Just installed the Z140 a few days ago and I am pulling my hair out trying to get the App Mode to work.  I have the official cable, so that's not the problem.  I ordered a newer iPodTouch, but it has not yet arrived, so i thought that I'd get familiarized with the features by using my iPad.  No dice.  I plug it in and it I get the message on the iPad about allowing control and the HU screen goes to the App screen but it is empty.  I have uninstalled/reinstalled/restarted the iPad about a thousand times and nothing has changed.  Maybe the iPad can't do it?  Any help here is greatly appreciated.

For the purpose of clarification, I have a 2 and 4 year old that I need to play videos for in the rear of the vehicle.  What is the best way to accomplish this short of a big plie of DVD's?  Am I going at it the wrong way?

Where did you buy the iPod cable?

I bought the cable from Amazon sold by Pioneer.  I would think that Amazon would not have counterfiets, right?

Here is the link to what I have.  I also tried the Apple 30 pin and a 4 ring 3.5mm audio cable with the same results.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-CD-IU51V-iPhone-Navigation-models/dp/B004HW6F74/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1368361008&sr=1-1&keywords=CD-IU51v

You didn't say if the regular iPod Source (music/video) works. Can you play music from your iPod/iPad and do you see cover artwork in the right box?  If not, make sure AV1 input is set to iPod. (AV System Settings). And while you are there, verify that App Connection is still set to Wired.

Do you have App Mode compatible apps installed?

Disclaimer: I have never used App Mode on my iPod, so I won't been much help beyond these ideas.

Since you ordered an iTouch and you stated:

" I have a 2 and 4 year old that I need to play videos for in the rear of the vehicle. What is the best way to accomplish this short of a big plie of DVD's?" Am I going at it the wrong way? "

 I'm not sure why you'd use App Mode to play video from an iPod (as opposed to an iPhone where you can get streaming video). The regular iPod Source does it. You just need to get the video files formatted correctly.

If I plug in my iPod Nano, the control works flawlessly.  I can control the music, see all the album art, etc.  The iPad gets nothing.  Well, I can see the video files under Videos and there is even an thumbnail of the video off to the right when i select it to play.  Then it looks like it is playing - the time is incrementing across the bottom - but no audio and no video. 

After I installed the App Mode thing on the iPad, I installed several of the recommended apps and I do not see any of them when I connect.

So, I do not need App Mode to play video from an iPad.  I should just be able to plug it in, see the videos and play them, right?  That was my initial though, but since it did not work, I thought it may be a format issue, so I re-encoded a couple of them several times to see if that fied it.  I used the maximum settings stated in the manual for MPEG-4 with no success, so I tried changing some stuff - fewer FPS, smaller resolution, lower bit rate, etc with no success.  That's why I tried the iPad/App Mode.  I thought maybe I needed to use the iPad video app or one of the compatible media players to get video.  So far, nothing is working.

I see. Well, maybe it will all clear-up when you get your iTouch. Mine works fine w/Z140 firmware. But I just use the iPod Source, not App Mode. Don't know much about iPads - I do remember some issues being reported. BTW, which iOS are you running on the iPad?

I bought the cable from Amazon sold by Pioneer.  I would think that Amazon would not have counterfiets, right?

There are counterfeit cables all over Amazon but for that price it is probably legit. Nevertheless your issue sounds fake cable related. Maybe try a cable bought from Best Buy and see if the issue goes away. At least you will know for sure then.

I ordered a new cable from Crutchfield.  In the meantime, I tried t do some re-encoding to see if that would help.  Now I can hear audio when the video is playing, but no video - just a black screen.  I'll keep messing with the encoding and see if that gets me anywhere.

Ron, I am running iOS 6 - it is a brand new iPad4 with the latest OS.

For anyone still engaged, it was the cable.  I got a new one from Crutchfield and I am good to go.

On a little different thread, should the video automatically start playing again if it was playing when I shut the car off?  Right now, it does not.  I have to go to iPod (3rd gen touch 32 GB), tap the screen to get the menu, tap the back thingy, tap videos then tap the video.  It gets a little old and it would be nice if it would just autoplay.