On road trips, usually the radio will suffice for entertainment across long stretches of time. But with so much advanced technology at our fingertips these days, that feels almost archaic.
And thanks to a forum member of MacRumors, Wesley, or MrMacMini, that point gets driven home (no pun intended) quite well. Wesley is a car audio installer, and decided that an upcoming trip from Los Angeles, California to Phoenix, Arizona, a trip that runs around five hours and some change, would need much more than just a few playlists on the radio. So, Wesley utilized a few Apple-branded devices, monitors and a head unit for good measure.
The result? A full set-up that includes an iPad mini 3, an iPad Air 2, an Apple TV, Alpine (CDE-HD149BT) head unit, a pair of Alpine (PKG-M780) headrest monitors, and a 1TB Seagate Wireless Plus HDD. All of this was installed inside Wesley’s 2011 Toyota Sienna, and looks to be built to not only add convenience for the driver, but also the passengers in the vehicle as well.
“The iPad mini sends the sound via Bluetooth to the Alpine head unit. I opted for keeping a head unit so that I can still use the steering controls and have access the radio, in case 1 day I forget the iPad at home,” explains Wesley. “The rear screens run independent. My daughters can watch anything they want via the Apple TV and the 1TB wireless Seagate. If we all want to want to watch the same thing, I have it set up so that I can AirPlay from the iPad mini to the Apple TV and have the sound feed back through the Alpine head unit.“
This is obviously not going to be the route that every individual takes to add some extra content into their vehicle, even on long road trips, but it’s awesome to see how Apple’s devices can be used in these ways. Of course, Apple has its own in-car system, called CarPlay, that should help with some folks wanting extra content on their own road trips, without all the installation process thrown in.
[via MacRumors]
[Source : http://www.iphonehacks.com/2015/04/custom-car-entertainment-ipad-apple-tv.html]
