[mythtv-users] Automotive dropdown monitors

[Yan Seiner]

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

-- 

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