Thread: Toyota Soarer/Lexus SC400 Project

Originally Posted by vincelockyer

Hey everyone,

Starting to put together a plan for a carputer project for my 1991 Toyota Soarer 4.0 V8.

Apart from an MP3 jukebox I want to use a PC to solve the problem with Soarers that the Sat Nav and NTSC-J TV tuner do not work in the UK. Also would like to see the possibility of including a GPRS adapter for voice and data calls too - much like an old style car phone.

The ideal thing about the V8 Soarer is that is includes an EMV 'Electro Multi Vision' LCD touchscreen that can be modified to provide an auxillary audio and video input through the TV input. I doubt I will be able to use the touchscreen functionality with it, but that's not really a hardship as I was thinking of an infrared serial input with some kind of remote control.

Not completely sure about the details yet but was wondering if anyone knows of someone who has attempted to install a PC with the Soarer's EMV before? There seems to be a lot of Lexus SC3/400s on here but none with the EMV.

Never attempted anything like this before so it's probably gonna be a bit of an adventure! Anyway there seems to be tonnes of info on the site so I look like I'm in the right place!

Cheers guys,
Vince.

I have no particular experience with the Lexus EMV, but the truth is, that if using a carputer with the EMV, it probably won't look very good because it is a composite screen, and not VGA. While it might be useable, composite will not be as sharp, and will be difficult to read words and see text on the screen. It would be advisable to remove the unit (if you can get the complete thing out, and I know you can, you can probably sell it for a good amount of cash) and replace the screen with a Xenarc that is molded into the console just as the EMV is.

Assuming GPRS is available where you are, there is no reason that it can't be integrated into your carputer.

Trust me, you will be happier in the long run.

Ah OK didn't think of that, I have seen an EMV with a PAL to NTSC converted TV signal going into it and it wasn't that bad although it was slightly blurred as you would expect.

Because the signal is coming from a VGA source how will that degrade the quality? Also do you think that using a TV-Out port on a graphics card will make any difference?

I think the main issue I would have with replacing the screen is that a lot of the cars functions like climate, radio and CD autochanger are controlled through it so I would loose all of that.

Vince.

Originally Posted by vincelockyer

Ah OK didn't think of that, I have seen an EMV with a PAL to NTSC converted TV signal going into it and it wasn't that bad although it was slightly blurred as you would expect.

Because the signal is coming from a VGA source how will that degrade the quality? Also do you think that using a TV-Out port on a graphics card will make any difference?

I think the main issue I would have with replacing the screen is that a lot of the cars functions like climate, radio and CD autochanger are controlled through it so I would loose all of that.

Vince.

First, since the output from the carputer is VGA< it would have to be converted, that degrades the signal.

Even if you use a card with TV out, the resolution of TV (composite) is much less the VGA, and that is why the picture will be degraded over a VGA monitor like the Xenarc or Lilliput.

As for the controls of the HVAC, radio, and CD, those can be controled with the standard modules which you would use to replace the screen. Also, you might be able to control those things by other means.

Michael