AHF-930 double din car stereo

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#1510284 10-Mar-2016 08:40

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and to the OP box too.

Sounds good. Am interested in camera, Bluetooth streaming from our Spotify and hands free calling.
Sounds like it will fit the requirements.

Jaxson

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#1510601 10-Mar-2016 14:25

Jaxson: Steering wheel control wise, was this learnable/mappable in the unit?

I assume all steering buttons are simply on/off buttons anyway?

How to they normally get configured?
-one common and a bunch of buttons leads, or is each button a pair etc?

Answered my own question after some googling.

Seems these are 2 or 3 wire, and use resistance bands for toggling different functions.

So modern headunits just look for the resistance present when you press a particular button, and store/map these against the appropriate functions.

Very cool.

Now to wait for a Warehouse special on car audio...

richms

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#1510609 10-Mar-2016 14:41

Some use resistance, some use a can bus protocol and need you to get a converter box to work. Seems most cars that have a din size radio have the resistance however and the converters are really only needed for the silly molded into the dash ones that need dashkits etc too.

Richard rich.ms

Jaxson

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#1510635 10-Mar-2016 15:16

richms:

Some use resistance, some use a can bus protocol and need you to get a converter box to work. Seems most cars that have a din size radio have the resistance however and the converters are really only needed for the silly molded into the dash ones that need dashkits etc too.

Thanks.

Agree on the moulded in jobs. Really thinking to the future there...

Mattnzl

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#1510655 10-Mar-2016 15:47

I was all set to grab one of these & went into local TWH where they actually had one setup in the stereo test rack.

Brought back horrible memories of some of the cheap android tablets from years ago with mucho screen lag and the old passive type screen. Worst feature for me (and might not worry others) was I tried a card with some folders of music on it, and the player just reads the whole card (30+ seconds wait) then lists every mp3 on it in one big, slow-to-scroll list.

Jaxson

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#1510764 10-Mar-2016 17:17

Mattnzl:

Brought back horrible memories of some of the cheap android tablets from years ago with mucho screen lag and the old passive type screen. Worst feature for me (and might not worry others) was I tried a card with some folders of music on it, and the player just reads the whole card (30+ seconds wait) then lists every mp3 on it in one big, slow-to-scroll list.

Ewwh, yucky!

Did it not show the folders?

I was kinda full on looking to put any remaining CD's in action onto a USB/micro SD in a folder, to essentially replicate the CD playing experience...

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#1510781 10-Mar-2016 17:51

Jaxson:

Ewwh, yucky!

Did it not show the folders?

I was kinda full on looking to put any remaining CD's in action onto a USB/micro SD in a folder, to essentially replicate the CD playing experience...

Yea that was my plan too, but no go :( Ended up just getting a standard BT enabled head unit and using an old Galaxy S2 in a mount as the music source, not as nice as all in one.

But on the upside this setup also can use GPS - the AHF930 has a second microsd slot for gps, but it has been disabled/removed from this unit (possibly due to the maps licensing issue which Chinese sellers wouldn't care about, but TWH wouldn't want to risk...?).

richms

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#1510821 10-Mar-2016 18:39

Ui on car stereos is universally rubbish.

Friend ended up just using useless 2 gig etc sticks as replacements for CDs since it was too slow with a 32 gig full of stuff.

Richard rich.ms

Jaxson

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#1512138 12-Mar-2016 21:23

Got my 'new' 2005 Mazda car today and have a very fancy, but in 2016 a piece of sht, touchscreen Japanese 30GB HDD unit that would need a band expander and it's just horrible.

Frustrating as it's full of cool tech for it's age, but will need to go.

Also have a ceiling mount Panasonic crap 7" monitor. Looks the business, but could well be NTSC only, hard to say. That limitation may actually be from the head unit, which is probably ntsc only/different zone DVD player to NZ.

All google references to it are in Japanese, and it's old, so not overly confident.

How exactly does the video out connection on this warehouse unit work?

If I load a USB up with a (say 720p) movie with stereo sound, can this play on the unit to an external monitor?

Does it have to play the movie locally (assume it does) but isn't that majorly distracting to the driver, especially at night?!

Only benefit I can see to a double din head unit is to utilise a reversing camera.

Apart from that I can't see the point of a head unit that plays movies? Am I missing something here?

If I skip the reversing camera (this car has one of those straight down rear windscreen mirrors over the towball anyway) then maybe I'm better off going for a single din unit, and a parcel tray underneath for cell phones. I installed a pioneer Non CD equipped Bluetooth headunit in my brothers car today, and I was really impressed with the Siri integration on the iphone. And the auto pairing when he got in the car. Does this Warehouse jobby auto connect when you enter the car, or do you have to actively pair the phone everytime you get in? Can it store more than 1 phone also, so his and hers will just work in the car?

Sorry, so many questions, but am 50:50 on which way I head here, and appreciate the responses.

Jaxson

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#1512434 13-Mar-2016 17:43

Northstar666: Video Output - OK, I was hoping that this unit would play a movie on it's screen and a second screen, so the kids would be able to watch the same movie in the back seat .... turns out after a lot of playing around with this unit that when it plays a movie on it's screen, it won't output that movie to the RCA Video out (A4) plug on the back of the 930 .... if however you play a movie from another source and plug that into the input RCA plug (A3) on the back of the 930 - it will play the signal straight through it and show it on the the 930 screen as well as having the signal on the output RCA plug (A4) at the back of the 930. So off to find another media player!

