FusionFanatic

who says the carputer has to be in the trunk? if your carputer is located in the front somewhere then the cables could be much shorter. but even in the trunk it is often less than 10 feet. if you run the carputer's sound output directly into an amplifier then you avoid a set of RCA cables but you now need longer speaker wires instead.

and it's funny that you said earlier that "Im a firm believer in the more things you pass through, the more molested the signal gets", yet you're running the signal though passive crossovers which probably "molest" the sound quality more than a second run of RCA cables would.

the head-unit's aux-in voltage is irrelevant. even it it was only 1v max a good head unit would amplify it's pre-amp output to 4v or higher anyways, which will feed your amplifer with a nice clean signal.

I use a HU with my rig and I think it sounds great. keep in mind i'm no audio-freak, but I know horrible sound when I hear it, and my system sounds pretty good IMO (especially considering the audio comes from my laptop's on-board sound)

but anyways, like I've said before... this thread/poll wasn't to debate which method is better or worse (because that debate will never end). it was simply to see which method was more popular... that's all

good luck with your new system

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current carPC setup
previous carPC setup

Mechanic

It only takes me a few seconds to switch over to the hardware controller for my HD Radio unit (Visteon Zoom HDZ300). It a tiny little thing, just velcro's to a spot on my lower dash. The picture in that ad makes it look huge.
The little thin remote it comes with is really not a bad thing at all.

I keep the remote and the hardware controller out of the way in the glove box when the carpc is available since the Visteon is fully software controllable.

I really dont drive the car that much, so I typically take the carpc in the house and use it. There are lots of times where I just dont want to mess with taking the carpc with me out to the garage for short trips, and the little hardware controller provides the perfect entertainment solution for those instances.
I guess you could say I do not fit into either of the two poll options specified, since I have the best of both worlds..

turbocad6

a lot of newer cars are integrating more & more other vehicle functions with the head unit, & there are cars that removing the head unit really isn't even much of an option at all without loosing climate control display or other vehicle options & functions.

you can still add a pc to a vehicle like this if you keep the factory head & factory display, I'm doing one of these now & relocating the factory display overhead. removing the head is not really possible on some cars.

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MY NEWEST INSTALL:modded infiniti fx with big screen - "If my typing sucks it's probably because I'm driving....................."

first windows carpc install........my liquid cooled LVDS screen :D

2k1Toaster

Actually I think this is/will be only a problem for a few years. Reason being cars that havent had character LCD headunits, are now getting them, but cars that have already passed that phase long ago (like Lexus RX series) now have graphical LCD screens in VGA quality. 640x480 usually right now, but that is good enough.

More and more cars are getting in the category where you can send the VGA signal from the PC to the OEM screen and then just flip the source. and use the OEM touchscreen interface as well.

I think that this will be the way all cars (well anything above basic crapola) will be very soon, and then soon after all cars.

So I am looking forwards to buying a car with a cool display for the future new carpc.

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turbocad6

yeah but that still means the head unit is manditory & not optional. I coulda displayed the pc on the stock screen & done no fabrication at all, that's definatley an option, but 640X480 on a less than 7" screen was too much compramise,

in a few years well have hd displays & more compatability for sure, & this means more "headunit included" installs

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MY NEWEST INSTALL:modded infiniti fx with big screen - "If my typing sucks it's probably because I'm driving....................."

first windows carpc install........my liquid cooled LVDS screen :D