Replace VZ Commodore Factory Head Unit - IPOD Capable

[Lindsayr]

Hi There,

I have searched through but can not find any leads so thought i would ask. I have a VZ Commodore with a single CD Blaupunkt head unit. Ideally i am wanting something i can replace it with that gives me ipod aux in and preferably keep steering wheel control (but if not at least allow me to ad the CAT to do this).

Has anyone got any suggestions? I don't want to spend more than $200-300 if possible.

Thanks!

Lindsay

[alien]

Crap, i was going to say go Sony, as i'll have the mod to intercept the steering wheel controls for it done in a few weeks! But i think the iPod adaptor so you can control the ipod too is $120 alone!

Maybe check out VDO? I know they have units that support the steering wheel controls, not sure about iPod though.

[Lindsayr]

What sony head unit do you have?

[alien]

I dont have any in my VY yet, but i'm looking at a 7" Touch Screen DVD player.

However, i do have 2 other units in other cars (my mums and brothers). Mums is basically the older version of the CDXGT570. (Which you can actually get with iPod Connectivity straight out of the box as CDXGT55IP (RRP $299 [$20 more based on RRP than the last listed one], but goto JB HiFi and see what you can get it for, it shouldn't be that much).

Actually, i just realised my brother's one is the CDXGT570. So that's cool. RRP of $279 but i got it for $180. So that iPod head unit is probably in your price range. However you'll need to remember to get a VY Single DIN mould so that it looks the part.

The Steering wheel control circuit without using a CAT i'm working on right now. The topic about it is in this section under VY-VZ Steering Wheel controls with my name under it.

[Phreddy]

Or mod the Blau to accept Aux input.... :

... and maybe even 4 channel RCA outputs if you're keen....

ASR Audio & Electronics - Just Commodores

[alien]

Phreddy, i'm fairly sure Lindsayr wants a unit that can connect via the iPod connector so the head unit can change tracks via the unit and the steering wheel controls, which is what i understood. Otherwise he could get any head unit on the market that's cheap. Unless you or i want to develop the circuit to get Blaupunkts to accept iPods and control them? I certainly dont!

[Phreddy]

LOL!! You bet.... I don't have enough time now, let alone trying to find the resources to dismantle two protocols - one for the iPod and the other for the Blau - and then develop something to translate between them...

[Phreddy]

....although I have a total HATRED of all things Apple - and I think this "iPod integration" into every bloody thing is a marketing ploy.

I don't have an iPod! And I never will!! That's where my mod is much more "generic", it works with anything that has a headphone socket. Not necessarily MP3 players either - one of my customers went home and dug out his old cassette Walkman and his old tapes he hadn't heard in years! (sure, tapes suck on sound quality, but...)

[Lindsayr]

Yep... I've just read about that. I have PM'ed you regarding it

[Lindsayr]

I just read over it again. All i actually want is Aux input. Sorry i should have made it clearer. I don't actually need the ipod integration just the Aux input. the output mod sounds good too. Do you have time to do them currently phreddy? If so, can you reply to my PM?

Thanks!

[Danoz]

Try this... It has everything you need.

Alpine Electronics of Australia

[Phreddy]

Way more, in fact....

[KidKodi]

Hey Phreddy, i Just bought a VZ Wagon, which already has a handsfree nokia system installed, i have an iphone, am interested what you would reccomend for conversion, and can i lay tunes from my iphone and recieve calls etcs?

[caaf]

Vlads Ipod interface is a brilliant idea.. I was one of the first/tester. It really depends if you want to maintain the factory look or go for after market then find a compatible interface for steering wheel controls

[Luke0011]

Yep you cant beat Vlads Ipod Interface

[VesperZ]

Yep you cant beat Vlads Ipod Interface

Mmmm yes, I have Vlad's iPod integration installed into my Blaupunkt 6 stacker and I would never go back. The thing is that you can still attach any device with a headphone jack just by using this but the main advantage is that you can completely control your iPod through the head unit.

....although I have a total HATRED of all things Apple - and I think this "iPod integration" into every bloody thing is a marketing ploy.

I don't have an iPod! And I never will!! That's where my mod is much more "generic", it works with anything that has a headphone socket. Not necessarily MP3 players either - one of my customers went home and dug out his old cassette Walkman and his old tapes he hadn't heard in years! (sure, tapes suck on sound quality, but...)

Although Greg you may think this is a marketing ploy, I can't see any other devices that are even remotely close to the sheer capacity and size of these devices. I personally am not a big Apple fan either, but I haven't found any other MP3 player which can store 160Gb of music / video / photos and which can plug directly into a head unit and be controlled through it. But that's just my 2 cents.

[Luke0011]

I personally have not bothered with compressed music for obvious reasons. Apple was very smart the way it marketed its portable media device in its early stages and now the apple computers are slowly growing in popularity. When the ipod or iphone reach 500gb to 1 tb in capacity then i will buy one copying cd's to it without compression. I have 5 computers at home and one is a Mac Book Pro, 2 Laptop computers and 2 PC's one built for gaming. The Mac's internet is faster through wireless than any of the others through direct ethernet. And Mac's dont get virus's and bugs and i can play 15 video files at once on the mac with no slowdown. The gaming PC which has twice the cpu and 4 times more ram can only handle 9 video files at once b4 it starts having a cry. Yep apple is smarter, easier, better and bug free.

[johnny73]

what features do you lose buy fitting a aftermarket head unit to a vz
eg. steering wheel control ,on dash information and speed volume control!!

[Luke0011]

Well the 2 main features you lose is the factory look, and the display on the instrument cluster showing what track and cd is playing or what radio station is displayed. You can still use the steering wheel controls with most aftermarket headunits. If you have a luxury model i.e. berlina, calais, grange, caprice then you lose adjustable antenna height control, and with the grange, and caprice you lose the dual diversity antenna system in the windscreen as there are 2 antenna leads connected to the stock units. Adding aftermarket unit and simply connecting the antenna leads together to the single antenna plug on your aftermarket unit does not give the same reception performance.

[cover.your.tracks]

hi,
How much is this add in unit for the ipod? is there anything better available on the market yet?

[cover.your.tracks]

also does this work with all headunits or only stacker version?

[desert-eagle]

iPod interface: Holden VY/VZ GTO stereo/radio/CD player - eBay Other, Audio, Video, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 21-Apr-10 18:04:18 AEST)