Has my TMC packed up?

[Vertigo1]

Can someone with nav (ideally tech pack) check if their TMC logo is grey or white like the time display?

Noticed a lack of traffic messages recently and my logo is grey but don't know if this is normal or indicates a problem.

 

[mjcourtney]

TMC is white on mine. Not sure how to turn it off and on mind you.

 

[Vertigo1]

Ah, mine's not working then

Don't think there is an option to turn it off - back to the dealer we go...

 

[ukm120]

Mines greyed out. Only had the car for a week so haven't had a proper play around with it and not paid much attention to it. I'll have a look later just to check settings.

 

[RossR]

It's possible that you don't have a good enough signal. What's your Classic FM reception like?

 

[Vertigo1]

Never had any problems before around here and have had Audis with nav and TMC over six years now.

Of course it could be a general problem with the system in this area. Will reserve judgement for now and see how it goes.

 

[Nardies]

Never had any problems before around here and have had Audis with nav and TMC over six years now.

Of course it could be a general problem with the system in this area. Will reserve judgement for now and see how it goes.

Mine is also greyed out and has been for ages...

 

[Vertigo1]

Interesting! I presume you also have a total lack of traffic messages?

 

[number3]

Vert, is your nav still updating with traffic alerts?

mark

 

[Vertigo1]

Nope, the traffic messages list is always empty lately.

 

[97catalunya]

Silly question but I want traffic messages on my sat nav, I have ordered the Tech Pack but do I need to also order the Tech Pack with mobile phone prep high in order to get this?

 

[ukm120]

Well checked out my tmc earlier, still greyed out so switched between nav/media/radio and tmc becomes white again. No traffic updates in nav mode though and haven't had any for a couple of days.

 

[Nardies]

Interesting! I presume you also have a total lack of traffic messages?

Correct, I've been checking it for the last few weeks but never have any messages!

 

[Vertigo1]

Sounds like something's up generally then - weird.

Silly question but I want traffic messages on my sat nav, I have ordered the Tech Pack but do I need to also order the Tech Pack with mobile phone prep high in order to get this?

No you don't. TMC data is broadcast on the Classic FM frequency and picked up by a dedicated tuner designed for the purpose. The broadcast follows an international standard so it works in most countries but the data is provided by different sources and under different licences in each country.

In the UK the data is provided by Trafficmaster (the blue cameras you see here and there) and isn't free but requires a licence. Audi have negotiated this licence with Trafficmaster to provide TMC data in their vehicles so there's no cost to the consumer. (Well, they have as of about six or seven years ago - prior to that it was a catastrophe but that's another discussion entirely).

The TMC system works pretty well and allows for dynamic routing around problems. The main issue with it is that it's only as good as the data provided by Trafficmaster. They only cover motorways and major A-roads so it's useless on anything else plus there'll always be a bit of lag before incidents are reported and logged on the system.

The Internet-based systems like Google traffic or the Tomtom live systems use crowd-sourced data where everyone using the system contributes by uploading their location and speed and so forth. The servers can thus generate a much more detailed and up-to-date picture of traffic problems. AIUI, the new Audi Connect systems, as recently made available on the A3, will allow you to make use of Google's crowd-sourced traffic data for navigation instead of TMC.

 

[97catalunya]

The TMC system works pretty well and allows for dynamic routing around problems. The main issue with it is that it's only as good as the data provided by Trafficmaster. They only cover motorways and major A-roads so it's useless on anything else plus there'll always be a bit of lag before incidents are reported and logged on the system.

The Internet-based systems like Google traffic or the Tomtom live systems use crowd-sourced data where everyone using the system contributes by uploading their location and speed and so forth. The servers can thus generate a much more detailed and up-to-date picture of traffic problems. AIUI, the new Audi Connect systems, as recently made available on the A3, will allow you to make use of Google's crowd-sourced traffic data for navigation instead of TMC.

