Viewing ipod videos on Command?

[miro]

Im waiting for my Dension Gateway, will provide hands-on feedback as to the way which seemed best to me once installed (ie. for Video playback).

The very simple reason why the Dension can not control video playback directly is that the main board must contain a special code chip from Apple. Dension does not have this chip and it was not available when the Dension was invented.

 

[wrong]

Reading this thread with interest as I'm about to back-fit a COMAND-APS into my A-Class W169 with some kind of IPod integration. Admittedly I was just about to buy the official MB one - which I now understand is audio only - but the thought of a video option has me interested as the NTG2 COMAND does have video input. Don't want to buy the MB one if I've got to chuck it out later to install a (MOST) media interface.
Three open questions (for now) on my part -
(a) Is the MB IPod interface of any value if I later buy a media gateway ? (Denison has own connection)
(b) Do these media gateways actually integrate with the COMAND menu/steering wheel controls ? (Yes for Denison)
(c) How does Apple video control work from the COMAND ? (answered by Miro for Denison)

 

[spitzkop]

Is that a question or a comment ? I dont understand. The only true diagnostic is Star Diagnose. It gives meaningful error codes.

When looking into the future I dont see the advantage of investing 3 years to develop solutions for a technology that can only service a minority. Clearly MOST is the product of the future.

It was a confuscious.... D2B has been around a long time so I wasnt quite sure wether you were not D2B aware or you were referring to current production models.
COBOL is over 50 years old and still earning many people a pretty packet. Mercedes have sold millions of vehicles, many with COMAND 2.0/2.5 or many who have bought second hand who want to install COMAND and then IPod interfaces. You know your market and where your heading, but I still think there is room to make quite a few bucks from a decent COMAND 2.0/2.5 Ipod system.

Ive had Empeg players since 1999 and to be honest, apart from the video aspect, Ipods are not in the same league. ie. http://riocar.org/modules.php?op=mo...e=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=7&categories=Mk.+Two it had a very easy to use interface, remote control and some good graphics as the music played, a bit like WinAmp. I had to remove mine when I installed COMAND and I modified the electronics so that the Fasica could be mounted .5m from the main box, but never got round to installing it. Since then I got Ipodded and thought it would be easier to just add Ipod to my Mercs.

I have 5 Empeg players so probably will sell 2 (I still use 2 in my other vehicles).

CarSoft is a major diagnostics player making systems for BMW and Mercedes and it costs 2.5K pounds legal paid once, which I have. Star Diagnostics is a rolling contract payment system and not suitable for an individual who just owns a few Mercs! It does give meaningful codes, it should do, it cost a damn lot, but there are the odd codes it doesnt know about.

 

[spitzkop]

Reading this thread with interest as I'm about to back-fit a COMAND-APS into my A-Class W169 with some kind of IPod integration. Admittedly I was just about to buy the official MB one - which I now understand is audio only - but the thought of a video option has me interested as the NTG2 COMAND does have video input. Don't want to buy the MB one if I've got to chuck it out later to install a (MOST) media interface.
Three open questions (for now) on my part -
(a) Is the MB IPod interface of any value if I later buy a media gateway ? (Denison has own connection)
(b) Do these media gateways actually integrate with the COMAND menu/steering wheel controls ? (Yes for Denison)
(c) How does Apple video control work from the COMAND ? (answered by Miro for Denison)

Try Richard Almeira's excellent site: http://www.mercupgrades.com/comand/COMAND-APS-Retrofit.htm
His site, and Wolfgangs (if your a dreaded 4x4 owner) are both gems.

 

[miro]

Reading this thread with interest as I'm about to back-fit a COMAND-APS into my A-Class W169 with some kind of IPod integration. Admittedly I was just about to buy the official MB one - which I now understand is audio only - but the thought of a video option has me interested as the NTG2 COMAND does have video input. Don't want to buy the MB one if I've got to chuck it out later to install a (MOST) media interface.
Three open questions (for now) on my part -
(a) Is the MB IPod interface of any value if I later buy a media gateway ? (Denison has own connection)
(b) Do these media gateways actually integrate with the COMAND menu/steering wheel controls ? (Yes for Denison)
(c) How does Apple video control work from the COMAND ? (answered by Miro for Denison)

The Mercedes iPOD audio kit in conjunction with an NTG2 navigation unit sits inbetween the NTG2 and body wiring harness. The CAN signals of the steering wheel talk to this unit and the cluster does a graphical display of what is going on.

