animal8526

I am about to put a new deck into my 82 euro... well, my dad will put it in for me so it's ready when I get home in a month and a half. now, for those of you not famiar with these, they look like standard decks when the LCD is folded in... it slides out of the dash.

the reason I want an LCD display is I will be using the AUX A/V inputs to connect my laptop, so I will be able to play any one of my 500+ albums while in my car, using the LCD to browse and a remote to control windows media center on the laptop. (I will be fabbing a bracket to drop the laptop into out of sight, so it will be on a constant power source and be a one motion plug in for power/audio/video/USB for remote. so, based on look features and price, what do you guys think? thanks everyone for your input

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3iAfzZT...50&I=110VM9511

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=14863

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/p...=off&s=0&cc=01

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/P...=off&s=0&cc=01

http://www.cardomain.com/item/JENVM9511TS

animal8526

whoops. one of those was a duplicate

Marine Blue

Tim,

I want to make a suggestion, keep in mind this is only my opinion and I can totally understand if you don't agree. If it were me I would spend the money on a 4G IPOD and a high quality deck for about the same money. It will be much easier finding a deck that matches the dash and an IPOD will be significantly easier to hide. I believe the overall installation will also be easier.

If I had to choose from your list I would probably pick the Pioneer. Out of the bunch they are probably more reliable and with the motorized screen this will be important. Good luck with whatever you choose, should be a cool setup either way!

When you're finally back in the states lets set up a big 928 gtg for the MA/ME/NH crew! Can't wait to check out your new ride.

animal8526

Afshin...

yeah man, definately up for the 928 gig... been thinking along thoes lines for awhile now. there are about 10 sharks at the show in nashua as I type this... I just talked to a bunch of the guys. they are having a good time. I had thought about the Ipod route and decided not to go this way for two reasons... one, I hate the itunes software. and two, it would invalidate the extensive organizing I have done with my music library as is. plus, I think the ipod would be more diffucult to navigate while driving. even through the deck.

lorenolson888

sounds like you want to use aux AV to look at a laptop desktop and play music through winamp or some other MP3 program

Are you going to use analog video to do this... also does the touchscreen allow one to send mouse commands back via USB or is the touch screen for the deck functions only...

sounds like fun...

LO

Marine Blue

Have you considered a deck that has memory capability and can store the tunes in it? I'm not sure if it exists but I have to imagine it's out there.

Regardless I understand you're trying to achieve the safest way to navigate your music library and your idea would probably be it. It just ends up being the more expensive route with the possiblity of increased wear/tear on your laptop.

Either way looking forward to seeing the final product.

Oh and I would be at the show now except for the fact that my car is in northern ME and not registered. New job in MA so I am commuting between MA and ME until our house sells.

SeanR

I went with the Sirius sat set up and not I-Pod, don't have to worry about loading songs anywhere and there are so many stations, I hear songs I totally forgot about and would never remember to put on the I-Pod.

animal8526

k, I will try and hit everyones points, all good ones by the way. first, the laptop already has considerable wear and tear from damn near a year in the desert. its a dell, and I plan on taking it apart, refinishing the case in the color of the car, and putting a porsche emblem where the dell logo currently is.

unfortunately the deck will not be able to relay commands to the laptop via the touchscreen. not that I am expecting... it would be real nice, but the controls are to affect only deck functions only from what I know... thats where a USB remote comes in for controlling windows media center... which is already a slick interface designed to be veiwed at a distance on a TV and controlled via remote.

now, I use windows media player, a seperate program to keep track and organize all my music. it has some very advanced features that many people dont know about, and Version 10 has some really nice features... like this one...

most of you who use windows media center know that you can "rate" the songs within your library, using a star system... well, you can set up an auto playlist that will play, say, only 5 star songs... but you can set it up to play only 5 star songs that have not been played within the last week, or month, and anysong that fits that catagory automatically gets added to the list, anything that does not fit (say, a song that is rated 5 stars finishes.... now you have heard it in the last week) gets removed from the list... all automatically. I have a playlist like that set up right now that on average has 1000 songs on it... all of which I already have decided to be 5 stars, aka, ones I really like. on top of that, you can have all those parameters set, and then filter by genre, or year released.

its like my own private radio station of music I love. works best when you have a verrrrry big library, like mine. I will keep everyone updated on the progress... I think I am going to jump on a deck tonight. thanks guys... I didnt know this would spark so much interest.

Kore928

I've been wanting the JVC AVX2 for a couple of reasons. The design is very much like the interior on the 928, big round buttons, kinda squarish and old school looking. Also you can burn mp3s onto a DVD-R and this deck will read them. That's 700+ songs on one cd, if I recall correctly. So with a few burned cds, you won't need your laptop in the car with you. If you still want your laptop with you, you can still use the aux and the screen. I guess the idea with this deck was that you can watch a movie on this deck, but you would have to have to have very good eyes as the screen is tiny. I'm not sure that you could navigate thru songs very well with that screen. Plus I've had about 5 JVC decks in different cars in the last 6 or 7 years and never had one fail on me. Good quality. Deposit 2 cents.

animal8526

James... thanks man. I was thinking along all the same lines... but I think I have made my final choice for the jensen deck for a few reasons...

for a couple hundred dollars more, I can watch DVD's on a screen that is big enough to enjoy... so, I could drive to the beach, park on the ocean, and watch a movie for my ideal of a perfect date with my girlfriend. also, the screen is big enough to browse either an Ipod (via the included connector, yes INCLUDED!! pioneer wants another $150 for it) or my laptop with the aux AV...

it has a connection box with all the inputs/outputs that I can place somewhere else (glovebox perhaps), to make connecting anything easier.

and, as a real cool feature, an intergrated SD card reader. SD card come up to 2GB now, even 4 I think, and I have heard rumours that the tech supports up to 8GB. thats alot of music in a real small, real snappy package... plus, I could shoot video or take pictures with my digital camera, and preview them right in the car. also, as one last added benefit, it includes the antenna for the included TV tuner. thats prob more than I will ever use, but the option is nice, especially if I ever decide to upgrade and move the deck into another vehicle, perhaps one that I would want a TV tuner on (read, few years down the line, kids, SUV)

animal8526

sidenote; I think I will end up getting that JVC unit someday for my 81.