by "mkbruin, Atlas VP" (mkbruin)
Published 05/29/2017 at 20:42
by "mkbruin, Atlas VP" (mkbruin)
Published 05/29/2017 at 20:42
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STARS: 0
We have three boys: age 2 4 and 6. We have three tablets: w10, android, and ios. My 6yo and 4yo can operate the tablets alright, the 2yo not so much. I am looking for a new system for video for road trips in the minivan.
I am wanting to do the headrest monitors, so we can watch movies without handhelds; however, I want to be able to control the video from the front seat, and would love to build a system that allows different movies on different headrests. Also, no DVD’s. I want to work solely off .mp4's I’ve ripped. So, in theory, a control panel in the glovebox that allows you to select different media files to play on each monitor in the car.
How crazy is this idea?
"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
05/29/2017 at 20:56, STARS: 3
Children should be bored while they travel in a car.
Make them come up with their own entertainment.
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
05/29/2017 at 20:57, STARS: 1
Depending on how much wiring you really want to do a multimedia PC stashed in the car with treating each headrest screens as a seperate monitor would let you do this, the tricky part would be dropping the streams onto the right monitors.
Plex is probably the easiest way to handle device agnostic playback as it will transcode on the fly, but to do this in the car with the media PC and the tablets it would require some sort of network within the car to make the streaming work. For the older kids you can always run the Plex apps on their tablets ahead of time and store whatever it is locally on the tablet from your media server, I do this myself when I travel.
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
05/29/2017 at 21:02, STARS: 1
The downside to this is that for children, making their own entertainment means irritating the shit out of their parents and siblings.
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
05/29/2017 at 21:03, STARS: 0
Or if you have a means to obtain unlimited data leave the PC at home and stream everything to yourself. You will be that guy who uses giant buckets of data do you really care?
"fhrblig" (fhrblig)
05/29/2017 at 21:05, STARS: 0
I mostly feel this way, but the older I’ve gotten I have to admit that if this stuff had been available when my sister and I were young, my parents would probably have gotten it for us. So I don’t feel as militant about it as I used to.
I doubt I’d get it if my partner and I had kids, though. I know how to get places without gps because boredom caused me to pay attention, and now that I’m older it figures into my job on a daily basis.
"fhrblig" (fhrblig)
05/29/2017 at 21:07, STARS: 1
That’s a downside?
*shoves my sister*
"E92M3" (E46M3)
05/29/2017 at 21:10, STARS: 0
I have to agree. I’m sure they get enough screen time at home. My son (6 yrs old) either falls asleep in the car, tells me about his day, or asks me life questions.
"Tripper" (tripe46)
05/29/2017 at 21:10, STARS: 0
Not that crazy. How comfortable are you with a raspberry pi/Linux in general?
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
05/29/2017 at 21:22, STARS: 2
You are right, though not very helpful. Those of us who traveled before screens read books or stared out the window. For kids who traveled after the introduction of screens, it’s the new normal. For our family, we make them take scheduled breaks. In some ways, staring at a screen as the miles roll by is no different than staring at a book. Except that you have to pay for data.
"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
05/29/2017 at 21:24, STARS: 0
Raspberry Pi + Retropie? Kodi for playing videos.
"C62030" (c62030)
05/29/2017 at 21:35, STARS: 1
Sibling here. Can confirm.
"C62030" (c62030)
05/29/2017 at 21:42, STARS: 0
Eh. At least an MP3 player would have been nice so I didn’t have to spend hours listening to Grand Voyager tire roar while flipping through a very battered Authoritative Calvin & Hobbes for the gazillionth time.