Radio recommendations needed please!

[moongdss]

Hya gang! I'm looking into replacing my stock radio (finally!) and I need some recommendations. Here's my ideal wishlist:something that can rip, store and play mp3spop up screen - makes it harder to spot for thieves?double din preferably, can live with singleextras like Nav and RVCam are great, but not really wantedcan work with stock speakers decently.Everything I seem to find is geared more towards GPS than music. I want something I can rip my thousands of tunes into without having to carry a library of CDs around. While GPS might be helpful to some, I rarely go somewhere I'm not familiar with or can't follow web directions lolz. And I could care less as to what's behind me... that's why I have side mirrors and the neighborhood kids steer clear of me Any and all suggections and links to said suggestion garner cookies!Thankies!

[Kamikaze]

I won't be the best person for recomendations for this, I was looking last year, and wanted one with a HDD to rip to, I think every HDD I found was also Nav/GPS, and wasn't less than $1,000...I really liked the Eclipse one I saw double din with ESN, sorry don't know the model #, it was last year when I looked at it... I liked how the menus worked, I liked how the touch screen felt, I liked the way the display was... I think it was a 6.95" display... Sublimewind will probably be able to tell you...

[moongdss]

you still get cookies thanks for the info!was this maybe the one?http://www.sonicelectronix.com....html

[moongdss]

Aside from the above... Also looking at these models:http://www.sonicelectronix.com....htmlhttp://www.sonicelectronix.com....htmland if I want to go the cheap and removable route:http://www.sonicelectronix.com....htmlanyone have any experience with any of these models?

[Kamikaze]

Quote, originally posted by moongdss »was this maybe the one?http://www.sonicelectronix.com....htmlno, it was a double din... I know that cause I really wanted one that would fit the whole space, and be pretty much the entire screen with very few buttons on the display...I like the Z3, but I think you could find something better for the price...

[Sublimewind]

I LOVE Double D's.... wait, that didn't come out right... Seriously, double DIN units, SCREAM....You would be MUCH better off with that Eclipse AVN-7000... If you want a HDD, get yourself a moded Xbox, that is what i've decided to do... Mine will carry a 500g HDD (exernal to be able to take it in the house) along with the factory one still in place, 12v power supply built in, XBox Master Control front end. USB adaptors, IR dongle for the remote, and controller...

[moongdss]

yeah, the DDin static screens do scream "steal me" so i was thinking about a recessed mount and some kind of fake face-plate-removed looking thing or fake stock front to go over it I can get creative... but the one's that retract on first glance do look like the faceplate is removed or less fancy. The single din pioneers have removable faceplate.The other thing I've been searching the intarwebs for are hackable dash units. this is dangerous territory for me as I have spent a lot of freetime hacking my TiVo, Linksys and other various appliances just because i can.What is this x-box mod you speak of? Where do you keep it (under the seat/ in glove box?) Hmmm... this will open a whole new (and sparkly) can of hacks for me to revel in. I'm in trouble now.... damn you man, damn you!

[Kamikaze]

Sublime... with the xbox hack does it allow you to control what music you want from the screen? or do you have to use a controller for the xbox to choose your music? I've heard of people running linux on their modded xboxes and all sorts of other crazy stuff that's beyond me, but yeah, I was looking at just getting a DD w/DVD no HDD or Nav, and if I could do a xbox for a HDD and control it from the HU that would be cheap and ideal! Currently w/o doing a mod, I'm looking for a decent DD (double din) for video only w/ USB so I could just use a 2Gb stick.

[moongdss]

I found this http://store.mp3car.com/Produc...15004 for the same price as I would dump into a NAV w/ HDD

[Kamikaze]

yeah, but you will still need to do the software for nav and everything else...that is...ahem if you didn't already have the license to the software

[audiovibe]

Just do a P.C. Im well under the cost of $1000 with nav and I never have to change discs Aron

[Kamikaze]

Quote, originally posted by audiovibe »Just do a P.C. Im well under the cost of $1000 with nav and I never have to change discs AronI can't wait till I meet you at the meet... I'm interested in doing something like what you have done... I don't have the skills you do with what you did with your screen, but I'm sure I could think of something...

