Dynavin D99+, Info and Q&A

[jeffb325]

No, it wont use any oem parts, the only way to do Sat radio is to either run a stand alone sat tuner connected to the aux in, or a smartphone running the SiriusXM app streaming to the dynavin via bluetooth or aux in.

[ngodiska]

I have just purchased a DynavinD99+ and installed it. The radio worked after the install, but it does not work anymore? Is there a setting or something that needs to be changed? I have checked, and the antenna seems to be connected properly.

[robotech]

O.k my question is to those that have bought the Dynavin unit. How is the sound quality? Have you had any issues with the units? If you had to get support for the unit how quick was the response time? How about overall quality?

[jeffb325]

SQ should be the same as stock. Some users claim its better but basically the stock amp and speakers dont change so dont expect a night and day difference. Ill leave the other questions to others (as they mostly pertain to me)

[zangetsu02]

You say that the E46 with the HK system doesn't have DSP, but my car has the button for DSP. Best Buy actually calls it the premium top system. From what i understand, a lot of units won't work with this system. I really want to buy the D99+, but I need to know that everything will work properly. In the FAQ section of your sight it says the unit won't work with the E39 DSP system. Is that the case with the E46 system?

That is the most common dynavin install there is. You dont have "DSP" (that is 5 series stuff, you have "HK"). Yes the dynavin will work fine on all counts, you dont really need anything else. See my website for details and the FAQ, the link is in my signature.

[SexualChocolate]

You say that the E46 with the HK system doesn't have DSP, but my car has the button for DSP. Best Buy actually calls it the premium top system. From what i understand, a lot of units won't work with this system. I really want to buy the D99+, but I need to know that everything will work properly. In the FAQ section of your sight it says the unit won't work with the E39 DSP system. Is that the case with the E46 system?

No E46 came with DSP. You have the HK system which is a Hi-Fi system. It just makes the speakers give a fuller sound. Check pg 104 of your manual.

[jeffb325]

The button signifies you have the HK system, not DSP. DSP was on the 5 series, 7 series, and X5. Hk was on the E46.

All the DSP/Dynavin talk is 5 series related, there are no issues like that with the E46, a dynaivn will work in any E46 just fine. If the car has Nav you need the Fakra cable. If its the regular business head unit, its plug and play.

[Bacender]

Hey Jeff,

I just bought a Dynavin D99+ Android from you guys a few days ago, waiting for it to arrive from the states (I live in Australia). I had some questions that I couldn't find any answers to. I ended up buying the D99+ based on all the positive reviews, but I guess if you answer these questions it may help some prospective buyers decide to go with Dynavin and the D99+.

There is another competitor selling a very very similar product to the D99+ and they claim their unit is better for a few reasons. Here's their comparison chart, but they don't cite any sources for where they got the specs from:

Competitor - Android 4.0.4 ICS
Dynavin D99 - Android 2.2

Competitor - 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A5 Dual Core
D99 - 500MHz ARMv7

Competitor - 4GB Onboard
D99 - 128MB

Competitor - 1GB DDR3
D99 - 256MB DDR

I won't mention the name of the product since I don't want to give them free advertising.

I can't find any information on the net about the D99+, so I was hoping you could answer... All these questions are related to the D99+ Android edition:

1) What CPU does this unit have?
2) How much onboard RAM?
3) What version of Android is installed?
3a) If an older version is installed, can it be updated, or do Dynavin have plans to release updates?

Thanks.

[jeffb325]

I would suggest you read the threads on e46fanatics about those competing units, they are not new, the main thread on the other forum is over a year old now. Everyone was all excited about them when they came out, then things went south quickly, read the ends of the threads and you will see how things turned out. Basically it takes a lot more than hardware specs to make a unit that actually WORKS.

The D99+ units have the same android hardware as the older units.

[Bacender]

Thanks for the quick response. I believe you about those units being crappy, hence the reason I ended up getting the D99+ from you guys instead.

Are the specs they listed correct?

