2Din Dvd Player Help

[Jor-el]

Autolankans,

I'm looking for a good 2DIN DVD player for my car. My budget is 50k (max). Can you guys recommend me any particular brand? What is the brand you are using - and are you satisfied with it? Are chinese ones reliable?

Requirements:

1. Main requirement is the reversing camera.

2. GPS

3. Entertaintment

4. USB

5. iPod connection

Car in question is a Lancer CS3 GLX (2009).

To install reversing camera, should they cut electrical lines or are there factory - fitted ports for plug-and-play? I'm asking because I'm worried about fire hazard due to a shoddy job by whoever installs it. Should I buy the player elsewhere and get that fitted by agents? (Uni*ed M*t*rs)

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

J.E.

[PreseaLover]

Why don't you go to a place like P3tco Lanka or Advanc3d Car Audio and then get their professional opinion on whether your current speakers can be used with your new head unit or whether you will have to use new ones? You then don't have to bust your brains trying to figure out which ones are compatible - especially if you are not sure of what you want.

As for the rear speakers, open the trunk and peek under the shelf behind the rear seats. Check if speakers are disconnected or are missing altogether.

Also, I'd go for a full double din setup if I were you, given that the dashboard has a double din slot. Another option is to have a single din unit with a separate in-dash amp or equalizer that uses the remaining 1-din slot. Might be useful if you are a music nut.

I thought about it too, but didn't want to get their opinion because they might want to sell their product and tell us they need to replace... will check into the rear speakers too..

and hell yes, I would like to have that equalizer thing coz im very much a music nut... regarding this in-dash amp or equalizer i have no idea at all about it..i will just google and see.... thanks davy

[The Stig]

Personally, aftermarket head units look a bit out of place compared to the stock radio. And the flimsy buttons and the crappy displays and/or UI leaves a lot to be desired. But can't argue with the better sound quality and the connectivity options available in the new head units.

I'm doing a little reading into rigging up a 7 inch android tablet to act as a head unit, which may be of interest to you. But there's a lot to consider and a bit of thinking to avoid having a fire risk bolted into your dash

If you are going for a aftermarket head unit, you can look for a car specific adapter fascia that will help you mount the head unit without having gaps.

For the benefit of others reading I was also researching a lot on an alternative to a double din and came across many DIY jobs that had done tablet installations.

The good thing is you will get android auto (once it goes live, for the time being you can use and app called automate), built in gps with google maps, nice UI, Tunein, internet access, support for all audio and video codecs and basically all of android features and customizations.

What you will need is a tablet, a decent one will cost at least 25K

12v lighter port charger 1.5K for a quality one

Mounting brackets (there are aftermarket brackets specifically designed for this) 4k

A Digital to Analog convertor with a micro USB connector (DAC in short) 10k here

At least a 4 channel amp at least 12k

From the above the total cost would be at least 50K.

The problems will be to get the tablet to turn off when the car turns off, get it to turn on when the car turns on, no CD or USB (the usb port will be used by the DAC), radio reception might not be that good and it will be tricky to connect it to the standard car antenna jack.

Overall I dont think its worth the investment since you can get a good quality head unit for 50K, but hey if there is any brave soul here do let us know

On a side note has anyone bought anything off this ozone Lanka place? Prices seems to be way low, seems fishy

Edited February 3, 2016 by The Stig

[Hoonigan]

For the benefit of others reading I was also researching a lot on an alternative to a double din and came across many DIY jobs that had done tablet installations.

The good thing is you will get android auto (once it goes live, for the time being you can use and app called automate), built in gps with google maps, nice UI, Tunein, internet access, support for all audio and video codecs and basically all of android features and customizations.

What you will need is a tablet, a decent one will cost at least 25K

12v lighter port charger 1.5K for a quality one

Mounting brackets (there are aftermarket brackets specifically designed for this) 4k

A Digital to Analog convertor with a micro USB connector (DAC in short) 10k here

At least a 4 channel amp at least 12k

From the above the total cost would be at least 50K.

