Can you elaborate why this would be more work? Those steps should take only a few minutes, and in my experience a clean job of running a hidden cable from the boot to the front can be quite a chore.

What's your opinion of HD radio? Mostly I see broadcasters and vendors promoting it but hardly any feedback from consumers.

 

Sorry Tom,
I just can't bring myself to touch the cables together. I did however leave the negitive cable undone for just over and hour and it it did reset itself. Everything is working as it should since then.

Thanks

 

Thanks for following up - if the cables cannot reach - a jumper wire would work.

 

Most of it will depend on the content in your area. Log into www.hdradio.com to see a list of available stations in your area.

As for sound quality - it rivals Sirius/XM and does not require any subscription fee.

 

Sound quality on HD radio is BETTER than the quality on XM IMO. Sirius uses higher bitrate broadcasting, and I'd say the sound quality is similar to Sirius.

An interesting feature I was unaware of (I did read about it, but appearently it went in and right back out ) is multicast. HD1 is the normal radio broadcast, and HD2 is the no commercial station with a completely different programming schedule. Some area's even have HD3.

I don't spend much time listening to the radio, but every once in while I'll tune in. For $40 I just sprung for the HD box.

To answer your question about cable routing, i've never had any issues with it. It took all of 12 seconds to plug the adapter in, I routed the cable along the floor board (Just pushed it under, there's enough room to just tuck it under, I didn't have to unscrew anything).

For my Dension kit (Install is the same, just a different module) I actually accidently removed the radio before realizing it connected in the trunk.

It took me almost an hour to take everything apart and put it back together, and another 10 minutes to install it in the trunk, route it to the front, and make everything look pretty .

So in short, no, I don't find it any easier to install it behind the radio, nor was it a task at all to hide any of the wiring.

 

Tom,

We spoke via email previously. Here is my situation:

Background

2007 H/K, Convert with Nav. Per your recommendation, did not do the cd changer harness wiring Dice kit as this would take over the Nav when music on the iPod is playing with the text of the song playing. Your recommended approach was the R40 kit, connecting directly to the radio. I had Matt from Soundworks in San Carlos install.

Problem

The problem is that the only options seem to be: 1) text display for songs can appear on the radio (disk 6, track 1) but this hijacks the Nav. It was my understanding that this would not be the case with the R40. I have tried the other option on disk 6, tracks 5 and 6 (difference being only the large font); with these options, text shows up on the Nav and hijacks it preventing viewing of the map or the directions. 2) If I don't show the text on the radio, but do the disk 6 track 4 or 6, it hijacks the Nav.

What are your recommendations? Neither Matt, after installing, nor I after using it for the past day can prevent this from occuring. Since i use my Nav alot, the only options I have are to play the iPod music with not knowing the song, if I want to use the Nav. Again, I thought this was going to work? Please help.

 

As it's the weekend and Tom is likely not near at work, i'll answer as best as I can. I met up with Tom last week at the DICE factory to do some testing and try and troubleshoot the nav/dice issue.

As of now there is NO fix for the Nav issue. I'm not aware of the head unit kit making this any different.

CD 6 Track 1 will give you Nav and Head Unit Text, CD 6 Track 6 will give you Nav Only. If you select CD 6 Track 99 it will shut the text off completely. At this time the only fix available is to shut off text completely. While the DICE unit is in Nav only (CD 6 Track 6) any change to the screen (Going to menu, etc) will completely disable the text. A possible solution that DICE is investigating is emulating the Sirius Satellite Radio signal, which would allow text to be displayed on the head unit only. They're also looking into using the CD Text (For MP3 CD's) as a text field rather than the phone speed dial function.

Right now the only solution is to disable iPod text completely (CD 6 Track 99) while using the navigation. keep in mind you can still use the navigation with iPod text on, you just won't be able to see any visual cues on the screen.

 

FYI, Tom, My IPOD doesn't appear to be charging anymore via the DICE unit. Any idea on a fix?

 

question, I have an march '05 build and my head unit can play mp3's. Would the ID3 tags show up with this Dice unit? I'm just starting to look at my options. I currently have the aux port with my iPod but am looking for something better and the HD seems to be a good addition as well.
Also, is there still full control from the iPod while its connected?
Thanks in advance
DanC

 

Yea you can still control the ipod while it's plugged into the dice unit. I have no idea if a march 05 head unit will show mp3 text. If you make an Mp3 cd with the ID3 tags intact does your head unit show them?

 

I burned an mp3 cd and no text shows up as the song plays, just TR00-001, etc. Are the tags shown on newer head units? I have a buddy that has an '06 stock head unit he took out of his mcs. I wonder if it would work with the new head unit in my '05.

 

All head units are backwards compatable, so yes your friends head unit would work, but I don't know that it's needed.

What did you use to burn the CD? Often times the CD info doesn't get carried over if it's burned in a disk burning utility or just thrown into a "Burn" folder like in windows XP.

Try using iTunes to burn the disk.

 

MINI headunits (pre-R56) do not display ID3 information from MP3 CD's. It was only starting in '05 that they could even play MP3 CD's.

 

i burned a disk of a playlist using iTunes on my mac.

 

I was under the impression that they supported ID3 tags. I know they support text display because Sirius/XM displays show fine, and the DICE unit will display fine unless you happen to have a nav.

 

I would like to make sure that the tags would work from the dice system. Is there a way to test it out before I invest in this? I do get the RDS info from radio stations, but have not seen titles show up on mp3 cds. I have read some of the previous posts here and it seems the the 4/05 build prerequisite is not actually required. some have stated that models as early as 2/05 builds work with the tags. I have a 3/05 build.

btw, thanks for the super quick responses. very cool.

 

Where do you live?

 

The headunit itself does not handle ID3 tags on MP3 CDs. For DICE and Sirius/XM, it receives text sent from the outboard unit.

 

Here is a process you can also use to determine if your CD Player is an '05 and will display the ID3 tags...

From my buddy Murray
One very important note is that your head unit MUST be one manufactured after Jan 2005 or it will NOT display text. To check the date. Turn the ignition on, then turn the radio off, turn the radio back on and now hold the ‘M’ button down for about 10 – 12 sec. The radio will display its serial number, now use the far right button marked ”-” on the radio and the next number displayed is the firmware XX YR XX. The middle pair of numbers is the year. That YR reference needs to say 05 or 06 in order to display the text you desire.

Best Regards-
Randy

 

Thanks Randy! I will try it when I get home today.

 

No problem! I didn't realize it was you when I replied earlier. So used to seeing DanC on your blog =)

This was the same method I used to verify my own Headunit would display the Artist and Title information before I picked up a Dension IceLink Plus off eBay.

I am interested in the DICE HD / Ipod unit as an upgrade.

Cheers-
Randy

 

We claim the 4/05 as a buffer, we've seen units as early as 1/05 being compatible. The software version on the radio is the real indicator.

 

Should actually start with SV, the last 2 numbers needs to be 50 or higher.

 

Tom any clues on my iPod not charging with the DICE? To be honest I don't know if it was working before we swapped out the units. I just assumed it was.

 

We swapped modules a couple of times in your MCS when swapping modules, try the following steps:

1. Disconnect iPod from cable
2. Remove battery cables (in trunk), negative first
3. Touch battery cable terminals together (away from battery) for +5 seconds, a small spark is normal as this is stored power draining from the system.
4. Allow cables to remain disconnected for about 5-7 minutes
5. Reconnect battery cables onto battery, negative last.
6. Reboot iPod by pressing on MENU and CENTER buttons for +5 seconds and then reconnecting to the DICE cable after the reboot process is completed.

Let me know if these steps correct the problem.