Modulus

Hey all,
I'm new to the TL, but not Acura/Honda. Though I have to say, there's a world of difference between this car and all the others I've owned, and it's great.

Anyway, I'm thinking it would be nice if I could use the LCD for an extra backup camera, mounted near the passenger-side fog-light, for those times when the guy in front of you appears to be in the wrong lane, and you can't tell if there's anyone next to him.

Also, I think I might want to hook up some other fun item, probably a mac mini.

So, will the Dom TV and NAV to Go unit do what I want? If so, does anyone have pictures of it? Their website is a disgusting mess of flash and html.

Does anyone have pinouts of the back of the LCD? I'm assuming they're just proprietary VGA and Y/C connections..

dennisil

in the last year i have been on this board not one person has complained about Domm's dvd-nav converter, hes web page is a little "flashy" your right, but the product is a good price and works like a charm, i will find out this week as i am waiting to recieve it any day now. in my opinion you should spent the extra 100$ for the PnP harness as that hundered will be like an insurence policy on your instalation skills. and i had a interesting idea aswell:

a Nightvision/ Infared camera in the little circle that pops out in the front bumper, i live in a highly dense forest preserve reigon of the chicago burbs and last year i almost hit 2 deer on seperate occasions. i would like to avoid them this year, one time i actually drove through the carcass of a dead dear in the middle of the road, i was going too fast and i couldent stop in time because the pavement was covered in blood... gross , my dealer fixed my car up and there was no perminnat dammage but the underside of my car had guts and furr and bone fragments all over it... i dont like deer much any more.

Modulus

I'm not questioning the quality of the product, merely the ability for the seller to sell it on their site. Doesn't every web site in the world have a Products page, with a description and pictures of each product? Anyway..

A low-light camera could be very useful, infrared would benefit from a strip of infrared leds across your grill, but not by much, you need some IR spotlights.
I drove over the corpse of a deer on the expressway recently, it tore my muffler clean off, it was a car I wasn't too worried about, so I found it pretty amusing.

datmrman

Welcome aboard Modulus.

This forum has a great detail of information which can be found by utilizing the search feature.

Two other good reference points are The 3G Garage and The 3G TL Audio & Electronics FAQ.

The TVandNav2Go will do what you need. You will definitely find pictures of Dom's TVandNav2Go with a search, as well as DIY guides.

Another good location for you to browse is the Sponsored Sales & Group Buys forum. There you will find the Dom has a group buy for his products: March TVandNaV Conversion special

brettallica

I've been seriously contemplating putting a Mac mini in my TL since I started reading about all the DVD player modifications that people are making. I am just too much of a pus to have a standalone DVD player unit hardwired into my car, though; it's almost like the risk isn't worth the reward... if that makes sense. So, that's why I'm thinking taking it a step further and having a computer installed in there, and the Mac mini is a good choice (in my mind) because of its size, as well as its bluetooth, wireless, and other connectivity benefits.

I think its size is slightly too large to fit into the center console without making some serious modifications first, though, so you'd probably have to mount it elsewhere. If you're thinking about using it as a DVD player (like I am), you might consider mounting it in your glove box or under a seat or something and running and external USB DVD drive and mounting that in the center console. That way, you could still have a DVD slot up front, thus giving the interior a "natural" feel to it, as there would be no "hack job" ruining the beauty of the TL's interior.

If you do this install (not necessarily the exact way I'm describing it, but just in general), I'd be very interested to see how it turns out and what you did.

If you don't mind, could you please clarify the camera modification? I'm not quite grasping the concept.

Hardtimes

another alternative is the avelectronics unit. KENNEDY turned me on to it and now that i have it installed I love it. if you go to the bottom of page three on my thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...0&page=1&pp=25
you can see the picture quality. I am trying to get ideas for adding a front camera (i have an 07 so it comes fromthe factory with a backup camera) I still have two inputs left in the module so maybe two front cameras?

brettallica

I saw that and am somewhat intrigued by it. The only thing that I'm unclear about (perhaps this could be cleared up by a little Googling) is how long it takes to upload media to it and how convenient it is.

Oh and the idea for two front cameras is pretty sweet if you ask me (but what do I know? ) It would be especially cool if you could have both feeds being displayed simulatneously on the screen instead of having to choose which camera you want on.

Hardtimes

this unit works just like your stereo receiver at home. everything is instant. the xbox controller turns the xbox power on. it takes about 30 seconds to boot up. the tv tuner power is instant. the only thing i have to wait on is the nav system. you have to push ok before the screen will stay on. it is the most complete system i have ever seen. better yet you don't have to take the dash apart because the unit plugs into the nav system via the trunk.

i also have been trying to figure out how two get both cameras at the same time? no real idea how to do it

dennisil

sounds like you need to hack the nav Hardtimes, do a search. the ok button has long been hacked. now if we could get a pic to load on the nag screen...

Modulus

Hardtimes:
Nice car, looks like a clean install, but you need a wireless controller

Do you have a link to the avelectronics site?

