[Guest]

Anybody know if there is a way to convert the display into a DVD player? If you could modify that to play DVD's and flip back to the normal display that would be awesome!

 

[jaak]

There is a way to convert the NAV display as it's RGB in. You'd have to tap into it with something that will output RGB in the right format.

On the non-Nav, no way....

 

[Enforcer]

This was a hot topic on the 350Z forums. Bottom line was custom cables and a separate DVD player.

What I'm wondering is...can you take the serial input to the base screen and convert it into video?

 

[jaak]

While nothing's impossible, in reality for all practical purposes, no.

You could stuff the display in a box with a camera and hide it in the dash somewhere. Then you'd have video you could mix in on a replacement video display. Very low tech, but the alternative is designing a whole display interface...

 

[Enforcer]

Well...how is the serial converted for the NAV equipped display units?

 

[jaak]

I seem to remember the Nav unit produces the video output. The non-nav display has a board on the back that tells the display what segments have to illuminate.

It looks sort of like this... (My apologies, I had a beer at the time and it looked in focus... )

 

[Enforcer]

jaak, look in the SM on page AV-143 and AV-148. It shows a Display Control Unit with bus and rgb inputs.

Drink another beer first, it helps!

 

[generator]

does anyone have the DVD entertainment package offered by Nissan. I have only seen pictures of it. The dealers no nothing about it because they dont move many. My question is.....Where do you put the movie (disk) to be played? Does it go in the Bose headunit and feed to the LCD in the back, or does it have its own reader mounted somewhere else? One salesperson told me I could watch DVD's on the nav screen (don't worry I knew he was ignorant) but if the Bose unit is capable of feeding RGB to a screen mounted in the back why cant it just be routed back to the screen in the front thru a custom switch?

 

[Enforcer]

I haven't seen one but I can make some guesses.

A movie DVD won't go into the Bose HU or the NAV DVD if equipped. It will have it's own DVD player and LCD. Check out the Nissan accessory book on the knowledge base page.

The rgb doesn't go into the Bose HU, it goes into a Display Control Unit that comes with the DVD NAV. But yes, in essence, you can put in a custom switch. This is what people have done with the Z. But they still had to add a second DVD player.

And what I am thinking is, since I don't have the NAV in the MO, I could buy the color LCD and the DCU, mount a DVD player and have the ability to watch DVDs and all the standard MO stuff. Or better yet, put in an aftermarket DVD player/DVD NAV unit.

The audio from the DVD player has to go into the head unit. But I'm not sure how to do this...

 

[jaak]

jaak, look in the SM on page AV-143 and AV-148. It shows a Display Control Unit with bus and rgb inputs.

Drink another beer first, it helps!

Don't have it handy, but I would expect that's for the Nav equipped system. There is no RGB on non-Nav.

 

[generator]

Looked up AV 143 and AV 148 and sure enough RGB is there along with SYNC. Does anyone have a link to an actual "Z" modification. I would like to see how they implemented their switch. Did they use a regular multi posiction switch or did they develop a solid state switch? Just want to do some friendly leeching.. =)

 

[Enforcer]

I don't but you can do a search at My350Z.com. Might not hurt to search google too.

 

[generator]

my350z.com is down for some reason. Anyway I was searching for a way to make my own and I found this comapny called Maxim (maxim-ic.com) that makes some cool solid state switches. If I can get enough courage to take my lovely Murano apart I will try to develop a nice solid state switch. Any one out there ever work on this kind of circuit? It seems pretty straight forward but I am concerned with supporting circuity to control noise, etc. There was one guy on the net who made an RGB switch from reed relays. I suppose it works but if we have a solid state solution I think it would be better.

 

[Enforcer]

Found it, it's not cheap... Give my350z.com a while to load, it's really slow.

Links:

http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9805&highlight=Navtv

http://www.geocities.com/wonderer369/G35Nav.html

http://www.video-nav.com/index.html

 

[generator]

Thanks for the info...Some good stuff here. I have a little food for thought. Someone posted photos of what the Nisaan DVD System looks like but nowhere did it show where the disk is inserted. It seems to me that the Nissan DVD system should somehow play its audio thru the Bose HU. I cannot imagine that they would use FM modulators to do this. Imagine Nissan telling me to tune to 88.1 FM to hear their DVD system. If the audio plays thru the existing speakers then how does it get there? I hope they do not pump the audio thru some little external speaker! While I like the idea of mapping the RGB signal of a DVD player to my NAV screen I dislike that I have to use inferior technology like FM modulators to broadcast the audio signal. Looking at some photos of the back of the head unit one can only imagine that there can be integration between an external dvd's audio outputs and the Bose HU.

 

[Enforcer]

Don't have it handy, but I would expect that's for the Nav equipped system. There is no RGB on non-Nav.

I know, but here's the hair-brained idea. Buy the stock NAV LCD and the DCU then buy an NTSC to RGB converter and a standard NTSC DVD player. Put the player where the DVD NAV player would go. This way, it looks stock, allows you to play movie DVD's, and you get the basic MO functions like trip and temp etc.

Not sure if it will work, the DCU might require digital communication from the stock NAV DVD unit. And then there's the audio problem...

 

[generator]

This is my exact point. I already have NAV so most of my problem is already solved. How does Nissan get their stock DVD audio into the BOSE HU? Once I figure that out I am almost home. From what I have read so far getting the video into the NAV screen is simple. I am going to fabricate a low-cost CMOS switch for that. The audio is my problem. Dont like the idea of using FM modulators..too cheesy. How would Nissan accomplsh sending audio into the BOSE HU?

 

[jaak]

It's likely it's connected through the same interface as the SAT. The SAT connector is actually labelled internally as a CD connection. The radio interrogates the bus to see what's present and then will determine what's available. In the diagnostic mode, it asks if there is an EXTERNAL cd deck, as well as the sat. Also the display has icons for an external CD or MD.

Remember, it's made my Clarion and they have CeNET. No one's yet proved if CeNET is identical to the NBus other than connectors, but I expect there is a leverage of technologies, as it would not be cost-effective for Clarion to design two independant busses. Most likely Nbus is a modified CeNET.

I haven't heard of anyone trying it, but I expect the Bose would recognise an external CD changer. Also, the engineering is done, as was seen in the show version of the Murano. Nissan's just been slow rolling it out. (Just like the tiptronic style shifter coming for the SE.)

 

[twelsh]

You could just buy a nice laptop w/DVD player and navigation software for less than the cost of NISSAN's DVD navigation and mount it on the expansive dashboard with velcro. That's what I'm planning on doing when I go on long trips. Plus you can actually use the computer to do other things (games, taxes, surf the internet, etc) and bring it with you when you use other rental cars. Finally, the MO is designed to store the thing in the armrest storage box already--what could be simpler!

 

[jaak]

Right on, I'm with you... You can also run Navigation software on it, with a USB or Serial GPS and with 802.11 have connectivity at Starbucks...

How much was the Nissan DVD again???? Plus NAV?

If you really want the "Cool" factor, get a tablet PC. Imagine DVD's being played with a touch screen for the NAV....