It's time for a major overhaul of Skoda (and VAG) ICE systems

[DoggieHowser]

Apple - iPod - Your new car and your iPod get along so well.

It doesn't bother me how it works. It just does. Music through the head unit via USB and a standard cable. It's really simple.

What Apple didn't tell you is how tedious the "Made for iPod/iPhone/iPad" program is.

Wadia and ALO spent ages trying to get their digital docks through Apple for approval. And even then, there's no 100% guarantee.

The first Wadia i170 dock was only certified for iPods and the iPhone would get a compatibility pop up. Enter the new model 171iTransport

We just recently got the Cambridge Audio one which was more ambitious. It was designed to dock an iPad on. And it had video outputs as well as digital audio coax to an external DAC (like one found in a head unit).

It was just released in May after going through Apple labs for the Made for iPad logo.

And then we tested it and found it doesn't work with the iPad 2. Crap.

I think even Alpine's newest navi head unit doesn't handle video with iPods over USB.

[Maverick]

In the last month I have plugged an iDevice into a Hyundai, Volvo and Holden head unit and then CONTROLLED and PLAYED music via an ordinary cable via a USB port, whilst charging the device. It's abundantly clear to understand.

How it works - who really cares?

People that want it to work in the future perhaps. People that want decent sound quality as well.

That it works is the issue.

For now.

That VW can't make it work without a proprietary cable is also the issue.

Not at all, nearly every car has a proprietary cable for iCrud/iTurd/iPoo access. Who cares really, if Steve Jobs told you to spend $500 on a cable to use it in the car you'd do it in a flash.

[brenno]

Nope but I can't figure out if you're trolling or cannot understand really basic facts like I have explained time and time again about having to use a method not supported by Apple that can be disabled by an Apple update.

For the purposes of ease of use and not having the use the MDI setup, I'll take my chances with one of the worlds most popular mobile devices continuing to work with one of the worlds most popular auto manufacturers.

Once again this isn't streaming and it's not supported.

The really crucial part here is that it works

As Apple say most iPod ready units use a 30 pin cable SIMILAR to the one that connects to your computer. It doesn't say anything about using the Apple USB cable to connect to a USB port, in fact the photo shows a non genuine Apple cable being used to connect.

Wow, this is definitive proof

Sure it doesn't, you'd be back here whining about how an update to your phone stopped your iTurd from working and how dare VW use a non supported solution and how dare they tell you that you need a new headunit now to use it.

See above.

brenno you should give us some examples, which unit is better and in which way or just stop pushing your point. It's obvious that Maverick explained it very well and I have to say from my own experience that RNS510 is far better unit then anything in the current market, for me and for most VAG car owners. Even for navigation, which inbuilt or portable unit has dead reckoning with 10GB storage for maps to keep you on track when you don't have the satellites coverage?

I've read your post a couple of times and am not sure you're on the same page. Everything I have said has referred to preferring a single USB port and using your own cable instead of being forced into buying different legacy cables for different devices.

Nothing about satnav, nothing about UI. I've never used an RNS510.

[Transporter]

So, you have nothing to talk about!

[sVWatt]

I've never used an RNS510.

Huh ?

[brenno]

People that want it to work in the future perhaps.

I'm pretty confident my old 120gb iPod is going to work for as long as I own the car It would be nice if I didn't have to buy a legacy cable though

People that want decent sound quality as well.

They're just factory head units. They're all kind of lame. Sound quality is relative

Not at all, nearly every car has a proprietary cable for iCrud/iTurd/iPoo access. Who cares really, if Steve Jobs told you to spend $500 on a cable to use it in the car you'd do it in a flash.

See, you say that....but isn't that exactly what VW are doing? I'm the one saying I want to use the standard cable.

[brenno]

Huh ?

Eh? The MDI setup is not unique to the RNS510.

[Transporter]

Eh? The MDI setup is not unique to the RNS510.

What unit do you have in your car? Do you plan to get RNS510?

[brenno]

What unit do you have in your car? Do you plan to get RNS510?

No, but we considered it.

We have a mix of 3 x RNS300 and 2 x RNS310.

As you can imagine, having 5 x RNS510's is not really economically viable. Instead we share one $80 navigation app across 11 mobile devices which works really well as it is portable within other cars in the fleet.

We have the MDI interface in one of the cars. It's been a real disappointment. Even more so that we had to pay for it. And then go back and buy another cable. And then yet another cable.

[Maverick]

We have the MDI interface in one of the cars. It's been a real disappointment. Even more so that we had to pay for it. And then go back and buy another cable. And then yet another cable.

The MDI comes with a USB cable. At most you would purchase one other cable for the iTurd.

[brenno]

The MDI comes with a USB cable. At most you would purchase one other cable for the iTurd.

Agreed, it would have been nice had that been the case. Probably a bad salesperson. No USB cable firstly, then the bewilderment that ensued when it wasn't really a USB port as I know it. It doesn't even charge the device! Then the second trip to get the overpriced adapter for the propriety plug.

I can't believe how easy it is in other cars in comparison.

The new Touareg is also getting the RNS 810.

Sure about that? When I looked at the Touareg last year they were using the RNS850.

[Dr Block]

I think we should just resurrect the cassette tape...no cables,USB ports,SD cards, Ipods, etc. Just pop it in and hey presto...music appears!

[Flipper Dog]

Sure about that? When I looked at the Touareg last year they were using the RNS850.

You are correct on this one, the RNS850 will be available with the newly released Touareg in July; the old version RNS510 for Touaregs were stopped production over a year ago.

[teodeh]

The point of the "dock connector" as used in apple gear is that you only use one cable.

If you can do command and control over USB, then great, however you CAN'T do audio over usb (well okay in theory you could stream it over USB, which means offloading the ipod's (typically excellent) ADC to the headunit... but if you wanted to do that, maybe buy a much cheaper hard drive?

VW provide both options, so what are people complaining about?


Also, re. charging: There are excellent reasons it won't charge: It violates the USB spec to pull more than 100mA from a USB port without asking the host controller (which adds a whole lot of complexity and cost to the other end). Devices which blindly pull power could, in theory, damage other devices.

[Maverick]

Agreed, it would have been nice had that been the case. Probably a bad salesperson. No USB cable firstly, then the bewilderment that ensued when it wasn't really a USB port as I know it. It doesn't even charge the device! Then the second trip to get the overpriced adapter for the propriety plug.

I can't believe how easy it is in other cars in comparison.

It sounds like you purchased the optional extension cable that extends the MDI connector.

Standard it comes with a usb cable. The option cable is the ipod cable.

Problems charging the ipod etc came about when Apple changed the specs for charging and removed the ability to charge via the firewire part of the connector but this was years ago. There were a multitude of changes and many of the docking devices around where left unable to charge ipods etc. Volkswagen released a new ipod cable to fix this problem years ago but note that this was not a VW problem but was an Apple change.

Sure about that? When I looked at the Touareg last year they were using the RNS850.

RNS 810 is the Phaeton version, the Touareg is the RNS 850, my typo.