So I've been working on this for a while, and I got it figured out a little while ago. I have a video, although I'll make a better one very soon cause I get cut off at the end of this one.
I'll be very up front with everyone as this can be a little pricey, but what in this industry isn't pricey anymore. If you want the best you have to pay to have the best. I'm not talking iOS vs Droid so lets not get into that, and skip straight to the interesting stuff.
First things first; Scott, why did you decide to go with the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet instead of the almighty Apple Ipad 2 (aka Piddy Pad Deuce)?
Answer: Well it's the kind of guy I am. I'm technologically retarted, no offense to anyone metnally handicapped! I just don't get it, I'm not a computer guy, I think simplistic, and I think underdog! What does that mean exactly, underdog. Well I always root for the underdog, I always take and took the pass on the first pick in school, and I don't mind having the leftovers when it comes to dominoes. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?
Well it's simple. I just am not a "go with the grain type of guy"! I figure if i take what's not the best and make it really really good, doesn't have to be the best, then I'm happier with my accomplishments, than if I took what was already labeled as the best and ended up as the best. I don't make any progress. See now why it's not an Apple vs Droid thing!
So I chose the Samsung Galaxy Tablet because I wanted what noone else had. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE was putting in Ipads in their cars and while it was a sick concept, thanks Doug for being the first and best at this, I just didn't want what everyone else had! It's just who I am. So I started searching around and looking for installs with the Galaxy tablet in them, and couldn't find anything! Are they out there now, I'm sure they are. But let me say, I've copied NOONE out there! This has all been done by research on my own, and asking questions; cause of the retarted part of me and computers, and really doing my legwork and homework.
So without anymore jabbering from me, you know a bit more about me and why I chose this route. So lets get down to it.
System Needs and Goals:
Goal #1 - Sound Good:
So my first goal is to sound great. I am in my car about 3 - 4 hours a day, and I live and work in the same town, sad huh! If I'm in my car for that amount of time, I want to make sure by the time I get to my destination, work, school to pick up kids, home, whatever, that I don't have a headache from bad sounding loud music. This is not a competition car, but I want to sound the best I can.
Goal #2 - Keep The Kids Happy:
As I said before I have my kids which I have to normally drop off at school in the morning. Sometimes I pick them up, but either way they're in my car daily. They're 5 and 7 currently. They love movies! YAY! But in order to keep them stisfied sometimes, I have to have the ability to play movies in the car. I already have headrest screen cutouts so I really should replace them with more screens. Why not right?!?
Along with movies and video, I also need sound back there, cause they love music as well. So rear fill is a must.
Goal #3 - Convenience, Compatibility, Security, and Asthetics:
First up is convenience. I don't want to have 20 componenets in my car just to run a tablet and a couple of headrests. It's silly to put that much work into this and as well that much money. Space is an issue in my car, cause I drive a 2006 Honda Civic Ex and it's not the biggest car in the world. I also need to make sure that my tablet charges while it's in there so I don't have to take it out and charge it everynight.
Second is compatibility. I need to make sure all things will work with ease, which means the processor sound and functions/settings, volume knob, charging, screens operational on and off, and video signal to supply them. They all need to function from the front seat with ease, and have as few components as possible.
Third is security. While this is a great set up and idea, it also is going to attract attention. Now in my car I have tinted windows all the way around. That's great and all, but for added security I have an alarm as well. For even better security, this thing needs to be removable whenever I need to take it out. Now when I'm home, it's parked on the side of my house behind a locked gate and the alarm on. Not so worried about that, but I am when I'm out and about. "But why would you want to have to carry around the tablet with you everywhere"? Well the answer to that is, cause I want the best, and to have the best sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Now, I don't go out and about often enough to really worry about it. I'm usually either at home, or work. Either place I can take it out and have it with me not a problem. The rest is minor in inconvenience compared to loosing hundreds of dollars of a piece of equipment.
Lastly is asthetics. Now as I said, I'm not competing with this car. So I don't have to go overboard in finishing if I didn't want to. But I have to look at this everyday, and I take pride in my work, even though I'm not an installer I'm just a hobbyist, so therefore I want it show worthy even though it's not a show car.
