Techno buffs...

gtvlusso

Hive Mind required

New car looming; new car does not have a fitted TV system like the old car (we had freeview, blu-ray and DVD in the old car)

So, my thoughts are either:

Fit a head unit DVD player and fit headrest TV for junior - expensive, can get nicked

Buy a decent tablet PC and junior can watch movies on it - kinda useful for us too and portable for other long haul situations.

Any one any ideas on Tablets that I can store movies on? Any ideas on how I store movies on the thing in the first place?!?!?!

EKE_38BPM

Sing-a-long songs e.g. The wheels on the bus go round and round.
Games e.g Eye spy
Books e.g. The His Dark Materials trilogy
Music e.g. This

All depends on age.

rick_chasey

TV in a car?

WTF?

walkingbootweather

Could you fit some sort of camera on the front of the car, then patch the signal through to the tv to make it seem like a car window?

edit. You might even consider fitting some sort or recording device so you could re-live those hilarious SMIDSY moments.

Torvid

how about a wireless HD in boot to store the movies and TV on if you go down the tablet route?

muzmoz

I recently bought my wife an Asus Transformer. You can pick them up at a reasonable price (ebay) if that's your thing and they come with a variety of SD cards and storage space choices. You can put a keyboard on it, which is brilliant and turns it into a laptop.

To put movies on it, you can drag and drop the files. If it's a DVD, you'll have to rip it to a PC or laptop first and then drag and drop it.

ipads are also great!

gtvlusso

Just at the turbo charged 2.5 years old age - sitting in a car to go anywhere or even get junior into the car can be somewhat frustrating - she is a livewire.

Day in and day out, we don't use the car much - so, when she is in there it is usually for a long haul journey. She will listen to the radio and insist on 'Shark' - which happens to be the 'Faith No More' Greatest Hits album....not exactly light listening for the road. She has a table and toys, but this only lasts for a period of time before agitation ensues.....

On longer journeys or in traffic the TV has given us an extra hour before things kick off......And, TBH I am not a fast driver, so, any journey is probably longer!

I kinda want a tablet too, so, I am justifying it this way.....using the kids!

t4tomo

dell do a 10" lap top that the screen can either be on top like a tablet or flipped up like a laptop to reveal a proper keyboard. Its more of a laptop than tablet, but might fit the bill. failing that I have heard of some device called an ipad that you can watch movies on

rubertoe

Rick Chasey wrote:

TV in a car?

WTF?

Wants to be a DS innit.

SimonAH

I use an old laptop to keep the nipper involved on long car journeys. Got about fifty movies stored on it.

bails87

Some kind of tablet would probably be best. I'm sure there'll be a way of fixing it to the back of the headrest.. iPad, Galaxy Tab etc.

rick_chasey

rubertoe wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

TV in a car?

WTF?

Wants to be a DS innit.

Ah.

Well played .

dhope

If it's for the kids get something cheap
http://www.misco.co.uk/product/OB188876 ... -CLEARANCE

If it's for you then Asus Transformer or iPad probably. Or wait for the Microsoft Surface.

marz

A tablet works for us. I have a BB Playbook with movies, games and some educational software. I can hand that to my daughter when we're driving and she's not bored on long journeys.

The other day she used the integral camera to shoot some video, edited it with the included software and made a short movie of our 3 hour journey. All while getting from A to B.

Don't forget a usb adapter to keep the tablet charged.

Tricycleboy

does this not make kids insanely car sick?

You may want a wipe-clean vomit-proof tablet.

CiB

We've had a budget in-car DVD player that came with 2 screens (Argos sale, about £50) and that's served its purpose well, for a good few years. Now that they both bury themselves in MP3 players & his smart phone it sees less use than it did. Quick & easy to install and to take out to hide in the boot, fits in a bag the size of a handbag (roughly) and cheap enough not to bother about too much if it gets broken or nicked. Picture quality is just OK but they don't seem fazed by that. The main unit sits on the back seat so they can swap discs themselves without having to bother us up front too. I've found it pays to check which films they've packed though, now they're a bit older. H/phones & rear-facing screens stop us knowing what they've slipped in to replace Johny English or whatever.

gtvlusso

Torvid wrote:

how about a wireless HD in boot to store the movies and TV on if you go down the tablet route?

Hmm - I like:

So, USB HD to wifi router - link nexus 7 (or whatever) to wifi and draw content?

Any ideas on 12 volt environment - parts?

tgotb

CiB wrote:

We've had a budget in-car DVD player that came with 2 screens (Argos sale, about £50) and that's served its purpose well, for a good few years. Now that they both bury themselves in MP3 players & his smart phone it sees less use than it did. Quick & easy to install and to take out to hide in the boot, fits in a bag the size of a handbag (roughly) and cheap enough not to bother about too much if it gets broken or nicked. Picture quality is just OK but they don't seem fazed by that. The main unit sits on the back seat so they can swap discs themselves without having to bother us up front too. I've found it pays to check which films they've packed though, now they're a bit older. H/phones & rear-facing screens stop us knowing what they've slipped in to replace Johny English or whatever.

