In-Car Mp3/PC Solutions?

Wavey

Afternoon all,

Does anyone know of any reputable place in dublin that could fit an in-car pc or the sort of adapter that allows an ipod to be controlled from the original head unit?

I just bought a 318 but the cd changer wont play cdrws or mp3's which is how I listen to most of my music.

I would also like to be able to control the ipod from the steering wheel.

If it didnt cost too much more I would like to have the ability to play back divx movies from the same unit aswell. Then I could add in a small lcd at a later date.

As ye may have guessed I'm not really sure what Im looking for. Did a bit of research on the web but I would rather hand the whole job over to a pro.

Any suggestions/ ideas?

(maybe Ive been watching too much MTV!!)

Cheers lads

Rew

For an in car PC, touch screen LCD etc, tou would be talking up to €1500 and thats if you do it your self. There's a head unit that attaches to a removable hardisk that migh suit you, probs about €600 all in. You can go for a an IPod to CD-Changer port adapter that lets you see the ID3 tags on some head units and change tracks, there about €100ish.

I can dig out links for them all id say.

quarryman

this is a good place for car stuff

www.cartft.com

For an in car PC, touch screen LCD etc, tou would be talking up to €1500 and thats if you do it your self.

if everything was gold plated maybe, that's way off!

I managed mine for <€600 albeit i still need a DC->DC converter to get it powered in the car.

AlisonB

firstly before spending a bomb on new stuff. ..try using cd-r s instead of cd-rw ... also you could try converting your mp3s to cda s. ... nero should do this for you.

thesteve

Ah, the reprocussions of the Drivesoft system appearing on MTV's Pimp my Ride... The irony of course is that they're as scarce as a non-chinese person on Dublin Bus.....

There's a load of these systems available online but I doubt you'll be order them in Dublin... you may get one you can install yourself...

Just googling it I came across this...

http://www.firewiremax.com/fire-wire-1394-ilink/divx-divx-player-dvd-to-divx-divx-encoder-divx-decoder-mini-portable-player.html

A friend of mine made one of these himself for his final year project in college... Built a pC, put it in the boot, hooked it to the battery (required a modified psu), set the OS to boot when the car was started, displayed the output to a touch screen lcd in the dash...

Pretty easy if you know how to run the cables, etc...

Rew

Another good thread here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=227437

Cost is thye main problem I reckon, this looks great for a front end:

http://www.mediaengine.org/

quarryman

thesteve wrote:

http://www.firewiremax.com/fire-wire-1394-ilink/divx-divx-player-dvd-to-divx-divx-encoder-divx-decoder-mini-portable-player.html

that's pretty slick.

Rew

quarryman wrote:

if everything was gold plated maybe, that's way off!

I managed mine for <€600 albeit i still need a DC->DC converter to get it powered in the car.

Touch screen TFT
1.2 ghz Mini-Itx
Slot loading DVD
RAM
Case
PSU
FM tuner
Amp
Exta cables
2.5" 100 gig HD
Optional GPS
Misc extras

Dont think its far off

Personally I wouldn't go for the power converter, prefer to spend the money on a PSU designed to go in the car. Same for the case.

Enygma

I'm thinking about doing this at the moment. Just don't know how I'm going to mount it in the dash. Obviously I want it to look OEM.

Check out http://www.dashpc.com, they've got a card for booting and shutting down from the ignition and a card that hooks into your car relays for controlling the locks and windows etc from the PC. Pretty cool, cheap too!

You can get all the mini-PC parts at http://www.mini-itx.com

I'm thinking I could hook it up to VAG-COM (http://www.ross-tech.com) for diagnostics too.

Rew

Have a look here, you might get a few ideas.

http://www.cartft.com/carpc/community/examples

If you cannt mount the TFT easily you could go for one of the ones that fit in to the head unit bay and slide out and up.

