I did happen to find something very interesting while I was playing in test mode. I managed to boot the unit up. When it booted I stumbled upon the MSN Direct. You may be asking so what. I have the Avic-F700BT. Which doesn't have the msn direct. I dunno what exactly could be done with this. Maybe someone could find a way to make it work on the 700's. Not sure if its already there and we just need to activate it somehow or what. I could enter the gas, movie, weather, traffic tabs. Just got no info on them. I could even click on status or connection, but never got anywhere with it

This has been brought up before. In my Guide to the .bmps, I posted the file names of all the MSN direct images, and the possibilities were briefly mentioned, but nothings ever been attempted

If you run EZRIDER from testmode. You can access the MSN Direct stuff, however, it just hangs there.

IMO, I think the 700 has the capabilities of running MSN Direct but its a matter of does the 700 have a block, or is it missing vital files? And how do we go about it? If we can get one of our hackers to get a 700 Flash Disk and a 900, maybe they can find something better. But then there's the question of "how do you activate it?".

maybe if you delete the files the unit will boot up quicker

The ones I found? Doubtful. They're only image files and it's not nearly enough file space to noctice any change. the problem with the bootup is it has to uncompress so many zip folder, not the image files.

I believe the conclusion was made that the 700 has MSN direct files and apps for the sake of uniform programming and ease of programming however it likely does not have the hardware to support MSN direct. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that even if you got it working you would never get a signal.

I believe the conclusion was made that the 700 has MSN direct files and apps for the sake of uniform programming and ease of programming however it likely does not have the hardware to support MSN direct. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that even if you got it working you would never get a signal.

Probably, unless it gets its signal from the GPS as well. I don't think it'd have an internal antenna because of the obstruction issues. But I can't agree with the uniform programming fully because it's a no brainer that either the 900/90 have an extra file (or maybe even hardware), or the F700 is missing it. Again, nothing can be concluded unless flash disks from both a 700 and 900 or fully compared to see. The 700 deffinitly has different scripts that cause the MSN direct button to not show up, or the 900 and 90 have a script that enables it. Again, nothing is conclusive until a difference is found.

Who knows, maybe it's as simple as finding a way to enable just that one button and the whole MSN UI is accessible...

I believe buttons are turned on simply by the model code that is coded in the scripts. Still, I find it very unlikely that Pioneer would've built in the MSND receiver but charged less....

I believe buttons are turned on simply by the model code that is coded in the scripts.

So you dont think it's possible to crack the MSN on the f700 and make it accessible?

Someone should call pioneer and screw with them. I'd be funny since most of us on here are having to try to figure out how to make this thing work properly. Tell them you can't get your msn direct to work on the 700bt. More than likely your going to talk to someone who doesn't have a clue what your talking bout. You can email them a pick of your unit with the 700bt model number on it with a screen shot of the msn direct.

Someone should call pioneer and screw with them. I'd be funny since most of us on here are having to try to figure out how to make this thing work properly. Tell them you can't get your msn direct to work on the 700bt. More than likely your going to talk to someone who doesn't have a clue what your talking bout. You can email them a pick of your unit with the 700bt model number on it with a screen shot of the msn direct.

Or they'll use their famous answer "you need to send your unit in" and leave it at that...never underestimate the laziness of Pioneer Tech support

So you dont think it's possible to crack the MSN on the f700 and make it accessible?

Yeah, msnd.ui and msnd_800_480.uij are the actual MSN screens, and advmenuXX.ui controls if the button is shown...

one of the .exes probably looks for the units model name/number somewhere and if its 900 or 90bt then it enables all the extras and if its 700 it just disables it, I dont think you would need any extra hardware i think its purely software :/

one of the .exes probably looks for the units model name/number somewhere and if its 900 or 90bt then it enables all the extras and if its 700 it just disables it, I dont think you would need any extra hardware i think its purely software :/

I'd think that it does need MSND receiver/decoder, rather like you could enable TMC screens, too, but without a TMC receiver they would not do you much good...

