AVIN Android Multimedia System Master Thread

[fmorelli]

My 2011 E89 Z4 is without iDrive. Unfortunately bluetooth works with the phone but not audio. As I understand it, the Combox in my car is the same as the E9x of the same era. I'm wondering if I could get one of these units to integrate with the Z4? Has anyone done it? Unfortunately (like with most things), Avin is silent on the E89.

Filippo

 

[Cornfed54]

Well I just took the plunge on the CCC system for 07’ e92. I will report back after I install it to add some feedback. I would think it should communicate just fine with your z4 as far as commbox. I have no clue regarding screen fitment and if your car doesn’t currently have an aux input, you would have to find a workaround there as well.

 

[doublespaces]

Hello,

my first post here, have been struggling with this android multimedia for several days already. Since I'm living in Europe I bought this multimedia from aliexpress website, but it's exactly the same as AVIN are offering for US residents.
Now having hard time communicating with China seller, not only their english is not good, but also getting tired of stupid questions like "did you forgot power on your multimedia" or "did you connected cables correctly"

so the car is BMW 330xd 2006 with CCC 8,8" screen.
new screen shows only part 2/3 of the image when switching to show original car display

View attachment 10600 View attachment 10601

There is CAR TYPE list in Factory settings menu, already tried all available options, all other selections displaying worse.
View attachment 10602

After few days of useless conversations with seller he had sent me firmware which I installed and made things even worse, later received original firmware but now after turning on car, multimedia powers on, but idrive control wheel and menu button are unresponsive unless I go to CAR INFO menu tab, then hold menu button and get back to android, button and wheel starts to work.

My thinking what I need is MCU update which I were unable to get from seller. So if anyone has it please share
My firmware specs (before update, now it's the same except now I don't have anything in these brackets [BMW-0223-180116]):
View attachment 10603

Yes, there is an update, by the way when you are on that screen where you select your resolution, try scrolling down. On mine, it has several options below which aren't visible until you go downward, I'm not sure if that was unlocked because of the update or not.

 

[datdoublea]

Following this thread, I have a ccc in my 135i and I am getting remarkably bored with it (lost navi disc)

I saw this...
https://avinusa.com/10-25-bmw-1-series-e81-e82-e87-e88-multimedia-navigation-system.html

But then saw this video

Looks the same but vast differences

https://4x4shop.ca/product/oem-fit-...i-bt-a2dp-usb-multimedia-original-nbt-system/

I want to get this - will i still have idrive functionality (oil check, system warnings, etc?)
The MHD flash and monitoring also appeals to me

 

[NoQuarter]

They dont remove or replace any iDrive functionality. They just put it in a separate screen input that you can switch to.

 

[doublespaces]

The iDrive still functions in the back ground as the iDrive's AUX is how the Avin gets the sound into the system, its a fairly seemless process. You hold the Menu button and it will switch to the Avin screen(or touch the screen which does the same without kicking you out of whatever you're doing). The Avin unit acts like a video receiver, it can switch video sources to the screen.

I do wish there was an alternate way to get sound into the audio system however. Perhaps with a digital signal using the USB port in the glove box or something?

 

[Ryanao]

Hey all,
First post here. I've installed this unit in my E60 about two weeks ago. Installation went very smoothly. Software etc works fine. What I was wondering is what do the updates do? Is it stability patches? Also, yes I'd have to agree that the sound through the aux port isn't as great as the usb-to-system. However, the added functionality is always welcomed.

 

[esberelias]

how do we get updates for our specific units? is there a website or something?

 

[SwordSlasherX]

I got one of these units ordered for my CCC. Is there a setting to boot right into the Android Side? instead of the default menu, just cause it looks so ugly

 

[doublespaces]

I got one of these units ordered for my CCC. Is there a setting to boot right into the Android Side? instead of the default menu, just cause it looks so ugly

Just touch the screen or hold the menu button as it turns on. I'm not sure if this is possible, but it has a lot of options you can check.

how do we get updates for our specific units? is there a website or something?

Email Avin and they will send you an update file. I just recently updated to the latest MCU/Firmware. Now it has the latest NBT Evo ID6 option:

 

[Cornfed54]

I installed my CCC unit and backup cam about a month ago. At first, it was buggy, I drive controller didn’t work in most menus, seemed like I had wasted my money. Turns out, I just needed to spend some time researching and getting it set up properly, along with learning ways around the few quirks the setup has. CarPlay wouldn’t load or connect half the time initially. My fix for that is to let the system boot up, switch to the CarPlay app, THEN, connect my phone to the usb, it works perfectly when done in that order. Is it as good as bmw would do?, no, but it’s a big big upgrade from my non Bluetooth 07’ ccc setup. It can do about anything including mirroring my JB4 gauges with almost zero lag. My only issues I still haven’t solved are, 1). Sometimes when I switch to the android side shortly after starting the car, it freezes and just shows “ no signal”, this happens 1 out of 20 times so no sweat. The 2nd gripe would deff be sound quality. The Bluetooth streaming is just unacceptable, might as well play the music from your phone speakers, it will sound clearer haha. When playing audio through the apps like CarPlay or pandora right off the headunit, the sound quality is acceptable, but not great. I lost some lows and the overall volume is a bit lower than the OeM system. It’s still plenty loud, and if the factory Harmon Kardon was a 10, I’d say the AVIN unit turns that into a 7-8, not great, not bad. This is all just My 2 cents in case it’s helpful to someone else looking to purchase this....

 

[doublespaces]

1). Sometimes when I switch to the android side shortly after starting the car, it freezes and just shows “ no signal”, this happens 1 out of 20 times so no sweat.

