[cstavaru]

Hi,

I have an e90 facelift BMW 3-series with iDrive Professional (the new CIC iDrive).

I am researching the best way to connect a car pc to the iDrive screen (the screen is high quality 10.2" with 1280x480 resolution). After hours of research, I could not come up with a "best product". In fact, I could not come up with much at all.

Does anyone know what are some proven products to offer additional video input to iDrive (especially the new version from September 2009 on) ?

I also noticed that most iDrive video intercepton modules have composite video in, whereas most carpc systems have VGA output. Is a VGA-to-composite cable a solution for this ?

Here is what I found until now:

http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.ph...7&cat=0&page=1
http://www.tvandnav2go.com/bmw-tv-navigation.html
http://www.tv-in-motion.co.uk/bmw_video_input.html

Thanks !

[JonLerd]

ive been looking into this also but i think the hard part is going to be getting your pc to output at that resolution. I would assume that would make the most difference when trying to get images to transfer over in the right scale. especially if your doing gauges

[my07_335i]

isn't there an "accessory menu" thing that you can buy for the idrive system that adds other video inputs?

[tafan321]

For VGA - Composite, there is either some sort of adapter out there...like http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3709741

or get a video card for your PC that supports composite out.

[cstavaru]

Originally Posted by my07_335i

isn't there an "accessory menu" thing that you can buy for the idrive system that adds other video inputs?

Thanks man ! I don't know if this adds video inputs, but it may be !

I did some research...

Part number for the old iDrive:

65 50 0 418 002

Part number for the new iDrive SEEMS TO BE:

65 50 0 441 372

[my07_335i]

Originally Posted by cstavaru

Thanks man ! I don't know if this adds video inputs, but it may be !

I did some research...

Part number for the old iDrive:

65 50 0 418 002

Part number for the new iDrive SEEMS TO BE:

65 50 0 441 372

There you go...also there seems to be a thread on it:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...=111110&page=2

[6er]

10.2" screen and CiC I assume it's the latest 2009 ish model?

if so none of the above will work. These units are for the 6/8.8" LCD's

We are awaiting the new interfaces being shipped to us for the latest 2009 e90's.

While your waiting I highly recommend you buy one of these iDrive car pc control interface

Coming from our project e38 ibus integrated carputer, when we do our project e63 carputer it will be using this product for full iDrive integration, its really a must have.

The Resolution is really down to what the car software you decide to use really rather than the PC, generally you can just get a vga to composite off ebay for £20 and it still give perfect quality.

Cheers,

Jay
TV-in-Motion.co.uk

[JazJon]

I'm also researching the best way to input video into my July/2008 BWM 335i Convertible.

So far I found EAS has a product called VSM that will let me to hack my BMW to accept a video input. (see youtube video)

The TV-in-Motion products look interesting as well and I'd like to know more to compare.

Is my 2008 screen 1280x480 resolution? I'd like to try and use a component iphone cable converted to VGA for best quality picture. (EAS has a open wire VGA input as an aux input)

Can anyone help answer some of my techincal questions? Let me cut and paste the email I've sent around to a couple friends.

__________________________________

Hello, It looks like you might have a product and or expertise to help me with my project.
http://www.svideo.com/component2vga.html

My goal is to display my iPhone video output on my BMW Stock NAV iDrive Screen.

EAS has a product called VSM that will let me to hack my BMW to accept a video input. (see youtube video)

more details:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?p=5167119

With EAS VSM, most people use the standard yellow composite video input to achieve this via:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB129LL/B

I would rather have a higher resolution though since the iPhone supports 480P Component output via
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB128LL/B

EAS also says that the VSM supports open wire VGA input.

So my question to you is do you think I can "convert" the R G B of the 3 wire component output to the open wire VGA? (for maximum quality resolution) I'm waiting for EAS to respond to my last question that asks about resolutions etc. Hopefully you have some suggestions or info in this area. I'm thinking that I might get the following product of yours to make this work. (if it sounds like the best plan and technically compatible) http://www.svideo.com/component2vga.htm

If this is all over kill, and/or not worth the extra effort/expense I'll keep it simple and just stick with old school yellow composite cables. I always like to push things to the max quality if possible though

Thanks for any hesitance you might be able to provide!
~Jon




---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jon
Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: EAS VWS for BMW July 2008 335i Convertible (fully loaded)
To: Tom G., european auto source


The VSM is VGA capable? Nice then let me ask you a few more questions. My Goal is to have the highest resolution possible so I'm willing to put some work into converting things to a VGA signal. Can I somehow use the Apple Component cable rather than the old school composite one? This: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB128LL/B

m pretty sure the iPhone is 480P capable so converting the component to VGA might work. I'm thinking It would look better than a composite low res signal.

If yes, the next goal would be for me to find an appilent to convert a compoent signal to VGA. (any suggestions? I'll google)
Like this maybe: http://www.svideo.com/component2vga.html ?
What resolution does the VGA signal need to be to show up properly on the BWM Display?
Do you have any suggestions on where to buy an adapter to go from the component/VGA box to the open wire VGA input of the VSM? (if not I'll have to google around or radio shack it)

If I go all out with this VGA option, will the over all behavior still be the same? (cycle between 3 modes, stock, full screen, split mode.)
When I put the car in reverse, I'd prefer the camera to be in split mode as shown in the demo video.

I'm ready to do this but I want to make sure I know the full plan, and what to tell the custom installer.



On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 7:12 PM,
Tom G., european auto source wrote:
Jon,

The VSM does have a direct VGA input - this is your choice if you are experienced with electronics (open wire, not 9-pin socket). The stock PDC image will appear in split mode, or you have the option to have the rear camera image take over the entire screen.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[nselimis]

Hi I'm actually looking to do the same type of thing and I'm specking out parts right now.

