nice car headunit

[9tinyfingaz]

http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11969-BOSS%2C+the+USB%2C+SD+and+Bluetooth+car+stereo+fro m+Korea.html

not bad if i do say so myself. whats everyones opinion. "hi-tech VX"

[Tone]

Good find. Others have been slow to offer that yet. I have the Pioneer AVIC-Z1 which has a Bluetooth option but it is double din. Pioneer's single din DEH-P980BT has BT built in (voice dial, autoanswer, streaming) as well as great iPod support but I don't have pricing on it.


Parrot makes some great stand alone BT phone interfaces for about $200 that allow input to many stock radios - we sell quite a few of them. And they are about to offer a BT radio themselves.

[pbkid]

yea but all i wonder is what type of soundcard would u have to deal with? probably nothing thats too amazing. thats the main point of a stereo anyways is for sound quality. look at eclipse if you wanna get some kick *** stuff. look at the CD4000 and CD5000 lines. they are both amazing stereos. with build in nav without a color screen in a single din unit....

[9tinyfingaz]

i like the nav idea in that eclipse. but the idea of having usb on a radio and a 500gb harddrive under seat. mp3 heaven.

[nfpgasmask]

WOW! I was just talking to a friend about having a head unit with a USB input! That is awesome. I can't believe it is here already! When does it come and where can I buy it???

Thanks for the link!

Bart


http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11969-BOSS%2C+the+USB%2C+SD+and+Bluetooth+car+stereo+fro m+Korea.html

not bad if i do say so myself. whats everyones opinion. "hi-tech VX"

[Hotsauce]

Now, if it had USB and WiFi, you could park in your driveway, and log onto your home wireless network. You could then sync your RAID drive in the center console to your home music server.

John C.

[nfpgasmask]

Now you're talking! Here is my thing, I waited and waited for someone to make a head unit that could read MP3s off DVDr, and JVC did it. So now I can play 4.7 GIGs of MP3s from a DVDr which is awesome. BUT, then I had the idea of a head unit with a USB 2.0 port so I would be able to plug in an external hard drive enclosure with a 100 GIG laptop drive inside full of MP3s. Now, I need to research this BOSS head unit. If it can read AND power an external laptop drive full of MP3s I will be buying one of these unit FOR SURE. My problem is that in order for this to work, the unit will not only need to be able to read and catalog at least 80 GIG of MP3 files, it will also need to power the drive.

And of course, you iPODers out there are saying, just buy an iPOD! Sorry, but I want nothing to do with Apple or these ugly little devices. :)

Bart


Now, if it had USB and WiFi, you could park in your driveway, and log onto your home wireless network. You could then sync your RAID drive in the center console to your home music server.

John C.

[nfpgasmask]

OK, so I was all excited and wanting more info. So I emailed their tech support, which was SUPER fast I must say. Here is what I asked:

"Hello, I am seriously interested in your RDS-634U head unit with USB port. However, I would like to know a little more about how this device works.
I would like to be able to plug in an external laptop size hard drive enclosure with at least 80 GIGs of MP3 files stored on it. Can the RDS-634U read external hard drives and catalog the MP3s properly? Also, most laptop size external hard drive enclosures are powered by the USB port and do not need external power from an A/C adapter. Will this unit be able to power an external hard drive as well?

Thank you for your time."

And this is their reply:

"Bart,

Our USB unit has power for USB 1.1 but not enough to power up 2.0 USB.

It will read up to 249 tracks on the USB/SD input. If you have more than that, the unit will not see them in your hard drive.

Thank you for choosing Boss Audio product."

Wow, I haven't felt this let down since I saw The Matrix 2 and 3. :(

Now I know why it is only about $100.

Bart

[9tinyfingaz]

oohh.....i didnt know about that part. 250 songs. might as well get a unit that plays mp3's off cdr......i'll keep searching.......kenwood has the music keg, but only to 40 gig i think......good idea but i want my whole collection in my car......wifi in the car?....definetly thats why theres the carputer......i wonder if an vx'ers put a pc in the car.....its nice and all to climb a mountain at a 70 degree angle but be able to enjoy the entire discology of 311, limp and fugees at the same time would be amazing

[nfpgasmask]

Well, you should look at this unit in the interim:

JVC KD-DV5100

Or any of the JVC "Giga MP3" players. I keep about 10 DVDrs in my VX and man, let me tell you, this is A TON of music. You can fit several discographies on one DVDr.

Bart



oohh.....i didnt know about that part. 250 songs. might as well get a unit that plays mp3's off cdr......i'll keep searching.......kenwood has the music keg, but only to 40 gig i think......good idea but i want my whole collection in my car......wifi in the car?....definetly thats why theres the carputer......i wonder if an vx'ers put a pc in the car.....its nice and all to climb a mountain at a 70 degree angle but be able to enjoy the entire discology of 311, limp and fugees at the same time would be amazing

[MZ-N10]

well the "music keg" has a, which i believe to be a built in 2.5" drive shouldnt be too hard to replace if u find one tats out of warrenty or dont care bout it.

