Car computing

Unless there is direct sunlight on the screen, the screen is still clearly visible when it's light out. I've stuck with Xenarc for quite a while now and their service has been pretty good, and the screen quality is excellent. It cost me about $900 after taxes and conversion and shipping and such, but keep in mind this is in Canadian dollars.

 

Check these out

http://digitalww.com/index.htm

All the ones I have seen are off brand Asian brands. I would feel much more comfortable with a 1 year warranty from a reputable company I know like Pionner, Panasonic, etc.

I can see spending $400 and getting what seems like a homemade piece of junk made with cheap plastic that works only when it feel like it and no recourse to return it or have it fixed.

 

Those are the ones, along with MP3Car.com's (same models) that I have been looking at. But they are not $900 but rather $450 to $600. I agree with you on the quality and have been searching for somthing in a higher quality from the likes of Pioneer too. There probably is not enough of a market yet to attract the big manufacturers.

 

You can find them $900 and over. They are ones with the LCD touchscreen and also have built in dvd/mp3 capability. This is nice if you don't plan on incorporating a computer.

 

Well, it appears there are a ton of LCD touchscreen in dash that are head unit replacements. They have FM/AM/CD/DVD/MP3 and built in amplifier to replace headunit.

They do not have VGA input and the touchscreen is not able to be used with a PC, (not USB).

Most of these run over $1,000.

Finding in dash touchscreen meant for a PC is a little harder to find and there just isn't much of a market it seems.

I think I am going to either go with one of these two:

http://digitalww.com/DWW-700H.htm (manual, but can swivel)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.p...products_id=120 (automatic and has a warranty)

 

I was looking at going with a Pioneer AVIC-N2 just because of the reliability of the indash touchscreens on the market. I already have an Vais AIC-100i that will have my MP3's taken care of and can have the Pioneer output hooked to it for audio with DVD's. The cost of $1300 from eBay or $1400 from Circuit City ($1700 - $300 rebate) is really just about what I would spend on a carpc, powersupply, LCD, and GPS. The GPS on the Pioneer is VERY good too. I would be giving up WiFi which I would rather use my laptop for anyway when at a hotspot and that is about it.

 

Touchscreen - $400
CarPC ~ $500 (motherboard, memory, hdd, power supply).
GPS ~ $250
Total of $1250

So sounds like you have the right idea, I will have to consider this. Ahh, too many decisions.

 

The Pionner AVIC-N2 looks pretty great. Can it do Navigation and DVD at the same time. It doesn't appear so as the unit loads the GPS map info off of a dvd.

With the touchscreen for $400 and I can run one of my laptops for the time being until I build a car pc. I also already have a bluetooth GPS receiver.

 

It locks out the DVD while driving, so it would not do both at the same time. I don't think it uses the ground wire on the parking break idea because it knows when your moving with the GPS.

Edit: it appears to have a seperate video out capability for the rear seats.

 

It looks like with a $300 rebate and a price of $1299 from this auction on ebay I can get it for $1,000. The question is, will it fit in the storage area in the dash, out put DVD and GPS sound through the Vais AIC-100i, and keep the storage door.

 

i think i'm going to try something similar at the end of this month.

i will use the voompc as the brains.
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.87/it.A/id.373/.f

i'm glad i found this thread, this is perfect stuff.

too cool.
-r

 

Wow you guys just fires me up to get this done as soon as I get my Prius (mid Feb. 2006 after about 4,5 months of waiting...)

I do have the PC, the GPS stuff, Wlan USB device, external USB 120Gb Hdd. The only thing missing is the touchscreen. Hope there's a unit out there without needing to "rip" the lid of the box...

Cheers,
Zappa

 

That's going to be a hard find. I don't think there's a screen that'll come out far enough to have it in much deeper in the storage compartment. I've contemplated ripping out the stock stereo, but I still use it every so often to listen to the hockey game or when I'm at the drive in.


I think I need to put the whole unit on rails, but that'll require quite a bit of cutting and modification to the current mounting system.

 

The rails idea is somthing I've been thinking about too. I was thinking of somthing like a RC servo being used to move the whole thing along on a drawer type rack. Tie the servo into the power switch for the motorized version of the LCD. Then upon hitting the switch, the servo acts first and then the LCD would come out when the servo is done.

 

What about ripping out the standard HU and place the screen there (none 1-din screen put a normal touchscreen)... Will it fit???
And then place a replace HU in the place where you have put your din screen..

I don't got the car yet, soo that's why I ask...

I know you gotta make up a nice front panel for the screen but it might be worth it...

Cheers,
Zappa

 

The problem with replacing the HU is that you lose integration with the MFD and steering wheel controls. I don't know if the stock HU would fit down below in the storage.

 

What about wearable computers with eyeglass mounted displays? Know of folks from MIT and Ga Tech doing this, spinoff company called Charmed Technology selling them. I wonder if it possible to drive while wearing one? Would seem to eliminate need to have computer attached to particular location, like a car.

 

Since I don't have ordered the NAV I don't really care if I can see what station I'm listening to or the CD or whatever. And I didn't mean to put the stock HU in the lower storage just rip it out and put the replacement HU in the lower storage, and mold a frontend for a 7" touchscreen where the stock HU used to be...

/Zappa

 

Presto: Is the stock HU a 2-din thing or just a 1½-din thing???

If it's a 2-din piece of crap then I can fit a screen in there without any trouble but 1½ is gonna make it abit more creative...

/Zappa

 

The stereo is going to be double-din like a lot of other stock stereos. I had also consdired ripping out the stock head unit and then putting the screen there with a bit of fibreglassing. A screen should easily fit in there.