From what I've read, it uses the HDCP copy protection, which excludes the regular kinds of lcd panels for now. But if you can work around that, the image quality should be great even with a tiny screen, so long as the aspect ratio is correct.

I think you're right that AppleTV is vision of how things are going to work in the future, but the conventional car audio approach is how we will get there for automobiles.

Check out the Ford/Microsoft system that was previewed -- even if you prefer Macs (like I do), it's not like your car is going to have a Start Menu or something.

 

We have the technology to do all this stuff, its been around for a while.

Its just agreeing on formats and such, and then simplifying the interfaces (wireless between other devices, and human control interfaces) to make it hassle free to use is the tricky part.


Of course it has to be cheap enough and readily available.


Finally sometimes you got to convince people to slightly alter their behavior and needs. In this case, do I *really* need to mirror my whole music and video library in my car? And if so, how much would one pay for this covenience?

If the trend continues, the answer in the future will most likely be yes, hopefully the cost of one would expect from jumping to a base head unit to the highend audio system option of cars today.


Image this: future kids will be oblivious to the scenery around them during car trips, since they will be staring at LCD monitors all day! Its already started now..