Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Orignal Toyota 2 din head unit

I have been thinking about the original Toyota 2 DIN head unit from Taiwan..



Quite an impressive machine, considering it's 2 DIN touch screen DVD player/monitor with multi camera options and well as steering wheel control integration for both audio and camera functions. Despite the fact that it plays MP3, I don't understand why they still include a cassette player. I mean who owns cassettes these days? In Japan, you get Mini Disc options, another obsolete format. I would prefer a CF/SD card slot.

Anyway, the interface is very user friendly. As it's from Taiwan, it accepts Unicode too and all chinese characters will display when you are playing Chinese MP3.



If your budget permits, you can also add the original Toyota Front and Rear view camera. The front view camera is three way so that besides looking left and right, you can also see if your precious body kit is about to hit the kerb. Impressive isn't it?



There are even other functions such as keeping a record of your servicing and parts change. But you have to key that in yourself of course. Frills.

So what's the down side? It can't accept Ipod interface directly. You can only connect it via radio frequency. A hassle. The other thing is the GPS system does not have Singapore map. So you can't integrate it properly. I can't be sure on this point, but so far, I do know that these systems can be hacked into doing what you want them to. However, I'm no tech whiz and this is too tall an order for me. I'm a "off the shelf" kind of guy.

Anyway, cost about S$800 to S$850 for the set with cables. Cameras and steering controls are extra that have to be purchased separately from Japan. Unless of course you like the "Ah Pek" 4 spoke steering wheel from Taiwan.

Cheers,

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