Navigation & Audio Flashed My Sat Nav System Tonight
Originally Posted by rrypma
Is anyone a little disappointed with the GB voice?
I've been trying to follow this thread closely, but - does this only apply to DVD systems?
No one has ever upgraded my system but the dealer. I have never had the accept screen. On the last update "Onboard computer" changed to "Board Computer". It's possible the downgraded it and upgraded it again - I had a bad map disk but the dealer was trying everything they could to avoid replacing the map disk. 3 visits and no resolution! I kept asking them to just replace the map disk, they said only as a last resort. Finally I got the update disk in the mail and that resolved my problem. I don't go to that dealer anymore...
I don't think I've seen a successful MKIII (CD) based system to GB Voice yet. It's definitely more complicated than the DVD update due to the file structure.
I really like the GB voice, so definitely not disappointed here. Also I find the sound quality to be the same--not any worse or better than the American Female samples.
I installed the GB Male voice just for fun, and that really gave my MINI a different character. Kinda cool, but I bought back the female right away.
LOL
Richard
I really like the GB voice, so definitely not disappointed here. Also I find the sound quality to be the same--not any worse or better than the American Female samples.
I installed the GB Male voice just for fun, and that really gave my MINI a different character. Kinda cool, but I bought back the female right away.
LOL
Richard
Originally Posted by paulgraz
No way - I had the British voice from day 1 and really missed it when the dealer took it away. I just think the british voice has character - the US voice is kinda nasaly and monotone... (IMHO)
I've been trying to follow this thread closely, but - does this only apply to DVD systems?
No one has ever upgraded my system but the dealer. I have never had the accept screen. On the last update "Onboard computer" changed to "Board Computer". It's possible the downgraded it and upgraded it again - I had a bad map disk but the dealer was trying everything they could to avoid replacing the map disk. 3 visits and no resolution! I kept asking them to just replace the map disk, they said only as a last resort. Finally I got the update disk in the mail and that resolved my problem. I don't go to that dealer anymore...
I've been trying to follow this thread closely, but - does this only apply to DVD systems?
No one has ever upgraded my system but the dealer. I have never had the accept screen. On the last update "Onboard computer" changed to "Board Computer". It's possible the downgraded it and upgraded it again - I had a bad map disk but the dealer was trying everything they could to avoid replacing the map disk. 3 visits and no resolution! I kept asking them to just replace the map disk, they said only as a last resort. Finally I got the update disk in the mail and that resolved my problem. I don't go to that dealer anymore...
2nd Gear
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
From: Seattle area, Washington
Originally Posted by OctaneGuy
Finally I tried taking the Nero ISO and converting it to a standard ISO that I could then burn with Roxio, but no go. The resulting CD was NOT readable by my NAV.
2nd Gear
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
From: Seattle area, Washington
Originally Posted by OctaneGuy
I installed the GB Male voice just for fun, and that really gave my MINI a different character. Kinda cool, but I bought back the female right away.
4th Gear
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
From: Dobbs Ferry, NY
Word of caution for those burning updates - just be patient and burn at around 4x to reduce the likelihood of a coaster. This could be old hat advice, but it doesn't hurt to be on the safe side.
As for downgrading, it seems that some CD images or previous versions are in CloneCD format. I didn't know what to do that, but in Nero, you simply burn the .cue file. It is a small file, but it points to the proper image that most likely is in the same directory.
Also, FWIW, I upgraded my system to v24.1, then back to v23 to rid myself of the 'accept' screen. v24 did not work, as you must go backward at least one whole version number. Lastly, it's seems odd that all mention and text of 'feet' have been converted to yards with the only exception being that of the altitude, which is still measured in feet.
I also have the 'route magnet' functionality now as well as the traffic functionality (grayed out). I hope there is a way to integrate this in the near future. I really like the ability to scroll around with the thumb wheel on the destination map much better now, but I wish it were a little speedier.
My only remaining concern is that the miles now read on the NAV are in American miles and not Imperial miles. I suppose there would be an easy way to test this though....
As for downgrading, it seems that some CD images or previous versions are in CloneCD format. I didn't know what to do that, but in Nero, you simply burn the .cue file. It is a small file, but it points to the proper image that most likely is in the same directory.
Also, FWIW, I upgraded my system to v24.1, then back to v23 to rid myself of the 'accept' screen. v24 did not work, as you must go backward at least one whole version number. Lastly, it's seems odd that all mention and text of 'feet' have been converted to yards with the only exception being that of the altitude, which is still measured in feet.
I also have the 'route magnet' functionality now as well as the traffic functionality (grayed out). I hope there is a way to integrate this in the near future. I really like the ability to scroll around with the thumb wheel on the destination map much better now, but I wish it were a little speedier.
