Thread: AFKfest 2010 - Justchat_1 - This year in Car Entertainment Systems

nice video!

justchat covered a lot of great info!

Wow, very good presentation. It looks like car companies are really really jumping on the Infotainment and Connected bandwagon. I thought that this area of car manufactures was slow, but it looks like the gap between us and them is rapidly getting smaller. I think in a few years or less, this could ultimately result in the Car PC market for hobbyists pretty much becoming locked with the core users it has now. New comers will simply not waste their time when they can simply buy a Ford and or even Kia and do it for about the same price it costs us. Now mind you, our systems are more powerful, but in the end the end user only cares about it simply working. Also the car companies have millions upon millions of dollars to spend on plugin and or app development, where as we rely on plugin creators that work out of their homes, on their spare time to usually get out plugins and what not. They also have the ability to stream line a lot faster then us. I am sure that they have mastered bluetooth handsfree phone calls, where we are still kind of struggling with it. CF, I think is closest to getting it mastered with BlueSoliel, but other issues like the BS software causing issues on ATOM based systems, resulting in LAG is an issue. Many of us have solved ECHO issues via the SOHO card, thanks to Salmizar from the Flux Forums. I am not sure if that solution works with other FE, but I am sure it does since its a hardware solution.

My Car vs. MMI....... I have to say I am kind of jealous with the, what maybe 95% reduction in cabling? As you know I am trying to do a lot with my car, to create a multimedia monster. One thing that has frustrated me though is the pure amount of cables involved. There is a VGA screen, with touch panel, personal USB ports and head phone jacks, for each seat, all resulting in huge amounts of cabling. So much that if I take my headliner down, thats all you see running through the support beams. Management became such an issue, I had to take the system out, and am now in the process of housing the whole setup in the rear of the car.

Space, its something us Car PC people have been fighting for. Trip Zero's project shows potential and could be a powerful yet low powered solution to our problems. Right now my setup takes up my front center console, a small portion of my custom built second row console and a whopping 75% of my trunk space. Something I am not happy about. If I saw an SUV like that from Ford that offered the same features of multimedia, but didn't take no space at all, I would probably go for that. Thats how much I hate the space it taking up.

Car PC hobbyist vs Car companies. Well it looks to be its kind of a double edged sword. With the Car company you get a setup that works, has been tested for mass market, is all set to work on one hardware platform. Software development is way faster. Issues are that even if they can update software, eventually the hardware will be to antiquated. For us, we have to constantly test and tinker till we get it right, and thats per user because no one is using similar hardware. Software development can be deadly slow (I don't know how long CF 3.2 is going to be in the works), but when updates are released they are usually much more feature packed then the Car companies. Also, when something breaks or we want to upgrade hardware, we can do so at will. So both have pros and cons. Problem I see is the companies have more money to advertise their products, where as Car PC hobbyist is mainly through word of mouth.

I guess now we just have to see which stay on top.

PS: You just had to try to bash CF about the multi zone thing...... You knew I would be watching *gives the evil eye*.

PS: You just had to try to bash CF about the multi zone thing...... You knew I would be watching *gives the evil eye*.

That's okay, I think raygun talked about multi-screen support in an upcoming CF version... I may be just imagining things though.

You're right, he mentioned that it is one of the features they are working on.

The gap between OEM's and car pc hobbyists is shrinking rapidly. It won't be long before anyone can drive out of the dealership with 95% of what we already have.

Does that mean the car PC era is over? Not by a long shot. What manufacturers *can't* do is experiment with connectivity the way we do. Small, mobile, instant on devices with connectivity are the future.

Originally Posted by tripzero

That's okay, I think raygun talked about multi-screen support in an upcoming CF version... I may be just imagining things though.

Yes it has been mentioned, but thats the thing, its only been mentioned! It just takes so long for releases from FLUX. Even Beta testers are getting antsy.

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

You're right, he mentioned that it is one of the features they are working on.

The gap between OEM's and car pc hobbyists is shrinking rapidly. It won't be long before anyone can drive out of the dealership with 95% of what we already have.

Does that mean the car PC era is over? Not by a long shot. What manufacturers *can't* do is experiment with connectivity the way we do. Small, mobile, instant on devices with connectivity are the future.

Yes, its shrinking so fast! I dont know if I disagree or agree with you...... Reason being that people are lazy now a days, so they dont care about the experimental aspect.

I guess we could say its a race, so lets see who wins in the end.

good info. You forgot about the Ford NexGen system though. It has sync and a full color display. It's been out for a few years now. Also the gap is shrinking as others have said. An all-in-one ready to go system that is completely integrated to your vehicle network is appealing.

Originally Posted by Deric

good info. You forgot about the Ford NexGen system though. It has sync and a full color display. It's been out for a few years now. Also the gap is shrinking as others have said. An all-in-one ready to go system that is completely integrated to your vehicle network is appealing.

Its not really an all in one, its just all connected as one. None of it is new to us, I cant think of anything they are doing that we cant easily do. Thing is they have marketing, so terms like "vehicle networking" will appeal to people and draw them in. Now only issue I see, is for people that later, want to change from their systems. They are so tied into the car that if removed like 90% of the cars entertainment aspect is lost. I hear that if you remove a radio from a GM vehicle, a bunch of stuff no longer works.

Why no mention of Nissan/Infiniti? The GT-R, the new Maxima, the new M have great interfaces (touch+big buttons, plus wheel). Great BT implementation and voice control (Music, Nav, A/C, Phone).

VW? Who cares? Audi, VW should not be even mentioned, very archaic/basic systems if you ask me.

Of course, I'm a true Nissan/Infiniti fan, still...unfair not being mentioned. Another miss was the Acura system, which was the first who really made voice control stand out in the previous RL.

Otherwise great informative video. Very interesting, thanks.

Very good overview. Thanks for posting the video.