[WyrreJ]

This one has been around for a while:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009MZ7P2

Even plays Vorbis, and I think FLAC too.
But read the user comments, you probably don't want it.

[ZEUS]

You know how they say "You get what you pay for..."? Well this better be really good then! Check out the In-Car PC.
http://www.icontv.com/pages/catalogPG.htm
You could outfit your VX with media equipment costing more than the VX was when new!

[9tinyfingaz]

http://store.karpc.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.pl?pg=prod&ref=bundle1

fully spec'd out without windows. about $1800. Thats not bad considering the possibilites you can do. even if you get it with a smaller harddrive and buy a 120gb from CompUsa (a little self promoting) it will be great. And that way you can mount a TB hard drive under your seat with avi's and mp3's no need for cd's or dvd's. hhhmmmmmmm. interesting.

[Ruflyf]

now that is interesting, but will it play EQ2? lol

[9tinyfingaz]

i think were lucky enough it can run solitare.....maybe spider solitare...... :)

[9tinyfingaz]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/30/roadmasters-vr3-vrcd400sdu-does-digital/

[Ruflyf]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/30/roadmasters-vr3-vrcd400sdu-does-digital/

Nice, but again...how much would the thing read from a usb drive? Anyone know?

[nfpgasmask]

Nice, but again...how much would the thing read from a usb drive? Anyone know?

Looks like I am going to have to email their tech support again...my guess is that it will be like the other one, with limited indexing capabilities (after all, its only $140), but my fingers are crossed.

I'll see what I can find out.

Bart

[nfpgasmask]

OK, for $80 at Walmart I might just have to try this unit. If you read the comments on that page you will see:

"I have had this installed and working awesome and flawless for over a year now...

Here are some questions to answer that they do NOT tell you:

1) It plays from FAT and FAT32
2) SD and USB pendrive are awesome, songs may be kept in folders, individual.
3) ID3 Tags! Wil display if present
4) WMV and MP#, that's it...
5) POWERED USB Port! I have a 60 gig laptop HD in a USB2.0 (usb-powered) adaptec case, and it powers and plays songs from ALL partitions (there are 3 F32 partitions on it)"

So it looks like this unit might be that answer to my dreams. There is a strong possibility I will be going to Walmart next weeks to pick one up, that is, if they still have them....

Bart

[9tinyfingaz]

wow that actually does look good. Thats exactly what we were looking for. i might just pick that up.... its cheap enough.

[Ruflyf]

Bart, that does sound like the solution :)

[9tinyfingaz]

if anyone needs a harddrive and enclosure, I can use my discounting capabilities @ CompUsa. I figure I might at as well be the "hook up" somewhere.

[kpaske]

SD and USB in a head unit would be GREAT features. I'll wait until the big boys (Sony, Pioneer, etc) catch on and provide 2 powered USB ports for portable HDD's that need a little extra juice. I'll also be waiting to see what methods of cataloging/indexing will become available as more and more folks start plugging portable HDD's and large flash media drives into their head units. I know that with 70 GB of music even my desktop has trouble presenting me with THAT many songs in a quick and easy format. At a minimum these things should have the ability to read playlists in several different formats and sort and filter based on title, album, artist, and genre.

[nfpgasmask]

Yeah, I can't tell 100% if this unit has powered USB or not. I may try to find it at Walmart just to try it out for a week (depending on their return policy). It would be a pain in the @ss if it turns out to be a crappy unit, but I think it would be worth a try anyway.

I know what you mean about how head units still have a long way to go with how they present large quantities of music. I have 300 GIGs of mp3s (like 40,000 songs) and indexing even a fraction of my collection on DVDr in my current JVC unit is a challenge.

What I really want is a quality head unit that supports voice recognition. Then I can just tell my unit what song I want to hear and at what volume level I want, etc.

Bart



SD and USB in a head unit would be GREAT features. I'll wait until the big boys (Sony, Pioneer, etc) catch on and provide 2 powered USB ports for portable HDD's that need a little extra juice. I'll also be waiting to see what methods of cataloging/indexing will become available as more and more folks start plugging portable HDD's and large flash media drives into their head units. I know that with 70 GB of music even my desktop has trouble presenting me with THAT many songs in a quick and easy format. At a minimum these things should have the ability to read playlists in several different formats and sort and filter based on title, album, artist, and genre.

[E-ZooZoo One]

Overall, it's a pretty cool head unit.


Wow, I haven't felt this let down since I saw The Matrix 2 and 3. :(
Aww, c`mon… just the delivery of that one line from the Merovingian about the beauty of cussing in French was alone worth the rental fee! :yesgray: :smilewink :laughgray

[WyrreJ]

Any movie with Monica Bellucci is worth the rental fee - although she usually gets a little more naked than she did in those flicks.

[nfpgasmask]

So I stopped in my local Wal*mart yesterday. They had the head unit on display but they were out of stock. There was no price tag on it either. The (no so very) helpful employee told me it cost $150. I think he was probably wrong. So, I will have to find another Wal*mart and check there. The unit actually looked fairly nice, but who knows.

