[diy] Put A/v Input For 350gt W/o Reverse Camera

[vee35]

I installed the reversing camera (CCD from eBay $29), and set up a relay to short Cont2 when in reverse. It works well, however I have noticed that thye shorting of Cont2 actually puts the car screen automatically into TV mode, so I have to switch back manually if I was in another screen. This shoudlnt be a pro9blem when I install the computer, but is kind of less than perfect for now.

Does anyone know if shorting Cont1 does the same thing?

It gets highlighted by the fact that every time you move from park to drive, you have to pass Reverse, so it shorts Cont2 for a split second (enough to put it in TV mode).

Sorry for the blurry image, but it was a quick snap.

[Commsman]

I see what you're saying. I never noticed because my default is with TV on.

Just went & checked on my M35. With the screen on the trip meter screen, moving thru reverse puts earth on C1 and brings up camera as it should. Then when moving out of reverse it stays on the TV screen & plays live tv as you said. If I wanted the fuel consumption screen I would have to push a few buttons. I see your point.

BUT, if I move the gear selection lever "briskly" past reverse the screen will stay where it was. That could be your answer.....?

[vee35]

moving thru reverse puts earth on C1 and brings up camera as it should.

Are you shorting Cont1 or Cont2? I went for Cont2 as it was considerable easier to get to.

BUT, if I move the gear selection lever "briskly" past reverse the screen will stay where it was. That could be your answer.....?

I think my answer will be to put a delay (say 0.5 seconds) on the relay shorting Cont2.

I did try moving the gear lever fairly briskly, and it still flipped over. I am using a very small 12v reed relay for shorting Cont2.

[Commsman]

Mine is called C1 (equivalent to your Cont1) but AFAIK they are both the same, regardless of what they're called.

My relay is a big one (40A) so maybe it reacts a little slower than yours. I did have to be pretty quick on the gear lever though.

[vee35]

Learnt a new thing about this grounding of Cont1. If you leave Cont1 grounded while the car is starting, it wont go to Audio - AUX. It appears that you haver to let the cars computer/TV module boot up, before grounding Cont1 works as expected.

[Commsman]

Learnt a new thing about this grounding of Cont1. If you leave Cont1 grounded while the car is starting, it wont go to Audio - AUX. It appears that you haver to let the cars computer/TV module boot up, before grounding Cont1 works as expected.

Well, there you go... That could be helpful for those with an OEM stereo to know (not me ). So how did you get around it? Do you manually switch it after you start?

[vee35]

I plan to manually switch it for now. Long term plan will be to put a timer and relayed breaker on the grounding wire for cont1; but letting the reverse camera bypass the breaker. I think the delay only needs to be a few seconds, but havent timed it yet.

I can leave it for now, as I will set up my car pc to automatically start playing music on resume from hibernation, so I shouldn't need to see the screen of the PC.

And by the way, when I say it wont go to Audio AUX, i mean you cant even select it using the mode button on the stearing wheel, until after you leave it ungrounded for a few seconds.

[Tricky-Ricky]

I plan to manually switch it for now. Long term plan will be to put a timer and relayed breaker on the grounding wire for cont1; but letting the reverse camera bypass the breaker. I think the delay only needs to be a few seconds, but havent timed it yet.

I can leave it for now, as I will set up my car pc to automatically start playing music on resume from hibernation, so I shouldn't need to see the screen of the PC.

And by the way, when I say it wont go to Audio AUX, i mean you cant even select it using the mode button on the stearing wheel, until after you leave it ungrounded for a few seconds.

Out of interest, can you actually use/read the screen when connected to your car PC? i hooked my laptop display up to the screen via a converter and the picture was rubbish.

Edited July 10, 2011 by Tricky-Ricky

[Tommy Kaira RL]

Try setting your laptop to NTSC out.

[Deep Dish V35]

yeah ntsc for all inputs. due to this, my PAL xbox 360 only comes thru in black and white... omg its the end of the world

and the composite output on a laptop is usually pretty poor.... the s-video ones are worse still, and then you have to use a s-video to composite adapter... makes the video output very fuzzy looking

Edited July 12, 2011 by Deep Dish V35

[vee35]

Out of interest, can you actually use/read the screen when connected to your car PC? i hooked my laptop display up to the screen via a converter and the picture was rubbish.

Yep its very useable, but not perfect. There seems to be some interference coming through, which was worse before I replaced a cable with one of those expensive monster cables.

I have been meaning to post some pics/vids, hopefully this weekend.

and the composite output on a laptop is usually pretty poor.... the s-video ones are worse still, and then you have to use a s-video to composite adapter... makes the video output very fuzzy looking

The video card I am using has an S-Video out, and a small converted plug to composite. This may be the cause for some of the fuzzyness I am seeing. I need to find anpother video card that has composite out, but this is considered "old technology" as most cards now only have digital outs (HDMI or DVI)

[ynot.tony]

Has any one fixed the problem so you can watch Video with the hand break off??

[Tommy Kaira RL]

Has any one fixed the problem so you can watch Video with the hand break off??

You can either cut the speed sensor and earth the handbrake wire behind the dvd rom or get it done programmaticality.

[vee35]

Has any one fixed the problem so you can watch Video with the hand break off??

It all depends where the video is coming from? I do not use the built in TV, as it only tunes to JP channels, however, I always reverse without the handbrake on, and if they wanted to, the passenger could watch videos while the car is moving. From memory, all I did was ground "Cont1" Edited October 24, 2012 by vee35

[Roachy94]

Got the idea of doing the RCA leads into the centre console from this thread, took a few hours but it worked out great.

[ynot.tony]

When I ground cont1 picture shows on the built in tv but there is no sound does anyone know what's wrong?

[SMOKEYV35]

I have read through this entire thread - and it appears the answer to my question might be only a recent find.

I want to buy a reverse camera off ebay - and have it show through the stock headunit automatically when reverse is selected.

I don't care about TV or NAV or anything like that - just want reverse camera as i park in a lot of tight spaces.

correct me if i'm wrong here but the solutions is:

1) Run Video-In to spare Aux in factory TV Tuner and ground Cont 1 using a relay driven by reverse lamp 12v.

The draw back being that once the reverse camera image shows up, you need to manually switch stock head unit back to another menu to get rid of it??

Has anyone got any further than this? Is there a magical cable that Chris Rogers has that can take this pain away!?

[GeeDog]

"you need to manually switch stock head unit back to another menu to get rid of it"

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I've put a cheap ebay camera on my car, connected it to the video in pins on the factory TV tuner, and used a relay to ground cont1 when the reverse lights come on. I powered the camera from the reversing lights as well, so it only has power when I'm in reverse.

When I select reverse, the camera video output automatically comes onto the screen. When I change out of reverse, the video shuts off, and the screen goes back to the nav display (which is of no use as it only has Japanese maps). If I want to view an info screen, I have to select it, every time I shift out of reverse.

I'd like to find a way to have it automatically select the info display, rather than the nav display, when I shift out of reverse. Other than that it works great. I think the camera was around $15 off ebay, and it has IR so works well at night. It's mounted at the top of the number plate, and is very effective.

If anyone knows how to setup the system to automatically chage to the info screen, I would be eternally grateful.

Cheers

[SMOKEYV35]

He means exactly what you have just said (and also what I have said) - that the reverse camera displays fine - but once the car shifts out of reverse it doesn't return to the info screen - it goes to the tv input.

Edited November 12, 2012 by SMOKEYC34

[Chris Rogers]

for those that are doing this I can MOD the tv tuner so it goes back to what it was doing prior. if you are interested hit me up.