carlosrg

Good Day

I have a 2011 GL350 with HK radio that I like to add headrests too. The catch I like to add a media library instead of using a bunch of DVDs. For example currently have a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 running Kodi (with Auto Kodi theme) with a 64GB SD card with around 50+ movies this currently held in place by a tablet holder for the headrest. The tablet of course has built in speakers, bluetooth headrest support, or STD 3.5mm audio jack.

Cons:
* My 6 year old leaves the tablet it battery dies
* Its an expensive tablet to be used this way
* I am concerned the window will be broken to steal the tablet
* I only have 1 tablet in the back and my other passengers can't video the movie or show..
* touch screen on a moving vehicle is not ideal (I have thought of adding a remote control).
* Tablet mount is not what I consider ideal.
* Have to manually add media to the SD-Card


Pros:
* We get somewhere my son takes the tablet with him and the headphones so he can be entertained.
* I can add a 128SD Card or maybe a wireless network drive and carry my entire movie collection though having TBs of Movies and Music is a bit of overkill.
* Its android it has WiFI radio, and bluetooth. I have tons of app support.
* 10.1 screen with 2560 x 1600 pixels (299 PPI) is very nice.

So as you can see I like the tablet idea but it lacks a bit of polish. But its not bad. So I have an idea but I am not sure if it can be done easily.

1. I like to have Video in motion so my wife and kids can both watch "beverly hills chihuahua 4" (yes they complained about such silly things).
2. I like to install 2 permanent mount headrests with at 720P resolution
3. Feed Video to the front factory screen. (I ordered a AMI Micro USB) I have thought of using the AMI to Composite video, does that work?
4. I still would like to use some media device I thought about the older Roku 2 with composite outs. And install Plex, or hack in Kodi.. I like the idea of a remote for it.
5. Is there canbus enabled Media controllers? I have networking and programming experience not so much on canbus but I am willing to learn. and Experiment maybe a PI box?

I am sure I am probably making this kind of difficult as I want to simply carry all my media with me and eventually have it do automatic media synchronization.

jbondox

The guys at Access 1 did these. hope that helps. When i used to work for a living, I set most of the DVD systems up for MB dealership

http://www.access1alarm.com/photo-gallery/mercedes-benz

http://www.proclipusa.com/mounts/hea...edes-benz.cmsv
https://navtv.com/products/NTV-KIT102/ntg3.html
http://www.voxxelectronics.com/atablet-docking/android/

carlosrg

Thank you for the reply jbondox


I am going to spend some time researching, maybe what i want does not exist at this time. And that's a networked canbus based Video System. I noticed you mentioned the Opti-1 for the fiber connection to the amplifier, thus I am considering maybe just replacing my Head unit with the Alpine from EU or maybe an android based one, and buy some Android based headrests monitors with some a custom rom and application set..

I can write an app if need be or simply find an app that provides a solution for sharing video. For Scenario 1 Have show play in front screen for passenger, have sound processed thru audio system, and also show picture for rear passengers. And also allow scenario 2 where rear users can listen via headphones or built in speakers on monitors and select there own programming IE any movie or maybe even an app like "DirecTV, Netflix, Hulu" and etc.

Things I see needing are
1. Network the vehicle was hoping to use canbus but my knowledge is limited. Thus will probably have to require a Wifi Router that supports a Sim card, USB drive and Wifi As WAN ( 128GB should be good enuff would probably go something Solid State non mechanical, if a I have a good sync application that can download latests shows or pull video remotely via Wifi Connection)
1a. Needs for Wifi as WAN is I like media library to auto sync itself to main library at home. A simple script that checks for wan interface being up and rsync type script will probably work.
1b. The Wifi as wan is probably going to be more tricky as I like to limit my mobile data usage.. Kids + Netflix/YouTube is a big nono on metered service.
1c. I really would like to see vehicle data from a purely geek perspective like boost pressure, RPM, error codes, and etc. Kind of a Torque app data (normally done thru OBDI port)


2. Someway to input HQ Video and Audio into network for playback.
2a. Anyone know native resolution of panel for factory radio?

3. data connectivity to headrests, canbus, ethernet, sneakernet (pass DVDs/SD cards/USB drives), I will try stay away from decnet :-), probably have to be wireless N. I am thinking of Multicasting Video instead of unicast that way I could even add a third monitor for 3rd row.

4. Some kind of additional battery bank will be needed to allow Wifi Router and devices to update.

So far I am thinking Android, Linux, DD-WRT, or Ubuntu should be able to handle what I want to do.



* Seems that NAVTV has a NTG3 video interface and video output its only composite which is less than ideal but one option.

jbondox

Well when I was working, I did this install for an S class late 2008 http://www.access1alarm.com/photo-ga...r-and-computer

It had a dual wireless modem, (had 2 PCMCIA modems, 1 ATT - 1 Verizon) I used Ethernet to connect to the VMOD, which was a media server. I spent days refining it so that when he parked in his garage it would sync with his home media server. This was a pain, and was also when you can run the Windows Media Server that is no longer available. Plus it was XP. but it was pretty cool, I hooked up a track pad for the front screen to be able to be controlled when the server was being used or when we were watching the slingbox from 2000 miles away. There was also a mobile PC installed in it running Windows7 which was just released at the time. I looked in the pics but you can't really see it because it spent a couple days on the bench fixing the turn on/off power management.

I built a fuse and distribution center for it so it ws pretty simple, there was an A/V switcher for front and rear.

Added a refrigerator to it also. Midcity Engineering also helped with a custom A/V switcher from the steering wheel controls allowing me to swap video source from factory to aftermarket.

So what you want is possible, the equipment is even better. The newer GL has a badass factory headunit with a lot of what you want also.

I stay current on some of the stuff, in my wife's... we did 2 Android headrests with DVD, Chromecast and using her iPhone for hot spot, no issues needs or wants.

Also, the NTG3 isn't the issue, it's your COMAND which was designed in 07, and started to be integrated in late 08 vehicles (E class I think was first)

jbondox

Also, I have 2 of those WIFI modems collecting dusts, but no PCMIA cards for them. I used them because they were good for speeds up to 125 MPH and were super secured

carlosrg

Jbondox it sounds like alot of great projects :-) I like some of the new technology in the market I think a Rasberry Pi BOX running a unix could do what I want or worst case can be programmed to do so on an open platform.

Do you have any good Canbus documentations resources? So I can learn more I am thinking it is like maybe ethernet with a different OSI layer 1 and 2 but not sure at all still fairly new to it all.

jbondox

I will check when I get home in a few days