Not cheap, and not as cool looking...

http://www.cartft.com/carpc/catalog/il/467

Thsi case (and the PSU) are designed to go in to a car

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=24

The PSU will start and stop the PC for you with the ignition. You can select the what it does (shutdown/standby/hibrante).

quarryman

Rew wrote:

Touch screen TFT
1.2 ghz Mini-Itx
Slot loading DVD
RAM
Case
PSU
FM tuner
Amp
Exta cables
2.5" 100 gig HD
Optional GPS
Misc extras

Dont think its far off

Personally I wouldn't go for the power converter, prefer to spend the money on a PSU designed to go in the car. Same for the case.

actually for the stuff you've described you're probably right. Mine is a little bit more ghetto:

600MHz Mini-Itx [off boards €70]
Slot loading DVD [bog standard 5.25 $20]
RAM [128MB €10]
Case [old shuttle case]
PSU [shuttle PSU]
FM tuner [€40 ALDI]
Amp [?]
Exta cables
2.5" 100 gig HD [200GB 5.25 off boards €70]
Optional GPS [nope]

and TFT touchscreen [€170 off boards]

Total: €400 plus PSU which I had already.

AlisonB

quarryman wrote:

I managed mine for <€600 albeit i still need a DC->DC converter to get it powered in the car.

you can get a converter in argos for about €80 which is cheap enough

Wavey

Cheers lads,

Just after browsing most of those sites. In car pc seem like the dogs bollox.

@ Steve... How did your mate get the pc to boot when the car was started?

I maybe getting carried away here but.......I have a wireless network set up at home. Would'nt it be cool to have a wireless card in the car so you could download all the your new music/videos while parked in the drive?

Quarryman, what does your set up consist of?

Any of you lads already have similar set ups? Fancy posting some details?

Im guessing the hardest part of the installation would be interfacing with the existing power/ speaker cabling?

Any tips on that?

Cheera lads

Rew

quarryman wrote:

actually for the stuff you've described you're probably right. Mine is a little bit more ghetto:

600MHz Mini-Itx [off boards €70]
Slot loading DVD [bog standard 5.25 $20]
RAM [128MB €10]
Case [old shuttle case]
PSU [shuttle PSU]
FM tuner [€40 ALDI]
Amp [?]
Exta cables
2.5" 100 gig HD [200GB 5.25 off boards €70]
Optional GPS [nope]

and TFT touchscreen [€170 off boards]

Total: €400 plus PSU which I had already.

Cannt rely on boards for the gear (no garuntee of availability) so im going compleatly off retail prices. I also tend to go for the higher end stuff to make sure its future proof. Wount put full size harddisks or optical dries in a car. There not designed to be moved and used at the same time and suck loads of power.

quarryman

AlisonB wrote:

you can get a converter in argos for about €80 which is cheap enough

?

is that a 12V cigarette to 240V? they aren't the best since the voltage is getting converted to 20v and then back to 12v when it goes through the PSU, not very efficient. The best solution is a 12V converter that attaches straight to the mobo and elimates the need for a PSU that deals with 240V. See here.

I'll get a pic of mine. At the moment its just running in the house as an MP3 player.

@Wavey if you plan on buying anything off cartft gimme a shout as I wanna get one of the DC converters.

ds20prefecture

Wavey wrote:

Cheers lads,

Just after browsing most of those sites. In car pc seem like the dogs bollox.

@ Steve... How did your mate get the pc to boot when the car was started?

I maybe getting carried away here but.......I have a wireless network set up at home. Would'nt it be cool to have a wireless card in the car so you could download all the your new music/videos while parked in the drive?

Quarryman, what does your set up consist of?

Any of you lads already have similar set ups? Fancy posting some details?

Im guessing the hardest part of the installation would be interfacing with the existing power/ speaker cabling?

Any tips on that?

Cheera lads

Hi - if you have an iPod, Google the dension ICE:Link. Also, your BMW dealer can fit an iPod dock in the glove box that you control from the wheel and see on the display. You can rig something up yourself with the right lead and a small bit of DIY.

I fit my 40GB iPod's dock in my '72 Citroen's ashtray with it wired to the head unit and charging the iPod for about €45 - it's unbelievably convenient. Pictures on request.

Hope this helps.

