usb input help

[opticalshadow]

hey guys, im in the market for a new head unit since mine recently died, im looking at another kenwood excellon, the majority of them seem to use usb input nowadays(aposed to my old one with r/l aux in)

i have a laptop that contains my music i use for my audio systems and my basic question is will my laptop be compatible with head unit usb input.

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[thaster 10+ year member]

it should but u could always connect your laptop to the aux

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

yeah i think i tried to do a laptop but the wire isnt made to plug into a laptop, its for a usb drive that i use. but my gf watches movies on the laptop and plugs the laptop into the HU for the audio

 

[opticalshadow]

the thing is some of the units im intrested in dont have auz only usb, or i would just use my aux wires, but thanks for the quick reply, im going to try and find one tha thas both, any suggestions? i prefer kenwood and it must have f/r/s pre amped out hovering aware 200-250

 

[yodatech88 10+ year member]

The USB on a laptop doesn't directly access the hard drive like plugging in a flash drive. If you want to use the USB input, you will need either an external drive that doesn't require a seperate power source, or a simple thumb drive. They make thumb drives up to I believe 8 Gigabytes. I have never been able to sort through 8 GIG of music so I wouldn't recommend you go that big. Sort through it and keep the stuff you like and ignore the rest.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

The USB on a laptop doesn't directly access the hard drive like plugging in a flash drive. If you want to use the USB input, you will need either an external drive that doesn't require a seperate power source, or a simple thumb drive. They make thumb drives up to I believe 8 Gigabytes. I have never been able to sort through 8 GIG of music so I wouldn't recommend you go that big. Sort through it and keep the stuff you like and ignore the rest.

not all decks have the power enough for a hard drive, some wont work. I would get one that REQUIRES 120v ac and just get a cheap power inverter

 

[yodatech88 10+ year member]

not all decks have the power enough for a hard drive, some wont work. I would get one that REQUIRES 120v ac and just get a cheap power inverter

Most HU have the power to run a drive when the cable isn't extended to the glove box. Pioneer isn't able to power one extended at all. I think Pioneer is rated around 200Milliamps. For reliability I would say a power inverter and a standard external drive would work best. That type of hard drive is also way less expensive, the inverter is the catch though. Think of it this way, you can charge your laptop for your girlfriend to watch movies on with it too she will love you for that.

 

[opticalshadow]

then i guess i just have to find one with aux in, i have more then 80 gigs of music i normally carry around on the laptop, the reason i go with a laptop instead of thumb drives and mp3 players and such is i can easily get what ever song i want,, my media program has a search feature and sort feature and within 3 seconds i can find anything im looking for, it also allows the custom cropping of songs and audio adjustments to keep all songs balenced, plus i get movies and such.

thanks for the help guys.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

the x993 has both aux-in and usb.

portable drives by Lacie have the normal usb cable and a second power sharing usb cable. the second cable is used only to share power (designed with a computer in mind) from a second usb port / power source. you can pick up a usb cigarette lighter adapter and use that as the power sharing source. the drives start at $99 for a 250g, so for under $125 total you can have everything.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10995

 

[LazyRider 10+ year member]

It seems like it would be a bother to use your laptop. I wouldn't want to carry my laptop around and stuff. I stick with my 8gb thumb drive it works perfect for me.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

yeh i got a 8gb usb drive. the head unit comes with a usb cable thats for plugging a usb drive in and doesnt work for hooking up a laptop. since the laptop have the cable have the same connection. i got my drive for like $15 or so on newegg just plug it into your laptop and transfer stuff onto and plug it into the usb cable that comes with the head unit

 

[focused313 10+ year member]

Most HU have the power to run a drive when the cable isn't extended to the glove box. Pioneer isn't able to power one extended at all. I think Pioneer is rated around 200Milliamps. For reliability I would say a power inverter and a standard external drive would work best. That type of hard drive is also way less expensive, the inverter is the catch though. Think of it this way, you can charge your laptop for your girlfriend to watch movies on with it too she will love you for that.

The USB on a laptop doesn't directly access the hard drive like plugging in a flash drive. If you want to use the USB input, you will need either an external drive that doesn't require a seperate power source, or a simple thumb drive. They make thumb drives up to I believe 8 Gigabytes. I have never been able to sort through 8 GIG of music so I wouldn't recommend you go that big. Sort through it and keep the stuff you like and ignore the rest.

I have a Pioneer AVH-4000 that I got for 299 off ebay.

I also have a Seagate Portable 250GB Hard Drive from best by for $69

I have my entire audio folder (21.4 GB / 6,400+ songs) on my harddrive and it works via usb. The headunit powers up the HD with no other power source w/ a cable that extends to my glovebox. The head unit can go thru every folder, every song with no problems. I use a program called DriveSort to sort the files how I want them.

the only bad thing is that I can't play videos thru my usb harddrive. I either burn them to a cd-r using vidcd with nero or take my laptop and plug it in the aux port.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

yeh i tried putting video on my usb drive but it didnt read it either

 

[yodatech88 10+ year member]

They will read the video files as long as they are in the right format. On a Pioneer headunit you will need them in DIVX or MPEG4.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

oh all my vids are .avi