Head unit and Car PC

**hussein_787** · 08-12-2004, 07:45 PM

Hi im just new here and have been amazed by this website, and have already learnt new stuff in 2 days. Im thinking about making a car pc in the future.
Because I have an old laptop lying around. Ive decided to use that as my pc, then i want to get an in dash monitor with head unit that plays mp3's, dvd and cds and radio.
My main question is : Is it possible that when I buy the in dash monitor/cd/dvd/mp3 , "Will I be able to connect the laptop to it so that I can load a custom interface(e.g. media engine) instead of the one that comes with the in dash system(e.g. pioneer)?" and also "Will i be able to switch from one interface to another (e.g. Pc to Default pioneer) so that I want to insert a Dvd then it can go to the pioneer interface and play that?"

This is the first of probably millions of questions to come in future. I would appreciate if someone would let me know.

Thankyou very much
hussein_787

**kefka_killer** · 08-12-2004, 08:20 PM

It will depend on what kind of monitor you buy. You need to see if it has a video input, if so then yes. Note that if it does you will almost certainly not be using VGA for the display and everything will be kinda blurry. Last I checked there aren't any motorized in dash VGA monitors but there were a couple develpoment projects in the works.

**Isometric Bacon** · 08-12-2004, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by kefka_killer

It will depend on what kind of monitor you buy. You need to see if it has a video input, if so then yes. Note that if it does you will almost certainly not be using VGA for the display and everything will be kinda blurry. Last I checked there aren't any motorized in dash VGA monitors but there were a couple develpoment projects in the works.

There is one, and it's a Lilliput touchscreen too... Pretty expensive though, and they're currently out of stock. Anyone got any impressions of it?

http://www.digitalww.com/DWW-7VGT.htm

This was the screen I was planning to get. I'm guessing that the VGA support also means that you can plug it straight into the monitor port of your computer without some fancy videocard?

**kefka_killer** · 08-13-2004, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by kefka_killer

Last I checked there aren't any motorized in dash VGA monitors but there were a couple develpoment projects in the works.

Keyword being motorized. The DigitalWW product you showed is basically a drawer with a hinge to tilt the screen up; nothing motorized there. It is far from being something like this pioneer screen which is what you were describing in your original post.

On VGA output: Basically, TVs and computer monitors work on different resolutions. Monitors having the higher resolution. So when you use a computer on a TV it is blurred. So if you get a screen that is specifically designed for a computer (ie Lilliput or Xenarc) this not a problem and you just plug in the 15pin monitor cable to the pc. However if you use a screen not designed for a computer then you will either get a video card that has a video out(RCA/S-video) and use that or modify the screen (search around for mods to playstation screens)