My only remaining concern is that the miles now read on the NAV are in American miles and not Imperial miles. I suppose there would be an easy way to test this though....
Curious how you control the route magent? Is it clumsy like how you can scroll the map around the screen--1 axis at a time. That's a feature I'd really like to have. I wonder why the USA version doesn't include it.
Btw, I'm burning at 24x using a DVD burner and have no problems--it's reading from a 40X CD-ROM--that is I burned one copy, the duplicate them from CD to DVD Burner. My system is optimized for video editing/capturing so moving high datarates for sustained periods isn't a problem.
I've done over 30 burns with these CD's so far and not one coaster yet. =)
Richard
Btw, I'm burning at 24x using a DVD burner and have no problems--it's reading from a 40X CD-ROM--that is I burned one copy, the duplicate them from CD to DVD Burner. My system is optimized for video editing/capturing so moving high datarates for sustained periods isn't a problem.
I've done over 30 burns with these CD's so far and not one coaster yet. =)
Richard
Originally Posted by rrypma
Word of caution for those burning updates - just be patient and burn at around 4x to reduce the likelihood of a coaster. This could be old hat advice, but it doesn't hurt to be on the safe side. ....
I didn't use the GB Male voice extensively, but because the voice files are about 50% smaller than the Female voices I would assume it's as bad or worse. LOL.
I don't think you can end up with a dead Nav if you're staying with the same V.24 update CD's. It's a bit more risky going back and forth between V.23 and V.24. While I would love to have the Route Magnet feature, I'm not keen on putting it into the No Location mode right now.
Richard
I don't think you can end up with a dead Nav if you're staying with the same V.24 update CD's. It's a bit more risky going back and forth between V.23 and V.24. While I would love to have the Route Magnet feature, I'm not keen on putting it into the No Location mode right now.
Richard
Originally Posted by MiniDan
I made a CD to try the GB male voice but haven't installed it yet. I agree with rrypma about the GB female voice, it doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as the USA female voice. Would you say the GB male is about the same? I guess I should just try it, but I'm slightly paranoid about something going wrong and ending up with a dead Nav.
4th Gear
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
From: Dobbs Ferry, NY
Why not? It worked great for me...
I haven't played around w/ the route magnet yet, but it appears as if you scroll the map around just like you the new way in the latest versions. I doubt if I'll ever use it, but nice to know it's there. The yards thing was a very small price to pay for the accept screen removal.
I haven't played around w/ the route magnet yet, but it appears as if you scroll the map around just like you the new way in the latest versions. I doubt if I'll ever use it, but nice to know it's there. The yards thing was a very small price to pay for the accept screen removal.
Agreed. I've seen after market units costing anywhere from $100 to $200 to remove the Nag screen. =)
Richard
Richard
Originally Posted by rrypma
Why not? It worked great for me... I haven't played around w/ the route magnet yet, but it appears as if you scroll the map around just like you the new way in the latest versions. I doubt if I'll ever use it, but nice to know it's there. The yards thing was a very small price to pay for the accept screen removal.
I haven't played around w/ the route magnet yet, but it appears as if you scroll the map around just like you the new way in the latest versions. I doubt if I'll ever use it, but nice to know it's there. The yards thing was a very small price to pay for the accept screen removal.
6th Gear
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,497
Likes: 0
From: Orange County, CA
Originally Posted by MSFITOY
What's a "route magnet"?
OVERDRIVE
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,926
Likes: 40
From: Greensboro, NC
Originally Posted by TheOfficeMaven
All,
One other thing that I forgot to mention is that if you "downgrade" your DVD-based nav unit (in order to put it into "no location" mode and get rid of the "Accept" nag screen), and then you "upgrade" the firmware to the latest version (either v24 or v24.1 giving you 4-1/40 or 4-1/42), another advantage to doing this is that you should now be able to use the new "Route Magnet" feature as well (which came about in the v24 firmware update release).
For some reason, the new "Route Magnet" isn't available when the nav system is in its default USA mode (it's typical for BMW/MINI to exclude us folks over in the good'ol USA now isn't it), but I believe that it is there if the unit is in "no location" mode (BEFORE you upgrade to v24 or v24.1).
For those of you who don't know, the new "Route Magnet" feature is sort of like a waypoint. If you are currently navigating a route, then using the Route Magnet feature will allow you to set a point (i.e. a waypoint) on the current route and the unit will then try and force the route to be drawn near that point if it possibly can.