Wow Vertigo thank you for your amazing response. That has made things a lot clearer for me. I was confused as I have been driving around recently with my boss in his new Q7 and I remember him checking the traffic but realised after that he has an iPhone so thought "he couldn't have used audi connect?"

So the TMC system will still warn you of issues and offer to re route you then, but using Audi Connect will be more accurate?

 

[Vertigo1]

So the TMC system will still warn you of issues and offer to re route you then, but using Audi Connect will be more accurate?

Yep that's basically it. TMC works well (when it's actually working - this is the first time I've had a problem with it) and will warn you of issues and route around them if it can. It doesn't always re-reroute you in cases where it can't find a better alternative.

What I believe happens is that the nav calculation logic reads the TMC data and applies the reported traffic speeds to the relevant sections of road and then recalculates your route based on these new speeds rather than the prevailing speed limits. If it can then find a faster route it'll change it for you. It's saved my bacon numerous times.

 

[number3]

Vert, had a play with set up this morning , it seems on the standard system which I , i have no TMC icon on the screen and the only place I can turn off TMC is within the sat nav, and then all I can do is tell it to either use it for routing or not! And mines been working fine last few months. I wonder if it has anything to do with the software update we all had few months back ?

mark

 

[Nardies]

I haven't had a software update since receiving the car in September and to be honest, I don't remember TMC ever working. I've randomly gone in and checked for messages to no avail and have the little logo there, but it's always greyed out.

 

[Vertigo1]

Mine was working but now isn't.

I can't remember the last time I saw it working or whether it coincided with the software updates I had a couple of months ago.

TBH I'm getting a bit narked with the MMI system in the 8V. Had a couple of crashes early on, then the ongoing problem with the clock and now this. It's an awesome system but it feels full of bugs.

 

[Nardies]

Mine seems to be working quite well, I have to say. What clock issue do you have?

The only thing I've been annoyed with is the 'random order' it plays songs from the SD card, in that it randomly plays the same songs over and over, leaving around 500 songs untouched!

 

[mjcourtney]

My TMC has so far always been white, regardless of whether i'm on the Nav or Radio. If I go to the Nav and go to Traffic then it gives me a list of all the traffic announcements. If I have route programmed in it says "no traffic information for your route" (or words to that affect).

I've not noticed a bug with the random playing from SD cards, will have to take look!

 

[cemerson]

The only thing I've been annoyed with is the 'random order' it plays songs from the SD card, in that it randomly plays the same songs over and over, leaving around 500 songs untouched!

That's the nature of randomness. Apple famously made their iPod LESS random because people were complaining about a similar issue, so they actually programmed it to be not random and pick songs in a more distributed way. People expect the songs that are picked to be evenly distributed over the whole playlist, but that's not what random is or what it means. I'm sure its working fine.

 

[cemerson]

Humans find the concept of randomness very hard to understand | Mail Online

 

[Nardies]

That's the nature of randomness. Apple famously made their iPod LESS random because people were complaining about a similar issue, so they actually programmed it to be not random and pick songs in a more distributed way. People expect the songs that are picked to be evenly distributed over the whole playlist, but that's not what random is or what it means. I'm sure its working fine.

I had actually read something similar before, with Apple I've actually created a smart playlist that picks up on songs that have never been played, and plays them (if that makes sense)! I kinda assumed that would be the cash with the MMI, and so it seems to be the case!

 

[Vertigo1]

Mine seems to be working quite well, I have to say. What clock issue do you have?

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/new-a3-8v-chassis/184787-ok-bst.html

and

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/new-a3-8v-chassis/190261-had-enough-damned-clock.html

 

[Nardies]

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/new-a3-8v-chassis/184787-ok-bst.html

and

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/new-a3-8v-chassis/190261-had-enough-damned-clock.html

Ah, light bulb! Mine did exactly the same, so I turned off GPS time!

 

[Vertigo1]

Yeah I've had to do the same. It may be a minor inconvenience but, as I've told the dealer, when you're paying the thick end of £2k for tech pack & DAB options, you expect them to be able to get a damned clock to work right!

