anwallac

Today I received my vaistech SL2Vi video iPod adaptor and went ahead and installed it w/my 5th generation 30gb video iPod into my ‘06 (sorry no pics). Also in parallel I performed the nav hack including grounding of the red wire to the HU chassis which is necessary in order to play videos from the iPod while in motion (figured this out the hard way)

1st off thanks goes out to Tim817 for the great pics in the NavHack thread for removing the HU. Little trick for anyone wanting to remove those vents…..I used that free tool from home depot that comes with paint cans. The hooked end was perfect for removing the vent assembly by firmly pulling with it inserted up into the clip recess (someone mentioned a similar method in the nav hack thread with a different tool, but this is a cheap alternative)

The Vaistech package was very straightforward and quite easy to install. Once I figured out exactly what plugs were which, it is pretty much plug and play. At this point I only had the pink and red wire spliced.

Following completion of the Vaistech instructions to program the module to CD-MP3 emulation I was off and running. All my iPod playlists were immediately at my disposal right from my headunit/steering wheel. I imagine the interface is exactly the same as that of the SL2i so I won’t go into much detail as that has been discussed at length elsewhere -- however I will say this: HELL YEAH! Excellent sound quality, 100s of songs, excellent interface.

But what about the video? Well I immediately realized it wasn’t working, and that was because my parking brake wasn’t set. Never seeing the DVD screen before I decided to set the parking break which enabled playback, but still no video, it was a blank screen. Well I quickly figured out that in order to play the video, you must pull out the iPod and select the video you prefer to watch, select it and play it (ensuring your iPod is set to TV OUT: ON in the video settings menu).

So this was something I wasn’t aware of. As far as the music goes, it is fully controllable from the Steering Wheel and/or head unit. However, when you cycle to video mode, you must manually select the video on the ipod. The good part is that when you cycle back to iPod mode, it is immediately controllable once again through the HU.

Picture quality: well the picture is as good as the video’s resolution that you are watching. I have a few movies that are rather big files and higher resolution and they looked excellent on the screen. I d/l then convert most of mine so i might start converting to the screens resolutio, anyone know Pixel by Pixel dimensions of the nav screen?

At this point I decided to pull the head unit out and ground the red wire which is really easy due to about 10 8mm screws on the side of the HU chassis which itself is grounded. Take your pick. I buttoned everything back up and hit the road. All systems fully functional while in motion. Ahhhhh…… being a nav hack virgin, damn it is 10,000% worth it. Nothing else to say about that.

From my understanding after intalling this unit today, the plug which sends the video to the HU goes directly into a stock receptacle that is vacant on my unit because I don’t have stock DVD. I guess this is why this product is not yet available for units with stock DVD (nav w/ml). So the module must somehow emulate the stock dvd signal.

Also, this unit will automaticaly press "I Agree"

Well I know this is a lot but havn’t read much details on the SL2Vi so hope this helps anyone trying to jutify $350 for this. to me not having the Nav/ML, well worth the cost.

andyboy

iTrader: (2)

Great post...even better if there were pics. Got any pics? Also, I've been stalking the Vaistech site and haven't seen this available yet. Does anyone know when it will be ready to purchase?

anwallac

It's not available online for some reason, you have to call. They will gladly trade you one for lot's of money, trust me.

TLe2006

Where are you in VA anwallac? i'd like to see that in person.

Toptier

Well good thing I live in CO. I can just go to VAIS and pick one up

vapors1

Great Info! I've got the Vaistech SoundLinQ SLI and love it! But I just got the 80g iPod for Christmas. Might be time to upgrade to some video fo' sho'!!

Anyone in Texas do the Nav Hack?

Enjoy anwallac!

akkord

Do you have the ML system or was this installed on a non ML system?

anwallac

Make sure to check what generation iPod you have 5th or 6th and make sure it is compatible with the SL2Vi, for some reason I think it is only compatible up to 5th generation

I installed this on a non-ML unit. Becuase this plugs into where the stock DVD input would have been, I do not believe this is an option if you have stock DVD, yet. Of course calling Vaistech is the best way to get these types of questions answered for your specific application as there are a lot of variations.

2SwiFt29

iTrader: (6)

would love to see pics..

SpaceCadet

So you still have to do the nav hack AND go through these procedures to play video while in motion? Can you play videos while parked without the nav hack?

RocketGuy3

iTrader: (1)

I am not sure if you have enough songs in any of your playlists to know the answer to this yet (I hope you do... or that you at least have enough songs to experiment for me to find out ), but I was wondering if the unit still has the 999 song limit per playlist.

I have not yet hit that limit, but I probably will soon, and it seems like it will be an extreme annoyance.

anwallac

W/o the nav hack, it is the same as stock DVD, video only available with tranny in park, parking break engaged. The nav hack must be done to enable video in motion, and furthermore access the folder list while moving as you would with an MP3 cd.

Unfortunately my longest playlist is about 750 songs, so I dont break the 1000 mark. However, when I called to purchase this I did ask this question to the Vaistech guy who was great to talk with because he already had the SL2Vi in his IS. I am not exactly sure, but I know he told me there is no limit on the playlists. However he tried to explain to me, and I may not have this exactly correct, but if you have a playlist with over 999 songs, which is the most the HU can display in a file list, when you get to song 1000, it will roll back to the beginning of the file list, but still play song 1000. Which I would think doesn't hinder use too much because if you have a 1000 song playlist I doubt you'll be scrollling throught the file list to try and find your favorite song. Anyways hope this helps.

i3urton

awsome might look at doing that .. i also dont have a ml system...

kensteele

did you say the nav's i-agree button is pressed automatically or is it the video-ok button....or both?

jerom332

If I have a non ML NAV I could watch video on my nav screen with a video ipod