Need help with TV & Bluetooth.. Please!
 

Hi all,

Firstly sorry If this is already listed somewhere. I truthfully have spent most of the day looking through threads & links & it's all a bit confusing..

Anyway, the mourning period following the sad death of my 75 connoisseur a few months back has passed & a few days ago I purchased a 2.5l ZT.... Which I LOVE!

I do not know exactly what it came with as standard but the chap told me it had the High Line system & he had switched the head unit with the 16:9 one from the E46 BMW.

It looks the business & the radio, 6CD changer & GPS all work perfectly but with the digital switch over the TV is no longer working :(

As a child of the 70's who grew up on Knight Rider I know if I want to be anywhere near as successful with the ladies as "the Hoff" I need to get this sorted.

Ideally I would like freeview but £££ are in short supply at the mo. I have checked Ebay & found some reasonably affordable ones but don't want to buy only to find I need something else to make it work.

So my questions are:

can I simply remove the analogue receiver & plug one of these dvb-t things in?

Do I need to rip the loom to bits to wire it up?

instead of freeview can I buy a cable or something to plug an SD card/media player, phone or psp or something in (to watch films on) & if so where do I plug it?

and the head unit has a phone button which does not seem to do anything. Do I have to buy some additional piece of kit to make this work & again where do I plug it?

This is the 1st time I have posted in a forum so I'm sorry if I miss anything out. Also I am definitely not a mechanic or Auto electrician so please keep it simple!


Thanks

Moved to the ICE forum for better coverage :xmas-smiley-031:

K thanks.

Told you I was new ;)

Not a problem, thats why we are here! :xmas-smiley-031:

Bluetooth info here

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...ead.php?t=7597

and here

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1564299

This isn't the cheapest option for bluetooth but is how you get a fully integrated system for the hi-line

As for the TV you need to either keep the tuner as its used for the graphics and add an adapter lead and a freeview tuner or replace it with a BMW hybrid TV Tuner for a E46
If you have a look in the ICE Forum for the high line there are more details on the options http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...splay.php?f=91

the tv bit can be converted with right box.sean aka radioguy a trader on here sells them on here best one is the meg 4 one.this plugs into your present tv tuner.for this you also need a adaptor from a company called toys in your car.get a coulpe of stick on antennas and away you go or you can use the cars inbuilt antenna system.as for the phone bit this will only work with a diffrent radio tuner.ie a bmw one .then you also need the brains of the system called a url plus a load of wiring another antenna and a microphone.can be done as i did it.as for the previous advice on the tv there is also a plug and option which is the bmw digital tuner which is a straight swop but these are very expensive for a item that most folks only use on odd ocassions

wow.

Blown away by the speed of response & exactly what I wanted to know... Thanks to both of you.

I checked the toys in your car site & came over all faint when I saw the prices. just so I can see how many organs I will have to sell can you tell me which specific cable it is please?

I was wondering about other media players like portable DVD's etc but I assume they will require the same cable anyway?

As for the bluetooth.... who wants phone calls interrupting a nice drive anyway... lol


Thanks again

The lead you need for the TV from Toys In Your Car is £35 mate. Well worth it.
http://www.toysinyourcar.com/acatalog/rov_av.html

That's brill thanks Alan.

It will probably take me a few weeks but sure I can squeeze out a little extra cash from somewhere.

I'll let you know how I get on

After a few more weeks of searching for a cheap alternative I found the AV cable thing was going to be my cheapest bet & to make sure I got the right one I once again lifted the boot cover to look for serial numbers or specific looking plugs etc.


Imagine my surprise when I saw this staring back at me

http://s1081.beta.photobucket.com/us...e60fa.jpg.html

I already have one fitted lol.

Anyway I plugged in the nearest thing to hand with av output leads & music/video pre-loaded (my psp).

I scrolled through the tv channels & found the AV channel & result! I can hear it through the car speakers.

The video was less successful. When I select display on external device the screen comes to life but it is black & white, very fuzzy looking & flickers like someone is playing with the old vhold button on an old TV??

I have played with very limited options on the psp of "interlace or progressive" & "4:3 or 16:9" but I can't seem to clear up the picture.

Can anyone offer any advice??

Now I can't even get photobucket to work!!


Technology hates me!

Just tried it with another device I managed to find av output leads for (digital camera)

again was able to hear it no problem but the image still appears black & white with the same distortions (looks like 3 images squished on top of each other)

Any ideas appreciated?

Just to bring the story to an end.....

I opted to stop wasting money on buying additional bits of hardware just to get the TV working & decided to install a tablet instead.

I used Rockets "tablet in car" thread for guidance & the rest kind of fell into place.

Bought a 7" tab a OEM fascia & special mention to rebearner for the very generous donation of a harmony head unit.

& here it is

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...ps80b0746e.jpg

My playlist with album art

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8d79eb53.jpg

fully customizable home screens

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f4afc7f.jpg

Maps with voice guidance & voice recognition

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2e34db6a.jpg

Internet with youtube etc

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...psf4741468.jpg

and movie player amongst other things (also works with my steering volume controls.

I'm well chuffed with it & at around £100 total cost I think its a smart alternative for those that can't quite stretch to a radioguy unit.

If I can be of any use to anyone thinking of something similar let me know.

Very, very well done.

Nice job.

Thanks Paul

Your help & the support of other forum members helped me achieve it.

Hi,
I want to do this mod as well,can you go into more detail what you did and how you did it.
cost,equipment needed and how a tablet can plug into the car speakers,can you still use a radio as well ?
I have the hi line system fitted as standard in the car and want to change it but for minimum cost.
Thanks and it looks great by the way.

Thanks Stu.

It was really easy once I decided the easiest option to get the sound to work was through a headphone to cassette cable (£2 gadget on ebay)

I have connected the original loom to a harmony head unit which avoids the need for a separate amp. And also means the steering controls still work.

Needed to cut out a little of the centre console and the heating control unit but this was very easy & i can send pics if needed.

The most important thing i found was finding a tablet which fitted my needs (gps sat nav video music maps bluetooth wifi etc) but was the perfect size for the fascia which meant i did not have to do too much cutting to the frame. For this the viewsonic viewpad was the perfect choice.

The total kit cost me under £100 through ebay and i could not be happier with it.

Not sure if I am able to attempt this

It really couldnt be easier.

Dont need any electronics skills. Just the parts, a sharp knife and a hacksaw

Give it a go.

Maybe I'll take a trip to Liverpool and watch you do it :)

Lol

Would that I had the time...

Its a bit time consuming because its not a standard fit and you have to do a bit of whittling.

If you decide to have a go let me know