OverZealous

If you didn't get a response, you can update from either USB1 or the SD slot.  I used the SD slot, it was very fast.

@Zorn: I've tried it in multiple browsers, which do not have me logged in to DropBox.  I have no error.  Try again, I guess?

Yes, the artwork is there, but it's pretty much pointless.  Unless the cover art is bright colors, it just disappears.

I don't know why Apple would have gone that route, since they have the artwork front-and-center on the phone.  However, I like the fact that I can actually see the whole Artist/Song/Album title, and the screen isn't cluttered with genre and other stuff.

Here's the link to the downloads, includes the PDFs.  I'll leave it for a couple of days.

I'm really happy with this update.  I can't believe just how smoothly that went.  The update was really quick on my unit—I don't know if this is because it was a 4000, or because I used a fast SD card, but either way, took less than 10 minutes from start-to-finish.  it even remembered my custom backgrounds for startup and the home screen.

CarPlay is really smooth.  Everything I tested worked better than I expected.  One of the weird things is switching apps on the phone switches the radio, and vice-versa.  The only real negative to that is you can't be replying to a message (when parked) and have the music on the screen at the same time.

Except, you can still use the traditional USB1/iPod 1 interface, simply by choosing it from the home screen on the NEX or tapping mode to switch (with a really nice animation).

I'm uploading the 4000 version right now.

Prmj68: It used to show the album art behind everything, but that looked terrible.  Maybe they've removed that, or maybe his phone was missing the album art for that song.  I hope they eventually just show it onscreen like the Pioneer unit does already.

One thing I haven't seen anywhere is if you lose the traditional iPhone/iPod screen completely by enabling CarPlay.  I might be very unhappy if I am forced into CarPlay.  One use for this is if my wife wants to use her phone, and wants to control playback from the phone rather than messing with the screen.  Easy right now, but CarPlay actually disables access to your phone.

I also really did not like the way Maps listed the results.  I'd much rather see an overview with pins, in case I don't know the names of the roads.

I completely agree with everything DP3343 has stated.  I have a 4000NEX as well, and I was surprised by just how nice the built-in iPod interface is.  It's actually got me worried that the CarPlay interface will be rather meh in comparison.

Note: I never invested the money to get AppRadio working (ie: the digital A/V adapter), so I never tested it.  It sounds far to shoddy/limited/broken to be of any use for me.

Some other positives:

• You can use Siri and Apple maps to navigate over the speakers, without a GUI.  This works suprisingly well, if not perfectly.
• Bluetooth audio is shockingly good.  If you don't want to plug your phone in, you can get 90% of the iPod functionality, including artist info and the ability to select playlists or other tracks.  It is missing the ability to turn on or off shuffle (I believe), and no cover art.
• The phone interface is great.  Not only can you do quite a bit (and the button for it is always on-screen), but I really like the incoming call overlay.
• The little I've used the radio, I found it to be fairly nice.  I just don't listen to radio that much. 

Some (very minor) cons:

• This is an iPhone issue, but the delay between pressing the button and getting Siri up is annoyingly long.  I hope CarPlay or iOS 8 fixes this.
• I really, really hate the way plugging in an iPhone shuts off bluetooth audio.  At least with CarPlay, it should automatically switch.  Right now it's manual.
• I haven't figured out how to simply pick a playlist and have it start playing shuffled from the NEX interface.  This is very minor, since you can pick any song off a list and the rest of the list is shuffled.
• The Aux input is considered a video input.  I extended the Aux port (not the Video Aux, but the one that uses a 3.5mm mini plug) thinking it would be a nice backup for auxiliary sources.  However, it will only play if the parking brake is on or bypassed, as far as I can tell.
• My biggest complaints are about the interface design:
  • The interface looks good, but it's really busy.  There's swooshes, bevels, glassy effects, and angles on everything.  While you can tweak the colors of the interface (as well as the backgrounds), you can't change the look to something more modern and clean.  This is a shame, since it looks a bit juvenile to me.
  • If you look closely, at least on mine, the bottom of the screen isn't utilized much at all.  This is such a bizarre thing, there's like ~20 pixels that are just black.
  • However, when you adjust the volume—even if it's via steering wheel controls—a large volume overlay pops up, over the bottom of the screen.  It uses some of that empty space, but it causes a shadow to overlay the screen, and you lose the ability to press on-screen buttons (or at least lower ones, like play/pause) until the volume goes away.  The overlay also doesn't match the rest of the interface hardly at all.  It's an odd blue color (it doesn't pick up the theme), and isn't as polished looking.  It looks like an old UI piece from some late 90s era Linux interface.
    I really don't see why the volume bar isn't onscreen all the time, but minimized.  The 4000NEX, at least, has physical buttons for volume, as well as a physical button for mute.  There's no reason to clutter and hide the interface with the big buttons.  At the least, it shouldn't pop up if you press the steering wheel control.