I'm not sure how well it works though as I got rid of my new 05 MCS before I had a chance to test it. My replacement MCS will be here in February, but as I mentioned in a prior post, I don't like the unit being in yards and so I'm not going to "downgrade" it (and hence I won't get the Route Magnet feature since BMW/MINI so kindly excluded it from folks over in the USA). Also, from Ian Cull's reports (and others), my new unit will already be setup with the GB voice as a second language option and so there's no need for me to mess with the new unit once it arrives.
NOW... I'm just hoping that the new 2005-1 NavTeq map data DVD will be available in January when my new car is built. I think that it's absolutely ridiculous that new MINI's are still coming with old (archaic) 2003-2 map data discs (especially since the BMW cars get much newer map data discs like 2004-2 and/or 2005-1). Oh well, I digress...
One other thing that I forgot to mention is that if you "downgrade" your DVD-based nav unit (in order to put it into "no location" mode and get rid of the "Accept" nag screen), and then you "upgrade" the firmware to the latest version (either v24 or v24.1 giving you 4-1/40 or 4-1/42), another advantage to doing this is that you should now be able to use the new "Route Magnet" feature as well (which came about in the v24 firmware update release).
For some reason, the new "Route Magnet" isn't available when the nav system is in its default USA mode (it's typical for BMW/MINI to exclude us folks over in the good'ol USA now isn't it), but I believe that it is there if the unit is in "no location" mode (BEFORE you upgrade to v24 or v24.1).
For those of you who don't know, the new "Route Magnet" feature is sort of like a waypoint. If you are currently navigating a route, then using the Route Magnet feature will allow you to set a point (i.e. a waypoint) on the current route and the unit will then try and force the route to be drawn near that point if it possibly can.
I'm not sure how well it works though as I got rid of my new 05 MCS before I had a chance to test it. My replacement MCS will be here in February, but as I mentioned in a prior post, I don't like the unit being in yards and so I'm not going to "downgrade" it (and hence I won't get the Route Magnet feature since BMW/MINI so kindly excluded it from folks over in the USA). Also, from Ian Cull's reports (and others), my new unit will already be setup with the GB voice as a second language option and so there's no need for me to mess with the new unit once it arrives.
NOW... I'm just hoping that the new 2005-1 NavTeq map data DVD will be available in January when my new car is built. I think that it's absolutely ridiculous that new MINI's are still coming with old (archaic) 2003-2 map data discs (especially since the BMW cars get much newer map data discs like 2004-2 and/or 2005-1). Oh well, I digress...
I've been in my new home for over two years now and it sucks not to have the Nav know where I live
You won't see the Route Magnet UNLESS you have downgraded from Ver.24 to Ver.23 and then back again. That's where you will lose the Accept Screen, Feet will become yards, and the Route Magnet should appear. I haven't tried it, though I'm tempted to.
Originally Posted by MSFITOY
Where is this function in the Nav menu? I didn't get a chance to look for it yet.
I've been in my new home for over two years now and it sucks not to have the Nav know where I live
I've been in my new home for over two years now and it sucks not to have the Nav know where I live
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 173
Likes: 35
Ok...I flashed V23, then back to V24 with British voice in place of USA. No Nag screen and everything went to Yards. Where is the Route Magnet? I looked for it but haven't found it.
I did get the system to flash using my hacked image trying to replace both the voice and text from spanish with british. Nothing changed..system only appeared to update the USA voice and ignored the Spanish changes. I will tinker with it more to see if I can get the Spanish Setting to display and speak in English.
Jerry
I did get the system to flash using my hacked image trying to replace both the voice and text from spanish with british. Nothing changed..system only appeared to update the USA voice and ignored the Spanish changes. I will tinker with it more to see if I can get the Spanish Setting to display and speak in English.
Jerry
4th Gear
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
From: Dobbs Ferry, NY
You need to be in 'routing mode' for the routing magnet option to appear. So, just enter an address and go to 'directions'.
What I'd like to know is where the actual audio files are... I can't imagine they are on the Navteq DVD/CD, and I'm pretty sure they're not on the update CDs, so could they possibly be hard coded somehow onto the hardware? Has anyone been able to determine what types of files we have been modifying in terms of their extensions? Maybe they are on the CD in one large file and we'll just have to figure out how to parse them out. I can't imagine this is rocket science....
What I'd like to know is where the actual audio files are... I can't imagine they are on the Navteq DVD/CD, and I'm pretty sure they're not on the update CDs, so could they possibly be hard coded somehow onto the hardware? Has anyone been able to determine what types of files we have been modifying in terms of their extensions? Maybe they are on the CD in one large file and we'll just have to figure out how to parse them out. I can't imagine this is rocket science....
I'm easily confused. Exactly what is the "no location" mode? What does that really mean to me? Also, what screens/functions go to yards instead of feet? I like the idea of no "Accept" screen but want to make sure that I can accept and live with all the other changes. Thanks for educating me.
