Portable media player for car?

[rembetis]

I am in search of a product, but I don't know whether it exists. Any help or recommendations are much appreciated.

I do a fair amount of road-tripping with my 5-year-old twins in my 2004 Honda Odyssey. The minivan has a built in DVD system with both a standard DVD drive and auxiliary RCA jacks (L/R audio and composite video). Using DVDs works ok but the drive is very picky about burned discs and reaching down to insert them and or mess with the controls is too hazardous when I'm driving alone without my wife. Plus, I've spent a great deal of effort to build a digital video archive in my home and want to extend that capability and convenience to my vehicle.

So... does anyone out there know of a product that stores video files (preferably both DVD-style VIDEO_TS folders and Avi files) and **outputs** (as opposed to playback on a built-in screen) video via s-video or composite **and** works well in a vehicle environment.

I am exploring the carpc route, but I'm having trouble finding a small (pref. mini itx) motherboard that does extended desktop and would allow me to use Xlobby on the LCD and output video to composite. The ideal product and/or custom build would be portable and NOT hardwired to my vehicle, but I realize at that point I might be asking too much.

TIA.

[fredw]

there are a bunch of external hard drive / media units that play video or music , like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822720005 you can copy your files to them and hook them up to your kids screen. plus they come with a remote so no more trying to change discs while driving.

fred

[rembetis]

Thanks for the suggestion fredw. I need something that I can control without needing to see the display screen (which is in the back). Something that retains a control interface while outputting video.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

If u go with carputer route, (and i really believe u will, judging by the dedication uve placed on your earlier projects) simple solution for portability would be to use tabletPC. If u get dock or port replicator for your model easy portability can be achieved. Thats the principle my first carPC worked on so i can say i pretty much know pros and cons of the aproach. Cons being stylus and the fact that porting gets really old really fast. That is why id like to ask which are your motives to seek for portable solution?

If they fall among two most common: hesisting to make permanent changes in the vehicle or avoiding to turn car into a vandal magnet, id like to remind u that u can easily build an install which can be uninstalled to original state and is stealth enough to be unnoticed outside of the vehicle, if u just use your head every step on the way, without rushing to grab that side-cutter. I guess im just saying dont rule out dedicated carputer too fast, cause portable one can be somewhat pain in the ass.

EDIT: really i dont think the board should be so hard to find... i think even my old VIA fills your requirements, and its far from state of art, but finding a windows XP to run on it can be a hard task, i think i pretty much managed to secure one of the last licenses microsoft was still offering for public.

[rembetis]

The portability factor is mainly to increase its usefulness. It would be great if I could pull the carpc (or whatever fits the bill) out of the car and use it whenever I get to my destination (my folks' place, vacation spot, whatever). I'm thinking a handled custom case that plugs into an inverter.

Based on what I've read over on mp3car.com, those VIA boards with TV out can't do extended desktop without a dedicated graphics card, just clone. Ideally, I'd like to be able to use a navigation app and xlobby on the control screen and output video on the rear screen.

As for acquiring Windows, Newegg is still selling OEM copies of Windows MCE that are essentially XP Pro + MCE.