what3ver

True, but that would be contrary to what Pioneer has done since the inception of the AVIC line. The software that came on all new models in the N, D, and Z line were easily installed into the previous models. It would be the exception rather than the rule for Pioneer to just do a 180 now and not allow this. I feel very strongly that when the new F units come out their software will be very easy to install in the current line, like it has been all the way back to the N1. Of course there are no guarantees, but I would be shocked if the new software is incompatible with the current line.

I think the previous updates (for the D & N series) ran $120. The current one is on Pioneer's website (CDNV-80MT) is $120. But I got the Bittorrent discount for my D1! Burned it to a DL-DVD and popped it in and voila!

I use Handbrake to encode my DVD's to MP4 and I get the chapter information. It is a free program that works great, multiple core aware and everything, runs on Win and OS X and I think Linux too. On my 8 core Mac Pro it takes about 20 minutes to rip a DVD to H264 MP4. I don't know if I can post a link but if you Google "Handbrake" it's the first thing that comes up. The latest version will also re-encode any video file on your computer, but you won't get chapter info. If you want to do Blu-Ray I use a couple programs for this. ANYDVD, to decrypt the Blu-Ray disc, and Ripbot264 to c