Got to say this sounds ridiculous. So the video output is a passthrough only?

Rather pointless if this can't output anything it decodes via it's own video output!

Northstar666

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#1512436 13-Mar-2016 17:47

Yeah I was pretty gutted too when I tried to play it on two screens, ended up using a cheap media player to play on the 930's screen and the Video screen that was already in the car. It's like it doesn't want you to play externally but is happy to play a signal from and through the unit, dumb way but it does work!

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Jaxson

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#1512491 13-Mar-2016 18:51

Northstar666:

Yeah I was pretty gutted too when I tried to play it on two screens, ended up using a cheap media player to play on the 930's screen and the Video screen that was already in the car. It's like it doesn't want you to play externally but is happy to play a signal from and through the unit, dumb way but it does work!

I get that to some degree, as in it's got a monitor, so why would you want to pass it off to another monitor. A lot of TV's did that in the past, not offering a video out as they were a display device already.

But, it's not an uncommon use to want to feed another monitor also, and to not be able to do that for any internally decoded material (only external source pass through) is poor.

So you kept the 930 in the car?

What media player did you get/use in the end?

Can you stream music over Bluetooth from your phone to your 930 ok? (Thinking Spotify from phone to 930 over Bluetooth)

Also, if you do use Bluetooth, do you have to do anything to pair the phone when you get back in the car, or does it do that automatically?

Cheers.

Northstar666

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#1512504 13-Mar-2016 19:40

Jaxson:

I get that to some degree, as in it's got a monitor, so why would you want to pass it off to another monitor. A lot of TV's did that in the past, not offering a video out as they were a display device already.

But, it's not an uncommon use to want to feed another monitor also, and to not be able to do that for any internally decoded material (only external source pass through) is poor.

So you kept the 930 in the car?

What media player did you get/use in the end?

Can you stream music over Bluetooth from your phone to your 930 ok? (Thinking Spotify from phone to 930 over Bluetooth)

Also, if you do use Bluetooth, do you have to do anything to pair the phone when you get back in the car, or does it do that automatically?

Cheers.

There was a drop down screen on the roof for the backseats to watch movies for the kids on, however it had been wired to the stereo in the dash, they just had a cheap stereo in the car so I thought it would be great for the kids to watch movies when traveling, thinking that the 930 played movies and had a video output, that it would work perfectly until I tried it and found it didn't so used a 12VDC media player I bought on trademe that has a USB port. It also used the AV RCA plug as a video cable. you choose the AUX setting on the 930 and then use the media player remote to chose your movie, it plays on both screens and through the stereo.

as for bluetooth, yes it pairs to your phone (iphone), the phone can be answered from the stereo and it uses a mic that you plant somewhere close, if you set your phone to auto answer when paired then you don't need to touch the screen.

you change the bluetooth option on the 930 to the music symbol and control music from the 930.

Hope this all helps?

Cheers

Chris

Jaxson

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#1512563 13-Mar-2016 20:44

Northstar666:

There was a drop down screen on the roof for the backseats to watch movies for the kids on, however it had been wired to the stereo in the dash, they just had a cheap stereo in the car so I thought it would be great for the kids to watch movies when traveling, thinking that the 930 played movies and had a video output, that it would work perfectly until I tried it and found it didn't so used a 12VDC media player I bought on trademe that has a USB port. It also used the AV RCA plug as a video cable. you choose the AUX setting on the 930 and then use the media player remote to chose your movie, it plays on both screens and through the stereo.

as for bluetooth, yes it pairs to your phone (iphone), the phone can be answered from the stereo and it uses a mic that you plant somewhere close, if you set your phone to auto answer when paired then you don't need to touch the screen.

you change the bluetooth option on the 930 to the music symbol and control music from the 930.

Hope this all helps?

Cheers

Chris

Yep, sure does. You use scenario is basically just like mine.

I have a NTSC only fold down screen in the back, and now a big double din hole in the front.

I also have steering wheel audio control buttons that I'd love to reuse.

Ironically I'd be happy for a video to play only on the back screen from the front unit, but both would be the next best option. What the 930 offers is crap, in that it can't output an internally decoded video via it's own video output.

Agree a 3rd party media player sounds like a good idea, I just loathe having to spend more on yet another unit to allow for this functionality.

The double din market is quite weird. You either go craptastic normal stereo only in a larger body, or suddenly jump to $399 - $999 for some touchscreen computer. Obviously the 930 appeals, but it's a strange mix of features for sure.

A good hands free via Bluetooth, primarily from an Android Vodafone Prime unit, is the first requirement.

Then Bluetooth music streaming for spotify.

Then video output via composite NTSC signal

And a reversing camera.

With an option to try to learn steering wheel buttons.

In a double din body.

With no GPS, TV Tuner, calculator, games etc required.

Doesn't sound too demanding?...

Jaxson

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#1512624 13-Mar-2016 22:28

Warehouse 20% off car audio this coming week.
May be worth a punt.

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