Only reason I ask is because I'm excited at the possibility of having access to the Google Play store and the hundreds of thousands of apps available, but if it's a 500MHz unit with 256MB of RAM running Android 2.2 then choices for apps may be limited due to compatibility issues.

And finally, can the OS be updated? Will we get access to Android ice cream sandwich or jellybean?

Cheers.

[jeffb325]

Yes I think those specs are pretty close although things are a little blury as the guys who have "hacked" it have got different results, I would suggest you check out the "M3evolution" thread on E46fan.... for more info. They have things running pretty snappy on the limited hardware.

[Bacender]

No offence Jeff but answers for D99 questions, or any Dynavin product for that matter, seem to be "go check this thread filled with a bunch of speculation and misinformation". Why are we expected to sift through thousands of posts on e46fanatics, bimmerforums, ecca, e90fanatics, and a bunch of other bmw community forums, trying to find information that the manufacturer should provide to us? We're paying for the product, it's not a charity -- We're handing over $1000~ for a product, so why are we sifting through 1 - 4 year old posts trying to find information?

Why is the D99 making my air conditioner head unit do weird things like turn on and off for absolutely no reason? Dozens of others are experiencing the same problem but no official answer because Dyanvin don't have an official presence.

Why does USB playback jumble tracks for no reason?



Why doesn't brightness control work on this thing so that it isn't blinding me during night drives?



Why is there no way to turn off the radio so that it doesn't start up when my bluetooth stops streaming for a few moments?

Why don't the play/pause buttons do anything outside of the DVD player? Why am i forced to use the play/pause touch screen buttons in the phone app to pause my bluetooth music rather than just pressing the physical button on the head unit?

Many more questions but the answers will invariably be "go check this 3 year old thread with 750 replies".

Sorry for the shit tone but i'm not too impressed with this $1000~ product acting like a cheap knock off. I'm not really annoyed with you, but Dynavin in general. You've provided a lot of support for the forum, so take this as a rant against Dynavin and not yourself.

Thanks for all your support.

[bms72586]

well i was almost ready to buy this thing. guess ill wait until there are fixes to these issues.

[jeffb325]

Bacender, the reason I directed you to those other threads is because you seem to have an interest in some of the more technical aspects of the android units, those threads get into that, in detail far more advanced than I can explain in a simple post. The M3evolution thread is about modding the unit, alternative ROMs. Frankly a good chunk of it is over my head, Im a car audio guy, not a software engineer. This thread that we are currently on is short and has little information so I directed you to a better thread for your questions.

For the questions about the competing units I directed you to the thread where they were being discussed, If I just came on here and said" they are junk, they suck, buy my product instead" it wouldnt go over very well would it! So I pointed you to another thread where other people were saying it.


"go read a different thread" is NOT usually my answer which is why many of the threads I get into end up being 100 pages long.....because I DO answer the questions! In fact I spend A LOT of time answering questions, thats how I spend most of my time now days....answering the same questions over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....



Now what you have not done prior to this is ask ME questions about these issues you are having.

*For your HVAC, Ive seen that on E39s, but never had an issue on an E46, any time someone has an HVAC issue on an E46 it ends up being something else, usually just a loose plug or damaged wiring as they get fiddled with alot when the controls are relocated. Most recently I had a customer having a bunch of electrical issues after their install, he and I were both confused and mystified, it ended up being a dead, half uninstalled factory ipod interface causing havoc. Once they found it and removed it, everything was fine.

For clarity: On the E39 the OBC function on the dynavin can interfere with the HVAC operation on some cars, in general I only see it on US cars but it sounds like it can occasionally happen elsewhere as well. Basically the dynavins OBC function is not compatible with these cars, if you look at my website you will see it says so, we disable it now on all E39 units to avoid this issue.

You say "dozens" of people have this issue? Ive never seen it on an E46 but sometimes these issues can be regional as the cars can vary in different parts of the world. I see you are in Australia, could be your HVAC is different. I would suggest you unplug the ibus box to see if it goes away, if it doesnt, you have some other unrelated problem.


