I got the iPod integration kit a couple of months ago and it does its job. I had a Dension icelink in my last SUV and it was great. We've all asked whether the iPod integration kit integrates with COMAND (it doesn't). Now I think we got what we've been waiting for at http://www.diceelectronics.com/ipod_integration.htm. More info coming later but it looks very promising and I think it's the solution that MB should've come out with in the first place.

 

Just called to pre-order!! They MOST solution is suppose to provide full integration.

The DOWNSIDE is that the fiber optical connection means I will not be able to use my CD Changer.

Price is $400 and they expect them to ship in the next 10-20 days. They are not requiring payment at this time, just pre-ordering and will call for payment with the units are ready to ship.

 

Ok - I admit that I might be cracking up .. But I looked on thier website and dialed the contact number. I swear I was conected to Dension USA???

I dialed again and got DICE, but the vmail just bounced me out - with no one answering the phone..

 

Dension is distributing it.

They make no mention of COMAND support (or really much of anything in the way of details) but the (small) photo of the Porsche integration looks promising.

 

I was all excited...but there is limited info on their site. I may get cold feet on purchase until I can do more research and better understand the capabilities. Supposedly the optic cable connection to the Command Unit gives you Command integration.

 

I feel silly. I didn't notice the much bigger photo of the COMAND (from an SL?) integration. You can see a scrollable list of songs and it appears to be using ID3 tags.

 

I rarely use my CD changer now and won't miss it a bit if they do the iPod integration right. I'm also hoping they have some support for adjustable output level so that we can get the volume to match the CD player/radio.

However, I'm going to hold off on it. The iPod integration kit will do me for now because I'm looking to upgrade to a GL550 from my W164 when/if it comes out. But it's nice to know it's going to be available.

 

Interesting that they would distribute this since it competes with their own Icelink product which appears to be $50 more and NOT pass the ID3 Tags..

 

So I changed my factory stereo to an alpine and bought the ipod intergration which cost 68 bucks from Ebay. Am I reading that you spent 400? or did I read something wrong??

 

Indeed, the Dice iPod kit is being marketed by Dension (see http://www.densionusa.com or http://www.densionusa.com/dice_prod_info.htm, and it will include a version for MOST bus cars. I note that they say in the general instructions (not Mercedes-specific) that you select the device using the CD/SAT button on the radio. I wonder if, instead of giving up our CD changer, an MB dealer could version code the bus for the Sirius radio, and we could let the Dice kit occupy that spot in the ring? I don't have Sirius (don't want it, either) but would like to keep my CD changer (yeah, i know; together with DVD mp3, it's overkill. But the iPod recorded in higher quality formats is so much better than mp3).

Also, the site says text display is only available for some radios (and doesn't mention Mercedes). Hmmm. Are we back to the same no-display crap we had with the Ice>Link?

 

By definition there is no such thing in the head unit as an IPOD function with head unit functions for IPOD. All such kits by definition must emulate CD, TV or SAT as a means of transferring audio otherwise the head unit will just go WTF.

The Dension solution is to Y-cable the wakeup line to your CD changer and iPOD interface so that you can cut the alternate wakeup line when using one or the other.

The 500 series unit is about 2 years overdue. In 2004 they first demonstrated the hard-wired method and pretended it was MOST. Clearly it wasnt and even now the March launch is delayed.

If Dension gets the MOST side of their kit wrong (500 series) then it will go pear shaped pretty fast. The hard wired kits suits most pre-2005 cars quite well. Now that almost everyone in Europe is MOST .... its no laughing matter.

IMHO the Dension kits are not going to be all that special.

 

Benzmodz,

Thanks for the information, but it leave questions still. I know there isn't an "iPod" function on the head unit. However, there is a "SAT" button on the '05 (and '06) U.S. spec COMAND 2.0. It is used to select the Sirius radio. I don't have a Sirius installed, so somewhere in the system there is an unused set of inputs for it.

I don't know if a Sirius installation is fiber optic, or not. However, if it is, then the possibility may exist to have the Dice unit for MOST bus replace the Sirius radio, and not the CD changer, in the fiber optic loop. If fiber optic, the Sirius would also have an alternate wake-up. Of course, if the Sirius is not fiber optic, but is hard-wired, then that option would not exist (but a hard wire option might be able to be worked out for a hard wired version of the Dice unit).

I loved the sound quality I got from my Ice>Link installation in my '00 D2B S500 (http://forums.mbnz.org/publications/pub.asp?id=330). The lack of ID3 Tag display was very frustrating. I overcame it by creating extensive playlists - before driving, I would just select a playlist, and let it go. Not ideal - and I hope that the Dice device will be able to display more, either on the COMAND screen or through the CANBUS on the multifunction display. That will determine whether I buy it, or just stay with mp3s on DVDs (which has its own limitations).

Updating DVDs is a bit of a pain; so now, I use the CD changer for new music until I get enough collected to justify rewriting the DVDs. By contrast updating an iPod, on which I record in higher quality formats than mp3, is a breeze.

 

Go to http://www.diceelectronics.com/ and look at the main image. Look familiar?

