The non-tech pack MMI interface

[Karl Alesbury]

Hi!

I've been playing about with a few things, and here are my findings:

My biggest niggle is that I can't get artwork using my iPhone 4S, even though I'm using a red collar cable. I think others are doing it successfully though.

You can use Spotify using either the MMI cable or by streaming over bluetooth. The track and artist will display on the MMI, but you can't use the MMI interface to scan through your spotify playlists, no matter how you connect.

You can change tracks using Spotify, but it's buggy over the cable, and more solid over bluetooth. The MMI interface also has problems deciding how long a track is when it's coming from Spotify. Changing back to the iPod functionality of the phone and picking a track re-sets the track length and all is well. Switch back to Spotify, and it all buggers back up again.

I've also had a problem where my MMI screen went black for a second, and when it came back, it told me that my iPhone was an incompatible device. I fixed it by rebooting my phone. I think that again it was due to using the iPhone's task management functionality to switch between iPod and iPhone using the MMI cable.

One thing I have been able to do is use the Handbrake application to convert a TV episode into MP4 format, which I then transferred onto my phone using iTunes. I could then watch it on the MMI screen by plugging my phone into the MMI cable, selecting the source as cable, and opening the videos section.

Any questions, lemme know, and I'll try and update the post where necessary.

Cheers,

Karl.

 

[constvoid]

Hi!

I've been playing about with a few things, and here are my findings:

My biggest niggle is that I can't get artwork using my iPhone 4S, even though I'm using a red collar cable. I think others are doing it successfully though.


Cheers,

Karl.

I replied on a similar thread recently that I recalled the artwork is only available when using the 'reduced display'. After that I went and checked for myself, and this is indeed true. The reduced display is badly named, but it means that only data for the current track is displayed, and that incudes artwork. I have an iPhone 4S and have no problems, although some have said that they have problems with artwork if it is too large - there's a limit on the number pixels displayed. It's good to hear that you have video working - I haven't tried that myself, as I thought that might be a tech pack only option.

 

[mjcourtney]

Artwork size limits are:

Non-tech pack: 500x500 pixels
Tech Pack: 800x800 pixels

The Tech Pack will display artwork in all display modes, the non-Tech Pack needs the display to be set to 'Reduced Display' to show it.

 

[A3sportbackMark]

What about displaying artwork when running from the SD card?
I copied the complete I - tunes folder on the SD card, ticked the reduced display, but still didn't get artwork.
Should you get artwork?

 

[mjcourtney]

The same artwork limits apply. iTunes doesn't embed the artwork in each file as I believe it uses folder images. You could try embedding the artwork using something like MP3Tag and selecting a 500x500 image to embed within the MP3 file - this should work over SD card.

 

[cemerson]

All my 800x800 artwork certainly works with the tech pack and embedded using MP3 tag. You can set up a batch job to do the import from the folder.jpg files.

 

[strath]

Hi

How did you convert videos to play on the non tech mmi? I tried to convert a vid to mp4 but only got sound and no picture via the Ipod....I have the red cable as well.

Thanks

 

[Karl Alesbury]

Artwork size limits are:

Non-tech pack: 500x500 pixels
Tech Pack: 800x800 pixels

The Tech Pack will display artwork in all display modes, the non-Tech Pack needs the display to be set to 'Reduced Display' to show it.

Where do you enable this?! I had a look yesterday and couldn't find it anywhere.

 

[mjcourtney]

when you're playing a track I think it's the bottom-right button and it's labelled 'Settings' on the MMI. Should be at the bottom of the list of options.

 

[cemerson]

When you are playing something and the playlist is up, press the settings control button (bottom right I think) and the option is in there as a tick box. The reduced display takes over from the main list one after a few seconds of inactivity. You can even then use the wheel to highlight different fields (artist, album), press to search on that item, or press it on the track progress indicator to set a position to play from.

 

[mjcourtney]

....press it on the track progress indicator to set a position to play from.

Ha, I had no idea you could do that! I love this car, keep finding new things out 6 months down the road lol.

 

[Karl Alesbury]

Hi

How did you convert videos to play on the non tech mmi? I tried to convert a vid to mp4 but only got sound and no picture via the Ipod....I have the red cable as well.

Thanks

I used HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder to do it. I picked a video file, but it can be a DVD, and selected iPhone / iPod on the right-hand bar, picked a destination file name, and off it went - I then dragged it into iTunes, and job's a good 'un!

What did you use?

 

[Karl Alesbury]

when you're playing a track I think it's the bottom-right button and it's labelled 'Settings' on the MMI. Should be at the bottom of the list of options.

Ahhh - I've found it - It's only available in MMI cable mode. Not bluetooth.

 

[cemerson]

Ha, I had no idea you could do that! I love this car, keep finding new things out 6 months down the road lol.

I've spent the last few days going through the handbooks in several sittings!

 

[strath]

I used HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder to do it. I picked a video file, but it can be a DVD, and selected iPhone / iPod on the right-hand bar, picked a destination file name, and off it went - I then dragged it into iTunes, and job's a good 'un!

What did you use?

I forget the name but not that one, did you pick a resolution or leave that up to the handbrake transcoder? Also have you tried running video off an SD card, not sure i want to leave the Ipod in the car all the time...

cheers

also what does video look like on the non tech screen, its resolution is only 400 by 240 isn't it..

 

[Karl Alesbury]

if you choose iPhone / iPod from the menu on the right-hand side of Handbrake, it'll auto-select all that for you. I haven't tried it on an SD card; only on an iPhone, as I don't have any SD cards.

The video is pretty tiny, but I'm comparing it to having my iPhone on a sucker-based windscreen-mounted phone holder. They're roughly the same size.

 

[strath]

if you choose iPhone / iPod from the menu on the right-hand side of Handbrake, it'll auto-select all that for you. I haven't tried it on an SD card; only on an iPhone, as I don't have any SD cards.

The video is pretty tiny, but I'm comparing it to having my iPhone on a sucker-based windscreen-mounted phone holder. They're roughly the same size.

Managed to get video to play via the ipod as long as the source material was under 720p no luck with same file on the sd card just comes up as not recognised.....