Contact AVIN. They are sending out a firmware update that addresses this specifically. There is also an MCU update you could probably ask for as well.

The 2nd gripe would deff be sound quality. The Bluetooth streaming is just unacceptable, might as well play the music from your phone speakers, it will sound clearer haha.

There are various Bluetooth settings, have you played around with them in the Factory Settings area? The passcode is 1314

Also, completely off-topic, for people who don't know this, you can break up a reply into multiple quotes by highlighting the text and clicking 'reply'. It will send that portion of text down to the reply box without having to insert any /quote tags. If you're not on the last page of the thread and you're still reading, click the "+quote" option, it will add that text to a clipboard you can insert into the reply box later.

I've spent a lot of time adding [ /quote] into people's messages when breaking up their responses, thought I'd take this moment to do a little edumacation.

 

[doublespaces]

Does anyone know where this black connector goes on the AVIN screen?

 

[doublespaces]

I also bought a fakra Y cable from ebay with special lengths, one leg 60 cm another leg 30 cm. This allowed me to share the sharkfin GPS antenna between the Android CID and the Radio CIC. Both units can achieve GPS location from the same source. Now I'm able to dump the bulky gps antenna, there was never a very good place for it anyway. I do get an error in ISTA when I do a scan, but it doesn't seem to stop the GPS functionality. I am getting some odd noise through the speakers, but I think that is a different issue. I've asked the ebay seller to make a new listing, because my lengths were custom. I'll post it here when I get it.

Update: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263740297692

 

[doublespaces]

Here is a link to a ton of Android head unit information, some of it may carry over:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Hui_Fei_Type

 

[fmorelli]

@doublespaces have you seen any DIY installs of the Avin unit with non-iDrive cars? I've done a little digging and come up short thus far. Just asking ... thanks.

Filippo

 

[doublespaces]

Not for the E9X, although I'm certain its around. Either way, it is absolutely not hard. I have all the photos for the installation guide, I simply never published it. Remove glovebox, pull front trim, pull radio, replace radio, reassemble.

Actually, if you're not doing the screen you may not even need to pull the glovebox. Just pull the front trim piece back far enough so you can pop the radio out, which you can't do until you pull the hvac thingie back and the lower trim where the seat heaters are. Its kind of a cascading removal which starts with the main trim across the front. Don't have to unplug the wires, just pull back so the rest of it can slide out. Oh, and put your car in D, hit the ebrake chock the wheels and unplug the battery then proceed. Radio wont' come out if the shifter is in P.

 

[langsbr]

Has avin upgraded Android on the to 7.0 or anything yet? They list as coming with 4.4 which is ooooolllldddd. I wish they would offer a higher res screen too. It's OK, but doesn't compare to a 2012 nexus tablet.

 

[Cornfed54]

Does anyone know where this black connector goes on the AVIN screen?

I have the idrive unit like yours as well and I’m 99% sure that plug doesn’t get used on the avin unit. It makes me wonder what that plug is for, and how everything can still work properly without it?? I bought my GPS splitter through Avin and it seems to work so far. I agree, it’s ideal to be able to use the OE antennae, it’s probably better quality, plus no extra stuff to hide in the dash or route into the headliner. Thanks for the tips about the update that corrects the “no signal” glitch! I’ll check out the Bluetooth settings you told me about and see if I can get it to sound better.

-A word of caution for anyone thinking of adding a backup camera, I didn’t want to run any wires from the trunk to the head unit so I bought the Avin wireless backup camera WiFi kit. 1.), the video quality is not as good as a wired source, 2.), apparently this is pretty well documented but I didn’t do my homework, bmw uses pwm on a lot of the lighting in the car. The issue this causes is, when the car is running, voltage supply dropped to around 10.9v at my reverse lights, this wasn’t enough power to activate the backup camera, I had to add a relay. Once I properly hard wired the video signal and added the relay to power the camera, it works amazingly well, I even get the steering/parking lines that move with my steering wheel.
@doublespaces, I too got a weird noise ,intermittently, through my speakers. For my car, the culprit was somehow my passport radar detector which was hard-wired into the power wire going to my cig lighter. Believe it or not, when I unplugged the radar, the sounds went away instantly. I re-wired it straight off an accessory fuse and somehow that totally solved my issue. If you have other aftermarket stereo equipment or things of that nature, maybe experiment with moving wires around or unplugging them to see if it effects your interference noise through your stereo.

 

[doublespaces]

I have the idrive unit like yours as well and I’m 99% sure that plug doesn’t get used on the avin unit. It makes me wonder what that plug is for, and how everything can still work properly without it??

Have you done a Rheingold/ISTA scan on your car? I'd like to know if you get a CID error.

I bought my GPS splitter through Avin and it seems to work so far. I agree, it’s ideal to be able to use the OE antennae, it’s probably better quality, plus no extra stuff to hide in the dash or route into the headliner.

I bought mine from ebay since it was cheaper. Also, I get an error in ISTA when I do a scan for this as well. You may want to check that out, there may even be a way to add a resistor or something in order to stop this error.

Thanks for the tip on the wireless thing, but keep in mind you could just run the power from the head unit instead of tapping the reverse lights. There is a camera 12v wire specifically for powering the backup camera, its not tough if you're going to hardwire the video line anyway. The same wifi kit is available on amazon for pretty cheap, glad I didn't buy it.

I don't really run any aftermarket stuff besides my amp, and its one of those factory replacement types so it isn't a big stretch from what was originally there. I really wish I could nail down where this noise is coming from, it only happens from the Android side, never from the CIC radio/dvd, etc.