The 05's appear to have a secret menu on their COMAND unit. If you switch on the radio and hold 3-5-7 you will go into a secret menu where it shows you the choice of selecting amongst car models.

Further......

If you press the menu key, you will also be given a choice of 211 ECE and 211 USA.

Now the question is.......

Does it mean that the COMAND unit is common with the European one and all one needs to do is choose the option on the menu?

I tried selecting 211 ECE but it would not change to my choice. It may just be a simple issue of not knowing what buttons to hit to "store" the changes. The ECE normaly stands for European E-Code.

Anyone else want to play around with theirs?

BTW, I'm sure that one of these days I will hit the wrong button on my E and fold into another dimension......

I read in a german forum that you must make the change, turn off the unit, and wait an hour. Then, when the unit is turned on, the new software reboots. According to the german users, selecting the USA option disabled DVD video (while stationary); reselecting EU reenabled DVD video.

do you know if this is only valid on 05's, and not previous models, thanks.....nice find. GL

Oh my God, I have DVD video? I have DVD VIDEO?

Bless you my son, may a thousand voluptuous virgins fall at your feet!

*cries uncontrollably*

Levind

My excitement was premature.......

I am now showing 211 ECE but the video DVD is not recognized. Did I miss something? Do the guys in the German forum see more then two different screens?

On one of the screens it shows the models and they all have US or USA. From memory...

211 US
171 US
240 US
211 AMG US
240 AMG US

the second screen gives you ECE or US choices of models...amongst which is:

211 ECE
211 USA

I now show 211 ECE as the selected option.....but no video.

No. Their DVD video disappeared as soon as USA was selected, and reappeared once ECE was reselected. I guess it's possible our COMAND units are still physically different than the ones in Europe. That's disappointing.

Have you tried a Region 2 DVD?

I hate to be a 'spoiler' of good news, but I was of the opinion that the US COMAND did not a a DVD player, just a CD. The US DVD player is located eleswhere.

Hopefully I am wrong and our US friends will be able to play MP3 DVD's on their systems as well.

Bye for now,
John

Levind, from your comments and your reading..do the german change their settings to 211 US to enable them to play DVD while the car is moving??? or are they changing it to enable and disable their DVD player???

glojo,

The North American 2005 E's have built in DVD units and I am playing mp3 DVD on it......and enjoying every minute of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fastbuck,

Hmm, now there is an idea!

Good point! The tough part is someone getting their hands on a Region 2 DVD in the US. The tougher part would be in changing the DVD region code if the first part works. Another hidden menu perhaps?

From what I've been reading, the Euro DVD Comand does not play DVD while the car is moving. The picture is turned off once the car leaves a stand-still.

That's excellent news, what about the exterior mirrors, do they fold as per there European counterpart?


John
Rainy Torquay

Actually the North American versions are even better then that!

If you select the "All Conveniences" option, the North American cars come with a busty female attendant that will adjust and manipulate ANYTHING you want. And of course, there is the male attendant for those so inclined.

:p

Interesting that there is a hidden menu for the E-class NAV. What about the new 2005 DVD NAV is C-class. Any way to at least enable MP3 playback ? Such a shame to have a cool flip down screen w/ a separate cd slot and DVD slot, but no capability to play MP3's.

for E owners who own a previous model, it does work if you have the nav, i have a 03 nav replacement, and it does work, i didnt select or deselect anything, but i might try it out, to see if a DVD works. Hopefully it will work, that would be cool.

it doesnt work on my 03 nav. the menus come up, but when i select something other than US, and go to the next menu, it resets back to the US version. hopefully the 05's do work since there is a dvd player in the front.

i can't get the secret menu to work at all.

So i turn on the command, switch to radio, and press 357 at same time?

I tried last night and nothing happened.

yea thats how i did it, it should work as long as you have the nav system.

I have nav retrofitted. So it should work. I will try it again.

Turn on command-> Choose Audio->choose radio->press and hold 357 together

How long do i need to wait after pressing 357?

less than 2 seconds, it comes up almost immediately. GL, hope it works.

I was just fooling around with it, and I found that I had to be in CD mode, not Radio, as everytime I was holding 357 in, it would either go to a preset, or set a new one.

I did get it though through the CD mode.

I'm going to try a MP3 CD and DVD right now. If this works (at least the MP3 portion), I will be amazed!

Hasn't it been established that MP3 CD/DVD only works on 2005 US models?

So, does DVD while moving work on the US spec?

not on 03, and 04s i believe, and i am not sure about 05'.


i didnt have to be in cd mode, but in radio mode, might be different in the 04's, i dont know why though. GL