*USB, It has to do with how the drive is structured, the dynavin isnt doing anything to the order, its just reading what is there. What you see on your computer is not how the drive is actually put together as windows will sort the files however you like. There are programs out there that will properly sort your drive, google "drive sort" to see what Im talking about.


*Hold down the mute button at night to dim the screen. The brightness control in the menu is for video playback.


*The hard buttons work, Im guessing you have an iphone, prior to iOS6 everything worked from the head unit. With iOS6 the bluetooth buttons stopped working from the head unit and we now have to use the buttons on the phone....thanks apple....

well i was almost ready to buy this thing. guess ill wait until there are fixes to these issues.

See above, these are not issues.

[Bimmers86]

Hello!
I installed a unit and used a FAKRA cable on my E46 99model with PDC. But after the install i get no sound from my PDC`? The speaker for the pdc works. And all the sensors are replaced(should have a beep if they were faulty anyway) but i get no sound at all Any one has a suggestion?

[Bimmers86]

I originaly had the player with nav and cassette player. There was a PDC function on that screen but i cant find anything on the new player. I think its dynavin d99. But this isnt my forte so im unsure. Bought it from a friend with no PDC on his car. Is there some wires that need to be spliced or ? I thought the pdc was a separate system but i really need help on this

[jeffb325]

well.....if it is a D99 or newer then the dynavin has a PDC screen that supports the factory PDC....although it seems to me your stock system should still be functioning but your car is a euro spec car and I dont have any experience with that. In the "hidden" factory settings menu there is a reverse setting that can be set to camera or PDC and you may need to mess around with the dynavins "beep" setting in the radio menu.

They had a PDC option in 1999?!

[Bimmers86]

Thanks for the reply!!
I dont know how to access the hidden menu?

The car has PDC from stock yes When i connect diagnostic tools it finds the PDC unit so i know that the system works.. Im thinking there is a setting or something easy.. I have also tested the speaker under the dash so i know that works to.

[jeffb325]

The part I dont get is why the stock system isnt working as it should....on an E46 its separate from the stereo so the dynavin install should have nothing to do with it....

you can access the "hidden" menu by going to the radio settings, select SYSTEM, then press the upper right corner of the touchscreen to bring up the hidden menu.

[jeffb325]

Also....do your steering wheel controls work, as far as the dynavin is concerned they are part of the same system.

[Bimmers86]

I dont have multi function steering wheel if thats what you mean.

No with the old cassette player it did beep, but after installing the player with fakra there is no sound any more But in the old player there was something PDC related ( i think i could turn it off when in reverse, dont recall) Could there be a wire thats missing in the Fakra cable? Will try accessing the hidden menu.

[Bimmers86]

Strangest thing. Disconnected the pdc module, then connected again.. Then it worked. nothing to do with the dynavin...

[jeffb325]

glad you figured it out.

[Bacender]

Jeff, again, thanks for your patient replies, as I said above i'm not directing any hate toward you, you're doing a great job. My issue is mostly with Dynavin's support, or rather, lack thereof. I can't stress enough that i'm not expressing any hatred toward you and the support you're providing.

With that said, and for anyone considering this unit, i will be making a video review of this thing to give people an idea of what they're getting themselves into. I feel for a $1000~ product, we're not getting our money's worth, especially considering i'm installing this thing into a BMW, not a Toyota camry. There is a certain level of prestige you expect from a BMW in terms of cabin quality, haptics, sound, build quality (no annoying vibrations and noises while driving, etc), and this sticks out like a sore thumb.

1. Brightness control non existent. You're either full bright mode, or dim mode (by pressing and holding mute). Not very useful if you want to fine tune.

2. Touch screen is ABYSMAL in Android. It does not track your finger very well for any gesture based movement such as sliding or scrolling. There is an invisible line running down the middle of the screen. If you scroll vertically the unit will spaz out and scroll down for absolutely no reason. I have replicated the fault on my head unit, and during a recent BMW cruise i tried it on someone elses' E46 as well. The touch screen is only good for tapping -- Anything to do with dragging or sliding makes the resistive touchscreen shit itself, for lack of better word.

