I want to hook up a monitor in my xB and I don't really want to go the route of a flip out unit. I don't have a big budget and my question is, what do the dvd headunits show when not playing a movie? Do they show song information, eq choices, etc? I don't want just a blank screen when not showing a movie. If that's the case then i'll save up some money to install a car pc or get a flip out unit.

 

i haven't tried playing music in mine, i got a 7" in my dash, i'll try it out, i think it'll probably depend on your dvd player though. when mines not doing anything it just has a screen saver that has the dvd logo that bounces around the screen. i'll try out the music right now and see what's up.

 

i think you can buy ones that do more than play dvds,mp3 ect and if u have one i think it would show the menu of all the things u could select

 

I have the Pioneer and it shows blank with XM & FM and a blue screen with info on CD's

 

Most commercial units I've seen have little to no display when playing music or mp3. They should have a spectrum analyser or other screen svare like winamp, etc. At the very least, It should show track info in big text (on MP3s, file name, genre, bitrate, etc.) It probably has something to do with not distracting the driver.

This is why commercial units are light years behind a good carpc in functionality (though winning the reliabilty and ease of use war)

 

Sorry for the late replies, I don't abandon my threads... I work nights.

Well I'm kinda bummed, I was hoping to go with a nice screen in the dash and saving some money over a flip out unit. Maybe i'll look into building a car pc because I really would like to have a flashy display and I doubt i'd really watch just movies all that often.

 

the avic-n1 unit? if so how do you like it? do you hear the fan noise?

 

No, I have the DVH-P5000MP in the bottom of the dash and a 9" screen up top.

 

How about a rear view camera?

 

mine has navigation whan a movie isn't on but ive seen others that show music levels or basic track info. some also have graphics that move to the music which is pretty dope

 

Yes, alot (or all) of the flip-out units have screen savers and displays - but he is looking for a player that will show something when hooked to a seperate screen (not a flip-out).

 

I doubt that you can do that with a standalone / slave DVD player. Even if you have a DVD/CD/MP3 headunit, most likely... all the CD and MP3 information will be shown on the headunit instead of being output to the a video output. In that case, I would probably recomment that you do something like install a Lilliput 7" screen where your headunit is and try to mount a CarPC and a separate amplifier underneath your seat.

 

Cool thanks for the info... I'm glad I asked before I bought anything.