Single Din in car PC - would there be a market for these?

[TWSTD]

One of our suppliers has been offering a single din in car PC for a short while now- jus wondering what kind of response there would be if we started selling them?

Some specs:

Features:

. Slot-in DVD Rom
. Instant Boot-up Media Player: DVD, VCD, CD, MP3 (Play multimedia without booting up operation system)
. USB extension:
1) Wireless Internet Access (Adapted with a USB GPRS Wireless Modem)
2) DVB-T Player (Adapted with a USB Stick and a Special Software)
3) GPS (Adapted with a USB antenna and a Special Software)

. Bluetooth Data Communication:
1) Wireless Internet Access
2) GPS

. Intelligent Power Control:
1) Wide Voltage Range from 6V to 24V
2) Automatic delay shutdown

. 4 USB ports available
. Two channel audio output
. Microphone input
. Full-function remote control
. Anti-vibration design
. Anti noise design
. Special heat-elimination design

Key Specificatioin:

CPU: 1G Internal L1 128KB and L2 64KB cache memory
Memory: DDR266 256M (up to 1GB optional)
Hard Disk: 40G, 4200 r/min; (40G; 60G; 80G; optional)
DVD Rom: DVD Rom (CDRW & DVD COMBO Optional)
Power Supply: DC 6V –24V
Current Consumption 2.2A—3.0A
Dimension(mm) 195L x 177W x 54H
Weight(KG): 1.55
CHIPSET: VIA CLE266 North Bridge VT8235 South Bridge
CACHE: Internal L1 128KB and L2 64KB cache memory
Graphics: Intergrated VIA UniChrome AGP Graphics
Audio: VT1612A, two-channel
Power Consumption: < 42W

Price would be around $1000+gst. Separate monitors incl touch screen ones would be available to purchase if you did not have a monitor already....

Your throughts people?

AL

[darkwolf]

I guess it would come down to how good the output quality is. You describe very old components that may struggle with decent compression mediums. Would love to see that thing run an x264 movie. But it's a cool idea nontheless.

[TWSTD]

Fair call. As with most PC compomentry we can probably upspec these systems as required though - thats something i will have to look into.

[Barks]

Something that had a serial port or USB that I could hook into my microtech would be good....

Although looking the price I'd probably just go for a microtech display.

[Silent Knight]

Somewhere towards the end of the year I could be very interested in one of these if the specs could be modified somewhat to be a bit more 'grunty'.

[TWSTD]

Something that had a serial port or USB that I could hook into my microtech would be good....

Although looking the price I'd probably just go for a microtech display.

They do have USB ports - front and rear.

[Mr.Phreak]

I think you'll get a fair few people say they want one, but they'll never buy them.

The majority of people who want a CarPC are cheap bastards and/or nuts who enjoy building things themselves

[Adamal]

I think its a good idea. As pointed out, has potential to be an onboard tuner for your ECU. Also, quite liking the other features such as GPS etc.

[sergei]

What OS will it run?

[big_boy]

can you run with out an external screen if its just for music ?

[neo]

Im more thinking, remove the HDD (its going to die anyway) replace with with some solidstate memory and you have the worlds most over spec'd data logger [usb digi/analog expansion device] =)

Now if there was a plug in lap timer.. wa-la

[Adamal]

What OS will it run?

Oh god, here we go again!

[TWSTD]

It will run windoze / linux whatever and yes it will run without external screen.

[snwtoy]

The biggest factors are

(a) control method
(b) screen

What does this offer?

I don't think there is much of a market for it at that price, especially when you can get a jvc dvd player with built in screen and probably much better sound quality for the same price.

CarPC enthusiasts are much more likely to go for a less expesive small form factor case they can stash in the boot, with room for upgrading the audio card etc as and when funds arrive.

[Alex B]

What OS will it run?

As you most likley know, there is a linux version especially for use as a car puter.

[mr30%jr]

step back and look at the xbox i can play near 1280i videos. reminding you it has 64mb of ram a celeron 733

quality is never been a cpus fault. graphics hardware compression and uncompression.

a pc in a car is stupid imo when we have hardware decompressors for half the price what are you gunna do bust out some counter strike while your driving.

[sergei]

I am very interested in this thing (although it appears that the price is close to average laptop that will do same thing).
I will need to know: how much will touch screen cost and what size it is.
Do you have any pics of the actuall unit?
And most importantly what are the specs of the sound card -> SNR more important than anything else.
I assume that the harddrive is laptop one, is it possible to replace it with CF card (32Gb for example)?
Also it would be helpfull to know what size it is and if the touch screen monitor can be integrated into double DIN?

[DeeCee]

touchscreen = $500 - 1000 unless you want to shop overseas
http://www.itx.co.nz/index.php?cPath=27

you can get foldout ones, but normally people modify dashes and do some custom work to get them integrated into the cars.

I have a xenarc touchscreen..

soundcard is dependant on what you want out of it ie spdif, 5/6/7.1 etc you better take into account the DACs on the unit as well over SNR

[sergei]

I am not after 5.1. I am purely after 2.0 (I do not believe in Surround Sound in music which is stereo anyways ) I hate "HHSSSSSSSSSS" in the speakers. As most of the sound cards will have same (AC97) 18bit DAC (well, only used as 16bit), the only difference in quality of surrounding components.
If sound card is crap (as in <90db SNR and or HDD/PSU noises), I would use external USB card instead, but this adds up to the cost.

[TWSTD]

I have not had any great interest in these, hence not imported any. I can do though if you want on - they will allow us to place a sample order.

The sounds card is a VT1612A - you will need to search the net for the specs of that - im not sure what they are. Various size touch screens are also avail at various pretty competitive prices. Email me for more info if you need it.

AL