OK, you have DEFINITELY hit on a subject that draws me in. I have had plenty of thought on this in the past as I planned on doing someting extreme like this in my next vehicle... which WAS gonna be another Typhoon... but ended up being an Ironman Edition 2000 VX! I am now ready to start planning my Audio/Video/Multimedia system.

First off, I was planning to use a mini PC from Bold Data which is slightly larger than a portable CD player... we use lots of them at my work and I know they are very capable. They also now have new models that are EXTREMELY powerful. You can get up to a 2Gig, P4 Processor, DVD ROM drive and tons more. I would defintely opt for the DVD ROM drive.

When planning for my Typhoon, I was going to modify my dash to accept a 10.4" monitor in a vertical format. This would yield a width nearly the same as a standard stereo headunit. This of course was going to require extensive modifications to fit in the dash, but that was fine... looking at my VX dash (only had it for about 12 hours now), I think its gonna be REALLY tough. Also, the monitor I was going to use would have been a touchscreen so for normal usage, you wouldn't need ANY input device... just your finger.

I planned on keeping my Eclipse 55090 Am/FM/CD/DVD player in the dash... somehwere... to be my MAIN video source. In addition to this, I plan to prewire for BOTH a Playstation2 AND XBOX... both of my sons console systems. With the above mentioned DVD ROM drive, DVD headunit, and the TWO game consoles, I would have a potential FOUR DVD sources.

I will have two 6.5" Alpine monitors for rear passengers as well as POSSIBLY a larger format (15"ish) monitor in the rear for show purposes. To make the BEST use of the many sources and the many displays, I plan to use a system from the place I work ... the Media Manager. This system was designed as an switching system for video sources at sports bars and whatnot. We have done one such "Mobile" Media Manager for someone that was used at the CES. I have talked to one of the designers/engineers about building the custom system for my car and he seemed to be good with the idea. This switcher would allow for ANY source to be played on ANY display at ANY time TOTALLY independant of each other.

There is of course lots left to plan on this and since I JUST got my VX, it could take quite a bit of time before it gets done. I have plenty left to plan. I also have my work cut out for me to get even a 7" widescreen monitor flush mounted in the dash, let alone a 10.4" in a vertical format.

Now, the Navigation system was there at the back of my mind due to the fact that my Eclipse 55090 has a nav system that can be integrated with the ECom module... then again, having it based on the PC would free up that DVD source for use elsewhere... hmmmm... this is sucking me back in... time to go stare at my dash.

TTYL!

Coach... aka Randy!