If you have any specific questions, you should ask them!

It's a little worrying that they haven't announced any sort of CarPlay API yet, since 2014's WWDC has already come and gone.  There's a reasonable chance that the earliest they would release one is next year.

I just hope that CarPlay doesn't turn into the AppleTV—a ridiculous amount of potential hampered by holding back too long.  I'm still waiting for 3rd-party apps for the ATV, and the current design (the puck) has been out for almost 4 years.  I think that there's a lot of similarity between ATV and CarPlay.

• They are both highly specialized interfaces, with limited (specialized) input.
• Both can be used as a sort of projected head-end for an iPhone
• Both are (currently) built using applications almost exclusively designed by Apple
• Both are key components in further integrating our digital lives

With any luck, the last point doesn't end up being "Both are unavailble to 3rd party devs".  Time will tell, that's for sure 

Thanks for testing that out!  Until CarPlay is released, it's hard to imagine how it's going to be used in a real-world situation, so it might be a wait-and-see situation if you are looking for a new unit and plan on using CarPlay.

@Sparky: As far as Apple maps goes, it's been getting nearly constant updates, especially lately.  Every day at 3AM EST, they have new changes.  I think the early problems got into some people's heads, while it has been a much better experience than Google Maps for me for the last year or so.

At the same time, the experience varies based on your location.  Where I am (Louisville, KY), I've never had serious problems with it.  I've used Siri to start up navigation in hands-free mode on my 4000 (no display, obviously, just voice) and it works fine for me.  It's pretty cool to use voice to say "get me directions to <some place>", and it pops up, lists off the likely results, asks you if it's correct, and starts up directions, all without touching anything.

Regarding the capacitive on the 8000, can you use it with gloves on?  If you can't, it would be a point of frustration for me in winter.  Even so, it probably wouldn't have been worth double the cost for the screen alone. 

Honestly, that image pretty much details all the differences that I could see when I was originally looking.

I think the biggest difference between the 5/6000 and the 4/7/8000 is the former has a smaller screen.  The 4/7/8000 all have a 7" screen, and the other two have a 6" screen.  This also means the DVD slot and (micro)SD Card slot are hidden on the 7" models, which could be a plus or minus for you.  I don't ever use CDs, so I'd rather not see the disc slot all the time.  I do leave an SD card in, for backgrounds and such.  The 7" models support full-size SD cards (as well as micro via an adapter), which I have a bunch of just laying around, so that's another plus for me.

The 8000 is the only one a capacitive touch screen (like a smart phone, meaning you have to use it with bare skin, I think), while the other 4 have a resistive (meaning pressure makes it work).  While a capacitive screen is better for touch control, I would guess the 8000 might be hard to use with gloves, but I can't say for sure since I have a 4000.  Either way, I have no issue with mine yet, even with scrolling.

I also liked the removable screen on the 4000—it's the only model where you can remove the entire screen and take it with you.  This might be important if you travel a lot, and don't want to leave an expensive radio visible in hotel parking lots or airports.

All models except the 4000 have built-in maps.  If you want that, I'd get the 7000 or 8000 model.  Personally, I'm planning on using maps via CarPlay when I need them, so it wasn't that important to me.  (And I already have a dedicated GPS for longer trips, which is nice since you can keep your GPS visible while your radio is doing other stuff.)  Another important fact, since I didn't want to buy it from an unapproved online vendor, there was a huge cost jump from the 4000 to the 7000.  Buying from somewhere like Amazon might save you money in the short run, but you'll get no warranty from Pioneer.

Posted this on another thread, but when we face the inevitable car battery replacement, it will lose the following when it loses power:

 

1.  AM/FM presets (all other including XM are saved, but not AM/FM)

2.  Sound/Equalizer Settings

3.  Back-up Camera Settings including parking guides

 

Those three things will reset to default.  All other settings including wallpaper, theme, LED settings, bluetooth and phone, etc. are somehow stored.  If saves those, why can't it just save everything?

Two other items that are oddly reset is the custom order of icons on the home screen (really, really arbitrary) and the source volume level, which I suppose is covered under #2, now that I think about it.

Cool, thanks!

When I get some time to rip the dash open (again), I'll try reprogramming a button for "short" press for voice activation.  Hopefully that will get it working.

Has anyone found a steering wheel control that will trigger Siri?  I know I can press the middle button on the unit, but it would be even nicer if I could keep my hands on the wheel.

