Attention E46 owners..

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 18:55

Would love to see details of these installs...

Ricochet J · 31 Mar 2010 at 18:56

Someone posted a video of one in an E46 some pages back.

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 18:56

No I mean the car PC installs being talked about at the moment

big_ray_t · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:00

I made my own bezel as the prices online are crazy. This was one attemp half way through the process. I ended up changing it so that the left/right edges sloped in towards to meet the screen. This was the only part that could be seen. The rest of the pc was housed in a custom box i made to fit behind the carpet where the bluetooth ulf and cd changer go. Could not be seen with the boot open.

paradigm · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:01

And that looks godawful, congratulations.

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:02

Oh god, my eyes

IMO, dashes should have as many buttons as humanly possible

[TW]Fox · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:02

big_ray_t said:

Thanks for illustrating our point :eek:

Thats terrible

Fr0dders · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:03

surround looks gash

Sticks out like a sore thumb

Gaygle · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:08

That looks horrible and would never have something that looked like that in my car.

Wicksta · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:08

lol, bad pic to use. How come you haven't taken a picture of the new look bezel? I doubt it will look much better though, even the bezels that cost £200 look weird, almost as if something is missing on the huge lumps of plastic either side of the screen. Maybe some buttons would help.

Fr0dders · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:10

i dont think any aftermarket bezel is going to 100 % match the dash. And thats the problem.

paradigm · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:10

How anyone can complain about a few buttons around the screen, then use that abomination is beyond me. I'll stick with mine ta:

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:11

^ infinitely better, I'd have that over the device in the OP and the nasty carputer

Wicksta · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:13

You can actually connect up the OEM monitor to a carPC (using either a tv tuner or an expensive video converter) and use an ibus to serial/USB adapter to get the knobs and buttons working, although I don't think the time and effort is worth it really. It would look 100 times better than that aftermarket screen though.

big_ray_t · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:15

lol. I still stick with my opinion that a carpc gives much more possiblities than anything OEM.

I'll have a look to see if I have any photos of it completed. I have actually just finished taking it all out of my car ready for the next project. Now I want you guys to form an orderly queue. There is plenty of kit for sale. Dont all shout at once, but who wants the bezel

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:17

More possibilities, yes, nobody doubted that - but who really wants to start their car from their phone and open the windows with the stereo? I have a key and some switches on the door for that.

I want my stereo to sound good and work quickly, simply and well - that's where the car pc ideas all fall down

paradigm · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:19

iaind said:
More possibilities, yes, nobody doubted that - but who really wants to start their car from their phone and open the windows with the stereo? I have a key and some switches on the door for that.

I want my stereo to sound good and work quickly, simply and well - that's where the car pc ideas all fall down

Pretty much sums it up.

The OEM kit does everything you would ever want. Carputers do more, that you don't need, but ruin the look and feel of the system in the process.

big_ray_t · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:23

iaind said:
More possibilities, yes, nobody doubted that - but who really wants to start their car from their phone and open the windows with the stereo? I have a key and some switches on the door for that.

I want my stereo to sound good and work quickly, simply and well - that's where the car pc ideas all fall down

People who like things different from the mundane norm. People who like to push things and try different things. To prove that things can be done.

I like things to sound nice also, thats why replcaing the standard BM system is a must. The sound quality it ships with is ****, you cant deny that. Even the HK (which I thought would be better) is poor quality.

Fully star out swear words!

iaind · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:25

paradigm said:
Pretty much sums it up.

The OEM kit does everything you would ever want. Carputers do more, that you don't need, but ruin the look and feel of the system in the process.

Even the most basic of integrations can cause problems IMO. In my old Mondeo, I used a stalk adaptor for the steering controls on my Alpine head unit. It worked, but was slow to respond and didnt "feel" right - like the volume control only changed it by a tiny notch so took ages to make an adjustment.

Doing a car pc is like that x 1000

paradigm · 31 Mar 2010 at 19:29

big_ray_t said:
People who like things different from the mundane norm. People who like to push things and try different things. To prove that things can be done.

I like things to sound nice also, thats why replcaing the standard BM system is a must. The sound quality it ships with is ****, you cant deny that. Even the HK (which I thought would be better) is poor quality.

"Push" things? What things? Why do I need any of that junk? I could prove that it is possible to rape someone and get away with it, doesn't mean it should be done.

As for the sound quality, ever heard of an amp and speakers? The issue isn't the BMW headunit as a sound source.