PC/104 based RDS FM radio + TV board

[Smukkasen]

Hi, found something interesting regarding Fm radio with RDS on the net:

http://www.ampltd.com/prod/avctvr.html

I called them and this piece of hardware is being unsed in Scania trucks (new models). I has a PC/104 interface (don't know anything about it) and they only sell to re-sellers or industrial customers, probably in large numbers, but I tried to explain what I want and I will at least get some background info. on their product and will see what it is like...

The board also has TV on it, but, hey, that only a feature...

Apparently it has a SDK for Windows 2000/XP and it wants 5V power supply (fits well - perhaps somebody could start thinking about doing something with a pice of hardware like this???

[Smukkasen]

Look also to this link - something to use for building car PC???

http://www.ampltd.com/prod/t886.html

[Needstorage]

PC/104: a.k.a. Single Board Computer. (Mostly used Industrial Environments)

The first thing you describe is not a (PC/104) single board computer, it's an extensionboard to plug into the PC/104 platform.

[Smukkasen]

OK, I understand that this is not standard PC stuff, but hopefully you get where my mind is heading? A board with one external antenna input, one 5V power input, one USB port and one Line Out output...

And it should be an RDS based FM radio - dedicated, no TV. Or if TV, so be it It should also be as small as possible to be able to build it into a housing for mini ITX or preferrably the coming nanoITX board...

It seems nobody have got anything like this? Too bad...

BTW: Can anybody tell me if they DO have decent radio signals from their various USB based Fm radio solutions out there? And what about TV? My kids would probably love to watch kiddie TV while driving

[Rob Withey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Smukkasen

OK, I understand that this is not standard PC stuff, but hopefully you get where my mind is heading? A board with one external antenna input, one 5V power input, one USB port and one Line Out output...

You forgot something. The PC104 based motherboard to drive it. Otherwise it's about as useful as an ISA radio card. You can hook PC104 up to ISA if you are prepared to hook all the connections up yourself.

I run a PC104 motherboard for my car PC.

[tom61]

This board is PC/104+ interface not PC/104, PC/104+ is PCI based, PC/104 is ISA based. PC/104 is also a formfactor for biscuit/stackable systems.

If anyone finds a place with single unit quantities sales, or gets a group sale going, let me know. I have a couple of Socket 370 (100MHz FSB though) slim/embedded systems with a PC/104+ connector I'd be willing to part with for $60 each.

[Seth]

Why don't you just use this instead?
FM,TV,RDS trouble free PCI card

[Jackboot]

That card looks GREAT...now where to buy it? And how much???

[GruvThang]

yes, please let me know if you have found a seller!

[Smukkasen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jackboot

That card looks GREAT...now where to buy it? And how much???

This card is at least available at www.komplett.no (Norwegian web shop ) - I know because I have one in my home PC.

I bought this card 2 years ago and then the software was crap (running Windows XP Home) - they have improved the software and the latest version is OK - I wouldn't rate it as perfect though...

The price in NOK is 836 (today), which is equivalent to a little less than $120.

You can get this at the UK web shop of Komplett Data as well. I guess a will find even more

[Smukkasen]

BTW: This is the reply I got on my mail re. the PC/104 card :

Dear <name deleted>

Thank you for your call today and your interest in our embedded video products.
I have attached information on the AVC-TVR PC/104+ FM and TV card.
View using Adobe Acrobat.

Please be aware that the AVC-TVR is designed of for OEM embedded applications
and not suitable for plugging into standard PCI motherboard.

I have also attached information the Tiny886ULP which is a typical PC/104+
computer ideal for hosting the AVC-TVR.

Example unit prices as follows:-

----------------------------------------Qty=1+ ----- 10+ ----- 100+
AVC-TVR-EU ------------------- 330.00 ---- 310.00 --- 230.00 USDollars
(PC/104+ Video capture/overlay + TV/FM Tuner for Europe)

AVC-TVR_Win2K SDK -------- 3995.00 USDollars
(providing live video overlay window on text/graphics,
TV and FM Tuning, Reception, decoding,
RDS (Europe) reception and decoding,etc
for Microsoft Windows2000 or Win-XP-Embedded)

The SDK provides a comprehensive list of functions for managing the Radio
and TV Tuners, including station tuning and selection, digital RDS (RBDS
for USA)
data decoding (traffic announcement, etc) and display, etc.

DELIVERY
##########
Units of AVC-TVR-EU are available for immediate delivery.

ORDERING
##########
You can order by faxing your Purchase Order for the attention of:-

Ms R J Usher
Tel: +44 1353 659 500
Fax: +44 1353 659 600
E-mail: rjusher@ampltd.com

We accept payment by cerdit card (Mastercard, Visa, Amex, etc), cheque,
bank transfer, etc.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if we can be of any further
assistance.

Best regards,

Lee Foss.

[tom61]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jackboot

That card looks GREAT...now where to buy it? And how much???

http://www.ezsystems.com/dcat.cgi?i=5027 has it for $106 US. Froogle(Google's price search engine) is awesome.

[SecretSpyder]

I work as an applications engineer for a big embedded computer company in the US.

TOM61 is correct. PC-104 is ISA based and PC-104+ is PCI based. Please be aware that you can by converters to convert from PC-104+ to PCI or PCI to PC-104+.

I have been building OEM solutions using embedded hardware for the last three years. There are lots of advanteges to using the embedded form factors (reliablity,scaliablity, operating environment) but you WILL pay for it BIG TIME.

To give you some idea new PC-104 Pentium 500Mhz cpu board with 128Mb ram can cost around $600.

My suggestion for people here is to use laptops or the MINI-ITX to keep the price down, use your genus to overcome what ever problems arrise and as long as you have a firm background in hardware you will probably end up with a better solution for your application anyway.

[GruvThang]

just to update this thread:

for more information look here http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30106