Here are the conclusions i have come to via testing and lots of

I'm probably going to go with the modmynav.com unit for 2 reasons. one I like the camera in the handle better then replacing a light (I've already swapped them out with the super bright LED's and I don't want them uneven but that's my preference) second I drive a 09 E93 and he can integrate the mods4cars - smartTV unit into his wire harness so the install is seamless and will not require a separate DVD player. Now that I've said all that you can go with the EAS or alsop units as they all seem similar.

The key thing is that you want to pump the output of the iPhone to the cic screen and as long as you use the apple cable and any of the current 3g/3gs iphones you will be pleasantly surprised that video looks great without using VGA.

Now if you iPhone is jail-broken then you can run a app like screen splitter (get it from cydia) and then text can be hard to read based upon font size. But the nice thing with that app is that you can just rotate you iphone sideways and the font will get bigger just like it does one the iphone itself. (you can try all this yourself with the cable and a jail-broken phone plugged into a low def TV via the composet cables and I have tried using the component cable and the output was not substantially better)

But now all of what i said is moot if you plan to upgrade in June/July when the iphone HD? comes out as the new resolution will be 960 × 640 compared to what you currently have which is 480 × 320. When this comes out i am GUESSING! that apple may make the vga cable that currently works for the ipad available to the iphone and then it make sense to use the VGA input. you can make a vga cable using this link http://www.epanorama.net/documents/v...terfacing.html I'm currently working on a cable like this for my ipad.

Now if they dont do that then here is that i will do is to find a converter that supports the odd 960 × 640 resolution via component cable (rgb H&V sync) to vga.

Now I'm trying to source or make a device like what your looking for since I want to be able to scale from the iPhone 960 × 640 to the BMW cic resolution of 1246X480 (notice that's stretching the horizontal and squishing the vertical)

Well I've rambled quite a bit so if you have any questions you can PM me.

[JazJon]

Originally Posted by nselimis

Hi I'm actually looking to do the same type of thing and I'm specking out parts right now.

Here are the conclusions i have come to via testing and lots of

I'm probably going to go with the modmynav.com unit for 2 reasons. one I like the camera in the handle better then replacing a light (I've already swapped them out with the super bright LED's and I don't want them uneven but that's my preference) second I drive a 09 E93 and he can integrate the mods4cars - smartTV unit into his wire harness so the install is seamless and will not require a separate DVD player. Now that I've said all that you can go with the EAS or alsop units as they all seem similar.

The key thing is that you want to pump the output of the iPhone to the cic screen and as long as you use the apple cable and any of the current 3g/3gs iphones you will be pleasantly surprised that video looks great without using VGA.

Now if you iPhone is jail-broken then you can run a app like screen splitter (get it from cydia) and then text can be hard to read based upon font size. But the nice thing with that app is that you can just rotate you iphone sideways and the font will get bigger just like it does one the iphone itself. (you can try all this yourself with the cable and a jail-broken phone plugged into a low def TV via the composet cables and I have tried using the component cable and the output was not substantially better)

But now all of what i said is moot if you plan to upgrade in June/July when the iphone HD? comes out as the new resolution will be 960 × 640 compared to what you currently have which is 480 × 320. When this comes out i am GUESSING! that apple may make the vga cable that currently works for the ipad available to the iphone and then it make sense to use the VGA input. you can make a vga cable using this link http://www.epanorama.net/documents/v...terfacing.html I'm currently working on a cable like this for my ipad.

Now if they dont do that then here is that i will do is to find a converter that supports the odd 960 × 640 resolution via component cable (rgb H&V sync) to vga.

Now I'm trying to source or make a device like what your looking for since I want to be able to scale from the iPhone 960 × 640 to the BMW cic resolution of 1246X480 (notice that's stretching the horizontal and squishing the vertical)

Well I've rambled quite a bit so if you have any questions you can PM me.

Wow thanks that's the most helpful and detailed reply yet!

Was was "this" close to getting the EAS one.
http://www.europeanautosource.com/pr...oducts_id=2918

I have a July 2008 335i Convertible so I'm forced to get the one that is for my CCC 640x240 screen. (instead of the nice CiC 1280x480 one your 2009 has, lucky! )

The 640x240 screen is yet another reason for me to not bother with VGA.

I was hoping I might be able to swap my 640x240 screen with a 1280x480 screen. Tom from EAS said:
"Connectors (as well as coding) are different, you cannot retrofit a CIC screen to a CCC vehicle."

So I'm going to give up that chase unless someone else engineers a special creative solution. The thing is I plan to keep my BWM for awhile, so I'd really like a high res screen so my new iPhone HD will look killer. I really hope someone is up for the challenge/conversion.

Ok so back to what CAN be done now. I'm really impressed with the Mod4Nav setup so far. That's pretty cool that they have you replace the trunk latch to make this fit. I wonder if it's for the Sedan only or if it will fit my Convertible too? (I'll ask them) Also the price is right. To top it off they even have free installation in the California Bay Area. (and I live in San Francisco! perfect)

Ok so the only thing stopping me is do they also support the picture in picture mode? I like how the EAS one cycles between split screen and full screen via the steering wheel buttons. Do they also have the grid over lay?
(EDIT, I watched their videos, looks good!!)

Thanks for all these details, I'm now leaning towards this new company and will research the above pronto.

P.S. I'm interested in the replacement lights. Which ones did you get? I remember seeing some blue'ish white ones that talked about being error free. (so the computer doesn't detect anything non standard)

And yes I'm all about being jailbroken when it comes to iPhone!

I love my http://proclipusa.com by the way.