DP3343

Did you install 1.09 or 1.10?

1.09 is the new firmware for the 4000 nex and the appradio 4. 1.10 is for the 5000-8000 nex. I have the 4000nex so I installed 1.09. They all came out on the same day. 

Ok, so updates installed. There is both a firmware and a bluetooth update. I don't use bluetooth (carplay) but I installed them both. Boot up is faster. Built in iPod controller can once again control phones now with the new music app. No significant changes that I saw for how the music app operates but at least now it OPERATES. So I'm happy with that. 

Pioneer says it's a bug fix update. My device is booting faster, and my built in music app works again. I'm happy. 

You know... They may not give us users with the old units new features that they probably can actually handle, but when the AppRadio 1 stopped working after some random apple update Pioneer fixed the old appradios. That's a hell of a lot better support than I've seen from any of the other guys. Looking at you Alpine and Kenwood. 

Thank you Pioneer for supporting your product. I'll update it now and let everyone know how my unit runs. Especially interested to see if I can control my iPhone from the built in media player again. 

Well lets start with the first bit of bad news. You have an 8000 NEX. That radio cannot do Android Auto. Period. 

Sliver of possible good news? People are trying to get it to work. They seem close to achieving success, but they haven't yet. 

Now on to better news. The reason your device is not being seen is because you probably have it on the wrong setting. On your NEX go to settings, input output setting, smartphone setup and then where it says iphone, press on it so it says others. From there your phone should now be recognized. You won't be able to do Android Auto, but you will be able to do screen mirroring, and if you set up your phone right with Appradio unchained or whatever it's called (see other sections of the forum) you'll even be able to control it from your phone. 

Good luck man. If you truly want android auto, get an 8100 nex. 

The custom playlists from Apple Music are in the new 8.4 CarPlay, as well as any streamed song or album tagged to "My Music". They just show up in My Music on CarPlay.

 

I doubt that you will get music discovery features in CarPlay due to the interactive nature of it, but I would like to a "For You" tab in CarPlay.

My Music? Do you mean that when you choose to add a playlist from the For You tab, that it will then show up in my playlists, or do you mean that there is a "My Music" button that I am not noticing in CarPlay?

CarPlay was billed as this system that would end the march of obsolescence in your car because HEY as your phone gets better with software updates and you upgrade it with newer and newer iPhones, CarPlay too will get better! Right?

Well Apple Music just launched. With it came a fully rebuilt music app integrating huge improvements to music discovery, and customized playlists and whole new ways to discover music, and the up Next feature that more or less lets you build playlists on the fly. Did any of this make it to CarPlay? NO!

I got the same interface I had before the update. No change. The one place where I listen to 95% of my music I can take advantage of none of the new features using CarPlay. Well i take that back. Half of 1 features is accessible. I can start the Beats 1 radio station in CarPlay. Then the only button I get is a big fat Stop button and nothing else.

If I hear a new song I like on Beats 1 I gotta pull out my phone and add it to my music from my phone. Can't on CarPlay.

If I love the style of music they are playing and want apple to remember that the next time they try to suggest songs for me, I gotta do that on my phone.

If am listening to an album and I want to set another album to start after that album runs its course I gotta do that from? Yep you guessed it! The phone. Carplay has become no more useful at managing my music than the built in iPod controller that already came with my NEX 4000. And I still can't see album art. At least with the built in iPod app I can do that. Stupid stupid stupid. I'm ten seconds from just tossing the whole thing and starting the process of installing an iPad in my dash. 

I too would suggest it for the exact same reasons... plus... and I may be wrong on this, can the resistive screens to pinch to zoom?

Yes but horribly. It really shouldn't but Pioneer tries to anyways with Appradio apps. 

Yes it is worth it. 

The capacative display is more durable. (My 4000 got a scratch on the display while being installed. Thin shitty plastic). The user interface for carplay is better for the capacitive displays than the resistive ones, appradio and built in nav operation is more smooth because of the better touch surface accuracy, and the unit has a cleaner look with a full glass front. 

