| My Android Entertainment System | |
Hi all,
I used to have a FFRR and now have a Sport TDV8. Done an upgrade on my touchscreen system to a more entertainment system.
Was interested in other options but it seems a bit hush hush. So anyway here's mine!
I love the car, but the interface is rather lacking compared with my previous cars systems (Audi MMI and BMW iDrive to name a few….). I really rate the standard sat nav system in these, even if it is made by Denso….. So after a bit of thinking the best way to do this I decided not to try to replace the factory sat nav. I wanted something to play videos but most importantly music. The iPod options for the Denso sat nav are poor, the best being the NavTV option VDock, which is now discontinued and very expensive. Land Rover’s option is poor and basically emulates a cd changer from what I saw.
So looking around you can build Windows and Linux based systems but they ain’t cheap. To build one with all the car power supply I was looking at minimum £300. So I looked into adapting a tablet Android device with TV out into the car. After some research there are now Android TV devices (Simular to AppleTV) much cheaper. I found the Noontec A9 which came with IR remote, wireless USB dongle keyboard, had video and audio phono outputs….. It was perfect. It got better as well, it took a 12V DC input into the device. Saves messing around with the power supplies! The only thing I needed to do was regulate it due to car power supplies being between 12v and 14v when the engine was running.
So the next stage was getting an input into the system. There were 3 options from what I could see:
1) A simple £10 cable that goes into the rear of the screen, and you have to go into diagnostics mode every time you wanted to view the screen.
2) GVIF Interface, around £250 ish depending where you get them from? Uses additional switches to switch to the feeds but has benefits of rear view camera auto switching. Canbus switching available but not recommended by the importer?
3) Nav TV input device. OPV-2LR. Comes with the tv in motion module and installs the TV icon onto the RR screens.
Decided to go for the NavTV input as I want to quickly switch between the navigation and the Android system. Plus I like the OEM feel to it all.
Needed a 12v Regulated power supply, Maplin won at £12. Bargain!
Biggest issue was controlling it now. The remotes were IR and I wanted to hide the Noontec unit. So I needed some sort of IR repeater. Biggest issue was most were mains powered. Luckily a company called Niche Mode do one that is USB powered. £50 delivered. Simple, plug in, cover the IR repeated on the Noontec, and reposition the new one where you want. No additional power sources.
So after a test in the car today, here is where I am at. It works, very well. Pleased is an understatement, next option is a bit more Android development to hone it a bit more. But in a nutshell, for around £500 notes, I have a decent music interface, a video interface and complete internet connectivity.
For the music I use Spotify and PlayerPro. It connects through my iPhone for internet as shown below and streams music well! Though that is a bonus.
Anyway less talking more pics:
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Main Screen with a strange background. Land Rover logo was free! Bonus!
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PlayerPro small widget music player. Album art work etc etc.
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PlayerPro full widget music player.
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PlayerPro with a different background.
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Spotify Widget
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Full Spotify program!
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Browser through 3G
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IR receiver hidden nicely.
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The NAV TV setup. Simply plugin, no hard wiring. Plugin to the wiring loom and tap into the fibre MOST loop. 30 mins worse...
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TV button on screen.
Enjoy, hope you like. Something I wanted to do for a while! A bit different, seen phones on here through GVIF etc, but thought mine was different enough to show anyway.
Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  Used to have:
2005 FFRR 4.4 Vogue - BRC LPG Conversion & Remapped
Now have:
2008 SSRR 3.6 TDV8 - HSE and plenty of toys
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11th Mar 2012 7:59pm