By entering AUX audio mode you are also entering iPOD mode as per the configuration described above. That is why it only works with head units equipped AUX ports (NTG2, W211, W219)

The D2B cars offer limited information for the COMAND to display and the MOST cars offer an 8bit character set which does support song names.

To integrate with MOST COMAND you must appear as a TV tuner or CD stacker in the optical ring due to the pre-defined expectations of the COMAND firmware. Once you have this emulation you can adopt all of the extended capabilities and send data such as song names to the COMAND.

This is rather simple for CD stackers but extremely difficult for phone modules in terms of engineering.

 

[wrong]

>Try Richard Almeida's excellent site: http://www.mercupgrades.com
Agreed ! I have shamelessly printed his notes off in color as - coming from a car where I could happily take the engine apart - its irritating to now own a 'black box' vehicle where I have to rely on the goodwill + information of likeminded individuals to make (legitimate) changes. As a network analyst dealing with open network protocols, the proprietorial nature of Mercedes' API (not network layers which are standardised) to its car electronics is like taking a step back into the dark ages of proprietary IBM networks, and £15K for StarDiagnose is laughable considering what it actually does - if they opened up the car's API you'd soon see a bit of genuine competition and a healthy price drop (and more SourceForge projects), and not just the likes of CarSoft's limited attempt at reverse engineering. I'll get off my soapbox now )

>Miro/MOST
Your technical input is much appreciated - I still consider myself a CAN/MOST/EOBD n00b, and a Mercedes virgin to boot. I've decided to get the MB IPod kit for now which, as you state, will give me audio only. Will this in itself require a StarDiagnose update ? I'm holding back with the Denison/Dietz video gateway upgrade for a later date when I've had a chance to play with all the toys (and the bank-balance looks healthier).
I'm also going to fit the roof-mounted GPS/GSM/FM antenna as per Richard Almeida's notes, as I've been reading about too many people fudging ways to get the best reception from a dash-mounted unit.
I've ordered my bits painlessly with Paypal from a MB Germany dealer who was over 30% cheaper (inc postage) than an online UK dealer in MB parts. Why the UK price hike ? It's just so British...

Cheers all.

 

[spitzkop]

>Try Richard Almeira's excellent site: http://www.mercupgrades.com
Agreed ! I have shamelessly printed his notes off in color as - coming from a car where I could happily take the engine apart - its irritating to now own a 'black box' vehicle where I have to rely on the goodwill + information of likeminded individuals to make (legitimate) changes. As a network analyst dealing with open network protocols, the proprietorial nature of Mercedes' API (not network layers which are standardised) to its car electronics is like taking a step back into the dark ages of proprietary IBM networks, and £15K for StarDiagnose is laughable considering what it actually does - if they opened up the car's API you'd soon see a bit of genuine competition and a healthy price drop (and more SourceForge projects), and not just the likes of CarSoft's limited attempt at reverse engineering. I'll get off my soapbox now )

>Miro/MOST
Your technical input is much appreciated - I still consider myself a CAN/MOST/EOBD NOOB, and a Mercedes virgin to boot. I've decided to get the MB IPod kit for now which, as you state, will give me audio only. Will this in itself require a StarDiagnose update ? I'm holding back with the Denison/Dietz video gateway upgrade for a later date when I've had a chance to play with all the toys (and the bank-balance looks healthier).
I'm also going to fit the roof-mounted GPS/GSM/FM antenna as per Richard Almeira's notes, as I've been reading about too many people fudging ways to get the best reception from a dash-mounted unit.
I've ordered my bits painlessly with Paypal from a MB Germany dealer who was over 30% cheaper (inc postage) than an online UK dealer in MB parts. Why the UK price hike ? It's just so British...

Cheers all.

Germany is MUCH cheaper, even though theyve gone up 3% on the Mehrwertsteuer (VAT) since Jan 2007! (they cheated, actually raising across board prices last year and when the new year came in, dropped the prices and updated the VAT)!!
I paid EUR419 (280pounds) for the Dension, but with Merc parts, last year I saved a fortune by buying all my parts from Merc dealer here in Germany and Turbo off Ebay Germany! With the strong value of the pound, it makes even more sense for UK people to buy from Germany.

Will give feedback on my Dension solution pros and cons as and when its installed.

 

[Gollom]

Do you have any URL's for German dealer with english webpages?

 

[wrong]

> Do you have any URL's for German dealer with english webpages?

This is by no means an endorsement of this (or any) dealers!!!

