50ft+) which it seems targeted at, from what I can see it provides a low cost glass bridge type solution without hiring the system integrators and buying much more expensive custom marine solutions.
If you cannot afford the money there are the C and E series, the E series being able to do nearly the same as the G series though without the video streaming.
As for the monitors, these do not appear to me as standard monitors or even standard monitors with voltage converters. But are special, as they have SeatalkHS inputs and provide picture in picture displays.
It seems to me the whole G-Series monitors are quite powerful in their own respect, with processing and the memory to display multiple video streams including as I currently understand it video sent over SeatalkHS.
I am impressed from what I understand of the design concept, everything communicating over SeatalkHS including the radar arrays and video streaming. All of this information can be displayed on the intelligent monitors, in different formats.
(see raymarine G series product description below)
Are we all talking about the same thing ? The G series displays has no Seatalk HS input.
Don’t think picture in picture capability uses much processor capability as my 8-year old $900 sony TV, and 3-yr old $300 JVC TV can both do that trick.
————————-
G190 19″ Ultra Bright Marine Display
The G190 is a 19″ marine display screen that can be used as a remote display for an E-Series, or as a video or PC display. Possible input devices include on-board PCs, CCTV cameras, satellite TV, DVD players, game consoles, or any other device with a video output.
Product Features
Ultra bright sunlight viewable screen
1280 x 1024 pixel resolution with built-in scaler for lower resolution sources
Waterproof to IPX6 for external flush mounting
9 video inputs (3 VGA, 2 DVI, 3 Composite, 1 S-Video)
Inputs selectable from front direct access keys
Programmable video input names
Wide viewing angle and sharp contrast
Adjustable backlighting with night mode
Low profile, thin bezel design
PIP and on-screen menu
Impact resistant glass fascia with anti-reflective filter
12V or 24V systems
Power consumption 7.7A @ 12V
To create a remote station for an E-Series display, combine the G190 with the E-Series remote keyboard.
Take a look at the Raymarine G120 G150 G170 G190 series combined manual http://www.raymarine.com/GetFile.aspx?fileId=418&categoryId=3, Page 10 back of display shows the Seatalk HS connection. Though this SeatalkHS connection only controls OSD functionality, and is not fullly SeatalkHS compatible as streaming video is not supported.