 

[number3]

Vert, gotta say being light of a few of the options your tech pack has seems to have done me a favour ! As you've said before its not just the fact your clock is wrong, it's the fact it links into so many options on your tech pack!. Lucky for me the standard DAB doesn't show times for the shows!

back to your TMC issue, I know you mentioned this is picked up via classical FM, but I have read that if you have a DAB radio, like us, the TMC is broadcast via that, not FM, ?? Would it make a difference as to whether it was tuned to FM or DAB?? Clutching at straws really.

 

[mjcourtney]

That's a good point Number3, i don't have DAB so the fact that my TMC is white could be because it is functioning correctly over FM and perhaps not DAB?

 

[Nardies]

I've actually got the manual out and there's naff all in there regarding TMC. Might just tune the FM Tuner to Classic FM and go for a drive and see what happens

 

[number3]

That's a good point Number3, i don't have DAB so the fact that my TMC is white could be because it is functioning correctly over FM and perhaps not DAB?

id like to think ive made a good point but im sure its just..... boll erm plain wrong lol !! but who knows...

i still think i have a woofer in my front middle speaker lol.....

 

[mjcourtney]

Maybe you do?! Have you held your ear against it to find out?

If you do, make sure you take a photo of yourself sprawled out across the dashboard with your head pushed against the speaker, and make sure you don't catch the MMI screen button or you'll be the first person to decapitate themselves with athe MMI

 

[Vertigo1]

Didn't know it could be received over DAB. It uses a separate dedicated tuner anyway so it shouldn't matter what station you're tuned to or whether on DAB or FM.

Weirdly, the standard RDS TP function turned itself on today for no apparent reason. Music was suddenly interrupted by the traffic message which made me jump!

 

[Nardies]

Didn't know it could be received over DAB. It uses a separate dedicated tuner anyway so it shouldn't matter what station you're tuned to or whether on DAB or FM.

Weirdly, the standard RDS TP function turned itself on today for no apparent reason. Music was suddenly interrupted by the traffic message which made me jump!

I keep getting this too, so much so I started my own thread! At least we're both getting the same bugs...

 

[Vertigo1]

Well the car went in yesterday to have this and the clock problems looked into. They said they'd probably need it for a couple of days so they could upload data to Audi for their investigation.

They called this afternoon to say they were going back and forth with Audi Germany. It appeared to be a coding issue but Audi couldn't nail down exactly what the problem was or what coding was needed so they were trying different things.

Had another call from them at around 6pm to say they reckoned they had it nailed and it all seemed to be working correctly now. Said I'd pick the car up in the morning as I couldn't be bothered going there at that point. We'll see if it has indeed been sorted and how long it lasts until it all goes wrong again lol!

 

[s8craig]

TMC used be a dedicated tuner up until around 2005, it was then integrated into the radio functions as part of the dual tuner or diversity system. This allows the TMC to be received whilst your listen to whatever radio station you want, be it on FM/MW or DAB.

 

[cemerson]

Well the car went in yesterday to have this and the clock problems looked into. They said they'd probably need it for a couple of days so they could upload data to Audi for their investigation.

They called this afternoon to say they were going back and forth with Audi Germany. It appeared to be a coding issue but Audi couldn't nail down exactly what the problem was or what coding was needed so they were trying different things.

Had another call from them at around 6pm to say they reckoned they had it nailed and it all seemed to be working correctly now. Said I'd pick the car up in the morning as I couldn't be bothered going there at that point. We'll see if it has indeed been sorted and how long it lasts until it all goes wrong again lol!

Can you try and get as much information out of them as you can about the solution? May help others on here!

 

[Vertigo1]

Yeah will do, although they're not usually very forthcoming.

 

[cemerson]

Wonder if they've just turned your GPS time off...

 

[Vertigo1]

Lol better not have done. I'm more concerned about the TMC to be honest though.