The Element's stereo system is great, but the lack of any sort of CD changer was annoying (had one in the last car, and got used to it). Portable MP3 players were intriguing, but frustrating as well: a flash-based player wouldn't hold very much, so that meant a hard-disk player would be mandatory, and since I live in Vegas, if I forget to take it out of the car once it'd be melted.

So, I looked into the CD changer again. 8 discs, for $900. No thanks.

Eventually I stumbled upon what I think is the ultimate solution: the Cyberhome CH-DVD 300/S. It's a home DVD player, but it can play MP3's off of a DVD! Most DVD players will play MP3's only off a CD, limiting you to 650 megabytes of storage, but this player will play MP3's off of DVD material, so you can get 4.7gb of storage! And, the best part is, you can use DVD-RW material so you can rewrite and update the disc at any time, at no additional cost!

Bought it at Radio Shack for $29 after rebate. It's tiny for a home unit, not too very much bigger than a portable CD player. Fits great mounted under the glove box. I used some metal strips from Home Depot to fashion a cage for it to sit in, wrapped it in spongy foam material to insulate it a little from road shocks, and then fastened the cage to the underside of the dash using "plumber's tape" (which is not tape at all, it's a flexible roll of metal with holes cut in it). Used a small plug-in 75w inverter to power it, and plugged the audio into the AUX jack. I have a widescreen TFT monitor I bought from China for viewing (it included a rear-view camera, which is why I got it) for $178.

So, now, for approximately $210, you can have the ultimate in-car entertainment system. Plays DVD's, SVCD's, VCD's, CD's, JPG's and MP3's on a widescreen 16:9 LCD monitor, pumping audio through the 270W EX audio system! You use a computer's DVD burner to make the DVD-RW disc. It can fit over 1,000 songs at 160kbps, if you dropped down to 128kbps it could obviously fit a lot more. And because it uses rewriteable DVD-RW's, you only ever have to buy one DVD-RW disc and re-use it as many times as you want.

With the CD changer, you'd have 8 discs loaded at once. With this MP3/DVD solution, you can have all the "good stuff" from 150 CD's loaded at all times. And watch DVD's in your own private theater if you're stuck waiting for someone, etc.

Sounds like a great setup! How about some pictures of the parts involved and the mounting?!

Which TFT monitor/camera combo did you get?

-brendan

So it powers up when you start the car but do you have to climb under the dash and press the play button? Also do us all a favor and dont try changing DVDs while driving!

How cool is that?! At about 9" x 2” x 9", it is certainly small enough to inspire some creative mounting solutions. And BriBoy01, it has a remote! For those wanting more info on Barry's find, click dis:

Cyberhome CH-DVD 300/S DVD Player (http://www.cyberhome.com/products.asp?Product=300)

And that got me a-wondering... If you wanted to simplify things a bit, why not go with one of those portable DVD players with the little 6-7" screens? That way, you don't have to buy and rig up the separate screen and it'll run off of rechargable batteries if need be. Like perhaps dis:

Cyberhome CH-LDV 712 Portable DVD Player (http://www.cyberhome.com/products.asp?Product=712)

Now if there was just some way to invert the display on something like that you might be able to suspend it undernearth the overheard cubby with some indutrial velcro or some such...

I noticed that the Target ad that came with today's newspaper features a Cyberhome CH-LDV 700B portable DVD player with a 7" screen, remote, and carrying bag for $198. The specs say it'll play DVD, VCD, SVCD, CD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, MP3, & JPG.

The only downside to this idea is being able to create playlists, group by albums, genres, artists and what not. You can basically play straight through or have random play. You'd have to spend some effort to program something in if that's even possible. I like the possibility if you're using it as a DVD player and would like to play MP3's on the side, but as a standalone, I'll stick with my Karma.

I'll get some pix up soon, as soon as it stops raining.

As for using a portable DVD player, I looked into that, but I couldn't find any that could play MP3's off DVD material. And that was my main goal -- having my entire CD collection loaded at once (at least, the good stuff off the CD's!)

And, Briboy, for powering it on, yes, I use the remote. And I never change DVD's while driving or at any other time, really, because the darn thing holds 1000+ songs. If I'm stuck outside my kid's school waiting to pick her up, I might pop in a video DVD, but other than that this one DVD-RW with MP3's on it stays in 100% of the time.

