gps dvd player replacement

looka · Nov 23, 2010

Hi all,

I have been thinking about getting myself something like thishttp://www.autodvdgps.com/chevrolet-captiva-dvd-gps-player-with-7-digital-touchscreen-and-bluetooth-pip-cdc-p-750.htmlfor MY10.

I wonder if it is a good idea. It has gps and bluetooth. It connects to steering wheel controls. It can even have rear view cam that replaces license plate light and turns on on reverse gear. There are even nice install instructions which look simple enough:http://www.autodvdgps.com/blog/?cat=14.

Anyone has experience with such replacements?
Does it void warranty (no wires get cut btw)?
Do I need canbus controller for it? (Does Captiva use can bus for wheel radio control?)
How does thewiringget done for rear cam?
Would you recommend it?

I started looking for handsfree solution, and ended up with this whole thing which looks very affordable.

Thanks in advance!

K.L.Richards · Nov 24, 2010

I looked at these ages ago, and decided not to bother....

I cant answer your questions, as they might be very very good, but I wasnt happy with answers I was getting from suppliers. They are all over ebay, and I suspect the link you have found goes back to a company in China which makes these units.

I wanted a Sat Nav and more importantly a Bluetooth handsfree. This does that, BUT. The Sat Nav is a generic device built on the Win CE platform, and can be difficult to get map updates for. The question I could never get answered is if the software on the device was legal or pirated. The only answer supplied me, was they could build it with TomTom or Navgo software. Which makes me think it is a China special (ie. pirated).

I asked about the Bluetooth connection, and where the Mic was. It appears to have a built in mic, so consider where the unit will be, replacing your current stereo, and you would have to talk "down" to the mic. As for speakers, they would be through the stereo, so should be ok. I have alot of experience of car phone systems, and I've come to the conclusion, that unless you have a seperate Mic mounted above the drivers head somewhere, then when driving the other party cannot hear what you say. So it is a gamble on this device.

I bought a Garmin sat nav, which has a built in Bluetooth handsfree. The Sat Nav is brilliant. The Phone connection is rubbish. You cant hear the caller and they cant hear you when driving.

If you want a phone connection, you are better off buying a dedicated fitted phone system, like Parrot. I would have, but not doing the same mileage for business at the moment, so holding fire.

As for the other functions...

1. Rear view camera. Is extra, and has to be fitted somehow so it works when reverse is selected. Some of these dont do that, it is that the rear camera is always on, and you just select the option on the unit.

2. TV. This has to be connected to an ariel. Also digital TV on portable ariels is next to useless. Also, this should be connected so that it doesnt work when the car is in motion. Otherwise you face an MoT failure when the MoT is due, and if the police find you, you could see a hefty fine as well.

3. Seperate screens are needed for the rear for DVD/Zone 2. Extra cost and fitting expense.

All in all, I first thought it a good idea, but in the end though better of it....

Also, dont forget, change the car, and it all goes with it....

My advice. Unless you are able to do it all yourself and in to "pimping your ride" it isnt worth it. It is not as easy as the pics shown - dont forget the legal bits, ie, fitting to switch on gears, so TV doesnt work when driving.

If you do get one, feel free to tell me I've spouted bull here.... It's just my conclusion.

looka · Nov 24, 2010

Thanks K.L.

Yes it is china
My reasoning goes about the same, but with couple of diffs:

1) Rear cam is actually rear licence plate light replacement. So I figured when you put in reverse, cam and light turn on as usual, and device sense it and switch to it. Not sure though. I am more worried about how to get video cable from device to cam!

2) I dont really want or need TV. We don't have analog TV anyway anymore, and I wont opt for DVBT. I'm in Croatia, and I don't think it will fail technical because of it.

3) I was wondering if kids can peek front to watch toons.

Not likely.

You are probably right about the talking down the mic and pirated maps though.
About reseller value, I might loose some, but for 400$ how much could that be? Parrot here alone is about 600$!

I think I can do it by myself. Some German guy even had to do extra work for steering wheel control and radio antenna adapter (http://www.captiva-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2650), but that is all included now, along with all required tools.

I'll give it some more thoughts before Xmas, but I think it will be worth to gamble. No cutting, no marks...worst case scenario and put original back and sell it right away, probably profit!

Thanks again for your thoughts.

looka · Dec 31, 2010

Got it, installed it myself, BT, GPS, DiVX and MP3 work great. Did not install rear cam yet!
Although it works as advertised, here are flaws I am not that happy with: 1) It seems to be two separate systems.One for navigation, and other for the Media.Navi can easily be made to start any. WinCE exe app but works only with GPS SD storage.Media works with all other storage inputs (dvd, sd, iphone, bt, radio, cam, tv ...).You can not use one system to access other storages. 2) Players are rubbish.Media Player in system does not have touch positioning of media played!You can not position to middle of the video / song, you need to fast forward.No playlists, no info, just rubish.Player in Navi system is completely different, and can do touch positioning, but video is jerky and not smooth and you can not access storage media. 3) It does not work with NTFS.FAT32 is ok.exfat should work, do not know. 4) It does not work with all USB-s.It just says no USB, even though led usb is working. 5) Address Book does not seem to be possible to sync with my Blackberry or even edit manually! 6) RDS radio can not store names!Even though it shows them from RDS, at most unusal place.And it can only store 24 FM channels for some reason. 7) Complete software is just bad and unintuitive.I did not expect Apple GUI, but this has seen just about worst user interfaces I have ever seen! But it all gets the job done, and it was cheap, so I guess I should be happy!

K.L.Richards · Jan 4, 2011

Glad you think it was worth it... you listed a lot of bad points.

Also at ove $300 it is hardly cheap. But glad you are happy. I'm glad I didnt bother....

gps dvd player replacement

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