ANS-810 / ANS-510 (PROPER RNS-510 alternative)

[DkN]

I have uncovered a bit of a frustrating bug in the firmware, and would love to know if anyone has found a way around it. I usually listen to long DJ sets (2+hrs) that are a single mp3 track. I have noticed that when I am listening to a set (say 20mins into it) I will turn the car off and go to work, then come back after work and start the car to find the set has started from the beginning.

To make it more frustrating the "fast forward" button is ineffective because it skips so slowly through the set that its not worth using. I know this is bug rather then a setting because it doesn't always happen. I think I would cope better with it if the fast forward function moved through the track quicker, or if you could select a certain part of the track using the right jog wheel (it doesn't seem to do anything at the moment during SD mode).

Yes I think they are aware of an issue with exceedingly long tracks but they've been recently working on iPod. I have also raised the FF issue with them so hopefully they will fix it soon.

I have an ANS-610. Is there anyway of changing the icon (the arrow head, your car) in the Navigation screen? I cant seem to find an option! Secondly, my FM tuner is set to the USA. When set to Europe, and RDS is turned on, I cant detect any stations. But they scan fine with USA. Any ideas?

Yeah the RDS scan seems a bit picky, I always set mine manually. I leave RDS on Europe, haven't tried USA but Europe picks up all my station names.

To change icon of your car in the GPS, open up your satnav, go to settings -> map settings and scroll down.

Cheers,

Sandy

[DkN]

Heads up guys, in contrast to what I said a while back that the unit may require new hardware, 3G internet browsing is coming to the next firmware release

Will require using a 3G USB modem, of course.

[DSGVW]

Who cares about 3G internet on this thing when we all have phones anyways?

I'm still waiting for them to fix the 3 second track problem where when you are searching your tracks the screen flips back after 3 seconds!! Still so dangerous! Maybe in China this is not a problem, haha..

[DkN]

Who cares about 3G internet on this thing when we all have phones anyways?

I'm still waiting for them to fix the 3 second track problem where when you are searching your tracks the screen flips back after 3 seconds!! Still so dangerous! Maybe in China this is not a problem, haha..

Lol, I have an experimental version of the software that has this removed already, just waiting till the next major firmware release before sending it out to everyone.

[jessv3]

Who cares about 3G internet on this thing when we all have phones anyways? .

Me! Internet radio is a huge plus in my books. Streaming via Bluetooth is inconvenient when you have to do it every day.

I am guessing the firmware will have to support some sort of app or browser to be able to use Internet radio? If the firmware is android based I recommend tunein radio, it has a huge selection of online stations.

[turbo81]

Re: ANS-810 / ANS-510 (PROPER RNS-510 alternative)

Who cares about 3G internet on this thing when we all have phones anyways?

I'm still waiting for them to fix the 3 second track problem where when you are searching your tracks the screen flips back after 3 seconds!! Still so dangerous! Maybe in China this is not a problem, haha..

I totally agree. They should fix all existing defects before introducing new features. I really hope they fix the track names to display rather than chopping them into 30 characters, annoying!

Sandy, any news on the fix for picking up calls using the phone button on the steering wheel?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[whiskywallah]

+1 for fixing existing features to become a PROPER RNS alternative.

[wai]

Product development is something that really needs to be managed. This does not mean that it is not being done at the moment, just that it can easily end up chasing things rather than being prioritised.

For me, the first thing that needs to be looked at is integration into the VW system so that it operates like the unit it "replaces". The first step is hardware so that the switches/bottons/etc work the same way, and the MFD can also be used if possible. Once this is done, you then look at making sure that the software functions as it should, and then only once this has been done do you look at adding features.

I hope this is not taken the wrong way, but I have been involved in product development and reverse engineering, and it is not as easy as many think it is. Also it is very easy to get caught up in adding things before the base has been done. The end result is that as the base items are finally resolved, many of the additions end up being affected.

As it stands, it has the essential elements of the RNS510, except that not all the steering wheel buttons work or the MFD works. That needs to be top priority, and then it is the software that is there that works, and only then should additions be considered.

[DkN]

You're right of course but it is a little more complicated than that. Most of the features like proper shuffle + repeat for music are not programmatically easy to achieve. The little things like they are fixing (actually things like browsing time out have already been fixed as I mentioned, I'm just waiting for the next firmware to release it). Understand though I am sending them entire lists of feature suggestions and they have their own development plans too, unfortunately I am not their manager In fact sales-wise I am only a very insignificant part of their customer base but I establish a good relationship because I am more knowledgeable and give better feedback than their average distributor.

I will push for features and fixes, trust me no one wants this more than I do as I have bigger plans but will not be going ahead until I am 100% satisfied with the unit.

Me! Internet radio is a huge plus in my books. Streaming via Bluetooth is inconvenient when you have to do it every day.

I am guessing the firmware will have to support some sort of app or browser to be able to use Internet radio? If the firmware is android based I recommend tunein radio, it has a huge selection of online stations.

I don't think there will be an internet radio app unfortunately, though they are providing a built-in web browser. The system is Wince 6.0 and not Android. They have experimented with Android and actually ditched development half way. It really isn't worth it, Android is not cut out for the car environment, issues with stability and temperature etc. There's a reason why no serious headunits run Android.

