Right now I'm leaning toward the setup recommended by XPortZ. First off, the majority of what we watch will not be DVD, but captured VHS. So that really only leaves DivX or VCD for the majority of the playback. So I'm probably going to go with the TH-5688 5.6" Active Matrix display, and the Supertek "AV Baby" portable CD/MP3/VCD player:
http://www.mp3playerstore.com/stuff_you ... index.html
The display is the top one on that page. The player is at the very bottom of the page, middle unit. They offer a package that's $199 for that display and player. That includes the DC power adapter for the player and remote control (for both the display and player). I will use the car's audio system for audio playback (when headphones aren't in use).
The other advantage is that I can pack a couple hundred MP3s on a CD-R and play it in the portable player.
I finally got everything ironed out with my Pinnacle PCTV Pro tuner / capture card. I can capture 30 fps at 320x240 with maximum audio quality without dropping any frames on my PIII 500 machine. I've just made my first VCDs from home videos, and the quality is very good for display on a 5.6" display. I sized WMP to 5.6" on my laptop screen, so that's a good approximation of what the real display hardware would look like. DivX still can't be beat as far as giving the most bang-per-byte, but VCD is extremely ubiquitous, and fine for VHS captures.
It would be far easier and cheaper to go that route, and eventually add a $50 eBay PS One onto the system for gaming than try and contort a PS One to do it all itself. I would have to mod it for VCD and CD-R, plus purchase a power inverter, plus the display is a little smaller and I wouldn't be able to mount it from the ceiling.
Dan East
15 miles to be exact.
