Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ceejames]

Have only been experimenting with the program for a couple of days now, part of my research for a purchase I plan to make in the near future of a Fujitsu P1510 tablet PC I plan on putting in my car.

Combined with a car mount, ac converter, FM transmitter I hope to make it a multimedia box while it is in the car....

The other thing I plan on using it for is playing all my media content either through the tablet or controlling the main pc utilizing the Maxvista program which has a nice mirror feature...can be in the den, and change tracks, que up video....hate to say it, like a very big remote...lol.

So.. Theater view is critical, simple one touch operation, ease of use playing media (is there a way to save a playlist with a specific visualization..., or a way to playlist videos by themselves, or a way to create a playlist tied to a slide show....

Adding predefined buttons to the various media windows of the Theater view that could I guess macro these would be a possiblity, but I am the ultimate end user, couldn't program my way out of  a vcr manual.

Right click options maybe replaced with a quick double tap?

Example I seem to have created some default playlists by clicking on various media, most with pictures, click on the pictures, get play option, displays the picture, starts the mp3, but no way to on screen either start or autostart with playlist the slide show with say the Pan feature turned on.....will have to experiment more.....

Still have noticed in Theater view when I exit playlist for expample and go back to the main screen the playlist music still plays, I assume that is great for background, and it will play till the next thing is selected, but it would be nice to have a stop function, or End/Home button...

Again the more I use the program, the more sure it will do most if not all that I want but part of the fun is learning, questioning, and I would hate to give up and it has just what I am looking for...

Finally is anyone else using the program similiar to my intent noted above.

[ceejames]

Replying to my own post, but just wanted to point out that it does seem to save the chosen visualization with the song playlist, but seems to be a bug in full screen...starts to play, has a black screen, go to window mode and visualization starts, full screen and it stays...very odd.....

Also one of the car only programs had one unique feature really liked it in that based on the time it would dim the screen...so at night you would not be dazzeled by an overly bright LCD screen...very nice feature, like to see it as an toggle option...

[Alex B]

Mastiff from this forum has explained his Media Center based carputer here: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=20870

Here he explains his Media Center based multi-zoned home audio setup: http://home.powertech.no/mastiff/multizone.htm

Hopefully Mastiff will notice this thread. I think he would be able to give you some tips.

[jgreen]

cj--
Welcome.  I read your earlier post re/trying MC out for the first time, and in many ways your first impressions echo mine.  Ultimately I found MC to be crucial to navigating a fairly sizable media DB, and now I don't know how I ever got along without it.  But I also found that early navigation was something of a learning curve.

As for your car plans, it sounds really cool, and I can't wait to hear how it goes.  There are several threads in the peripherals forum regarding setting up ipods for car use, and user reviews of the Alpine and Kenwood screen nav systems for ipod.  (Short answer:  They're a bit slow).

For your tablet scheme, I think the hassle factor is going to be greater than you expect.  Specifically, it's a lot of stuff to lug around, and you're likely going to end up choosing from a list of m3u playlists, when you pick music while driving.  For this reason, I'll make a brief attempt to steer you to the ipod, which is the handy size and shape of a remote, and less likey to drive you off the road.

Whichever system you use, I would not recommend the FM transmitter.  It will not transmit anywhere near the quality of even low-bitrate mp3's, providing that you have clear reception.  But often the reception will be overwhelmed by really aggravating noise, and you will learn to dread the approach of large trucks and their radios. 

You are much better off looking for an available aux input to your car stereo, and stringing a minijack cable.  I went ahead and bought a new stereo head unit that has such an input on the face plate.  It then becomes a simple thing to hook the cable up, which otherwise can be kept out of the way.

Good luck setting you system up, and let us know how it goes. 

[Mr ChriZ]

You have to think it's all very desirable to thiefs also 
Needs to be very detachable what ever you do.

[ceejames]

Thanks for the respones will look at the links above (have no idea what Zones are in Media Center speak), something else to learn.

Also like the advice about getting a jack into the stereo system rather than the FM transmitter, what would be best is a radio/cd player that would function as a drive for the tablet...sigh

Currently looking at the Fujitsu P1510 (not much bigger than a standard DVD case, swivel TabletPC) and the DualCor cPC (a pocketpc 5 unit combined with a TabletPC hoping it is half as good as the hype) one available now the other in March, so I am in no great hurry but I am thinking about both of these on a mount so it can be easily removed and taken with me, have no intention of ever leaving it in the car, just want all my critical media with me as much as possible.