4th Gear
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 352
Likes: 1
From: Farmington Hills, MI
well my v24 (unmodified one) still will not eject (it has been what, 3-4 days!) 
I called my dealer but they didn't know of any simple manual eject method (like a paper clip hole or whatnot) and I could not find one. So it looks like I get to fine out how much the dealer is going to charge to reflash the nav and get the cd out (I am not sure how they are going to do that).
If you know anything that might help make my cd eject (I have the MkIII). Right now when I push the eject it just reads the disc (I can hear the drive making its noise but it doesn't eject) and my Nav screen is completely blank.
I called my dealer but they didn't know of any simple manual eject method (like a paper clip hole or whatnot) and I could not find one. So it looks like I get to fine out how much the dealer is going to charge to reflash the nav and get the cd out (I am not sure how they are going to do that). If you know anything that might help make my cd eject (I have the MkIII). Right now when I push the eject it just reads the disc (I can hear the drive making its noise but it doesn't eject) and my Nav screen is completely blank.
OVERDRIVE
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,926
Likes: 40
From: Greensboro, NC
Originally Posted by OctaneGuy
You won't see the Route Magnet UNLESS you have downgraded from Ver.24 to Ver.23 and then back again. That's where you will lose the Accept Screen, Feet will become yards, and the Route Magnet should appear. I haven't tried it, though I'm tempted to.
Hahaha, I'm afraid! 
I've seen the other side, it looks good, but somehow I also feel it can't be greener--there must be something wrong with it besides what's mentioned.
I've seen the other side, it looks good, but somehow I also feel it can't be greener--there must be something wrong with it besides what's mentioned.
Originally Posted by MSFITOY
Ooo...please do another of your great "how to" when you can on this process
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 173
Likes: 35
Question: Are their two different "Miles" measurements? Are miles in the US different than miles in the UK or elsewhere?
I ask because since I put my Nav into no location mode, I am geting 4mpg better on the computer.
Jerry
I ask because since I put my Nav into no location mode, I am geting 4mpg better on the computer.
Jerry
4th Gear
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
From: Dobbs Ferry, NY
Ahhh....I don't believe the UK mile is any different, but their gallon surely is. It is larger than ours. That would explain your 4 mpg extra... Good find! I've done this as well to my system, so I'll have to check it out.
1st Gear
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
British Male
Were you able to get British Male voice working? I tried and noticed that the autio files were significantly smaller. The change yielded no voice at all. So not sure if that works. All the female voices work fine though.
Originally Posted by OctaneGuy
Hey Guys,
I've been running off CD's for people to whoever asked for them, but I got a bright idea that I'm planning on putting into action. It's the holidays, you know, the time for giving?
Heh heh, don't worry, I'm not asking for anything to be given to me, but... my club is working on raising money for the Cure Autism Now (CureAustimNow.org) charity, and I'll be putting up a link on my site--URL coming-- for getting the CD's for $10 (2 CD's incl. shipping) of Ver.24--With either your choice of British Female or British Male plus an Undo disc.
Now I know none of you need this, cause you're all doing it on your own, however, for anyone that needs help, here's a chance to get the CD's and help out a great cause. As we say--"Let's Motor for a Worthy Cause"
**** Edited by OctaneGuy
(Note, I am not selling the CD's. I will continue to make them for whoever asks for them. I don't expect to get many requests. The number of MINI's with nav's are pretty small--something like less than 3%)
The $10 was to be collected by c3, however, I might just ask people to donate directly. It's totally optional and people don't have to donate to get the CD's.
Thanks!
I've been running off CD's for people to whoever asked for them, but I got a bright idea that I'm planning on putting into action. It's the holidays, you know, the time for giving?
Heh heh, don't worry, I'm not asking for anything to be given to me, but... my club is working on raising money for the Cure Autism Now (CureAustimNow.org) charity, and I'll be putting up a link on my site--URL coming-- for getting the CD's for $10 (2 CD's incl. shipping) of Ver.24--With either your choice of British Female or British Male plus an Undo disc.
Now I know none of you need this, cause you're all doing it on your own, however, for anyone that needs help, here's a chance to get the CD's and help out a great cause. As we say--"Let's Motor for a Worthy Cause"
**** Edited by OctaneGuy
(Note, I am not selling the CD's. I will continue to make them for whoever asks for them. I don't expect to get many requests. The number of MINI's with nav's are pretty small--something like less than 3%)
The $10 was to be collected by c3, however, I might just ask people to donate directly. It's totally optional and people don't have to donate to get the CD's.
Thanks!