The problems will be to get the tablet to turn off when the car turns off, get it to turn on when the car turns on, no CD or USB (the usb port will be used by the DAC), radio reception might not be that good and it will be tricky to connect it to the standard car antenna jack.

Overall I dont think its worth the investment since you can get a good quality head unit for 50K, but hey if there is any brave soul here do let us know

On a side note has anyone bought anything off this ozone Lanka place? Prices seems to be way low, seems fishy

I'm still gathering info before I decide if I actually go through with this. But there are solutions for some of the problems you noted.

The popular candidate seems to be the Nexus 7. Almost a perfect fit for 2din space and used ones can be had for a decent price.

The lighter port charger should be 5V 2A to maintain charge if you leave the tablet battery in.

Model specific Mounting brackets can be bought online for around 20USD on ebay that comes with the wire harness adapter (basically the installation is fully reversible)

The DAC is needed if you take audio from the USB (some androids don't support this apparently) Otherwise you can buy a 3.5mm to AV adapter cable and feed the amp with a speaker level input (Amp has to support)

Amp is must if the car doesn't have one (mine doesn't)

There are On-The-Go (OTG) cables you can buy for the micro USB port. Which basically is a splitter for your micro USB port. You can use one of the ends to charge and the other end to plug in other USB devices. If fed through a USB hub, you can have multiple ports that you can use.

There are free apps (If I remember right, this can also be done through the developer settings as well) that let you can set up to wake the tablet up and put it back to sleep when it senses charging (which can be achieved if you wire the charger to a ACC wire. This way, the tablet will keep the display on when the car is running.

The issues I can think of now is that the tablet running full time and the possible risk of overheating/swelling/exploding battery given our less-than-ideal weather conditions. So far I have found a hack to run the tablet without the battery, but have to do more research to avoid damaging the tablet turning it on and off when the key is turned (crashing the tablet every time I turn the car off)

Given the flexibility of android and the quality of the display and functionality, I believe it is a better choice than an off the shelf head unit. But I'm not confident enough yet to swing it safely. I'm still reading into it and making sure I have a safe game-plan if I take the plunge at all.

[The Stig]

I'm still gathering info before I decide if I actually go through with this. But there are solutions for some of the problems you noted.

The popular candidate seems to be the Nexus 7. Almost a perfect fit for 2din space and used ones can be had for a decent price.

The lighter port charger should be 5V 2A to maintain charge if you leave the tablet battery in.

Model specific Mounting brackets can be bought online for around 20USD on ebay that comes with the wire harness adapter (basically the installation is fully reversible)

The DAC is needed if you take audio from the USB (some androids don't support this apparently) Otherwise you can buy a 3.5mm to AV adapter cable and feed the amp with a speaker level input (Amp has to support)

Amp is must if the car doesn't have one (mine doesn't)

There are On-The-Go (OTG) cables you can buy for the micro USB port. Which basically is a splitter for your micro USB port. You can use one of the ends to charge and the other end to plug in other USB devices. If fed through a USB hub, you can have multiple ports that you can use.

There are free apps (If I remember right, this can also be done through the developer settings as well) that let you can set up to wake the tablet up and put it back to sleep when it senses charging (which can be achieved if you wire the charger to a ACC wire. This way, the tablet will keep the display on when the car is running.

The issues I can think of now is that the tablet running full time and the possible risk of overheating/swelling/exploding battery given our less-than-ideal weather conditions. So far I have found a hack to run the tablet without the battery, but have to do more research to avoid damaging the tablet turning it on and off when the key is turned (crashing the tablet every time I turn the car off)

Given the flexibility of android and the quality of the display and functionality, I believe it is a better choice than an off the shelf head unit. But I'm not confident enough yet to swing it safely. I'm still reading into it and making sure I have a safe game-plan if I take the plunge at all.

I would advise against using the 3.5mm jack as the main source of audio to your car. The built in dacs in tablets are not purpose built to provide the best audio quality and essentially you are taking a signal meant for an earphone which will have only a couple of milli watts and expanding it. The final sound will have noise and distortion guaranteed, this is why you need a purpose built DAC.

