Is This Possible?

[xkRoWx]

Instead of spending hundreds (up to a thousand) of dollars building myself a media computer to play music with, I've thought about making a DIY source device. My criteria is to have the smallest profile possible, without hooking this device to any monitors/TV, remote controlled, and reads off a rather large capacity hard drive that holds all of my music.

So, after giving some thoughts, I've came up with an idea. Buy a car deck player with USB input, solder the power cord on there, and connect an external harddrive to the deck.

Is this possible? Or is there another option (or media player) that I am not aware of?

 

[apatN]

I know there are external HDDs that you can connect to your TV or something like that. If such a thing would have digital-out... Would be perfect.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xkRoWx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Instead of spending hundreds (up to a thousand) of dollars building myself a media computer to play music with, I've thought about making a DIY source device. My criteria is to have the smallest profile possible, without hooking this device to any monitors/TV, remote controlled, and reads off a rather large capacity hard drive that holds all of my music. So, after giving some thoughts, I've came up with an idea. Buy a car deck player with USB input, solder the power cord on there, and connect an external harddrive to the deck. Is this possible? Or is there another option (or media player) that I am not aware of?

Yes, but not quite as you describe. You can't just solder a power cord onto a car deck. Car decks run off the 12V DC power in your car. You'll have to find a suitable 12V supply for the setup. But other than that, there's no reason you can't do this.

There are a couple of other solutions, too. You can use an Apple Airport to feed a signal to a DAC/amp and control it through your computer or laptop. You can also hide away the computer in a closet or garage and connect something like a Squeezebox to it.

 

[malldian]

Large capacity DAP with a lineout?

 

[-=Germania=-]

You want these:

3.5" USB 2.0 Multimedia External SATA HDD Player w/Card Reader - Store & Play Videos, Music or Photos Anywhere! DVR300S

3.5" USB 2.0 Multimedia External SATA HDD Player w/1.5" LCD - Store & Play Videos, Music or Photos Anywhere! PM318S


DONE!

If you want to stream content to a TV from the HDD's in your house, get this and install Wizd - many file formats to choose from.

Buffallo LinkTheater

Have one and it is GREAT

 

[Aleatoris]

Check this one out:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/my...-added-326831/

 

[BauhausBold]

you can build a decent media computer for under $500

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

 

[xkRoWx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by malldian /img/forum/go_quote.gif Large capacity DAP with a lineout?

Yes. Cheapest option I've came up with is the car deck connected to and external HDD.

Never knew about the multimedia enclosures, they're what I need, but just don't float my boat too well. I think a modded car deck would look badass.

Mainly because of the LCD screen display.

 

[malldian]

I was actually suggesting getting a DAP.

 

[Zenja]

A car deck would kind of be a poor choice IMO. I recently bought a netbook (Asus 1000HE) and it should make a fine replacement music source for the dead CD player in my car. Preliminary testing from the headphone jack with my MS-1 headphones sounds great. Netbooks are hardly more expensive than a car deck and infinitely more versatile.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenja /img/forum/go_quote.gif A car deck would kind of be a poor choice IMO. I recently bought a netbook (Asus 1000HE) and it should make a fine replacement music source for the dead CD player in my car. Preliminary testing from the headphone jack with my MS-1 headphones sounds great. Netbooks are hardly more expensive than a car deck and infinitely more versatile.

Yeah, this was one of the more pleasant surprises on my Asus 1000H (no E). The onboard audio sounds great compared to my previous onboard experiences! My Prelude is better, but not by that large of a margin.

 

[iriverdude]

Squeezebox V3 disassambled, VFD controller and gubbins fitted into a custom built case. A cut down PC. A crossover cable from SB to motherboard should work? set static IP address on the computer.

Those media boxes linked above seem ok but no screen/screen not big enough you need to buy a small LCD monitor (composite) to see what you're doing.

 

[xkRoWx]

But I don't want any displays!

Maybe just small enough to display titles. I need to have this device hooked up to an amp and headphones/speakers, the last thing I want is to have more wires and cords cluttering my desk.

I don't want netbooks either. I already have a laptop. Netbooks involves me flipping the LCD open, turn on the machine and wait a great deal of time to boot and launch iTunes. A car deck, in the other hand, just powers on and read the external. Less than 10 seconds of wait time. Don't forget its less hassle too.

 

[olblueyez]

WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

PLUS

Newegg.com - Electronics,Home Video,Portable DVD Player,

 

[iriverdude]

If you don't have a display how do you control it? By mind control? for example here you can see details. When navigating you can see what you're doing, it only displays one line which is a bit annoying.