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze »Sublime... with the xbox hack does it allow you to control what music you want from the screen? or do you have to use a controller for the xbox to choose your music? I've heard of people running linux on their modded xboxes and all sorts of other crazy stuff that's beyond me, but yeah, I was looking at just getting a DD w/DVD no HDD or Nav, and if I could do a xbox for a HDD and control it from the HU that would be cheap and ideal! Currently w/o doing a mod, I'm looking for a decent DD (double din) for video only w/ USB so I could just use a 2Gb stick.I got this off of another forum of mine...Quote »Actually, if you know what you are doing you can replace the internal power supply with a 12-volt unit...Basically, three wires like any other car audio accessory, +12-Bat, Ground and Remote...Xbox turns on when the remote wire gets +12v, just like an amp, the Xbox turns on 5 seconds later... Likewise, when power is removed, the Xbox properly shuts itself down 5 seconds later... No crude 'hack', and you can still hit the front power and eject buttons to power-cycle it or eject the tray to use the DVD drive like any 'normal' xbox...Works slick as hell, the codecs are prety damn nice, and I have personally used one with a H701/C701 setup for a custom install... All Toslink and no noise...I have also made custom circuits to interface them to use the Nav input of Pioneer screen units as well as Alpine Nav inputs to get perfect video... Makes a big difference with XBMC, which can be configured to put out widescreen 16:9 video as well...I also have custom set them up with external hard drives that allow you to unplug the drive, hook it up via USB2.0 in the house, load your media and plug it back into the car... The drives power comes from the Xbox in the car (so no extra power lines to manage) and via a power adapter for in-home use... I usually use 500GB-750GB drives... Nice thing about this setup is that you can just unplug the drive without pulling the Xbox itself... Makes things much simpler with just two cables that unplug... Plus you don't have to worry about leaving 750gb worth of media in the car to have stolen either, as for my personal setup I just take the drive in the house with me when I park the car...If anyone is interested, PM me and I can give you a quote for a complete setup... And for what I supply the Xboxes themselves are not 'hacked' or tampered with at all, so the original Xbox reliability is intact, as everything is made to completely plug together internally...Some links to paruse... http://www.xbox-scene.com/Demo of XBMC the GUI front end... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2OAOfXN89Isome articles.. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/i...15055Wikki page for XBMC.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Media_CenterMore stuff...Quote »Actually, since it is a script-driven system, there are many options to auto-resume your song/movie/playlist where it left off when shut-down...It will come up and go to exactly where you were when it was shut down, and no-one mentioned it has some killer graphical displays that are in-time with the playing music...Startup total once power is applied to the remote wire is about 12-14 seconds... Considering that most older A/V headunits took almost 15-20 seconds to come up it really isn't bad at all...Also, the startup animation/sound can be bypassed/customized... Lastly, yes you can modify the font size, the layout, etc... XBMC fully supports not only skins, but also complete custom button programming, so you can basically set buttons on the remote to jump to given sources/playlists, random play, etc...And lastly, yes the primary interface is via either DVD remote or controller, but as part of my Navi-input project I am working a remote control signal remapper so if you say have a Pioneer AV system you can use the pioneer remotes DVD playback buttons to control the xbox... Same thing with Alpine... But that project is not necessarily something that I am looking to be able to provide until I find more available time to work on it...MORE YET, from my guy i'm going to get mine from... Quote »As far as price, the hardware itself is comprised of the following:- Xbox with stock hard drive, soft-modded with Xbox Media Center, configured for in-car use, as well as external hard drive access, modified for +12v use w/standard +12v/Ground/Remote wiring- External 500gb hard drive with connection cables (power/data-both connect to the Xbox)- 110v power adapter for external hard drive (for in-home data loading)- USB 2.0 data cable (for in-home data loading)- Xbox video cable (composite/s-video w/optical digital output)- Xbox Remote Control w/IR dongle- 1 Xbox wired controllerPrice is $500+shippingYou have to specify if you want the IR dongle modified with an umbilical to extend the IR receiver to be positioned somewhere near the display...Like I mentioned, I do have a complete setup already configured and ready to go...If you want a custom cable to plug into the Navigation input of either a Pioneer, or an Alpine display, the cost will be around $75-90 depending on the cable...As far as pricing I am breaking it down to the following (just so you can see where I am charging for my time, vs equipment):- Xbox (refurbished w/1 controller) $90- Xbox Remote w/IR Dongle $20- Xbox Comp/S-Video/Toslink cable $20- +12v power supply $110- External Drive case $55- 500gb Hard Drive $120- custom electronics $35So, as you can see, I am cahrging only about $50 for retrofitting the power supply to the Xbox, configuring the external drive, making custom connections to allow them to plug together and configuring XBMC for in-car use...I would normally charge about $600-650 for this setup, but the person I built this one for had his car broken into and his entire system stolen so I have been sitting on this one for a few weeks...

[moongdss]

Yeah, I think I'm going to save up for a carputer. That MP3car place is actually right around the corner from where I work (lucky lucky me!) I think I may have to go there to drool and pick some brains.I may be able to mod this one out myself... and I already own my own WindersXP, and most Linux versions are free to download, so I'd only need the frontend program (if I even need that.) I've modded my PC out, so it's not too far a cry from a carputer. I just have no clue about where to mount the components and how to deal with heat etc. I must go study this more Mmmm iTunes in my car

[Sublimewind]