Plug in your phone to your aux port and play a song, play the same song through a usb thumb drive and you will notice a massive difference in audio quality. You will have the same difference if you use the 3.5mm jack.

But if audio quality in not a priority why bother with all these brackets and wires and mounting headaches. Just buy something like an eonon android head unit, it runs on android and will have all the functions you have in a tab + more (processor maybe a little slower though). The only downside would be the audio quality.

http://m.eonon.com/productList.aspx?sid=44&cate=Android%20Car%20GPS

[Hoonigan]

I would advise against using the 3.5mm jack as the main source of audio to your car. The built in dacs in tablets are not purpose built to provide the best audio quality and essentially you are taking a signal meant for an earphone which will have only a couple of milli watts and expanding it. The final sound will have noise and distortion guaranteed, this is why you need a purpose built DAC. Plug in your phone to your aux port and play a song, play the same song through a usb thumb drive and you will notice a massive difference in audio quality. You will have the same difference if you use the 3.5mm jack. But if audio quality in not a priority why bother with all these brackets and wires and mounting headaches. Just buy something like an eonon android head unit, it runs on android and will have all the functions you have in a tab + more (processor maybe a little slower though). The only downside would be the audio quality. http://m.eonon.com/productList.aspx?sid=44&cate=Android%20Car%20GPS

Definitely. Taking the audio out of USB is the better call. But if the DAC takes you over the budget, it's an alternative you can use until you can upgrade.

Is Eonon actually good? read some bad reviews about it. There is a German unit called Dynavin which looks OEM as well but seems to be a bit pricey.

Like I said, I'm not fully convinced if the in dash tablet is a safe choice for our conditions. But there's a little fun to be had in a DIY project to build your own head unit eh?

[PreseaLover]

If someone is looking for a Branded double din normal setup like me (Not the touch system one) I found one in Pet#o. One of the designs of it is as below image. And this too has the Bluetooth phone calls and phone book features embedded as well. This is exactly what I’m looking for unfortunately the price of it is very high for this which is 28k. However I was told that there is a place in kirulapone called Chamara Stickers that has branded original double din setups that has a huge variation. I should try that place too and update.

[The Stig]

Definitely. Taking the audio out of USB is the better call. But if the DAC takes you over the budget, it's an alternative you can use until you can upgrade.

Is Eonon actually good? read some bad reviews about it. There is a German unit called Dynavin which looks OEM as well but seems to be a bit pricey.

Like I said, I'm not fully convinced if the in dash tablet is a safe choice for our conditions. But there's a little fun to be had in a DIY project to build your own head unit eh?

We had an eonon unit fitted to our e46 (mostly since it looked nice since there is a specific models for the e46) , the functionality was pretty good but sometimes apps did crash. The sound quality was not that great though.

[Hoonigan]

We had an eonon unit fitted to our e46 (mostly since it looked nice since there is a specific models for the e46) , the functionality was pretty good but sometimes apps did crash. The sound quality was not that great though.

Well damn, I'm trying to rig this up for an E46 as well

The BMW forums appear to be on the idea that the Dynavin is the go-to OEM-looking HU for the E46, but that too apparently has inferior sound quality. Both the EONON and the Dynavin both has the rear set up to fit in the 1DIN space, with only the fascia/display occupying the 2DIN space in the front, which is the biggest advantage. Otherwise there's a bit of hacking required to fit a regular 2DIN in there.

Like I said earlier, though not 100% confident, I still feel that the tablet path is worth exploring. So far, I found a way to ditch the battery so the fire risk is significantly reduced. Since this is reversible, worst case, I will have a dead tablet in my hand. Let's see, more research to be done.

[hrm]

Today got installed a Kenwood DDX316M with reverse cam from P#tco. No GPS/TV nor Bluetooth. Cost 35K (33K for cash). Cam is a refurbished one from Japan and has 1 year warranty. Head unit comes with 2 years warranty .

Kenwood DDX416 the one with Bluetooth cost above 40K. Brand new reverse cam from Japan alone cost like 10K there.