Volvo OEM Nav Screen HELP!!!

Hawkers · 12-07-2005, 10:33 AM

Hi There,
This is my first post so please be gentle with me

I am looking to install a carputer and i will be using a *cough* borrowed mini itx pc for this (it has a spare pci slot)

Now i have a 2000 volvo s80 t6 with the oem nav screen so i do not want another screen cluttering up a nice dash so i wanted to out put the pc to this screen. Now after much reasearch i beleive the screen uses a rgb with composte sync and i have found which wires send this from the nav computer in the boot to the screen.

Now to the point is there either

1. A cheap!! Magic black box that will do this
or
2 A Cheap!! pci video card that will out put the required signal

I do not have the elctronics knowledge required to build something my self so please do not suggest it

I know i may sound !Cheap! but the wife will kill me if i spend to much on this and i want to be able spend as much as i can on the pc bits rather than the interface

Any help will be very much appreciated

JC-S60 · 12-07-2005, 10:41 AM

Afaik you will have to build something yourself (or let it build)... The VGA is RGB actually, so you only need something for the sync and a signal with the right caracteristics (which I don't know anything about).

ITL · 12-07-2005, 10:48 AM

:ib the screen is going to look like crap. Not nearly the resolution desired for a computer. ...just my two cents

JC-S60 · 12-07-2005, 12:14 PM

If you're able to use RGB signals, the quality may actually be really good, much better than composite!

ITL · 12-07-2005, 01:20 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by JC-S60

If you're able to use RGB signals, the quality may actually be really good, much better than composite!

sure, the quality of the signal, but not necessarily the screen.

I tapped into RGB and sync line in a friend's TL navi screen, and the picture is viewable for DVD, but quality with text (computer image) is painful- especially after looking at my Xenarc.

Hawkers · 12-07-2005, 01:36 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ITL

sure, the quality of the signal, but not necessarily the screen.

I tapped into RGB and sync line in a friend's TL navi screen, and the picture is viewable for DVD, but quality with text (computer image) is painful- especially after looking at my Xenarc.

Thanks for your comments. I have thought bought getting another screen but where to mount it? I want to keep the car looking as standard as possible 1 so it don't get nicked and 2 so when i come to sell in a couple of years i can just take the setup and put it in my new motor. Has any one got any experience of an install in the volvo with the oem nav? Did they put another screen in? If so where did they mount it?

EsKALad · 12-07-2005, 01:43 PM

how big is you oem nav screen? i say as long as your using a front end you should be fine. you dont seem like your going to be doing internet research in your car. just mp3 dvd and you already got nav down. if you have a 7 inch nav screen buy a ts controller and glass panel lay it on top. and do the rgb connection.

jcdillin · 12-07-2005, 03:03 PM

yeah but isnt the screen mounted at the front of the center channel speaker? I think it's a bit far away to be touching it

your other option is to replace the OEM HU with a screen like I did.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...&highlight=s60

JC-S60 · 12-08-2005, 04:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

yeah but isnt the screen mounted at the front of the center channel speaker? I think it's a bit far away to be touching it

your other option is to replace the OEM HU with a screen like I did.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...&highlight=s60

Nah, you just copied from this guy: http://mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32033

You did a better job though!

Hawkers · 12-08-2005, 05:24 AM

thanks for your input jc both of you! But i want to keep my headunit as its used for the nav and the tv or do you guys know something i don't?

ne way nice to meet fellow volvo owners we are a small club

ne info you can give on the volvo wiring would be great you can email me hawkers@hotmail.co.uk

once agin thanks for your time

jcdillin · 12-08-2005, 07:19 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by JC-S60

Nah, you just copied from this guy: http://mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32033

You did a better job though!

lol, plagiarism is the highest form of flattery

jcdillin · 12-08-2005, 07:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Hawkers

thanks for your input jc both of you! But i want to keep my headunit as its used for the nav and the tv or do you guys know something i don't?

ne way nice to meet fellow volvo owners we are a small club

ne info you can give on the volvo wiring would be great you can email me hawkers@hotmail.co.uk

once agin thanks for your time

your running into the same problems I had, because orginally I wanted to keep my HU as well but couldnt find a good place to mount the screen that made it look good

your pretty much at the point where either you stay with all the OEM stuff or pull all the OEM stuff and keep it to reinstall when you sell the car.

Hawkers · 12-09-2005, 08:51 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

your running into the same problems I had, because orginally I wanted to keep my HU as well but couldnt find a good place to mount the screen that made it look good

your pretty much at the point where either you stay with all the OEM stuff or pull all the OEM stuff and keep it to reinstall when you sell the car.

Thanks jcdillin, I have just had a look at the nav unit the boot (trunk) and it has another box wired by a din cable same as what comes of the cd going to the nav unit. It has a big sticker with PAL on it. Is this the tv tuner? Is so hows does it send the tv signals to the nav unit. Beacuse i was tinking maybee i could interface the pc vga out put in here and get the nav unit to do the rgb with composite sync conversion thingy. Am i anywhere near or am i totally barking up the wrong tree?

I can not beleive i am the only volvo owner with the cdrom nav to try and install a carputer and keep the oem screen..

Please HELP as the wife has started taking the P@*S >saying i told you that you wouldn't be able to do it.

jcdillin · 12-09-2005, 10:02 AM

well if you could figure out what wires on the screen took the video then you might be able to interface the PC to it, but the problem is on that small of a screen the video is going to look really bad, it will be close to impossible to even read the street names on the maps.

buut, that would be the way to do it, you could put a switcher or something on there and connect the tv out on the PC to it, or take the nav unit out and replace it with the pc, then the only other hard part you would have is controlling the PC, which you could do with a mouse or keyboard.

JC-S60 · 12-09-2005, 10:17 AM

You can check what kind of signal is going from that tv-tuner, but my guess is it's already rgb...
It's always better to have straight vga -> rgb conversion instead of vga -> composite -> rgb as you will loose quality that way.