Yo i saw some ones z on here, have a pc/laptop hooked up to there screen.

Is this a highly complicated install, I'm thinking of doing something down those lines.

Thanks

 

I have a very similar setup, but I have a complete CarPC running off of my OEM Navi screen. It isn't very complicated, you just need a laptop with a video out and a composite video --> RGB converter.

 

Thats nice, I think im going to have Circuit City install it for me. But is it possible to have the navigation and that at the same time?

 

Do not have Circuit City do it. Its your car, but jeeze Circuit City? Your better off going to a Car Stereo Shop.

 

haha well my brother works over there so it's cheaper for install when i go through them.

But in my area we have no good reputable car stereo places. CC has a road shop in the back, i mean hell they can't be that bad

 

do you need a navigation system to this???? can it be done on a jensen tv ???? cause that would be so dope and i have an extra laptop at my house???

 

That isn't totally true. It all comes down to the actual installer who works on YOUR car.

I used to install at Circuit City. I've worked with some amazing installers, and I worked with some people who probably shouldn't be allowed near the bays. Do a little research and make sure the lead installer will be working on your car, then stick around and make sure they don't let anyone else touch it.

Working at a CC in Toledo, Ohio, we were right across a parking lot from a 'custom' shop. If I got an extra $10 for every one of their remote starts I fixed I wouldn't be working now. They were a shop that paid their installers 'per job' so there was no motivation for the installer to do a good job - just make it work long enough to get the customer out the door. Then, when it quit working they would schedule repair time 3-4 weeks away saying that they were too busy. Thats when they would drive over to us and we would charge them to reinstall the entire thing.

So, don't think just because you are going to a custom shop you are going to get a better install - it simply comes down to the installer working on your car.

 

I must agree with the previous comment. It is extremely ironic in fact I worked at the other custom shop down the street in Toledo. You may have heard of TAS electronics. I wasn't really an installer there, and their work wasn't always that bad, but sometimes it really was. I eventually was an installer at Circuit City at the corporate store in Richmond and those guys were spot on. It really depends on who is doing it. Other circuity city's sucked *****.

I also have/had a carputer and would recommend installing it yourself. Learn to do it, read a book or how-to guide and you will appreciate it in the long run. Car audio is too simple not to try to learn, you just need to follow a few key rules and get some nerve.

Alarms and remote starts are a different story BTW. Those require a lot more know-how and training. But sound is cake.

Oh and for a computer in the car or anywhere, you don't want to just throw any old screen to it. It really should be VGA or else words/text will look fuzzy and unclear, although video will be marginally ok. If all you want is nav and dvd, just get nav and dvd and a normal screen. A carputer is for more advanced audiophiles.

 

Around Xmas time of '00 and '01 it was REALLY bad. Since you are familiar with the area you can atest that you can actually see TAS from the Circuit City bays (or vice versa). I fixed so many of their alarms it actually was annoying - trying to install the stuff we sold and fix the stuff they sold.

I once wondered over there, with a CC shirt on and started talking to one of the sales guy. He was a 'typical' young car stereo salesman - very preppy and very full of himself. He knew absolutely nothing and tried to tell me that his installer could my remote start up so that it would never start in gear for only $50. After talking to him a bit more all they did was hook the NSS up to the parking brake wire - nice!

 

That is so f*ckin funny that you mention that time frame specifically. I worked there as a salesman for about a month during the summer of '01. I wondered how they all had so much $$$ so I asked one day. They told me that when remote starts were exploding right around '00-01, they were makin a grand a week doing nothing but remote starts in the winter time. One guy told me he could do a remote start in 15 minutes if he had too, almost verbatim.

It makes sense now, I guess it really showed in the end result. I don't remember anything about denying service or delaying it though, must have been before I got there.

When I learned remote starts at circuit, it used to take me several hours. Partly cause I'm slow and ****, but also because we NEVER cut corners with remote starts especially. They certainly shouldn't ever take 15 minutes! In the end TAS ripped me off when I left, telling me some bull about taxes, I was too young to know better. It happened to alot of guys I later found out.

Small world.

 

if you're serious about a carPC then head over to www.mp3car.com and look through their forums they have everything that you could ever want to know. With that said, installing something like a carPC can take quite a bit of time really is customized to your car and your tastes... that's why I think you should do it yourself. If you go through with it, make sure you do it right. A PC in your car goes through much more stress then a normal computer (heat, bumps, being turned on and off frequently)... you may find it difficult to have the same sort of reliability that you would in an OEM nav unit or some after market units. I put one in my car about a year ago and left it in for a couple of months before i decided i didn't want to deal with all the trouble shooting issues.

... but I agree, they can do some really neat things, and the totally custom aspect is also appealing.

 

I'm buying a laptop tomorrow to set the whole thing up, and the laptop will be in the trunk but not all the time. And I'm having them hook it up to my nav screen

I'll take pictures soon when they complete it!

 

nice !!

dont forget

 

I wont forget about you guys!

 

I did exactly that and felt the image the carPC displayed through the converter was very poor when compared to connecting directly to a high quality LCD monitor using a RGB connection.

--Spike

 

Where does it connect to? I got a laptop but I am still trying to figure out where it goes but i don't want to take apart anything thats not needed.

Does it connect to the nav screen or the dvd gps player behind the seat?
thanks.

 

My converter is hardwired to the RGBS wires right behind the Navi DVD rom unit.