stosoorok

I read this thread and it's quite confusing. Some posts are allmost right. I'll try to clear things up.

Comand supports 16bit type 1 and type 2 PCMCIA PC Cards. This tech is from late 80s. (I don't blame Mercedes that they used stone age tech in modern cars, it's quite future proof I think. If they... OK, not that thread.) Type 1 is 16bit, 5V and 5,0mm thick PC Card and does not implement DMA or Bus Mastering. Type 2 is 16bit (5V) PC Card or 32bit (3,3V and 5,0mm) CardBus card. PCMCIA CardBus is newer tech from early 90's and implements DMA or Bus Mastering. You can tell the difference here:



The different notch type is designed to prevent a user from inserting a 32-bit card into a 16-bit slot as it is possible to physically damage the card and card slot from the incorrect use of such devices.

There are also type 3, but this doesn't concern us. Long story short:

Type 1 will fit in PC Card 5V Slot type 1 and type 2 CardBus slot.
Type 2 16bit PC Card will fit in CardBus 32bit 3.3v Slot 2 but not in PC Card 16bit 5V Slot 1.






So now about the sd card adapters. I recommend SDHC (8GB+) compatible adapters. Those cheap adapters are 5,5mm thick and allmost all are 32bit CardBus type2. So I bought cheapest PC Card SDHC adapter found on ebay, I think. (There are CardBus labels allover the back side of the adapter but this little notch say it's a 16bit PC Card type 2.)



5,5mm is really thight fit into comand:



And then the cheapest 32GB microSDHC class 10 memory card with Name.



MicroSDHC because I can use it with my laptop and phone.



Adapter and microSDHC inserted, quite hard to get adapter out even when ejected:



And now..... fingers crossed:



And here it is, everything works fine:


I know about that typo




I must admit that I updated my comand firmware to latest available. My friend has exactly the same car and it doesn't work! So Mercedes has done something good with this update. Maybe updated it to Windows CE 5.0 which has 32bit hot-pluggable (ejectable) devices support. BTW, H/K sounds a lot better after the update.



Anyone wants to know more about PCMCIA standard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card
http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/h/0037.asp
http://web.archive.org/web/200808220...org/pccard.htm

jpsamg

wow, thank you for this. best post ever for this topic

caligreenzzz

my scandisc stopped reading, ordered this VCK, got it yestersday, and all is good, runnin it with a 32gb kingston sdhc, works great

awstansbury

Has anyone had issues with a song freezing in mid-play, then skipping to the next song?

Phat_J

Yes I have, turns out it was bad encode of that song. Does it do it all the time on the same song in the same spot?

awstansbury

Yes, same spot in the same song. How did you fix it?

Phat_J

Just find or make another copy of the song, and replace it on the memory card.

awstansbury

Thanks. I just noticed this morning that a lot of my songs are like this, which totally sucks since I spent like 2hrs copying music last night. I wonder if I'd have better luck converting the m4a files to mp3 before putting them on the card.

Phat_J

I use MP3 or WMA, sometimes I find that the songs skip a bit. I haven't isolated that problem to specific songs yet. I have most of my music collection nowadays at 320kb/s MP3.
I had some recorded talks encoded at 64 kb/s MP3, and they skipped constantly, I encoded them to 64kb/s WMA and they were fine.
I suggest experimenting with different formats and bitrates to see which works best.

awstansbury

I was wrong about the freezing being in the same place every time; it was random. I converted one of the most messed-up albums on my SD card from AAC (M4A) to MP3 and now it plays flawlessly. Thanks for the tips.

I also upped the default 160kbps "convert to MP3" bit-rate in iTunes by going to edit->preferences->general->import_settings->setting=custom->stereo_bit_rate=320kbps. It says it's for CD import only, but it ups the bit-rate of MP3 conversions as well.

awstansbury

I've seen a few posts on this but no resolution. With my PCMCIA/SDHC combo, my songs sometimes skip in the middle. It's like a little glitch in the middle of the song, skipping ahead maybe 1/10 of a second, and then continuing to play normally. Has anyone experienced this?

I have a no-name PCMCIA adapter and a 32GB Sandisk SDHC card. All of my MP3s are 320kbps.

Phat_J

Yes I experience that. It's almost like a CD skipping, but it's rare and not too annoying. I use a "Mercedes" branded knock off adapter, and I use a Kingston class 10 32GB SD card. Maybe it is the adapter causing it, it was hard enough to find that adapter, if I had access to another one I could test it.
I have another 16GB SD card I could experiment with, to see if the songs skip. I'll try it and report back.

stosoorok

I must admit that I have these glitches too, but i've noticed it only with 32GB ADATA card (really slow card btw class 10 my ***, sry ). 8GB Sandisk and 8GB Toshiba plays fine. Allready ordered 32GB Sandisk Ultra because my 32GB ADATA stopped working, gives "NO PLAYABLE FILES", but in PC or Galaxy S4 it works fine... strange.

awstansbury

Hmmm. The card I ordered was a Sandisk 32GB non-ultra (class 4). I just ordered a Sandisk 32GB ultra (class 10) card and will report back on my findings.

If anyone wants to buy my old SDHC card, PM me. Super cheap since I have no freaking need for it now!

stosoorok

I received my 32GB Sandisk Ultra today, works really great! Mp3 to SD transfer speed was 15-20MB/s and Comand starts to play in like 5 seconds or so, unbelievable! No glitches so far.

edit:

Cold start is about 15sec, half of this is Comand start up.

bigfun

Just purchased a Transcend pcmcia compact flash adapter TS0MCF2PC and 32 g card TS32GCF133 from Amazon and both seem to be working properly. About $47 plus tax (if you pay it). Free ship.

netdvn

Imprison for life to whoever came up with an idea to include a PCMCIA slot for Mercedes HU.

E63_u_mirin

will this combo work?

k0d3g3ar

I've not had any luck with 32GB SD cards. 16GB, yes... They work fine for me. But not the 32GB ones.

What I've done is to use a Chinese made Merc branded CF to SD adapter and 16GB SanDisk SDs and it works flawlessly for me. But never more than 16GB has worked for some reason.

K

michail71

Wow, talk of a thread resurrection. What configuration had a PCMCIA slot?

Does it have a cassette deck too? I actually remember seeing one of those in a rather late model Acura.

E63_u_mirin

Shocked I even got a response on this, thanks for that

E63_u_mirin

Decided to go wth the Mercedes adapter + 16gb from Amazon.

Before I pull the trigger, can someone confirm this set up works.

Or do I need to find the SDHC version?

psaldanha

Hi! That combo can do the trick.

For myself, bought one from ebay that can read SDHC 32gb. It has faster read times.

E63_u_mirin

so I went with the combo 16gb and mercedes benz pcmcia adapter from Ebay.

After loading up the 16gb with about 500 songs I tested it out and only 20 random songs were shown.

Am I missing something or is the PCmcia adapter/SD car not compatible...