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I need help I have this portable dvd player and I want to make it able to run usb videos! This would be great for my kids in the car! And bumping in the car wouldn’t make the dvd skip! This is the first project I want to do, then I want to put a as card in it. And even maybe want to try internet with a raspberry pi. But first let’s try usb. If any one has ideas please share them!
Posted : 23/10/2023 3:28 pm
Off the peg players can't usually be adapted. They're designed the way they are and fitted with specific firmware to allow them to do whatever they are supposed to do. If the designers put a USB port in there, they'd have to update it with the correct CODECS and those change surprisingly regularly although it's settled a bit now we have H.265 and MKV wrappers.
The simplest (and by far the cheapest) way to to this is to use RPi or similar SBCs. In fact, the PI is about the worst option because while it has excellent brand ID, it lacks behind the competition in every key area.
Most SBCs (not all) have micro or full-sized HDMI and the later PI has two IIRC, which makes that side very easy indeed if you use a pre-designed OS like Bactera or OpenELEC (there are many to choose from) and some even allow you to run game emulation too.
The monitors are more tricky since you need an HDMI -> whatever interface they have and that might not be something we can easily get - I've found the driver boards can be hit and miss and I've never tried one of those small screens (I've done laptop ones but those are a bit large for a car).
Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, I might be wrong and it's a very *expensive* way to learn!
Posted : 31/10/2023 4:24 pm