I spent a bit of time looking for websites (Forums, Google) that have MB parts in the UK, and on the continent. It's the Dark Ages out there, and in the end I've not really found any useful 'complete' MB online shopping sites. Anyone else ???
UK - I've used a UK site that seems to have all the part numbers and prices (that I looked for anyway). It seems to have good feedback in some Forums. As usual it helps if you know the part# which is useless if you're an amateur like me: http://www.mercedes-benz-parts.co.uk
Holland - Didn't find any useful online MB Parts sites
France - Didn't find any useful online MB Parts sites
Germany - Didn't find any sites that usefully stock/search MB parts. In the end I decided to use MB Leipzig www.leipzig.mercedes-benz.de as they have a small and cheap EBay presence (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-Benz-Niederlassung-Leipzig) and, by that fact alone, appear to be lightyears ahead of the competition. No separate parts-site online however (?), and their website's in German. To keep things simple I emailed them for a quote for a list of parts in English ([email protected]). The response was quick, courteous and in English and after a couple of emails to seek clarification of some of the parts (asked me for my VIN to help identify correct parts), I said that I was happy and would like to order. I asked whether IBAN/BIC, Credit Card, or Paypal would be OK, and they responded by sending me a Paypal payment request which, as an EBayer, was dead easy. I ordered around 300Euros worth, and insured P&P to the UK was charged at 10Euros.
I've done bank transfer to Germany before, but my bank charges 20GBP for the privilige which I guess helps them pay for their XMas bonusses.
Also bear in mind that I have yet to receive my order (paid for last night), but I have no reason to believe it's not a straightforward deal. I guess returns might be a bit more tricky than a UK dealer.

 

[Alfie]

>Try Richard Almeira's excellent site: http://www.mercupgrades.com
Agreed ! I have shamelessly printed his notes off in color as - coming from a car where I could happily take the engine apart - its irritating to now own a 'black box' vehicle where I have to rely on the goodwill + information of likeminded individuals to make (legitimate) changes. As a network analyst dealing with open network protocols, the proprietorial nature of Mercedes' API (not network layers which are standardised) to its car electronics is like taking a step back into the dark ages of proprietary IBM networks, and £15K for StarDiagnose is laughable considering what it actually does - if they opened up the car's API you'd soon see a bit of genuine competition and a healthy price drop (and more SourceForge projects), and not just the likes of CarSoft's limited attempt at reverse engineering. I'll get off my soapbox now )

>Miro/MOST
Your technical input is much appreciated - I still consider myself a CAN/MOST/EOBD n00b, and a Mercedes virgin to boot. I've decided to get the MB IPod kit for now which, as you state, will give me audio only. Will this in itself require a StarDiagnose update ? I'm holding back with the Denison/Dietz video gateway upgrade for a later date when I've had a chance to play with all the toys (and the bank-balance looks healthier).
I'm also going to fit the roof-mounted GPS/GSM/FM antenna as per Richard Almeira's notes, as I've been reading about too many people fudging ways to get the best reception from a dash-mounted unit.
I've ordered my bits painlessly with Paypal from a MB Germany dealer who was over 30% cheaper (inc postage) than an online UK dealer in MB parts. Why the UK price hike ? It's just so British...

Cheers all.

Richards site is indeed very very useful. However his name is Richard Almeida not Almeira!

Provided you have Telephone pre-wire then the Factory IPOD kit simply plugs in and works with the steering wheel controls.

I'm retrofitting COMAND, IPOD and CD changer to a car without TPW tonight so i'll let you know if the IPOD element requires coding or not.

 

[wrong]

> Will give feedback on my Dension solution pros and cons as and when its installed.

Definitely look forward to your experience !

 

[wrong]

>I'm retrofitting COMAND, IPOD and CD changer to a car without TPW
> tonight so i'll let you know if the IPOD element requires coding or not.

Definitely interested as that's exactly what I'm looking to do (W169). I guess it's still inevitable that I'll have to get a friendly MB chap with StarDiagnose involved if only to get the FahrzeugDOKumentationssystem (FDOK) updated... any recommendations ?

 

[richard]

I've used MB Leipsig before, very good service ...

Richard

 

[spitzkop]

SORRY Richard.... I misquoted your surname.... Good that someones awake, thanks Alfie! Should I press the Thanks button here ... or not... debate going on in other thread!