As for play lists, yeah, that's something that obviously the iPod or some other dedicated unit will do better. This player can play files back from folders, in shuffle, sequential, or random play, so if you want to make playlists you can set 'em up in advance and burn the DVD that way. More effort, but hey, the thing plays movies too, IN PROGRESSIVE SCAN EVEN, and it was only $29! :D

As far as the screen/camera, the system I got was this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2463388047&category=38650
It's the KC-701T. I ordered it direct from the manufacturer in China, but now it looks like there are guys selling 'em on ebay so maybe that's an easier/cheaper way to get it.

I'm not overly thrilled with the screen, because it's a combination rear-view-mirror and LCD screen. The LCD is invisible when it's turned off, so the thing acts like a regular rear-view mirror (although it is much wider and lets you see a lot more than the stock mirror). But when you turn it on it becomes a large 7" 16:9 widescreen LCD. Only problem is, it's not the brightest, because it has to play through a mirror -- and the mirror's not the brightest, because it's like half-silver or something, to allow for the LCD to show through.

I got it because it came with a rear-view camera, and the combination of widescreen TFT LCD, two video inputs (one for camera, one for DVD) and a rear-view camera seemed irresistible for $200. But, the camera is seriously not very good, it's very narrow-angle (maybe 70 degrees, you need something like 138 degrees for a good rear-view camera) and it has lame night performance. And in the daytime, it's not too good, because the LCD washes out so even though the camera has enough light, the monitor doesn't show a good strong picture. if I had it to do over again I'd probably get a different, dedicated LCD screen, and a better camera (like the Accele). I didn't even permanently mount the camera, my tests were disappointing so I didn't even bother.

But, for rear view, see my other thread in Interior, that $9 fresnel lens rocks!

Pics:
This is the passenger side area, with the CyberHome DVD player mounted below the glove box. (normally those cords are under the floor mat...)
http://66.78.26.9/~fiercely/DVD-001.JPG



Close-up of the DVD player in its little cradle. I could have done a much better job of mounting it, but hey, I didn't know what I was doing! Used too much of the spongy foam stuff, so I guess I could go back in and cut that excess off, which would make a cleaner presentation. On a side note, it's never skipped, so the foam stuff must be doing its job.
http://66.78.26.9/~fiercely/Dvd-002.jpg



Underside showing the home-brew mounting rack. The metal that makes the square "cage" was just some flat thin aluminum I found at Lowe's, which had holes drilled in it, so I bent it into a cage shape and used nuts & bolts to hold it all together. Then I wrapped the foam stuff into a tight roll, then wedged the DVD player into the "cage". Then, I used "plumber's tape" (which is that thin strip of metal with holes in it) and just strung it from any screws I could find under the glove box. I think I used three screws for mounting points. The thing is in there nice and solid, even if the mounting job isn't very pretty!
http://66.78.26.9/~fiercely/Dvd-003.jpg



This is the inverter I used. Got a 2-pack of 'em off ebay for cheap, and I figured that I had two power outlets, so why not? Only 75 watts, but there's no internal cooling fan so they're silent. I have a 350-watt inverter but it has a fan, and that was quite annoying. These little inverters are totally silent.
http://66.78.26.9/~fiercely/Dvd-004.jpg



Finally, this is the rear-view-mirror/LCD screen, showing the player in action. The LCD clips on the rear-view mirror and is, in and of itself, an oversized rear-view mirror, but when you power on the LCD, the display shows up in the middle of the mirror.
http://66.78.26.9/~fiercely/Dvd-005.jpg

pretty sweet. It's a shame there isn't a nice big center console you could mount the DVD player and a small two socket inverter into. Then just run the wire under the urethane floor to the fuse box. Would clean up your install a bit. Maybe all in due time as the aftermarket catches up with the E.

It'd be nice to see a head unit that just fits the E's stereo area with a full lcd screen, maybe even a touch screen. Could have inputs for your dvd player. Built in nav system. Would definitely take the E upscale.

Kenwood is coming out with a double din touchscreen head unit to give an oem looking nav/video system. I do not know the release date though.

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productTypeId=37&sortBy=price&productId=2557

I just bookmarked that page. Very sweet. Definitely will be on my list for Santa this Christmas.