Sweet, let me know if you need any help installing, i'll hop on a plane and be there in a few hours....lol..... swoon.... I ordered the Xbox listed above in the last "quote", I can't wait to try it out...!!! Not quite a carPC, but close enough for what i'm doing... !!! Who needs to look at Excel sheets goin down the road anyway... lol.. Oh, another thing about a carPC, is unless you have some sort of amp, you'll likely need an amp... If you are going to go that far, don't bother with the stock crap... A decent 4ch amp (Alpine makes the PDX line of amp that have a footprint smaller than a sheet of paper..!!!! They also make a 5ch that will run a complete system, in the PDX line) PDX-5 http://www.crutchfield.com/App...p=115Cheaper can be had, Crutchfield is an Authorized dealer so the warrentee IS valid, and a reason why it's more expensive than 90% of other sites (very few are authorized, keep that in mind)Some decent but cheaper components (Phenoix Gold RSD components ~100$ and great bang-for-the-buck) http://www.sonicelectronix.com....htmlSonic is ALSO authorized PG dealer, so that one would come with warentee as well..!!!A sub of some sort... Which can be handled a number of different ways, much would depend on what you want, and can be discussed later if you like...... Add all that up and you'd be ROCKIN there girly...

[moongdss]

wow, that's more stuff than I want to think about lol! I don't really need anything better than the stock speakers. (I know... blasphemy!!) I don't need to ride my stereo to work, I just want to have all my music on a hard drive versus the million CDs in the car now While I may turn up my tunes, I have to preserve the hearing for my job and not everyone around me needs to hear my synthpop/industrial love

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by moongdss »wow, that's more stuff than I want to think about lol! I don't really need anything better than the stock speakers. (I know... blasphemy!!) I don't need to ride my stereo to work, I just want to have all my music on a hard drive versus the million CDs in the car now While I may turn up my tunes, I have to preserve the hearing for my job and not everyone around me needs to hear my synthpop/industrial love Bah, sure they do.... But in all seriousness, adding an amp really helps dynamics, and the overall "headroom" of any system, headroom being the power required to make nice smashing cymbal sound and kick drum thwaps... lol... Keeps distortion out of the upper registers and simply improves the overall sound... From reading the above, I would assume you have a M&T or similar system? If not you'll remove the factory "amp" with the head unit... and you'll need that if you DO plan on a carPC.... Why not just get a iPod compadible HU and an iPod??? Or an Mp3 HU and burn a FEW Mp3 discs... ?

[moongdss]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »Why not just get a iPod compadible HU and an iPod??? Or an Mp3 HU and burn a FEW Mp3 discs... ?Now you blaspheme sir! lolz, where would be the fun in that?I work in radio (classical music) and while the iPod and MP3 cds may sound okay through smaller speakers, the loss of quality on larger speakers is too noticable for me to tolerate. So yeah, I'll be getting an amp, and then probably speakers because they won't take the boost, then probably a sub because the bottom will be missing. This is my slippery slope *sigh*

[audiovibe]

Woot Woot on the P.C. If your curious about any automotive applications feel free to ask, and if you dont have one by the epic meet you can toy around on mine to get a feel to see if that is the direction you want to go.As for the amplifier, if you want to keep cost down I know a couple people that have used these http://www.si5.com/products.php?pID=4038and they worked out good for their application. But not to discurage your decision their is a down side to incar computing.Aron

[moongdss]

I didn't think I'd have anything before the meet, but my CD player just started having troubles spitting out disks... so this will most definitely speed the process =What are the drawbacks? I'd like to be as informed as possible before I venture into something. *pulls up chair to campfire* please tell me your stories!!

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by moongdss »Now you blaspheme sir! lolz, where would be the fun in that?I work in radio (classical music) and while the iPod and MP3 cds may sound okay through smaller speakers, the loss of quality on larger speakers is too noticable for me to tolerate. So yeah, I'll be getting an amp, and then probably speakers because they won't take the boost, then probably a sub because the bottom will be missing. This is my slippery slope *sigh*You know higher bit rate Mp3, don't sound that bad... I've herd some ripped at 196 IIRC that sounds good.... With my xBox front end and a 500g HDD, i'm doing full lossless in the car.... WOOT.... But you can do higher bit rates on an iPod to.... and once you are in the car and moving much of the actual quality, goes out the window anyway... (i've been doing this a while...)Just to give you an idea of the lengths i've gone, check this out... http://www.xceedspeed.com/foru...02385If you find yourself sliding down that slippery audio mod hill, just refer back to my previous post... lol...

[audiovibe]

The only real downsides are screen visability and the single din screen reliability. unless you get a sunlight readable screen ($500+) the screen has a tendancy to wash out in direct sunlight, however this can be fixed with a different mounting angle. All screens will washout in sunlight be it alpine, eclipse, or pioneer but they are still somewhat visable to the same extent as a sunlight readable vga screen for car pc use.Everyone that I have talked to that used a motorized flip out VGA screen had issues with the gears breaking yielding a screen that you have to pull out by hand. Depending on the HD size you might run into problems finding enough music to put on it.Being in MD you might have trouble with you HD freezing in the winter. In IL it gets down to about -10 to -15 on the coldest without windchill I however have never had HD issues in the winter, I never have but it happens to a few.Currently that is all I can think of for the downsides, the upside is that it can do anything that a car stereo can do. WOOT Woot for loseless, I am in the process of obtaining Loseless files that I listen to frequently.