Rew

quarryman wrote:

?
@Wavey if you plan on buying anything off cartft gimme a shout as I wanna get one of the DC converters.

Mini-Itx.com do a few that might suit as well, theres a 60w for £45 and an 80w for £58. They may not power your HD and DVD drive though.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10

Wavey

@ DS20

Yep I'de like to see a pic of that if its no bother.
Cheers

I did read about these replacement cd changers that will play mp3s but you cant see the folder/artist/title on the head unit. Which is not much good when theres a couple of hundred tracks on a disc.

quarryman

Rew wrote:

Mini-Itx.com do a few that might suit as well, theres a 60w for £45 and an 80w for £58. They may not power your HD and DVD drive though.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10

according to the website the 80w is enough for a mobo and 3.5" drive but no more.

i'd prob still get the cartft 200w one and buy the power brick separately.

ds20prefecture

Wavey wrote:

@ DS20
Yep I'de like to see a pic of that if its no bother.
.

In my case, the car had to appear as original as possible when I wanted - this probably isn't an issue in a modern beemer. The controls and display are exactly where I want them (unlike the head unit)

What's great about the iPod is the security - just take it with you and no-one will steal it.

Wavey

@ DS20
That is a very clean 33 year old citreon. What is it? 2cv?


@ Rew,

The setup you mentioned earlier, do you have this installed and working?
If I use one of these dedicated psu's , where do I tie in to the car 12 supply?

Also, will a normal wireless pci network card work in a car? Ive seen 802.11 antennas mounted in boots? Would this be necessary to connect to my own wireless network? (If I'm parked outside of course )

Rew

Wavey wrote:

The setup you mentioned earlier, do you have this installed and working?
If I use one of these dedicated psu's , where do I tie in to the car 12 supply?

Also, will a normal wireless pci network card work in a car? Ive seen 802.11 antennas mounted in boots? Would this be necessary to connect to my own wireless network? (If I'm parked outside of course )

No, we have some of it bought to do some stuff in work. But TBH there isnt that much to it anyway (if you have the cash. We have the car specfic case and PSU which is a very nice bit of kit. Main thing I dont have to play with is a touch screen.

Yeah a normal PCI/PCMCIA/USB WiFi card will work. You need one that will take an external antenna though. You can get a magnetic WiFi antena easily enough and there pretty small.

dogz

talk to the guys on www.mp3car.com they know their stuff and u can get cheap tfts on their forums aswell

unkel

Wavey wrote:

@ DS20
That is a very clean 33 year old citreon. What is it? 2cv?

I guess it is a ...


...DS20

ds20prefecture

Rew wrote:

No, we have some of it bought to do some stuff in work. But TBH there isnt that much to it anyway (if you have the cash. We have the car specfic case and PSU which is a very nice bit of kit. Main thing I dont have to play with is a touch screen.

Yeah a normal PCI/PCMCIA/USB WiFi card will work. You need one that will take an external antenna though. You can get a magnetic WiFi antena easily enough and there pretty small.

If you are going WiFi, you'd want to make sure it was 802.11g on both ends - Music is not small.

I have to ask - what's the advantage of all this expensive gear in your car when an iPod or Zen or iRiver or whatever is about the size of a packet of fags and you can have ALL your music anywhere you go, not just the car? I seriously considered a boot mounted removable harddrive MP3 player, but it was twice the price of a 40GB iPod and about 16 times the physical size so I got the iPod instead.

Blitzkrieger

Did anybody buy from mini-itx.com? I'm thinking of getting a complete bundle off them but I'd want to hear a few favorable reviews before parting with that amount of money.

Rew

Yeah all our stuff came from them and when we got the wrong screws in one kit they fell over them selfs to explain, apologise and send out replacements.

Wavey

Thanks for all the replies lads.

I think im gonna go for that opus 90W case. Seems to be the best.

Although I need to track down the mechanism to allow the tft to slide out horizontaly from one of the compartments in the dash and then flip up vertically.

Anybody know where I could source something like this. I know it will need a bit of modding but If i got the mechanism itself I'm sure i could make it work.

Cheers

Wavey