We've done exactly this, and it's great. Only comes out for longer journeys (>3 hours, say), so it has novelty value every time. Supplemented with a DS each (which they also have for short journeys), has kept 4/5/6 and 10/11/12 year olds entertained for multiple trips to the Alps; the biggest problem is normally that they arrive tired because they're too busy watching TV to sleep.

Whatever you do, don't forget to pack the headphones. Listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks followed by an Ice Age omnibus turned our annual drive to Cornwall into a very long drive indeed for those of us up front...

If you go the tablet route, I've found DVD Catalyst to be brilliant for ripping DVDs into suitable formats for many different devices.

Edit: Do the I Spy books still exist? For some unfathomable reason "I Spy Numberplates" kept me happy for many hours as a child...

Torvid

you can get car lighter to USB power adaptors so powering them shouldn't be an issue you might need to check out a few car stereo forums but even a Y cable from the lighter to power both would work I think. I linked a HD up to my ipod compatible head set that way.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Refurb'd ipad through the Apple Store would be my first port of call. Easy for kids to use (you do not want to have to keep leaning into the back of the car to sort out techno-glitches), long battery life, easy to put movies on and very usable around the house.

wgwarburton

Hi,

Audio Books!

... CDs from the library or mp3 style players or use audible. Books to suit age, obviously, Harry Potter and Michael Morpurgo have kept us happy on many a long journey.

Avoids car-sickness, too, and everyone can be involved, including the driver.

Cheers,
W.

CiB

TGOTB wrote:

Whatever you do, don't forget to pack the headphones. Listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks followed by an Ice Age omnibus turned our annual drive to Cornwall into a very long drive indeed for those of us up front.

Equally, three hours of the pair of em laughing like drains in isolation becomes a bit annoying after a while. You're right though - better with than w/out.

tgotb

Greg66 wrote:

Refurb'd ipad through the Apple Store would be my first port of call. Easy for kids to use (you do not want to have to keep leaning into the back of the car to sort out techno-glitches), long battery life, easy to put movies on and very usable around the house.

That's the short-term view. Better to give them Android tablets; you might have to give a bit of tech support on the first couple of trips, but after that they'll not only be self-sufficient, they'll also be able to sort out all your Android/Linux problems for you.

gtvlusso

WGWarburton wrote:

Hi,

Audio Books!

... CDs from the library or mp3 style players or use audible. Books to suit age, obviously, Harry Potter and Michael Morpurgo have kept us happy on many a long journey.

Avoids car-sickness, too, and everyone can be involved, including the driver.

Cheers,
W.

We do this, more so than TV - but sometimes TV just calms.....

BigLights

we also have a 2.5 year old. We have a cheapo portable DVD player that fits on the back of the headset. But the real winner is the iPad - get yourself a headrest case for it and hey presto you're in business - nice big screen, plenty of storage for cartoons etc, no need for DVDs. She uses my iPhone for games.

meanredspider

iPad - definitely. There are headrest holders (I have one). The battery lasts around 10 hours so charging isn't necessarily an issue - though adaptors are 10-a-penny. You can easily rip DVDs (Handbrake is a great software tool) - a friend does exactly this for her 2 year old for trips to Inverness to the Central Belt - "In the Night Garden" etc etc. Works perfectly.

Audiobooks are great but there don't tend to be that many for 2 year olds that last long enough to be useful. Harry Potter is absolutely fan-bloody-tastic for older kids - Stephen Fry reads it just brilliantly.

There - job done (iPads are brilliant too and a refurb iPad 2 isn't too costly)

CiB

The latest version of the iPlayer allows iPads to d/l content for viewing offline so is a good option for taking a few catch-up progs with you. Limitations are that you must watch within 30 days and once you start, 7 days before it deletes content.

mudcow007

i had a micro pc (in the glovebox), with a motorized touch screen in my dash in my old astra

it was cool, screen was pants though as you couldn't see it when the sun shone directly onto it

it was pretty easy to build etc it had a 3g connection an everything

i could fill the hdd with as much choons an movies as i could download

clarkey cat

I've been thinking of recycling my old PSP into a cartoon box for my lad for the car - you can get cheap UMB disks on amazon.

gtvlusso

Okay - I was thinking this:

Google Nexus 7

Seagate goflex 500gb portable storage NAS (WiFi)

Use Seagate to store content and stream to the Google for junior.

When it is just one of us in the car use the bluetooth to stream music to the car radio or use the inbuilt GPS in the Nexus for Sat Nav or bluetooth the phone to the radio.

Hmmm?!?

mudcow007

i had issues using a hard drive in my car, occasionally the os would become corrupt, i put this down to the hdd moving around in the car within the case of the pc

i believe a 2.5" hdd is better suited to shaky conditions, or even better-er a ssd