Bart

[9tinyfingaz]

alright guys................ in installed the headunit http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/30/...u-does-digital/
throwing some songs onto a 50gb mobile lacie HDD. The radio does provide power through the USB so i know it works I just had to get a utility to format in fat32 which windows xp does not do. i should have some pics and review a lil later

[nfpgasmask]

Yeah, please let me know how this goes, and give us a complete review :yesg:

After going to 2 Wal*marts and finding that they have the unit on display but were out of stock (or not restocking) for some reason I did not end up getting it. And then I started thinking again that I should just bite the bullet and assimilate into the portable MP3 player world (not fully though, I refuse to buy an i-POD, if I do, I will go with one of Creative's devices).

Because my $350 JVC unit really does kick @55 and it has an aux-in jack on the front, I figured I should just get the portable device so I could use it while jogging, or riding the train.

I'm still on the fence though, as you can tell.

:) Bart


alright guys................ in installed the headunit http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/30/...u-does-digital/
throwing some songs onto a 50gb mobile lacie HDD. The radio does provide power through the USB so i know it works I just had to get a utility to format in fat32 which windows xp does not do. i should have some pics and review a lil later

[9tinyfingaz]

well.....i cant get the radio to recognize the hdd. im actually on hold with the company trying to figure it out. it was weird b/c i set my radio stations something happen. like a power shortage and lost everything. the wires are all correct, taped, zip tyed and gently placed behind the dash so well see. if i cant get the hdd to work im turning it in. its the only reason i got it. as far as a portable device i would definetly go with iriver or creative. ipod is cool and what not but not as friendly. I have had experience with all of the players so if you have questions ask away.

[nfpgasmask]

Cool, thanks.

Basically, I desire a portable device that:

a) has a sizable capacity (30+ GIG)
b) supports MP3 format
c) does not require software (like I-TUNES) or has software that can easily be hacked or worked around
d) does not force me to use some digital copyright authentication or something

Basically, aside from the ultra-trendiness of the I-POD (which turns me off), I want a device that does not need some stupid software like I-TUNES.

I want to be able to plug in the device, have it pop-up in My Computer (as if it was just another hard drive) and let me dump MP3s onto it.

Does the Creative 30 GIG device support this kind of activity? I could care less about video/picture viewing.

Thanks - Bart



well.....i cant get the radio to recognize the hdd. im actually on hold with the company trying to figure it out. it was weird b/c i set my radio stations something happen. like a power shortage and lost everything. the wires are all correct, taped, zip tyed and gently placed behind the dash so well see. if i cant get the hdd to work im turning it in. its the only reason i got it. as far as a portable device i would definetly go with iriver or creative. ipod is cool and what not but not as friendly. I have had experience with all of the players so if you have questions ask away.

[Ruflyf]

Bart,

I have a Archos AV-420 and I love it. It does all you mentioned, although mine only has a 20g drive. All the way up to 80g is available though. Plugs into my comp via usb, has a base (with remote) I keep hooked up to my home system so I can record tv/movies/dvds etc. which I usually watch later at work. All in all I love it.

[9tinyfingaz]

the creative does support drag and drop as does iriver and archos. Archos is the BEST if you want to watch video. Especially if you use Clone DVD mobile on the pc. Size wise the archos gmini 400 or 420 camcorder is the best. I just figured out my radio is defective it wont read any usb drive be it 256mb or 50 gb partitioned 5 times. so i contacted them and they are picking this one up and give me a new one. well see what happens. good thing i only drive 8-10 miles a day i really wont miss the music that much.

[nfpgasmask]

Cool, I will check into both of these. Video and pictures are not important however, like I said. I would really just like a clean interface, easy nav, no BS software and a good, long lasting battery.

Thanks!

Bart


the creative does support drag and drop as does iriver and archos. Archos is the BEST if you want to watch video. Especially if you use Clone DVD mobile on the pc. Size wise the archos gmini 400 or 420 camcorder is the best. I just figured out my radio is defective it wont read any usb drive be it 256mb or 50 gb partitioned 5 times. so i contacted them and they are picking this one up and give me a new one. well see what happens. good thing i only drive 8-10 miles a day i really wont miss the music that much.

[WyrreJ]

Check out Rockbox - alternative firmware for a handful of players. Pretty slick and free I am about to pick up an iAudio/Cowon unit specifically because rockbox has been ported to it.

http://www.rockbox.org/

[9tinyfingaz]

i like that rockbox stuff. very nice. the iaudio is nice as well. but realize the x5 is only 15fps. the a2 is a much nicer unit. and the maxian compusa is carrying and the mustek compusa carries online. but the x5 is a good size

[WyrreJ]

Rockbox doesn't do video anyway, and I'm not interested in a portable video player until one has an HDMI out and can do mpeg4 AVC at HD resolutions. So far only the ipod will do AVC, and that's only at less-than-dvd res. It took them about 8 years to get the hardware mostly right for good-quality audio, it will probably take a couple more for decent video.