You can do picture in picture with some cheap electronics, check www.partsexpress.com, that should give you a start, last I knew, a cheap PIP box was about $99.

brettallica:
My camera idea is basically a fix such that, when I am following behind a big vehicle (that probably shouldn't be in the left lane on the highway), I can tell whether or not I can pass them on the right. All too often people drive along in the left lane at the speed limit, or the same speed as the traffic next to them; all they're really doing is blocking traffic. So I just want to see if that's what's going on.

datmrman:
Thanks for the warm welcome. I love the canned "Nice to see you, don't ask questions, use search" Anyway, the forum has some good info, I'm already getting the tranny fluid changed to hopefully resolve my 3rd gear issue, and I think they're going to put a hydraulic dampener on one of my motor mounts for that 55-60 mph issue.
I did search for TVandNAV2go and found some pictures, but not any good all around shots of the unit itself. I just want to see what all the connections look like.
also, is it possible to search for mp3 or dvd, or is that under the minimum number of characters? The FAQ is nice, but I tried searching for mp3 dvd to see if I could fill a dvd with mp3s, and it wouldn't do the search.. very helpful

dennisil

DVD TO NAV CONVERTER HOLY GRAIL = https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/predators-red-wings-137415/

brettallica

So it kind of sounds like a fish-eye type camera mounted possibly in the side mirrors would be your best bet then, since you want the camera to show you what's next to your car, but you need it to face backwards. I'd love to see this in action, but in the meantime, I'll do the old look-over-my-shoulder routine.

Oh yeah, and there are ways to get your tracks onto a DVD disc that has been formatted to DVD-A that the TL can read. There really are a few threads on that. Adobeman (user name) and Rimz have both contributed a lot to this topic (as have I, but not to their extent). If you're using a PC, check out Adobeman's threads. If you're a Mac user, check out what Rimz has offered.

Hardtimes

lol i have one ..

here is thelink http://www.avelectronic.com/products.htm

thanks for the info

Modulus

brettallica, i think i've got you all confused at this point. all i'm really talking about, is a camera where the passenger side fog light is, that allows me to get a better view of the upcoming traffic in the passenger lane than my passenger has. it would only be useful when i'm stuck behind a van or truck that's blocking my view of the future.

hardtimes, are you using the enhanced version? the budget version appears to have just been released recently, but seems like it would do what i want.

i don't suppose there's an easy way to stream surround sound into the stereo, maybe via an fm modulator, or an optical input? seems silly to play dvd video in stereo in a car with a surround sound audio system.

brettallica

Ahhhh. Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification. That would still be a pretty cool mod. Not sure if it's something I'd want -- I'd prefer something that Hardtimes is suggesting -- but still cool nonetheless.

dennisil

dose anyone here know how caddilac's infared night vision works?

Modulus

Hardtimes, I don't know the cost, but: http://www.imaging1.com/thermal/Thermal_Camera.html

Hardtimes

good find! i have sent them an e-mail. since i have two inputs still i could run a normal front camera and that thermal one! thanks again.. oh yeah.... I do have the enhanced version. I am running mine through an fm modulator. In theory it kinda sucks but in reality it doesn't sound too bad.

I also bought the value version for my dads accord and it works great. I bought it with the plate camera and he uses it all the time.

dennisil

let us know how much this cam costs and what converter is necessary to connect it








http://www.imaging1.com/thermal/Thermal_Camera.html

Hardtimes

^^ i will let you know as soon as i get a response! if it is affordable i will try to go ahead and order it.

Modulus

How much was the value version? It appears to be 2 Composite/RCA inputs along with the proprietary In/Out connectors. It looks like a good solution, if it's not priced too high. Does that one have a remote to switch sources, or just a switch? I forgot already

Hardtimes

heres the response:

HI

THE THERMAL CAMERA ENGINE IS AT $4999.00

SPI Does not export any controlled items outside the United States of America.

Warm regards,
Jim Santana
Thermal Infrared Weapons Specialist

SPI Direct East/West Coast offices 7AM 10:00PM EST
(818)292-6256 Direct for Jim Santana Sales - 24hours
(702)369-3966 West Coast Office MAIN location Las Vegas office
(702)739-7190 WEST COAST OFFICES PST Time
((805)320-4024 SPI Military sales office. Las Vegas, NV
(702)369-3977 Purchase Order Fax Shipping/accounting

that negates what i said about being affordable. so hope someone elese does it soon...

brettallica

$5000 for the camera?! Yikes. Looks like that plan gets kicked to the curb...unless you're willing to spend that kind of scrill on it.

Modulus

hahaha, oops.. gotta love military weapons sub-contractors

Hardtimes

it was still a good find. you know whats funny though. I called him to see if there were any cheaper alternatives and not only did he say no, he said that if i wanted to use it for my car i would have to pay extra to make it waterproof!

moahdib

I've successfully hooked up the oem navi LCD to my carPC via standard VGA cable.
No converter needed since the LCD is just a regular RGBS screen, much like european TVs with SCART input.

Just cut up a vga cable, grab the R,G,B and Hsync signals along with ground. Hsync connects to Csync.

Use powerstrip to adjust frequency to 15.75Hz or so on the Hsync and ~30Hz on Vsync. Make sure you have a video card that supports Composite Sync on Hsync. I used an old Geforce4 MX440. Image quality is very clear. Running resolution of 960x468 which is just about twice the navite resolution of 480x234.

Overall its a great screen to play with =)

Modulus

Hardtimes, that's funny, for $5K, you'd think it'd be waterproof..

moahdib, I just read your post on the car pc mod, that's a nice series of hacks you have there.. why are the oem buttons sending multiple characters per press? is that a result of hacking the keyboard, or the oem buttons? I might go as far as sending my own vga signal to the screen, but I probably won't play with the buttons at all. I used powerstrip years ago to get a widescreen resolution on plasma tvs, back in the days of short-sighted drivers developers.. though I have to say, if I put any kind of computer in mine, I'll probably wimp out and just drop my mac mini on top of the dvd drive in the trunk.
By what you're saying, I should be able to use a standard vga video switcher to go back and forth between the nav system and a mac mini, or other vga source.. That would be a ton better than converting a composite source to RGB with extra hardware.

Does anyone have a pin-out of the 20-pin connector on the back of the nav unit in the trunk?

dennisil

5K geez can you say 2md motgage lol?