Rear projection carputer... with touchscreen?

**BiGGy** · 05-05-2007, 06:39 AM

Just getting ideas for my next carputer screen updrage. What do you guys think off a rear projector mounted on the parcel shelf or maybe rear seat headliner. With some sort of white board fabed into the dash with a touchscreen overlay. Can anyone with one of these projector units tell me the clarity opf the display in sunlight? Is there some kind of ultraviolet fluorescent paint i could apply to the front mounted board to brighten the display and not reflect the light back in your face. Please troubleshoot the problems I could face if I try to implement this... is this feasible?

p.s. My screen upgrade criteria is a sideways widescreen to fill my whole dash, bright enough to be read in direct sunshine and must be touchscreen.

**BiGGy** · 05-05-2007, 06:54 AM

Or maybe some sort of clouded perspex panel with the projector mounted on the firewall pionting to the rear of the car through the sheeting, the same sheeting thats found in the rear projection tvs.

**sebberry** · 05-05-2007, 08:02 PM

Not quite sure what you want from how you described it.

Perhaps you could put up a picture of the interior of your vehicle with an outline of where you want the screen image displayed.

The problem with front projection (where the image is projected onto the front of the screen, the same side you are looking at) is anything that gets in the way will cast a shadow on the image. So, when you go to touch the screen, you will cast a shadow of your hand over what you want to touch and you will see nothing.

Rear projection (where the projector would be mounted behind the screen on the firewall) wouldn't have that problem.

The big issues with this setup tho would be power consumption and heat. Projectors use and produce lots of these, and is quite unsuitable for use in the car. Also, you typically only get 2-3,000 hours out of a projector bulb, with replacement lamps running as expensive as a standard 7" touch screen itself.

Projectors are designed to throw a large image over several meters away, so controling the size of your image on the dash would likely be impossible.

It's an interesting idea, but not something well suited for a car.

**BiGGy** · 05-06-2007, 11:01 AM

Yeah I thought about that... what about this one.

LED light... so low heat, low power, 12v adapter, 12-60 inch widescreen. 250 lux is the downside... but could be boosted a bit.

**mashfique** · 05-08-2007, 08:03 AM

How about you mount couple of these under your headlights. Then park your car front of a white wall and have two screens going and you can network two xboxes together and dual your friend on halo by road side, only after sun down though. And don't forget to install outdoor speaker for extra effects. lol.

I am only joking, but I have thought about this awhile ago, several years ago.... it would be cool think about it. Not practical but for show car maybe.

**mgithens** · 05-25-2007, 05:45 PM

this is not possible, I have 3500 hours on a projector in my basement, we use the mess out of it... turn on even a night light and the screen's blacks get whiter... you cannot project "black", only light... so hold up a white sheet of paper, that is your black level, now shine a light on it and that is your whites... you need darkness for projection... even rear projection is affected by ambient light...

novel idea, it just simply will not be satisfactory...