MSN® Direct is available for AVIC-F900BT, AVIC-F90BT and AVIC-F500BT. MSN Direct requires service subscription (sold separately by MSN Direct). Free 3 months trial of MSN Direct Service is included. To receive MSN Direct on an MSN Direct-ready device, you must be within an MSN Direct coverage area. Coverage areas are affected by reception limitations of the FM network as well as other factors, which may affect the ability of the unit to receive FM broadcasts. MSN Direct is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies

notice they talk about the FM signal.. .leads me to believe they transmit over that :/ dunno

the actual wire for man direct runs directly through your cars fm input. So basically your antenna feeds man direct the information. Kind of like them sending bits of information like station name and song name that is and can be viewed on some headunits or most head units today.

Just so you know that MSN direct is broadcast over FM frequencys.

It also requires a custom reciever chip, this chip is also encrypted, so there is no software hack to get it working.

I also doubt that the chip exists in the 700bt, so while the software might exist on the unit it is functionaly useless.

This is intreresting, I've noticed that the files do appear to be there too.

Someone posted a copy of the F90 / F900 service manual. If we could get a copy of the 700 serive manual we could look at the boards to compare as they're reasonably detailed.

In the Data.zip files under config/devices there are seperate config files for the 746 / 749 UC / EW models

in the configs the only differences are under the sound category.

The 749UC has this

[sound]

device_id=0

use_method=5

use_os_volume=1

dynamic_volume_type=0

The 746UC has this

[sound]

device_id=1

use_os_volume=1

use_method=5

method5_maxvolume=40349

dynamic_volume_type=0

all other sections are the same.

Has anyone tried adding those lines to the config so bother read the same?

I am working on buying a 700 cheap that has no sound output. i want to use it as a test unit and load the f90 software on it .. will see if i can get it for under $100

The idea of the 700bt being equipped with the necessary hardware to access MSN Direct is not out of the realm of possibility. Many manufactures reduce costs when targeting multiple price-markets by retaining a single manufacturing process and limiting/disabling features via software tweaks. Some of the more notoriously overclock-able CPUs are great examples of this, right? Good luck to those trying to figure it out.

What about a reg editor? Can we do anything like that. I do it with my phone all the time. I am unsure if you can do the same stuff with the diff erent versions of windows or if it would have to be differently. What if its as simple as changing a value from 0 to 1?

Many manufactures reduce costs when targeting multiple price-markets by retaining a single manufacturing process and limiting/disabling features via software tweaks. Some of the more notoriously overclock-able CPUs are great examples of this, right? Good luck to those trying to figure it out.

Don't forget GPU's. Which until recently were virtually all exactly the same across a generation with software lockouts like, separate VGA BIOS.

I remember Turning a X800 into an X850XTPE with a simple VGA BIOS update, saved myself nearly 200 bucks.

More recently however, both ATI and NVIDIA have began to use Laser cuts in the GPU die to prevent these kinds of modifications.

For Pioneer it would make sense to utilize a single manufacturing process, it means they don't have to run separate production lines, since they are all identical from a hardware standpoint. all they have to do is load the separate software on the units and presto, a tiered product line up

another gsxr, methinks you've fucked up there with your avatar LOL

Hey guys, im new here but would like to offer up my 4 cents (inflation)...It is VERY common for companies to do this, look at it from there end say we make the board with an RDS decoder on it then we have to make a whole new board without the RDS decoder on it, why wwould we do this when the decoder chip only cost us pennies each caues we buy them in bulk. Like was said before about the video cards, it does happen. Another bit of info is that RDS is just like the XM signal, its one way. Now if the 700 has the decoder and someone made a software mod to enable it, it could surely receive the MSN info. Has anyone opened up a unit to see if in fact the boards are the same? more useless info, I work for the company that provides microsoft with its traffic data!!

By the way my F700BT shall be in my hands on monday!! HOPEFULLY!