Brenda1129

Hi there AMG lovers... Does anyone have any ideas on how to hack a DVD player (MB Command System) on a 2008 C63 AMG W204? I'm wanting to play DVDs on long drives such as across the Australian Hay Plains (New South Wales)--irrespective of speed traveled. My passenger gets comatosed when we're traveling thru such bland and endless terrain, and moans incessantly. But it gets worse... They insist on playing "I spy with my little eye...", which makes life just a little more unbearable. (The same words are used over and over again but in shuffle rotation: wheat, potholes, ugly, sun, dry, desert, and "...there's no other barrstard on the road!"... Thanks kindly Brenda

SB...C63

I had a tech. friend of mine that installed a module to the existing system. it was easy.
Its called Video in motion.

http://youtu.be/ZMoOqNXmRao

rage2

http://www.midcityengineering.com/video-in-motion

Best babysitter ever. I've had 'em installed in 3 of my Mercedes and it works perfectly. Press the volume up and down button simultaneously, and it "unlocks" the warning screen. It essentially disables the GPS signal too, so the GPS will get a little inaccurate as it tries to guess where you are based on wheelspeed and G sensors.

BO Knows

I also installed it with their backup camera package. Not only it allows you to watch DVDs in motion, but also allows you to input address during motion.

lunarx

Carefull if buying on ebay.
I'm returning mune for exchange because it would shut the Command down and drop the GPS.
That was with it in the off position as it is normal to disengage GPS when its in the overide position.

The seller I bought from was 4handys.
I'll let you know if I get a working replacement.

rage2

Just buy the mid city engineering ones and you won't have a problem. They are specific to each car's COMAND model, and works perfectly everytime.

The ebay ones just drop the GPS line and that alone does not work properly on the newer COMANDs. You get what you pay for, the ebay ones are about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of the Mid City Engineering VIMs, and not worth the trouble IMO.

benzmodz

It is called an iPad.

Brenda1129

Thanks kindly but iPADS aren't the best for long trips because of battery. And like anything operating off a battery, you don't want it plugged in days at a time.

2012C63AMG

Thats nonsense, Li ion batteries have no memory only old school nickel based batteries do. Just as when you plug in a laptop the power source no longer comes from the battery and the battery is put in charging mode.

You can easily watch 3-4 2 hour long movies on a single charge. The biggest killer of battery life is WiFi. That ipad will play movies longer than you can physically and safely drive for.

CoolBDPhenom03

VIM is still cheaper than an iPad. No charging required.

rage2

iPad for kids works in theory. But then they want to hold it. Then they get tired of holding it. Then they accidently touch the screen and it pauses, or goes to a different part of the movie and want you to fix it. When you floor it they can't hear it. Earphones? Too uncomfortable.

VIM and movie on the screen, with controls up front is the way to go haha. You can tell from the responses who's driven long distances with kids.

At the end of the day tho, kids are too spoiled these days. Wish I had non stop entertainment on 12 hour drives with the parents growing up. But that's a whole different discussion lol.

CoolBDPhenom03

There are iPad cases that attach to the back of headrests.

2012C63AMG

If you keep the car long yes... For me I would be wasting what $300 or so for it and I trade the car in every 2 years. I can keep my ipad for longer and use it for many things, car, airplane, living room, work ect.

I know you are a tuner but I am tired of the "Mercedes" mark up... I realize you need to make a profit and I recognizing we have a limited market but still charging 3x-4x more than what a normal car would... Plus the "its german" doesn't fly with me as all these electronics are made in china or japan.

I look at the ECU tune market 4-5 years ago we would of had to pay $2k++ for a tune, now that we can get handheld tunes its lower... Hopefully it will get down to $400 for hand held tune and software, and for my digging and research this R&D is BS since most of the smaller companies buy the tunes from someone else and resell them at a mark up or some stupidly take someone else's tune and just increase the parameters for an extra 5-10 hp to gain more market share.

Vivid not blaming you or saying you stole a tune but others we dont mention here have, and I can say that without fear of being slammed with a slander lawsuit as I have it in writing from the owner.

CoolBDPhenom03

The VIM module I found a while back was only $160.

2012C63AMG

Cool deal when I looked a year or so ago it was around $300. for $160 I might pick one up.

CoolBDPhenom03

There's also an 8 minute DIY on YT so it seems easy to do yourself.

rage2

Oh I know. You put it in there, and the kid wants to play with it because there's an option to play with it lol. When arms get tired and it's time to put it back in the case, you'll get "mom, dad, can you put it in the case please?" haha. Not so easy driving and trying to do that from the front.

Plus, the in car changer holds 6 movies and you can change it up easily by swapping discs. It's a lot more hassle free than an iPad.

CoolBDPhenom03

What would make the override safe is what Range Rover did - a dual screen. Passengers see a movie while the driver sees the GPS screen.