[wai]

Understand though I am sending them entire lists of feature suggestions and they have their own development plans too, unfortunately I am not their manager

I know and I everyone appreciates what you do. I suppose it was more for us as well, as flooding them with wishes has the potential to divert limited resources. Maybe we need to supply fedback about things.

For example, knowing that the steering wheel controls were not supposed to operate the phone functions, I had not bothered using any of them to try and work the phone functions. Then yesterday I accidentally pressed the phone button on my steering wheel and found that it brought up the phone screen (with the number pad and associated screen functions). So the unit is reading and responding to the button press, so to extend that to answering/hanging up the phone should not be that far away.

[starionx]

You're right of course but it is a little more complicated than that. Most of the features like proper shuffle + repeat for music are not programmatically easy to achieve.

Ummm... with the problems I've had with USB and the latest FW update, I forgot to mention that the Random button (on SD card) now 'sticks' when the unit is powered off/on. YAY
Can someone test this on USB to confirm it works with that?

[stampsosu]

Hey DkN

I ordered my ANS610 from audiosources! In regards to the different interface color schemes, here is a link that shows the three interface color schemes that the oem RNS510 offers (not just the red or green color option for the buttons, but a difference in the interface) - you have to scroll down a bit: MDI Firmware update - Done and reccomended - Page 5 This is a pretty sweet feature with the oem RNS

The ANS interface looks like it mirrors the 'premium' interface scheme, the one in the middle. For the RNS, the only way to change the interface color scheme is through vag-com, but perhaps the ANS product team can possibly add these other themes but make it an option that can be easily changed through the head unit itself? Just throwing in some suggestions to get this unit as close to oem as possible

[starionx]

Ummm... with the problems I've had with USB and the latest FW update, I forgot to mention that the Random button (on SD card) now 'sticks' when the unit is powered off/on. YAY

Maybe not.

A couple of days ago the Random option was no longer sticking. Last night I was doing some testing on it and had some really bizarre things happen.
When I rebooted the system, it would start up playing the last song (normal), and I would press Random. If I pressed the Next button, it would play a song I've heard many times recently. Press Next and again it would play another song I've heard a lot. Press Next again... the same thing. These songs are not sequential on the drive. After rebooting a number of times and following the same sequence, the same songs would play. After the 3rd song, it would actually be completely random.
At one point, a song was playing and I could not get the Next button to work (either on the screen or on the steering wheel). Every other button worked. Even after a reboot, 'Next' would not work. I had to go into the folders and manually select another song, and the Next button started working again.
More amazing was that after this incident, the Random option started 'sticking' again after a reboot.

I think my unit is haunted.

[DkN]

Hey DkN

I ordered my ANS610 from audiosources! In regards to the different interface color schemes, here is a link that shows the three interface color schemes that the oem RNS510 offers (not just the red or green color option for the buttons, but a difference in the interface) - you have to scroll down a bit: MDI Firmware update - Done and reccomended - Page 5 This is a pretty sweet feature with the oem RNS

The ANS interface looks like it mirrors the 'premium' interface scheme, the one in the middle. For the RNS, the only way to change the interface color scheme is through vag-com, but perhaps the ANS product team can possibly add these other themes but make it an option that can be easily changed through the head unit itself? Just throwing in some suggestions to get this unit as close to oem as possible

I think they do have plans for more themes and customisation but they will not be a priority until the more functional aspects of the software are complete.

Maybe not.

A couple of days ago the Random option was no longer sticking. Last night I was doing some testing on it and had some really bizarre things happen.
When I rebooted the system, it would start up playing the last song (normal), and I would press Random. If I pressed the Next button, it would play a song I've heard many times recently. Press Next and again it would play another song I've heard a lot. Press Next again... the same thing. These songs are not sequential on the drive. After rebooting a number of times and following the same sequence, the same songs would play. After the 3rd song, it would actually be completely random.
At one point, a song was playing and I could not get the Next button to work (either on the screen or on the steering wheel). Every other button worked. Even after a reboot, 'Next' would not work. I had to go into the folders and manually select another song, and the Next button started working again.
More amazing was that after this incident, the Random option started 'sticking' again after a reboot.

I think my unit is haunted.

I think something like that is related to having the Random button shuffle the songs before all of them have been scanned. You will notice on boot if you go directly into folder, that not all your songs are there yet. I think at this stage using the random button could mean that it is shuffling what songs it can currently find, so if you later go back to folder and choose a song that wasn't in the original shuffle order, the next button may not work because it does not know what the next song should be. Another possibility is because the Random button turns off the repeat option at the moment, if you have selected songs manually from the folder you may have reached the last song of the shuffled list, at which point because repeat is not turned on there will be no next song.

Not sure about the random button sticking after boot, I have not tested the latest firmware in my own car because I have an older unit, but software wise there's a little more to keeping random on boot than just remembering the option, because of what I said above. If it is working but inconsistently right now it's likely still beta.

[DkN]

Quick heads up that I will be away from 19 November to 11 December so during this period I will not be able to sell / ship units.