Thread: Carputer Audio controls vs. HU

Hey mrbean,

I personally use Media Car most of the time and FrodoPlayer the rest of the time, lately. In all of the programs that I have tried (which is all of them available for download here) they have very head unit like controls. If you don't like the default ones, there are several skins for download - or for most, you can make your own skins. I personally use the Alpine Blue theme for Media Car - and I love it! It looks just like a headunit. Also, I know that Media Car has audio controls like you want. You can either control them from the winamp that MC uses, or you can control them from the audio menu of MC. FrodoPlayer uses WMP as its backbone (from what I understand) and so you can control the EQ settings there. I haven't found a direct audio control setting in FrodoPlayer - but that doesn't mean it isn't there! If you wanted to use any of the other programs, I would suggest you download them and check them out on your main computer....that's how I figured out which ones I liked best before I put my CarPC in my car. However, I have them all installed and I switch back and forth between them, using them for what they all do best.

I can't comment on whether any of the programs resume playing a CD or DVD from where they left off...but I do know that most DVD playing software allows you to set bookmarks. I haven't played a DVD in my car yet, even though I have a DVD player....I just am not in the car that long very often. I also have all my mp3's on my hard drive, so I don't ever have any reason to use audio cd's in the car. If I purchase a new cd, I can rip it instantly to my hard drive in the car. Now all the media programs do resume playing my mp3's when I use the hibernate feature from the specific program's menu when I turn the car back on and the computer resumes with the program playing the song where it left off. I would assume they would do the same for audio cd's. Maybe someone else can answer your specific question for you?

I personally prefer having my CarPC over any head unit I have ever owned. I don't regret putting a computer in my truck at all! It is so convenient to have every song, movie, or video that I have ever purchased at the touch of my finger!

Good Luck!

The only thing that myself - and others on here - complain about is the fact that the lcd screen provides no tactile feedback to its user. Therefore, you almost always have to look down to do anything with it, including turn the volume down or up and change songs. However, this can be avoided by using a remote while driving...which is what I've been doing lately. I love having the TS, but to do anything other than advance to the next track, I still have to look down at the screen. Luckily, that's mostly what I do with the TS now, and I have it so that I can put my hand on the radio bezel and follow it down almost to the end and change tracks w/o looking down. I've learned where it is on the bezel since I've used the next track button so much - but this only applies to Media Car, where the next track button is on the bottom of the screen in the Alpine skin. Your mileage may vary

Good Luck!

i complain that there are never bass and treble controls on the player screen

yeah, there aren't, but you can control them in the windows Volume Meter (if your soundcard supports this) under the Advanced Settings. I have a SB Live! in my main computer in the house, and it has that function. However, in the car, I do not have that function, so I just use Media Car's winamp and turned on the equalizer and use the preset full bass and treble - exactly what I use with Winamp on my desktop pc. It sounds great! In FrodoPlayer, I played with the Windows Media eq and it sounds good, too...don't know if the WM eq did anything - but I like to think that it does

yeah but if i want to change eq settings while i'm driving its not exactly easy, changing genres and even some songs means i wanna change the bass treble levels

Yeah I agree on that, I sometimes change my bass settings from song to song. I dont change my treble but I do change bass.

occasionally i change treble

i basically leave it where it is....but then again, I don't have subs or anything in my install (yet! Still trying to convince the wife that they're needed) so I get about as much bass out of my stock system as I can with the settings where they are. Occasionally I'll have to turn the volume down becuase my speakers will start sounding bad......it sucks not having time to do the work right!