Double Din Touch Screen DVD/Navigation/iPod System (eBay Edition)

[Astroman]

I like how it has a nice clean OEM look to it. Since it runs windows CE are there possibilities for hacks or running some windows programs?

[toy_toronto]

I have seen hacks and there is no doubt there are several out there. In the Dynavin forums (http://dynavin.freeforums.org/wolf-n...s-aio-t81.html) they talk about hacking the the main menu/media player interface and such but sounds a bit complicated (you need to register first before you can read the forums).

Here's another site where they provide utilities and different skins, however the site is in Korean

Sample menu interface: http://www.wolfzone.co.kr/index_navi.html




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[toy_toronto]

Interface:
I like the general look and placement of the physical buttons on the HU bezel. As astoman mentioned, it has an OEM feel to it.. the same type of look the navigation system that my cousin's Lexus has in his SUV. The general GUI is not perfect (not even close to) in some of the menu can be a little clunky however that is to be expected on a low-cost, windows CE platform.. expect to see a few quirks here and there but it will perform the tasks it's intended to do... seems like a fun toy so far.


** AM/FM Radio menu interface. Preset up to 24 FM station and 8 AM station. Supports RDS such as limited radio station info, current songs title, genre, etc.




DVD/Video Playback
I understand some see this as a major hazard but please, no flames. I don't intend to watch DVD movies while driving --that's just plain stupid. I have a giant HD LCD screen in the basement for that purpose. It'll be used for passengers only or as I'm waiting for people in the parking lot. There are lots of variations of these things on EBay but I made sure the one I bought is capable of Picture-in-Picture.


Clarkson on Stig: "** Some say he naturally faces magnetic north, and that all his legs are hydraulic... "




GPS:
The unit came with 2GB SD card that contained the GPS software (Route 66) preinstalled. Route 66 works well, however i thought it wasn't as good as my tomtom or the iGO8 software which I replaced it with. I made a backup of the entire 2GB SD card on my hard drive first, then I formatted it to FAT32. I then copied the entire iGO8 with North America maps to the SD card. I was surprised that it picks up the GPS satellites very quickly (under 20 seconds) even the time when I still had the antenna hidden behind the glove box during the install. I used 2-sided tape and mounted the gps antenna on top of my dash as the final placement.

One big complain I have so far though is that there's way too many features but VERY LITTLE documentation. The manual that came with it is very high level and poorly written. I sort of have to fumble around the menus, drill down try to figure things out as I go along.


** Zoolander: "I'm not an ambi-turner". Below pic shows the PIP NAV screen on top of movie zoomed at 30%. Note the PIP size can be increased/zoomed up to 60% of screen





That's all I have for now and more to come later. I'll try to post some night shots to show the different backlighting options and how well it matches the yaris instrument panel LEDs. Yes, the buttons LED backlights can be changed to green, red, or orange on-the-fly whichever you prefer.


-toy


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[Astroman]

Great review so far, and your pics are great quality.

[WastingEons]

Agreed. I ordered from autodvdgps.com and it doesnt come with the SD card and nav software, so I was wondering what type of SD card it is. From the pics I'd say miniSD?

[toy_toronto]

thanks astroman. looking back at the pictures, they really don't do the screen justice. Screen is clearer in person with good viewing angle (well, not so clear in bright sunny days just like any others) but i'll have to peel off that damn screen protector... it looks awful.

I also think 5% of the brightness is lost due to the scrn protector, i felt it added a dull/hazy look once I applied it. I'll keep it on for now until i get a good quality replacement, i'd rather not scratch the screen.

-toy

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[toy_toronto]

Originally Posted by WastingEons

Agreed. I ordered from autodvdgps.com and it doesnt come with the SD card and nav software, so I was wondering what type of SD card it is. From the pics I'd say miniSD?

The SD format you need is microSDHC. I bought an 8GB microSD for media storage (music, divx, jpegs, etc) and works without any issue. I read somewhere that older units did not support anything larger than 1GB (..or 2GB?) because the built-in reader was not SDHC compatible.


-toy


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[WastingEons]

Alright thanks! Also, I know you said you use a nano, but does it also work with your iphone (listening to music)? And if so, I assume that the HU takes over full control of it?

[toy_toronto]

I've not tried the iPhoine since I don't store music on it (not enough ram after apps are installed).

I'll try a couple of songs on it next time and let you know.

-toy

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[toy_toronto]

By the way, another one of the features I really like about this thing.

It has a V-CDC menu that adds capability to rip audio CDs. It claims I can rip and store up to 5 music CDs to the unit's built-in memory. I only ripped two CDs so far and took around 10-15 minutes to rip each CD.

Once loaded, it is basically a "virtual" 6-CD Changer player. You can add/delete the stored songs later on using the GUI buttons at top of screen.




-toy




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[WastingEons]

Oh, very nice. I was actually wondering what that meant. The Engrish was pretty hard to follow =P

[sleey0]

Thanks for the autodvd link!

$100 cheaper than fleabay. I know it doesn't come with the SD card or maps but I can find those for far less than $100.

Much appreciated:D

[toy_toronto]

Just a word of caution. There's a bunch of these things floating around that run the WinCE OS, therefore are fairly open to changes and upgrades. Some could easily have the clunkier/older firmware while others may have the newer v6.0 CE like my unit.

Did you guys confirm with the vendor first before you ordered? Did you verify that all the other optional parts also come with it? (ex. gps antenna, etc)

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[WastingEons]

Yeah it's got all that good stuff

[toy_toronto]

excellent!


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[toy_toronto]

I suck at night photography, pardon the quality....






-toy

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[WastingEons]

Got mine installed today. Very sexy, thanks for all the info toy. Also, if anyone is interested; it will play music from my iPhone 4 fine, but doesn't charge it. Not that big a deal for me. Another nice feature is that it supports music playback over Bluetooth.

[kac]

ok. I almost ordered a Pioneer on crutchfield for about the same price. I might have to go with this one now...