[mythtv-users] Automotive dropdown monitors
Yan Seiner
yan at seiner.com
Wed Dec 9 14:03:13 UTC 2009
Terjesen Jens Peder wrote:
> Yan Seiner wrote:
>
> I set up mobile myth in my van. I was running out of money, so I bought a
> really, really cheap 10" or so dropdown monitor. The only good thing
> about it is that the vendor screwed up and sent me two. The picture is
> pitiful; the blacks are gray and the montor appears to be 256 color....
>
> Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations for a decent 10" or so drop
> down monitor for vehicle use? It needs to run on 12VDC and have composite
> input.
>
> --Yan
>
> --
> If you have eight hours to chop down a tree
> spend six sharpening your axe.
> --Abraham Lincoln
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> I don't have any recommendations for a monitor, but could you elaborate a little about your mobile myth?
>
> What is the source of videos, recordings or whatever?
>
> Do you have it sync or copy material from a myth backend at home?
>
> The reason I ask is because I recently bought an ASRock atom/ion box and is tempted to use this as a mobile myth box.
>
The way I have it set up is to play videos and music. Recordings are
tougher; the system in the car is not powerful enough to play HD, so
most of my recordings won't play. :-(
This is in an RV, where power is limited, so low power usage was
essential. I was not able to use ION boards as I had to have composite
to feed the monitors, and running DVI cables was impractical.
I ended up with a Atom 330 with Intel GMA graphics, running xubuntu. I
have an access point with OpenWRT that acts as a wifi client and
connects to my home network. Once connected, I can transfer new videos
and such to the vehicle. There's quite a bit of work on that OpenWRT
box; it hunts for open WiFI connections, sends location reports (it has
a GPS) and automatically connects to my home network via openvpn when it
can.
The system doesn't have a tuner as it's impractical; we're on the road a
lot and in places where TV reception is impossible, so no tuner.
I also have a second OpenWRT AP that acts as an AP for the van itself,
so that you can take a laptop or whatever and have a wifi connection to
the van computer.
I have a handful of cheap video splitters / amps, so I can split the
video signal and run it to the drop down monitor and my GPS. The Garmin
Nuvi 5000 has video in, so you can use it as a small 5" monitor. I plan
to put a monitor in the back as well.
If you go that route, I strongly recommend that you get an automotive
power supply. Mine has a built-in 10 second delay and serious power
conditioning to protect the components from load dumps and such.
I ended up using a cheap sound amp from ebay, one based on the T-amp
chipset, and it works wonders.
The whole system is designed to use minimum of power, so I'm guessing I
use about 4 amps when it's running. (My whole power budget is about 30
amp-hours, at least until I get a better battery rack, so a 2 hour movie
will use a quarter of my budget.)
I have pictures up on the Roadtrek yahoo group, but I think it's members
only.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roadtrek/photos/album/266842093/pic/list
--Yan
--
o__
,>/'_ o__
(_)\(_) ,>/'_ o__
A day may come (_)\(_) ,>/'_ o__
when the courage of men fails, (_)\(_) ,>/'_
when we forsake our friends and break all (_)\(_)
bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
It is not this day!
This day we ride!
More information about the mythtv-users
mailing list