German's from my experience are reliable and trustworthy. They send me goods Cash On Delivery or by invoice (pay later) at the drop of a hat (obviously have to be registered in Germany for the latter, they do check). The COMAND I bought wasnt upgradeable to the MY2001 software, contacted the guy and he replaced it at his cost! I bought a brand new Turbo off a German Ebay guy, ~400Euro thinking I might get a rough one, but no, apart from a few marks was perfect and been great, covered over 8000 miles since installation no noise or problems.

I dont have any web sites, I just go to local dealer. Previously using www.detali.ru to locate the parts, now using the EPC net site which saved a lot of time. What impressed me though was no matter what part I wanted, they had it in the next day! Try that one in the UK!

 

[Alfie]

>I'm retrofitting COMAND, IPOD and CD changer to a car without TPW
> tonight so i'll let you know if the IPOD element requires coding or not.

Definitely interested as that's exactly what I'm looking to do (W169). I guess it's still inevitable that I'll have to get a friendly MB chap with StarDiagnose involved if only to get the FahrzeugDOKumentationssystem (FDOK) updated... any recommendations ?

Coding is required for IPOD if you dont have telephone pre wire.

If you are fitting COMAND, CD and IPOD then I strongly suggest you read all of Richards document on how to fit this and obtain all the parts he recommends.

You WILL need to get it coded up with a STAR system.

One thing learnt from last nights install is that the antennae may appear not to be working by showing '-' for the number of satellites. Usually if there are no satellites visible it shows '0' however after driving around for a while, it will/should burst into life and show 0 then 1,2...etc. A bit misleading at first!

Also, after fitting the CD changer if you remove the two tabs on the top of the CD holder you removed from the glove box and fit some velcro to the upper left front corner of it, it then fits very snuggly back in the glove box above the changer itself! Normally this part would be redundant.

I will post a picture or two later...........

email me on [email protected] if you want a quote to fit this all to your car.

 

[miro]

>

>Miro/MOST
Your technical input is much appreciated - I still consider myself a CAN/MOST/EOBD n00b, and a Mercedes virgin to boot. I've decided to get the MB IPod kit for now which, as you state, will give me audio only. Will this in itself require a StarDiagnose update ? I'm holding back with the Denison/Dietz video gateway upgrade for a later date when I've had a chance to play with all the toys (and the bank-balance looks healthier).
I'm also going to fit the roof-mounted GPS/GSM/FM antenna as per Richard Almeida's notes, as I've been reading about too many people fudging ways to get the best reception from a dash-mounted unit.
I've ordered my bits painlessly with Paypal from a MB Germany dealer who was over 30% cheaper (inc postage) than an online UK dealer in MB parts. Why the UK price hike ? It's just so British...

Cheers all.

As I understand it, there are four steps with video input to the COMAND unit.

1) Video ipod sources (I will talk about iPOD only here)

2) Video input to COMAND (a specific type of MOST problem)

3) FREE-TV to be able to watch the movie when the passenger is bored. Never for the driver.

4) Control of movies from steering or COMAND = stop, start, pause, play next movie.

For it to be a seamless and happy solution you need #4. As far as I know, at this time there is no company doing that over MOST for video ipod. That is the reason why I do not recommend jumping in too early.

 

[richard]

Also, after fitting the CD changer if you remove the two tabs on the top of the CD holder you removed from the glove box and fit some velcro to the upper left front corner of it, it then fits very snuggly back in the glove box above the changer itself! Normally this part would be redundant.

Thanks, thats good - i'll go and modify my old CD holder ..

Cheers

Richard

 

[wrong]

Just came across this IPod-MOST interface. Does anyone know whether this solves the issues of proper IPod-Video on COMAND-APS and control of the IPod via the COMAND (including proper playlists etc) ?
http://www.nav-tv.co.uk/show_products.asp?product_id=208

 

[Alfie]

Just came across this IPod-MOST interface. Does anyone know whether this solves the issues of proper IPod-Video on COMAND-APS and control of the IPod via the COMAND (including proper playlists etc) ?
http://www.nav-tv.co.uk/show_products.asp?product_id=208

That looks like it simply offers you audio playback at the expense of your CD changer! The factory IPOD kit allows you to keep the Cd changer and display track/playlist info in the cluster so why would anyone ever want that thing!

 

[c200kse]

You'll find the Dension unit just as competitively priced as Nav-TV Merc-Ipod, but a more superior unit. The Dension Gateway 500 will allow your CD changer to remain and you can switch between the cd changer and ipod, you get a video output if you use a Video Ipod, USB connection, seperate RCA audio connection etc.

see link http://www.dension.com/icelinkgateway500.php