OK, I've seen it all. MP3 CD player with...wait for it...mechanical VU meters and a vacuum tube preamp.

I have no idea why, but I want one of these.

http://www.mci.panasonic.co.jp/aced/audio/products/2DIN/CQ-TX5500D.html

Whoa, that is rather cool. In a strange "wrong" kind of way, but it's cool.

Oh WOW! That is twisted!!! I want one!!! It is just so utterly wrong!!!

Stereophile.com review.

It would match my gold Yamaha receiver

how can I fit a double din and the empeg in my dash

did anyone check out the link to the tube motherboard
http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?1368
I don't know which one is more crazy

Greetings!

Yes, indeed. I like the one where a true P4 motherboard would be the size of a football field...

So SonicBlue claims there is no lucrative market for aftermarket car stereo components, yet Matsushita (a *bit* more of a technology leader than SonicBlue) is releasing a frickin' TUBE AMPLIFIED in-car MP3 player for about what 10GB RioCars were going for even before the price slash. I have a difficult time believing the empeg market is more of a niche than this goofy thing.

No, we said there was no lucrative market for _us_ in car audio. If we were Matsushita we'd have the channels to shift stuff like that. Even then, don't think for one minute they will sell more than a handful of them (outside of Japan anyway) - it's about publicity.

If you know anyone in the trade, check out the car audio market segment reports. Take a look at how many car stereos over $1000 are sold in the US each year and I think you will be very surprised (and our market share starts to look pretty good!).

Rob

ya japan dosnt count they buy everything

"The board has four AGP slots..."

I can't quite figure why you'd need four AGP slots, perhaps they meant a 4X AGP slot. ;-P

-Zeke

We actually have a machine at work that has 4 video cards, though I think they are PCI and not AGP.

Are you kidding! I would LOVE to have AGP slots. I hate the fact that PCI has low video performance. On my multi monitor setup, I have one monitor (AGP connected) that has excellent performance, the other one is a dog.

Calvin

speaking of which,i knwo a lil off topic, i have an agp dual output card, works great for 2 monitors, i also have a pci video card, and another mopnitor i would love to hook into the setup, is this possible? I have plugged the card into the computer but windows just gives it an error.

Yes it's possible. Put in the PCI card. Go into your BIOS settings and look for a place that sets the first card to initialize PCI or AGP. Set PCI. In order for Windows to "get it" PCI has to be the "first" card it finds. Then it will boot through to windows, on the desktop settings, set the AGP monitor(s) to be the primary and you're all set.

Calvin

I was joking because I don't know of any machine anywhere (he says as he ducks) that's got more than one AGP slot. They come in 1X, 2X and 4X varieties depending on the supported data rate. Hence the '4 AGP' slot confusion for the poor analog guy who wrote the fluff piece. They are a big step up from PCI cards. I don't think that many companies even offer PCI cards anymore, at least none at my local computer shop a couple of years ago.

-Zeke

PCI video cards are still pretty plentiful at stores here, and most of it is due to machines without AGP slots. Only recently did Intel really start pressuring motherboard makers to toss in an AGP slot on all boards, so many cheap computers with integrated video didn't have AGP slots.

I'm still bitter over AGP. Yes, having a dedicated bus for the video is awesome, but PCI technology in home machines is suffering stagnation. Instead of AGP, I would have preferred a dual bus PCI setup, with at least one 64 bit 66mhz slot for video. Thats probably enough to take care of video card demands on the system, and with the advantage that if integrated video was used, an extra slot would be free. I see no reason to have a special slot for add in cards for any reason beyond the reasoning of PCI-ES.

(And before someone asks...)
PCI-ES is a standard for array controllers. Instead of having the controller contain the SCSI cable connectors, the motherboard has them. Why is this useful? Well, all PCI-ES systems have two of these slots, allowing for redundant array controllers with no need to swap cables or mess with duplexing on the back of the drive cage. The slot is rather complex, it has enough pins to connect the PCI 64 bit part, plus 3 68 pin SCSI connectors. It's longer then 64 bit slots, and is also two layers deep, similar to AGP cards, but not staggered.

Well, I do live a bit out in the sticks, that's for certain. The PCI-ES sounds pretty wild, never heard of it before (not having had anything to do with arrays at my tiny 20 person company).

I suppose the on-board video on desktop machines will keep the PCI vid card market alive and well for the forseeable future. Your're right though, PCI cards available seem to lack depth of choice at the high end of the performace spectrum.

-Zeke

Just in case you missed it....

There is an AGP to PCI adapter card I first saw over at Akiba PC Hotline (of course). With all these SV24-type machines coming out with only a PCI slot, I guess this thing has a market. You have to use a low profile AGP card, but there are more of those to choose from than AGP cards.

Okay, that's just WRONG. In SO many ways.

Ever seen the opposite? I need a PCI video card (for multi monitors) and they're pretty rare on the ground these days. a PCI slot to AGP adapter could be useful.

That's what that is. Turns a low profile AGP card into PCI.

Duh! For some reason I thought it was the opposite. Oh well I'll just shut up now. Too much coding last night

That's OK.

I don't know where you would be able to buy one outside Japan though.

The Matrox G200 MMS might suit your needs?

Thanks Rue, looks pretty cool but I've found a PCI TNT2 pretty cheap that will do the job just fine - I only need 2D just so I can run a second desktop monitor.

I've heard from a little birdy to expect a new car product from SB within a year. Something that is "more user-friendly".

..."more user-friendly"

Bah... I don't generally listen to little birdies on the internet anyway, but even if this is true, I'm not all that excited. "More user friendly" equals less geek-friendly, less hackable, less upgradable. All of the things that SB sees as "problems" with the empeg/riocar product are the things that I cherish about it.

The way I see it, the empeg is almost immune to planned obsolescence... Who needs another car product?

This little birdy wasn't on the internet...but I agree with you...especially when we have folks like Schrag making jemplode what it is.

The way I see it, the empeg is almost immune to planned obsolescence... Who needs another car product?

Well, the slow file transfer (i.e., non-firewire) and black-and-white display
might eventually become annoying to some and make the unit seem dated.
Other than that, I agree. Many of us might still be using this unit a decade
down the road. (Plus I actually prefer black-and-white to a poorly-done
gaudy color interface for car use.)

I've heard from a little birdy to expect a new car product from SB within a year.

Gee, I wish I had birdys talking to me like that. None of my local fowl have said anything to me along those lines.