This makes using Android close to impossible, and installing any apps like Pandora or Spotify is worthless as you are literally unable to traverse any menu longer than 5 - 10 lines as the screen constantly spazzes out and scrolls all the way down a long list for no reason. I can record this in action and have tested it thoroughly.

3. Android is very buggy at best. Apps forget settings due to the head unit being forcefully turned off when you turn off the car.

4. Android is very unstable. The specs of this unit are quite low (as mentioned above, 400MHz CPU with a paltry amount of RAM). Apps crash for no descernable reason on a fresh install of the device. I purchased the TomTom app and i crash at least once every trip, sometimes several times.

5. Android is very unresponsive. Takes several taps for the unit to register what's going on and actually respond... As mentioned above, poor specs.

6. Head unit gets VERY VERY hot. It's uncomfortable using the touch screen when this thing reaches operating temp, i feel like i'm cooking my index finger.

7. Included stylus doesn't even belong to the unit... Looks like a stylus taken from another touch screen device and bundled in the box, nor is there any where to store the stylus in the head unit... All you can do is have it lying in your glovebox or centre console oddments tray.

8. No way to turn off radio. I have to switch to DAB or TV just so no music is playing in the background.

9. USB jumbles file order. I know you said it's probably my USB but i have to disagree with you. I've used this same USB drive in 3 different head units prior to the D99 (this is a 32GB USB that i keep on throwing new albums onto), and all previous head units such as the Kenwood KDC-U7053BT read the file order correctly. If i have a folder of songs called "1. Hi" "2. Hello" "3. How are you", how the hell does the D99 put "2. Hello" at the top of the list and "1. Hi" at the bottom??? There's no way to change ordering or file structure either.

10. No way to control speaker placement. If any audio comes out of the Android side of the unit, even if Android is muted, your Bluetooth music is forced to the rear speakers, which sounds very annoying. After a few seconds audio comes back to all speakers. Most head units do this, but even my old KDC-U7053BT allowed me to specify which speakers were used when streaming audio. We're given no options as to how to direct audio. What if i don't want sound to fade??? I have to enable/disable NAV SOUND, but in doing so it stops the audio fading and instead forces my bluetooth to mute while Android is playing something (EVEN WHEN ANDROID IS MUTED!!!)

11. The Air conditioner head unit issue definitely exists. Google it and you'll find a few people complaining about it. I've spent a few hundred hours in this car, and ever since buying this head unit now i'm experiencing issues.

12. Lack of equaliser and general customisation. Volume, treble, bass, woofer, balance, fader -- That's all you get. I can't even specify the bass range to fine tune my system if i have after market speakers. My old shitty KDC-U7053BT with a small 3 line monochrome screen had more options ffs. Come on Dynavin.

13. iPhone tethering is broken and confirmed by hundreds of members.

14. Play/Pause button on head unit don't work. AGAIN, my old KDC-U7053BT's play/pause button still worked fine when i upgraded from an iPhone 4S with iOS5 to an iPhone 5 with iOS6. And even if it did break support, why don't Dynavin patch it? How many months has iOS6 been out??

Maaaaaaaaaany more issues but i won't get into it.

Suffice to say i'm not satisfied with my purchase and can't suggest the product to anyone.

[jeffb325]

I could go line by line, counter and address your points and help you fix your issues but it sounds like your mind is made up so it would be a waste of time for both of us.

All I can say is that most people love these things, we hear of very few issues now days, there are hundreds of pages of happy dynavin users over 3 years on e46fanatics, I myself have thousands of happy customers,

Its clear that you are soured on the entire situation, im not saying you dont have a few points (I dont recommend the android units for most people, says so in my FAQ) but a lot of them are a stretch...but its clear at this point its just not for you.

Cant win them all.