I have the AVH-4000NEX installed in my 2007 Jeep Patriot with the PAC RP4-CH11 adapter.  I know how to customize which of my steering wheel controls map to which wired remote setting, but none of the ones I tried seemed to work.  Here's a list of the wired remote signals the adapter can send to the unit:

• Volume +            —Works
• Volume -             —Works
• Mute                   —Didn't test
• Preset +              —Didn't test
• Preset -              —Didn't test
• Source                —Didn't test
• Track +               —Works
• Track -                —Works
• Band                   —Didn't test
• Phone Menu       —Brings up the phone screen, but does nothing useful
• Answer Call        —Answers a call (but can't end it, which is annoying)
• End Call              —Ends a call
• Voice Activation  —Did nothing when I tried it

The only thing is I had Voice Activation set up for a long-press command, rather than a normal tap.  Is it possible it requires a long-press, like the center button?  In other words, maybe I need to wire it to a short-press button, but hold it longer.

Setting up these buttons is a huge pain, since you have to press the set button and the steering wheel buttons in exactly the right order, and it only has a 7 second timeout. 

@tickerguy: That's pretty much what I think is happening.  I figure it's a combination of:

1. The hissing is only really audible when the car is off & there's no music/audio playing
2. The original radio sent a signal to disable the amp when the radio was off (or maybe even had no output)

I figure #2 because the OEM radio was able to handle F/R fading, even though it only had 2 inputs.  The reason this is so noticable is there's nothing disabling the amp, so it's always outputting something.

I'll probably still give Crutchfield a call, since they appear to have dealt with this setup before.  (Free tech support is pretty nice.)

@drenyce311: It's not a loud sound, have you heard it hiss when the car is off, and nothing is playing?  This is on a 2007 Jeep Patriot, with the Boston Acoustics sound (but not the nav system).

Thanks again for all your suggestions!

@sukanas: It's coming from the speakers themselves, so I don't think so.  As long as there is accessory power, the speakers hiss (not hum or buzz, but "shh" like amplified static).

@tekki: No, in fact I had performed a factory reset at one point.

The hiss occurs even when the NEX is in the "off" state, which makes me think it's related to the factory amp setup.  It may be something I can wire, or it may be something I have to live with.  I'll look into that more when I get a chance.

@Thebrain.sherwood: You hit it right on the nose.  I was (very literally) just writing this second in to mention that I got it resolved with help from Crutchfield.  Their suggestion was to hook the NEX's front to the car's rear, and tape back the other two sets.  Et voilà! The phone audio works perfectly.

This (sadly) didn't fix the hiss, but I couldn't work on it any later, so I'll have to worry about that in the future.

Thanks to everyone for your help!  Now I'm waiting patiently for the CarPlay update.

Update: I think it's the Pioneer unit (or how I installed it somehow).  I tried connecting an Android phone over bluetooth, and had the exact same issue (mic works, but I get no audio from the other party).  I also tried hooking my iPhone back up to an older bluetooth module I used, and it worked fine.

I also did the bluetooth reset.  Basically, the NEX unit refuses to output audio during a phone call over speakers.

(I also have something wrong with the installation, because I'm getting a constant hiss out of the speakers, no matter if something is on or not.  I know the wires are set up right for the speakers, but maybe I screwed up something else.)

Also: I should probably move this to a different thread. 

Thanks for the feedback:

@VBLUE42: Either receiving or making calls, same issue.

@joemamma1954: I've tried cranking the audio up (which terrifies me, since I've already blasted myself trying to figure out a different issue ), but it didn't help.  I tried this both on the phone and on the NEX.  I'll try it again, today, just to make sure I didn't mess something up.  The mic appears to be working just fine, thankfully.

The one thing I was going to try today is to use the "Clear Bluetooth Memory" option on the NEX.

I just hooked up my 4000NEX today, and I have everything working fairly well, except for one absolutely major issue: I get no audio output over the car speakers when making or receiving a phone call over my iPhone 5.

Here's what's weird:

• Bluetooth audio works (if the cable is not plugged in)
• iPhone over USB works
• I get full readout on the display when making calls
• The phone book & history works
• When making or receiving calls, the caller can hear me over the mic connected to the NEX unit
• I never hear ringtones over the car audio (but the phone itself will ring)
  However, I do hear alerts, like messages, which duck the audio levels!
• I never hear the other party over the speakers
• I can switch between other connections (speaker phone or earpiece) and hear the other party
• I've deleted and recreated the bluetooth connection on both the phone and the NEX
• I've rebooted the phone (normal reboot) and the NEX has been restarted several times

I'm pretty much at a loss, right now, because it's the only thing that just doesn't work at all.

Has anyone had a similar issue? Or is it time to call Pioneer?