So, those are my goals. Now lets get onto the good stuff.
I'll do this in a couple of different posts. Thanks for reading this beginning!
So I did two attempts with trying to get my goals met. The first one ended up with some good results with the exception of the fact that I needed video out and that DID NOT work. I'm not going to go through all that, but Ill skip to the second version and tie in the non monitor version.
Here we go.
Things needed:
Tablet - Samsung Galaxy 10.1
7" Multimedia Docking Station with HDMI output
10" Docking station
Mini HDMI to HDMI adaptor
HDMI Cable
Samsung Car Charger
Octava 1 x 2 HDMI Splitter and Distribution Amplifier
OPUS Point Of Load Module x 2 or a bigger one instead of multiple like the Mini Box M2-ATX-b
HDMI compatable head rest monitors x 2
The Dock Swap:
First you're going to take your docking stations and swap the cradles for them. The 7" dock has the HDMI port on it, and that's what we're looking for. So the cradels on these both, just snap off. Snap them off, and then swapt them for each other. The 10" cradle goes on the dock with the HDMI port now. Like so:
As you can see here one has the HDMI Port and the other doesn't.
Next you're gonna need your Mini HDMI to HDMI adaptor.
Now that I did that I took it to my nearest HDMI tv to make sure it would work. I can't seem to upload a video from Photobucket so I guess I'll have to skip this part, but trust me it works. But here's a little picture of it.
Now that we have the docks switched we can get to the actually install (or bench test in this case) procedure.
You're gonna need power. So let's get our battery hooked up. and a switch to act as our ignition switch (key on).
So now we have our power, and our ignition switch.
Now then lets get our OPUS Point Of Load module hooked up cause we need power to our converter. You're also going to need power to your car charger if you don't want it to be in your power point all the time, which I don't cause it's just unsightly.
Now I tried to do this with the usb cable for the tablet, but the tablet did not register it as a compatable cable when I cliped off the usb cable portion. So if someone knows about this I'm all ears. If we could get this to work, you'll only need an extra 30pin usb cable for this, but it has to be samsung compatable.
Here's before I put it in the dock, notice the battery is at 34%:
And then here it is docked. Notice the red thunderbolt through the battery:
Now according to this site: Pinouts.ru/slots/USB_pinout.shtml these are the wire colors and codes. Not sure but I think if I take the two center wires (2 and 3 Data - and Data + white and green) and splice them, it should work. I just haven't tried it yet. So if anyone can confirm this, I'd appreciate it. Then we can change this up.
Moving on. Next we're going to hook up the Octava 1 x 2 Splitter Distribution Amplifier. Here I have my wires hooked up. I have the optical out, the analog out, the HDMI in. I did not have the HDMI out because I don't have those screens yet. You can see the dock in the upper left of the screen. It has the HDMI out, and that goes to the converter.
Now, again, I have this particular one, because I have headrest monitors. The NON MONITOR set up, is the same thing, but it's using this converter instead, which is a single HDMI out but everything else is the same. You can see the difference.
Now then next you're going to cut off the end of your power adaptor, the part that plugs into the wall only. Cut it about 4" from the plug in case you can't do this and you want to just get a plug in converter instead. Then you're going to check your pos and neg. The pos is usually the inside if I remember correctly. The neg is the outside. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong guys, I want this to be correct. I had this plugged into the wall when I did this test! The center showed, as you can see, 5.17v.
When it was hooked up to the POL, I got this reading.
Now then, we've got it all hooked up, now we need to get teh amp and processor installed, which you see here in the background, but that was the old test that failed. Here are pictures of the new test.
My make up speaker box with the Bit One DRC
Lots of wires. Including the USB cable to the computer for adjustments.
Ignition switch
Signal in from the converter
Signal out to the amp
Tablet, Dock
Power
Success! Well sort of. Let me figure out how to post a video and I'll get that up. It'll clear alot of this up.
I hope this helps some folks on how to get this to a car. I know it's kind of disorginized, but it's the best I can do for now. When I get some time, I'll get this cleaned up and more understandable. Get the bugs worked out and get it working for real. Until then if you have any questions, please ask and I'll see what I can do to help. Good luck!
