I like the rear camera in my 2013 limited H/K no-Nav, but I don't need it much. I wonder what else I might be able to show with that input, like maybe a wired feed from my smartphone. It would be incredibly useful to output my smartphone Display to the bigger screen, especially for navigation, album art, and other. Anyone else consider or try this?
Screen shows rear camera, what else could it show
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If your smartphone can produce a composite analog video signal, you're set. You'd want to wire a bypass to fake out the display, make it think you are in reverse all the time. Then set up a control to select between the phone and the camera- or automate it through a relay.
I know that iPhones up through the 3GS can make such a signal, I suspect the 4 can, no clue about the 5. I haven't researched the androids or blackberries.
I recall that ios does not leave the output active at all times, just when you are actually playing video. Been a long time since I messed with that.
I know that iPhones up through the 3GS can make such a signal, I suspect the 4 can, no clue about the 5. I haven't researched the androids or blackberries.
I recall that ios does not leave the output active at all times, just when you are actually playing video. Been a long time since I messed with that.
Can be done, requires jailbreak, video not so good
your ideas pushed my research in the right direction. Cables are available, but it outputs analog video only, and iOS only supports multimedia output for a few apps, not including Maps or other GPS/Nav apps. However, if you jailbreak your device, there are a few apps that will mirror everything on the screen through the output cable. A few have done this, but complained about the quality of the video output since its analog and very poor quality.
Supposedly it's better with iphone5 at it has hardware to support digital video out. Couldn't find any examples of actual implementation.
Android devices seem more flexible, and there were even a couple examples of screen mirroring over Bluetooth. But there is limited bandwidth with Bluetooth, so the mirroring wasn't smooth.
I bet we see more vendors growing the linkage between smartphones and car AV. Seems like lots of folks hate their internal Navigation and want to use their phones anyway.
your ideas pushed my research in the right direction. Cables are available, but it outputs analog video only, and iOS only supports multimedia output for a few apps, not including Maps or other GPS/Nav apps. However, if you jailbreak your device, there are a few apps that will mirror everything on the screen through the output cable. A few have done this, but complained about the quality of the video output since its analog and very poor quality.
Supposedly it's better with iphone5 at it has hardware to support digital video out. Couldn't find any examples of actual implementation.
Android devices seem more flexible, and there were even a couple examples of screen mirroring over Bluetooth. But there is limited bandwidth with Bluetooth, so the mirroring wasn't smooth.
I bet we see more vendors growing the linkage between smartphones and car AV. Seems like lots of folks hate their internal Navigation and want to use their phones anyway.
Getting a digital signal out of the phone won't really help, because you'd need to convert it to analog before presenting it to the dashboard display.
Yes, the dash display is digital, but the only standardized input on it is for analog video. That lets them use very cheap ordinary cameras and wiring. It's cheap enough to convert the analog signal to digital along the way.
I guarantee you it would be fuzzy with a phone output. Old iPhones are a rough equivalent of analog standard def in terms of pixel resolution. The retina models are much sharper and would never look right through a connection like this.
A better choice might just be gutting the stock display and mounting a modern display with an HDMI input. Then the phone thinks it is connected to an ordinary HDTV. The downside there is that even when you jailbreak the phone for continuous output, the orientation gets screwed up- some views (including the home screen) on the phone are only available in portrait mode, so they would appear rotated 90° on the dashboard. It would also create complications for the reverse camera.
A few people have gotten around all of that by permanently mounting a 7" tablet in the stereo area of the dash. I have even seen one that was literally glued to a thin sheet of foam, and the foam then glued directly to the face of the (disabled) existing stereo.
I'd love to set up some kind of a car computer in the dashboard. The last time I looked for parts and ideas I didn't see anything worthwhile, but maybe it is time to look again.
I've been thinking about getting the kit to convert the upper dash pocket into a double-din space, so that I would have 2 double-din mounts. I'd use the upper one for a display, and the lower one for a control panel. I haven't figured out what computer ought to be in the middle of all that.
Yes, the dash display is digital, but the only standardized input on it is for analog video. That lets them use very cheap ordinary cameras and wiring. It's cheap enough to convert the analog signal to digital along the way.
I guarantee you it would be fuzzy with a phone output. Old iPhones are a rough equivalent of analog standard def in terms of pixel resolution. The retina models are much sharper and would never look right through a connection like this.
A better choice might just be gutting the stock display and mounting a modern display with an HDMI input. Then the phone thinks it is connected to an ordinary HDTV. The downside there is that even when you jailbreak the phone for continuous output, the orientation gets screwed up- some views (including the home screen) on the phone are only available in portrait mode, so they would appear rotated 90° on the dashboard. It would also create complications for the reverse camera.
A few people have gotten around all of that by permanently mounting a 7" tablet in the stereo area of the dash. I have even seen one that was literally glued to a thin sheet of foam, and the foam then glued directly to the face of the (disabled) existing stereo.
I'd love to set up some kind of a car computer in the dashboard. The last time I looked for parts and ideas I didn't see anything worthwhile, but maybe it is time to look again.
I've been thinking about getting the kit to convert the upper dash pocket into a double-din space, so that I would have 2 double-din mounts. I'd use the upper one for a display, and the lower one for a control panel. I haven't figured out what computer ought to be in the middle of all that.
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