When I put my GL in reverse, I am not getting any picture on the COMAND screen when the COMAND unit is off; only when it is on. Is this normal? Seems like the view from behind should be shown on the COMAND screen, regardless of whether the system is on or off, which is how my wife's Prius operates. Comments?
Thanks.

 

Your GL is corrupt and will need to be replaced...

I'm joking my friend, the reverse camera only works with the COMAND unit on...

 

You get pictures on your COMAND, JDT? I only see match stick figures and crayon drawings.

 

And here I thought it was just mine that did that.

 

The kids have been at it with the crayons and markers again, have they?

 

What do you mean, again? They never leave it. And, you should see the RSE screens with their own crayon art work. Tip to others - as soon as your kid can reach RSE controls, put a screen protector on.

 

Mine does same.

Would be very cool if we could hack and be able to use rear view camera when in drive and moving. (especially useful when GL is fully loaded and you can not see thru rear view mirror)

 

On my old LX470 I put an aftermarket Avic Z1 (great unit) with a camera. There actually was a split-screen mode where the GPS was half the screen and the camera was the other half, specifically to ensure towed loads were okay.

I think it's a great idea, personally, having used such a system, but I don't think the standard placement of the MB camera would give the necessary coverage.

STP

 

I have a screen that shows what the rear camera is seeing all the time. But only in my Chevy. I cant see out of my rearview mirror anyway. its great.

All aftermarket.

 

I had a Nav-TV installed with rear view camera in our GL450. It has an option of view the rear at any time provided command unit screen is on. It can be accomplished just by pressing volumes controls +/- on steering wheel simultaneously.

 

atwal: did you have the original rear view camera first and switched it out in favor of the Nav-TV? Where did you get the Nav-TV, who installed it, and at what price? Also, do you still have full functions of all other COMAND features, or did you lose any? Thanks.

 

When we got our GL, rear view camera was not offered. So I had no choice. I researched for a while. I have a local electronics shop that specializes in custom jobs. I took the chance and got it installed. There are two way to get the image at all time thru rear view camera. Option A) requires a modification to the factory command system. Option B) is get a plug a play harness to do this i.e; nav-tv. This done without messing up the command system internal wiring. it is accomplished by unplugging the wiring harness from the command system and plug it into the NAV_TV supplied harness and NAV-TV harness output is same as factory and goes in the command system. NAV-TV a video splitter to get 3 sources of videos but without sound. You can install three different cameras I guess. But, I only have one camera in the rear. Information regarding NAV-TV is available at http://www.nav-tv.com. I also have a RSE system which was not working initially, but got it fixed later on. All the other factory features in the command system works well. For some reason GPS antenna is messed up. Once in a while it point in the wrong direction as it assumes the vehicle is going wrong way on the road. But after a while it corrects itself. I am not sure if this related to NAV-TV. This happened about two-three times in past two months. I paid 1650$ for installation, parts and camera. Eventually my plan is to get a additional aftermarket DVD player to plug into the RSE aux inputs and split video output from the new DVD player to provide a one connection to the NAV-TV and second video input to the RSE. By doing this I should be able to see the same DVD on the both RSE screens and command system screen. This plan is still pending due to the budget constraints. It would cost me additional $500 to implement this. One more thing, once in a while the instrument cluster display does not synchronize with the command system, functions such as NAV window, song title display, and telephone display. But, this corrects itself after you turn off the engine and start again next time. This is an impermanent issue and I working to get this fixed. I will post result after I get this solved.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

 

We have had this same issue happen with two cars at the dealer where I work. Both were using the nav-tv module and one was a GL except that on the one we had the driver display would never work. We ended up pulling the unit and refunding the money because the problem couldnt be solved.

We do alot of camera conversions on GL's though and without the video input stuff its pretty straightforward. We send the vehicles to a local firm that programs the camera and installs it. With those we dont have any problems.

 

Thanks, Atwal, for all the details. Does your Nav-TV have a iPod hookup too?

 

It would cost $600 more to get I-Pod option.