I have a nice headunit in my truck (crewmax) I have multiple video inputs and right now I have a car-puter that is running Centrafuse on it to dual monitors in the head rest for my kids. The car-puter is way out of date and not as cool as my plex setup in my home. I just built my first Raspberry Pi 2 with RasPlex. Fun stuff.....
What I would like to do is rip out all of my old car-puter stuff and run my RasPlex as an indash controller for the monitors in the back seat. Really just replicating all the video. Here is what I am trying to figure out. Can I run a small touchscreen from my GPIO headers to only display the Plex gui but have the movies play thru the HDMI output?
What I would like to do is rip out all of my old car-puter stuff and run my RasPlex as an indash controller for the monitors in the back seat. Really just replicating all the video. Here is what I am trying to figure out. Can I run a small touchscreen from my GPIO headers to only display the Plex gui but have the movies play thru the HDMI output?
Have you thought about how your Rasplex unit will connect to a server to access media?
Would I not be able to use my Plex pass on the Rasp while its connected to my 4G hotspot in my truck? Thats the way I get to my movies now. I live in the Atlanta so my 4G connection is pretty good.
Would I not be able to use my Plex pass on the Rasp while its connected to my 4G hotspot in my truck? Thats the way I get to my movies now. I live in the Atlanta so my 4G connection is pretty good.
This has nothing to do with a PlexPass, if your 4G hotspot allow wifi devices to connect then you should be OK, suggest you try this.
The only way to drive dual monitors would be to buy a HDMI splitter.
What I would like to do is rip out all of my old car-puter stuff and run my RasPlex as an indash controller for the monitors in the back seat. Really just replicating all the video. Here is what I am trying to figure out. Can I run a small touchscreen from my GPIO headers to only display the Plex gui but have the movies play thru the HDMI output?
Let me start by saying this is a great concept, and i used to swear by Centrafuse! ran it on every carputer i ever built. LOL
However, using Plex as a frontend on two separate displays(one control only, one vid output) may prove to be a bit of a challenge due to the "single window" operation that Plex is designed for. In theory, you should be able to use a GPIO>VGA adapter and the on board HDMI to drive two displays simultaneously assuming you can configure an extended desktop across those two displays(not really sure if that's possible on the Pi and no separate player window on the Plex client).
Going to make a couple assumptions here(correct me if i'm wrong):
1) You want to keep the current head unit
2) That HU has the ability to delegate multiple video ins/outs simultaneously
That said, my suggestion to maintain your design integrity/plan is to obtain an inexpensive android tablet(Nexus 7 possibly) and an MHL adapter. Use the tablet to run a "slave" of Plex and drive the two rear monitors via the HU. That way, you can connect the Pi directly to the HU and "fling" the media to the tablet via the LAN created by your vehicles 4G hotspot, while leaving the front HU display(Pi) free to do other things. There are a boatload of potential options for your scenario, and i have many years of mobile electronics install experience. So feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Going to make a couple assumptions here(correct me if i'm wrong):
1) You want to keep the current head unit
2) That HU has the ability to delegate multiple video ins/outs simultaneously
That said, my suggestion to maintain your design integrity/plan is to obtain an inexpensive android tablet(Nexus 7 possibly) and an MHL adapter. Use the tablet to run a "slave" of Plex and drive the two rear monitors via the HU. That way, you can connect the Pi directly to the HU and "fling" the media to the tablet via the LAN created by your vehicles 4G hotspot, while leaving the front HU display(Pi) free to do other things. There are a boatload of potential options for your scenario, and i have many years of mobile electronics install experience. So feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
That is exactly what I would like to do. My head unit gives me the zoning, So I could project a movie to the back for my kids but the wife and I can still listen to the radio in the front.
Here are some pics and a diagram for you. What do you think? Or would there be a better way?
Nice, clean setup! Seems you're using every available inch of otherwise unusable space(subs/amp rack behind the rear seat, touchscreen in the overhead console). And thank you for the diagram, that made it much easier to comprehend the intended setup.
I didn't realize you had a third overhead touchscreen monitor in the front. I was envisioning using the HU as the primary display to control the Pi which is what prompted my slightly over complicated setup suggestion. That said, as long as you don't mind the front seat touchscreen display playing the same movie as the rear seat monitors, this will definitely work. The Pi with a GPIO adapter is fully capable of 2 simultaneous independent displays, but Plex is designed to only run in one active window at a time(no "detachable" video player window that you could extend to the rear displays whilst leaving the controls available on the front touchscreen). Thereby, you would have no choice but to have 3 mirrored displays.
If you're going to have 3 mirrored displays regardless, you can skip the extra cost of the GPIO adapter altogether and simply split the A/V output from the head unit, and drive the front touchscreen with that(USB connection directly to the Pi for touchscreen function of course).
I'm going to give this some more thought. There has to be a solution to meet all your your criteria, while keeping the front/rear displays separate. I will get back to you later this evening with some options.