I would definitely suggest it, especially with the price difference being so small in the long run. 

The standard rule of thumb with Pioneer is if fhe unit doesn't suport a feature upon its initial release, it never will be added with an update. They will always save the "next big thing" for the next unit they release. So, to answer your question, No!

Is alpine or kenwood honestly any better? Frankly in my opinion we are all spoiled by apple since they seem to be the only company that gives a crap about updating products that already launched.

In theory they could probably come out with a USB wifi adapter or officially support an existing one and support them with a firmware update but I doubt they would since it's just an excuse to sell yet another new model before they even finished delivering on the promises of the existing ones.

But they won't. By everything we have seen the 4100-8100 are last years units with a software update that doesn't play nice with upgrading to it. If they won't even provide a software update, what makes you think they'll provide a dongle? No the 8200 will have wifi, and then the 8300 will have a better display and then the 8400 will include both.

Didn't they already announce that in 8.4?

No. In a developer beta of 8.3 the feature showed up but was never used. It was never officially announced until now with iOS 9. Regardless our radios can't do it. No wifi, and old bluetooth chips. Not in the cards.

Alpine seems to honestly care more than pioneer does maybe? No one really does. Parrot has been known to be rude on customer support, you just had kenwood described in the message above.

I'm honestly waiting for some kind of disruptive new party. This market is piss poor right now.

Nice to have some news. Good luck resurecting your device.

 

A bit apart of the main subject, but does anyone knows why Pioneer didn't release the firmware v1.08 for SPH-DA120 as a standalone firmware (support website) whereas it's available out of the box for new buyers ????

There is no difference between the 1.07 and 1.08 firmwares for the appradio 4. It is just a way for pioneer to know when the unit came out of the factory. http://www.appradioworld.com/2015/05/pioneer-support-clarifies-appradio-4.html

It works I can now browse the platform directory and make changes. Now the question is, am I crazy enough to try it on my deck. I am starting to do each prg file. You can see the progress here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hwswi29kyo7nq6o/AAB2Emua4zzeis-cpr-v8twOa?dl=0 

 

Note that this is for the 8100NEX even though it says 5100

If you could figure out what in the firmware controls what version of the carplay interface is displayed, I'd care about that more than anything else. There is something that changes the interface for the 4000 to be the same as that of the appradio 4 and the 8000

Supposedly this will be possible on the upcoming parrot, but with the Pioneer, it's just like using appradio for iPhone or android. You have to switch between the units in the settings. 

This has been discussed in the past, sound quality is better with car play disabled

The level of just..... The pioneer radio creates a different sound preset for each and every sound mode. Sound retriever or s.rtrv has been the biggest culprit of all this confusion, but there are other factors. Before anyone states that car audio quality is better in carplay or worse in carplay or worse in bluetooth or whatever, make sure that your sound settings are IDENTICAL across all audio sources. This is not easy on an NEX. The sound sources are split all over the place. 

Make sure your equalizer settings are the same.

Make sure your sound retriever settings are identical.

Check your audio source sound level setting against FM.

Check what your sound settings are on your phone for its equalizer.

Check your speaker settings. So High low pass filters, speaker output levels, time alignment, etc. There are so many settings.

I cannot stress this enough. The pioneer radio keeps a different set of settings for each audio source. Even your video output settings vary by your output source. Don't believe me? Change your display settings in carplay and then press the mode button while in carplay. You will momentarily see your video settings switch to the built in media player video preset before switching over. 

I guess it really depends on what you want out of a navigation system. For me, where I live, I don't need heavy traffic work around or toll road info. I just want to know how to get from point A to point B. And I would rather have voice controlled navigation though Siri than the crowd sourcing directions. I can see the use for that in more densely populated areas, but half of the country lives in the sparse land like I do.

 

It would be nice to have third party traffic plugins that would overlay on top of Apple maps so I could have those options when I needed them, and still have voice control.

