Thread: Sound system and car tech

No ones gonna go out and do this research for you and report back to you.

Do some searching around, learn about carputers, then when you have questions, post back here. Even if someone wanted to tackle your questions, they are way to vague. It's like saying, I want to buy a house, a good one, please recommend some to me.

Obviously, we need to know more info and you need to read up a bit.

Hi:

This, too, is my first post.

That was my 14 year old son who posted. His first language is French. He didn't express his needs well. He was researching car sound systems and happened upon this site. When he pointed it out to me, I encouraged him to, register as a member, read the FAQ's (which he did) and then make a post in the Newbie forum asking for some guidance.

We have a van into which we want to put in a multi-media center which includes a GPS, mp3, dvd/other digital video (such as Mpeg2 or 4), xmradio and xbox. As my son said, I want it to be touch-screen.

We saw the Pioneer NAV-SYS910DVD and that seems to meet my criteria. It is very expensive and doesn't offer the flexibility of the carputers which are talked about in this forum.

We live in Quebec, Canada. The winters are cold. Many mornings have a temperature of -20 degrees C. Car engine warm-up times are about 5-10 minutes. Summer temperatures are moderate. However, there can be periods of 25-30 degrees C which last for 4-6 weeks.

We have relatively few wireless hotspots in our home area. However, in the Montreal area there are plenty. I like the idea of internet connectivity.

I love this technology. However, I am not very manual nor adept at fashioning modifications. Are there good or recommended "turnkey" solutions or kits which my son and I could try as a learning experience?

As also stated, we want to put systems in 2 other cars. The van seemed like the easiest with which to start because of the amount of space.

Any nudge in the right direction would be appreciated.

We are looking forward to hanging around here to help and be helped.

Regards,

Wayne (and Christopher-James)

Thanks for the clarification, I wasn't trying to be rude to your son, just letting him know theres tons of info on this site and there are so many configuration combinations you really need to look around to get an idea of what you want/can do.

I am fairly new to this process as well, but from my experience the best way to get into this is to lurk around here for a while then dive right in. As far as I know there is no ready to install out-of-the-box kit for carputers. Its a very custom, very involved process with really no official support.

That said, forums, in my experience, are better than any "official" product support I've ever had. There are plenty of people here willing to help out.

If you want to do no fabrication you can replace your head unit with a carputer however you will lose radio functionality. (they make usb radios but they are not good.) You can go to a site like www.digitalww.com and get a touchscreen in a DIN housing that mounts in a standard din size opening. You would then need a computer and a power converter, most people here recommend the opus power supply as it uses the cars dc power and regulates it for the PC, as well as control startup and shutdown functions.

Theres lots of dash software as well as screen options, look at the software forum, navigation forum and the products section of this website for hardware/software needs and ideas. That should give you a start.

Ok, will do. Thanks for the answer.

Thanks, Muldrick. We are going to take your advice and use this style as a "first try" in the van. From what I have read around here, the Opus seems to be the way to go. The Lilliput screen is one that we have seen with good and mediocre reviews. I wish that it had a USB connection.

Your screen installation is intriguing. Did you consider mounting it on the dash? What were the determining factors?

I appreciate the guidance and support.

Regards,

Wayne

just wanted to say.....
WOOT YOU GOT A CROWN VIC!!!
They Are The Beastiest And Best Cars Ever!!
YOU ROCK