 

Yup. I'm pretty fair with Photoshop too. Would like to see more of the tech specs, and perhaps an install/operator's manual posted. I do hope the illustration isn't hinting at more than will be delivered.

 

I have an 05 C55 with MB iPod Integration Kit. Since my car came with a plug in the glove box for iPod and I have AUX in Command Unit I wonder how the new DICE unit will integrate. My guess is it will use that same connection as the factory unit, only question is will you get interface on Command unit and not just on instrument cluster. I was very disappointed when I had it installed, I assumed the factory unit would give display on Command. If the DICE does it would be worth it to me to change, since only the driver can navigate iPod with OEM kit, having Command interface would allow passengers that same abillity.

 

The head unit seems like a simple piece of equipment but in fact it is not simple at all. It is an extremely sophisticated optical analyser and for this reason it is given a specific set of tasks and a defined behaviour.

All of the possible functions that the head unit will allow are pre-defined into the head unit. If the formality wasnt so strict there would no possible way to operate an optical ring.

The softbuttons and inner buttons on the Becker and Alpine head units are not HTML or Java (yet) they are actually bitmaps on the screen. Thus CDC, RADIO and CD selections are actually drawings of buttons. They have 60 people working on these bitmaps around the clock.

Any device which becomes available to the optical ring must enter as something the head unit expects. This limits the possible applications to
- CD Changer
- Sat radio
- TV
- Amplifier

Obviously Teleaid is not going to be emulated any time soon as it cost Motorola tens of millions and didnt make a profit.

It is not simply a matter of running a firmware patch to enable the head unit to show iPOD on screen. Similar firmware needs to be applied into the new device and possibly some of the other modules so that they can handle the data in passing it along the ring.

What Dension have done is "silenced" the OEM CD changer so it cant be seen on the ring and then flipped that function over when the changer is meant to be used. This is done by cutting the wake-up line in a switch.

 

First of all dont hold your breath. They are two years late already.

Second. They are not the only ones making optical devices.

 

Thanks, Benzmodz, that gets me part way there - but I'm not certain we're communicating.

When I installed an Ice>Link in my D2B '00 W220, I disconnected the fiber optic I/O from the CD changer, and connected it to the Dension fiber optic box. I switched (by cutting wires) the power and wake-up (control) wires to the appropriate wires on the Dension unit. What this did, if I follow your explanation, is made the CD changer invisible on the fiber optic ring (it wasn't connected any more, though COMAND was coded for it being there) and switched the wake-up to the Dension unit. The Dension unit then emulated my CD changer to the COMAND head unit, so COMAND "saw" a CD changer. I presume ithe Ice>Link firmware allowed it to do this, since I had to load Mercedes "menus" into the Ice>Link during firmware updates.

Now, fast-forward to my MOST bus '05 W220. I have of course a CD changer, single-disc CD/DVD player, radio, phone, and nav, but no Sirius (satellite) radio. My car could have been ordered with the Sirius, but was not. It could be retrofitted (expensively). The SAT soft button allows the choice of Sirius, but of course shows that nothing is installed when selected.

My question is, since the fiber optic bus does not see the SAT radio now, I would seem to be in an analogous situation to having disconnected my CD changer (in my Ice>Link installation). If the dealer were to version code my COMAND for a Sirius radio (without it being installed), then by placing the DICE unit in the ring where the Sirius radio would have gone, and connecting power and the Sirius wake-up line to it, would I not have done essentially what Dension did to get my Ice>Link to replace my CD changer? Thus, I would keep the CD changer, and replace the Sirius option I won't use with something I will. It would meet the parameters of the equipment the head unit would expect, as you have listed.

What you may be telling me (and this is where we may not be communicating) is that unless the firmware in the DICE unit emulates a Sirius radio, the COMAND soft button for SAT (Sirius) won't recognize the DICE unit or allow COMAND to function with it. If the DICE firmware is designed only to emulate a CD changer, then only the COMAND CD changer soft button will function with it. Is that it?

 

The optical ring will boot for the first time with a new device onboard. The new device will ask the car "what kind of car is this" andthe head unit will ask " hey what are you " and the two swap details.

In answering that question " hey what are you " the unit declares its personality. IT is totally up do DICE what information they put in there. There is enough room for a phone number to come up in diagnostic. The diagnostic doesnt really care what it is. It will see it and map the ring into the AGW. That is all it does.

In terms of sat radio it can actually be done but it represents all kinds of wiring issues for those people that dont want to lose Sat radio. That would be the only reason why someone will opt out of that option as the CD changer can be easily located and easily intercepted.

Dension have calculated that this Y-cable hack is going to ensure their popularity with those people who must have a CD changer. The problem is that this project is quite useless for those people who plan to use Video iPOD with their european head units and watch DVD. That would require another higher level of design and a coax cable. When you consider that 2004 Euro S, CL, SL has video over MOST (no coax) then the video coding has to be extremely well thought out for it to even work at all. From this point of view I feel that the audio only solution is extremely limited.

The MBdoctor solution for video hacks into the GPS cable from the trunk located drive. This is also no solution at all.

The sat radio function is unique in many ways and that would also be a barrier to coding it in firmware. It can be done but this project is already 2 years delayed. SAT radio emulation would be quite a task in that case.

There will be other players in the market.