I know where most places are where I live because I know most of the major centers where stuff is. Most times I just need to know what is the easiest way to get from point A-B that avoids traffic today. Yesterday I took one highway because it had no traffic. Today I took a completely different route because that highway had an accident. I've seen waze and google maps change their minds entirely and on the fly because of something that happened only minutes ago  that ruined traffic. That is what I want more than anything else out of apple maps. The security of thought that the path it is currently giving me is the fastest way to get there. 

GOOD! This is a defining feature for android auto that will push apple to open carplay up to 3rd party mapping solutions. Apple maps isn't bad for navigating to somewhere I haven't been, but I use waze mostly for figuring out how to get around traffic and accidents during rush hour. Apple Maps is utterly useless for that. I am not an android user, but any competition to carplay will hopefully push apple to make carplay better. 

Thanks DP, that's exactly what it was....now that I've turned it on all music sounds MUCH better

Happy to help

On another note I'm really hoping that with iOS 9 apple releases a public SDK for developers to use with CarPlay.

Thanks for the heads up, does it kill any other music apps such as Spotify or the Podcasts app?

No. The other apps work fine. I'm sure that when this version of the OS comes out it will come with a revamped interface for the music app in CarPlay. It will be a prime example of carplay's biggest advantage. Your radio is going to keep getting better without any action on Pioneer's part. (This applies to android auto too)

Not sure if it makes a difference if the phone is unlocked vs locked...the above tests have all be done w/ phone locked. Maybe I'll to unlock 1st and see what happens.

 

Audio is def much better using BT rather than CP direct connection with lightning cable...weird

Check your sound retriever settings. Sound retriever makes the music sound clearer especially lower fidelity stuff. It's pioneer's sound processing system. If your sound retriever is on for bluetooth but off for carplay, bluetooth should in theory sound better. I just played my radio with the sound retriever setting to the same on both carplay and bluetooth and didn't hear a difference. 

to see sound retriever with carplay you must be playing music from the itunes music. Not Rdio, spotify or the podcasts. Go to the built in music app and click on the right arrow. You'll see snd rtv with two little red or hollow dots depending on if it's on or off. Same thing with the bluetooth. Also check to make sure the equalizer is set to the same setting for both audio sources. 

I find CarPlay the better alternative to navigating my playlists, contacts, messaging and accessing other audio apps on my phone. That said, once I have what I need up and running I find the navigation in the 8000 blows away Apple Maps and the album art solution in CarPlay is bad to the point of annoyance. CarPlay has a ways to go yet before it reaches its full potential but it's a must have for me.

The joy with carplay is that it will get better with every software update and more than likely be a better mapping solution than the built in one sooner rather than later. Especially if they one day allow 3rd party maps. 

I think CarPlay is getting better, which makes it the better alternative. Pioneer will not refresh current units with new features they will sell new units. Apple has already demonstrated improvements with iOS 8.3, and users will actually receive regular updates.

I think carplay as the current product stands is phenomenal and in the future will only get better. 

No point of having this radio if you don't use carplay!!

Well I don't agree with that. I enjoyed using my 4000 before I got carplay. It's a very good radio. Call quality is great, sound quality is great. Menus aren't to hard to run through, has a whole shit ton of features and they all work (except AvicSync) so I was only happier when carplay came out because in comparison to appradio mode it's amazing. 

Here's a question for those who say the hardware isn't there.

 

I remember when Apple TV 2 came out. It was torn apart and each chip was labeled and what not. About a year or more later, after going through a few small updates and a major update. Like from iOS 7.0.1 to 7.0.2 for the small but then to iOS 8 for major. That when there was s small update, iOS 8.1, all of sudden the Apple TV can support Blue Tooth, why you ask? So a blue tooth keyboard can be used on it.

 

So why over a year and half, no one knew there was a BT chip inside the second gen ATV?

 

KOT

The apple tv always had the chip in it but Apple wasn't using it yet. This is similar to the Alpine ILX-007. It actually has a wifi AND a bluetooth chip on its board with the necessary antennas to boot but it isn't yet using those chips in its software. That radio has a chance of getting an update. However I have  a feeling Alpine will pull a Pioneer and give wireless carplay to the ILX-007.001 radio next year if you get my drift.