I really wanna put a tv in my car. how did u guys do it? i was thinking putting in one of those single din units where the screen comes out and up and then hooping a tuner to it. Or maybe removing the whole thing and installing a lcd display and hooking some stuff to it kinda like a nav screen
How did u guys do it?

Adam

 

I had the Alpine CVA-1000 in my dash for a few months and now i have teh Alpine CVA-1005 in. Gets a lot of looks (Lets hope none were thieves!) What my CVA-1000?

 

maybe... can i watch tv on it??? and how much??

Adam

 

You can watch TV on it. You will need a TV tuner pack which runs around $400 or so. For any in-dash you would need the additional tuner pack. $650 + rear camera input (goes for over $100 new). Couple of months old, i still hve box and manuals for it.

 

Do you literally mean television? I have a Win2000 pc hooked up to my CVA-1005 and love it. A little buggy, but cool. I can watch DVD's and videos from the computer and listen to MP3's (and watch those cool WinAmp visualizations) but I cannot literally tune in television through a tv antenna, who'd want to?

/aac

 

You dont think it would be great to watch the morning news on the way to work while sitting in traffic? or listening to your favorite show while crusing. You dont have to stare at a tv to enjoy it..

Adam

 

That particular novelty is lost on me. I can listen to news on the radio. The cool thing about video is not tuning into broadcast channels that look like ****...

Just my $0.02,
/aac

 

Go to http://www.maxpower.com and look at the yellow bimmer. TV's in the headrest. Personally I like the kind that hang from the roof in the rear.

 

This in-dash screen set up has got a tv tuner built in. I would have to agree though, sometime I don't understand why you would want tv, oh well. My friend is waiting to put it into his Accord, I'll letcha all know how it is once it's in.

 

I got a 5.6" lcd screen for cheap ($200 - none of this $700 alpine crap!! jk =))

Anyway, I disassembled it and put it in the double dash opening and moved the radio down to the pocket next to the cig lighter (4th gen). Figureing out a way to mount it nice was a pain but it came out looking super nice and stealth. I used plexiglass and... ah hell it's hard to explain. I'm gonna take pictures later today *if i can find my #%^!@%^%^ digicam* and do a whole writeup for it on my webpage. I'll post here when it's done.

About the tuner, yeah the tv tuner is like $400 but is that worth it? Not to me. Get a DVD player and a playstation (or just a ps2) and have a lot more fun that watching fuzzy local channels.

Good Luck whatever you decide.

Chris

 

I'm going to check out your site. As you know I have a full Alpine install and I've messed with it a lot and still not totally pleased.

later,
/aac

 

anthony: my system is currently in my house being tweaked but any day now i'll put it back in and take pics and everythign and put it up on the page. I'll be sure to post when it's ready. As for your setup - whats giving you problems, or what's not pleasing you? I'm really really happy with how everything came out with mine.

Chris

 

1. Video (CVA-1005) syncs with computer tv-out only about half the time. If it sycs with DOS boot screen, it does not sync with Windows desktop. If it does not sync with DOS screen, it will sync with Windows desktop.

2. Booting takes forever. Why can't someone burn Windows into a ROM?

3. Shutdown is a huge pain in the ***. I wish turning off the ignition would launch a decent shutdown procedure, but UPS's have been clumsy.

4. I have a PC sliding around in my trunk. I need to permanently mount it back there somehow, what a project.

5. Fonts are unbearably difficult to read. I have my Windows desktop at 640/480 (as low as it goes) and fonts increased in size, and it's still very very tough to read the icon fonts and menu fonts.

Those are my top 5 gripes, I'm sure there are more...

Your ideas are very very welcome. Can't wait to see your setup.

thanks,
/aac

 

Well it has been a long time since I've seen you around acitrano. I understand your problem with the shutdown procedure, but the rest is really baffling to me. I have hooked up my IBM thinkpad to my IVA several times and have never had a problem with the display. Just for kicks I brought my Dell P3 500 desktop running W2K with the Creative DVD out card and it ran like a dream too. The shutdown sequence is one of those things that I think you're going to have to deal with, unless you wait to shutdown everytime you turn your car off.

Now, back to the topic, TV reception in a car depends upon what tuner you are using and where you are mounting the antenna's. If you have ever ridden in a limo most people notice that the reception is horrible, and this can be expected of the car tuner's as well. Also, the only channels you are going to get are the local channels. Like someone mentioned the Kenwood is a touch screen 5.8" fold out monitor that manually adjusts 15 degrees left and right that incorporates a tuner. All other manufacturers sell the TV tuner seperately that often times includes multiple video inputs as well. Another option is to buy a home VCR that includes a TV tuner and you can enjoy the best of both worlds. The newest TV to hit the market with some good reviews is the Pioneer because of its 7" monitor and single disc CD player. They also sell a 6 disc DVD changer. You can check my car out at the link below, and email me if you have any other questions.

 

1. Curious - what are you using as the computer's tv out that it doesn't sync with the alpine? I'm using an ATI Xpert @Play98 video card with tv out and it runs an rca directly to my lcd. It works fine every time no problem. The card cost me $50 which is nothing.

2. How long does booting take? Boot time for me is about 45 seconds. It sucks, but just think of the rewards!! haha. no what sucks is when you run into 711 and come out and have to wait for the boot again. Ugh. Maybe one day i'll make a 15 minute timer or something.

3. What exactly are you running that you're worried about shutdown? I'm running a custom program and winamp only so for me, shutdown is a loss of power =) It's crude, but it hasn't given me a problem since install. Just make sure you use TweakUI to disable scandisk at startup. If you need to shut down properly... eh... dunno. Check out the mp3car.com bulletin boards.

4. Temporary solution? Use a few bungie cords and clip it onto something in the trunk. Works great. Once the weather gets nicer get some wood and some screws and get to work on a custom case!! =)

5. Again, this is a problem I've heard a lot of. What exactly are you running? I'm running a custom MP3 Player so I made the fonts like a size 20!! But I know that Winamp allows you to increase the font size in the playlist. Also, in the future I'll be using a Naviagation program and there are certain ones that have really legible fonts. Again, check out the software board on mp3car.com. Many people have discussed this and there seems to be one or two clear cut winners on the navi front. Aside from that, the only other thing is to increase windows fonts in control panel but you did that already =(

Hope that helped a little... Anything else, post here or email me.

Chris

 

those setups with the computer sound awesome! it doesnt seem like it sould be that hard at all either.... and in winamp you can double size the window, which i think would help greatly on a small screen like that.