Took me about 2 hours for the install in my 05 tacoma and most of that was trying to run the wires for the GPS antenna and hands free mic. My arms and hands just dont fit well into the tight spaces trying to snake around all the brackets and ducting.
When i get some more time im going to add a garage remote to the system so that i can use the built in switches.
Overall its an awesome unit. Does everything I want and more. The interface isnt the most stream lined but 5min of playing with it and i was able to use it well and could navigate the menus easily, would have been faster if i just sat down and read the manual first. I just need to get accustomed to using the dvd player.
The only down side is the fast forward for the video, you cant or at least i havent figured out how to do it from the video screen. I must switch to the source screen, press fast forward go back to the video so that i can see where the video is and i can press play from there. However if you use the remote its just pressing one button.
DVD play back is excellent, the screen looks great. No complaints, the remote control works wonderfully in controlling playback.
The bluetooth works great, the phone syncs with it every time and all i need to do is get in the car and turn it on, no more headsets for me. The unit downloaded all my contacts automatically and the voice dialing works but is seperate from the phone and you need to record a sample of the name, SMS texting dosent work however and i think this is going to vary from phone to phone. I do need to relocate the mic as there is some echo as it sits close a speaker and i havent played with the settings yet.
I was able to ground out the parking wire and enable all of the functions of the unit all the time. I attached the wire to a screw behind the glove box that connects to a support bar. I have found no option in the head unit to turn off this feature through the software.
One complaint is that sometimes and its only with one of the videos on my
ipod, when it plays the screen goes blue and it says no video signal. But it goes away if i try to play it again. I think its just the
ipod and the way i converted that video for the
ipod.
ipod music and video is easily searched by catagory and playlist. I wish i could make playlists on the fly but i guess while driving thats a bit excessive.
If you can swing it i think this is the unit to get so far.
heres some pics of it working
point45/DNX8120 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Video of me running though some of the basic features.
1.flv - Video - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Update:
After using the unit for almost a week i have found no issues. After relocating the mic there is no echo but people say they can definatly tell that im on a speaker phone. The odd thing about this is when i taped the mic to its current position and called my friend to test it out he said it sounded fine and couldnt tell that i was using the speaker phone. I still cant get the SMS to work but its not a huge deal as everything else is working wonderfully and im not a big text messaging guy. If someone sends me a text message its usually not an emergency. I have added a picture of where i installed the mic to my photobucket album.
Someone said their unit does not resume playing the last song when starting up, i have not experienced this with my head unit. It always resumes the last function when powering on, either playing a dvd, radio station or music from the
ipod.
The usb port works great for audio, i have not had any luck getting movies to play but then i havent tried too hard as all my movies are on the
ipod.
I tried installing my garage remote to the headunit and it worked great untill i shoved the remote under the dash. Once i did that the signal was not strong enough. I now need to find a different remote or boost the signal somehow. It really is alot of work just to get the head unit to control the garage remote as it required me to solder a voltage regulator to the PC board of the remote, and then attach a relay and now seems like i need to extend the antenna. Beyond that the external switches work great, still need to figure out what to hook up to the second switch.
I found the reason for the "no video signal" when playing video from the
ipod, apparently the unit will not play video if you try to access it from the music controls. You must use the video button to play
ipod video.
My one nag about using the unit to control my
ipod is that it plays EVERYTHING, as in if i just tell it to play songs from the
ipod it will play the audio from music videos, and podcasts along with the music. I just want music. If i want to listen to a podcast ill select the podcasts.
If anyone has any questions or wants me to take a specific picture of anything let me know.
Kenwood DNX8120 Review
Linear Mode
