SPLITVIEW Retrofit
 

A friend who has a 2012 S550 (built for USA market) was looking in to retrofitting SPLITVIEW. Has anyone done this before? Based on research it looks like only 5 parts are needed:
- The SPLITVIEW replacement display
- A retrofit audio signal cable
- A remote control
- A pair of wireless headphones
- A replacement button panel that removes the screen rotate buttons since SPLITVIEW doesn't have this.

I told him I'd help him later this week if he got the parts. I have WIS and STAR w/developer mode, but I'm hoping someone has done this before that can advise on hard/difficult points. Conjecture is ok, but I'd rather not be led down the wrong path.

How would you get the two sources simultaneously to the display? That must be coming from the COMAND unit in a split view car. Maybe just coding or is the hardware different?

Yeah I'm not sure, just guessing on my part for now...the COMAND unit itself is not different for SPLITVIEW - so I'm assuming the existing unit supports two sources being output. I'm going to look through DAS while it's connected to my car to see what settings are available.

WIS does have a document titled something like "SPLITVIEW retrofit " which is for all as of 2009 facelift, except for USA market vehicles. The scariest part of the instruction reads something like "remove the central wiring loom and lay it out on a workbench."

Hopefully parts will come on Thursday and we can begin to explore.

Ha! No problem. Just pop out that wiring loom! It sounds like a lot of bull**** for a minimal payoff. If he wants to play videos in the car for his passengers (which I'm not saying I recommend), how about a relatively inexpensive and quick install MidCity Engineering Video In Motion module?

I was under the impression that the COMAND units were more different (maybe just the display), but if they are not, that is good info to know too. Seems like there has to be something enabled to override the setting in the "prohibited menu", that will turn off the Video as soon as the car reaches ~3 kmph or in some cases as soon as the car's transmission is moved from Park to any other position

Based on your list, it seems to get this going you only need the Display, the audio cable, and the panel. Hopefully the panel does not require any additional harness work.

I also suggest you guys review the schematic for a car with SplitView and compare it to a schematic for a car without SplitView. Determine what if, any changes you would have to do on your harness versus puling the IC, and potentially the entire dash to get the harness out and add the retrofit cable to it. It may be as simple as adding some additional wiring and having you or someone else with the appropriate experience with the DAS/XENTRY terminal, enabling that option - probably requires the use of the Developers Mode.

Or Like Mike said, buy and install VIM from MidCity, or if you or some other knowledgeable person knows how to access the "Prohibited Menu", with the terminal, one can increase the VIM speed from ~3 kmph max to a higher maximum speed and enable video in motion on the car.

However, I also am not recommending doing any of these potential mods to your friend's car, as sometimes turning on previously uninstalled options or modifying the car settings with the terminal and no MB computer connection apparently can get one's car into an undesirable configuration and condition. Also, once this is done, the car owner should advise any shop where they take to for any service, that the retrofit is done and to not do anything to disable the feature via software updates and reconfigurations that would be presented by the MB computers once the car is online. I saw this happen to a C300 NAV retrofit, and the presentation of NAV data to the IC was disabled, and it had to be reenabled via the Developer's mode - which was in German.

That being said, if you guys do it, send pics and a step by step so everyone can see how to do it!

No, luckily. I had splitview and once you enable it, it's on, and no warnings. Keep in mine, only the passenger can see it. It works like a dual display hologram and is super cool. The drive will see all the normaal functions he normally see's, but the passenger will see the movie at his angle. Very cool.

Well, most of the parts except for the headphones came in today. We intended to just do some exploration of how things get taken apart and the way the cables would connect to the new screen...

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures, but I literally didn't expect to be done installing it in less than 20 minutes.


- The new SPLITVIEW screen is literally plug and play with the existing wiring and the whole thing takes about 15 minutes to install during which you pop off the trim surrounding the screen and the instrument cluster. Pop off the piece above the button panel to the left of the COMAND display first and things will come off easily after that. Likewise, put this piece in last. You'll also need to remove the diffuser vent below the screen (it just pops off) , and remove one screw underneath.
- Remove three screws - one for the button panel at the bottom, and remove it, then two on either side of the COMAND display - screws are partially captured IF you don't back them out all the way past the plastic screen frame.
-Put a cloth across the opening below the screen and over the wood trim to prevent scratches and carefully tilt the screen first to the left - reach behind feel cables - the cable for the squarish connector is released by pressing a tab in the center left of the connector. The round cable is released by pressing the tab at the top. You might have to tilt the screen to the right to get at the round cable connector, since it's VERY tight due to short cable lengths
- Install the new button panel, and COMAND screen in the reverse order of removal.
- Power up COMAND and test. Even without SPLITVIEW being coded in to COMAND you should be able to see it as a normal non-SPLITVIEW display. I did not disconnect the battery or anything when doing this whole test installation.

At this point you can replace all the trim pieces that you took off.

- Connect a battery charger or vehicle electrical support supply of at least 25 amperes to the battery. I used my CTEK Multi 25000 that has a "supply mode".
- Connect your favorite SDConnect multiplexor and run DAS/XENTRY/STAR with developer mode.
- Code, Central Gateway -> Developer Mode -> Variant Coding -> DUALVIEW DISPLAY to "Vorhanden"
- Code ICS -> COMAND -> SPLITVIEW -> Activated (I believe this step is the same procedure the dealer does if your car did come with SPLITVIEW, but the State it was sold in did not initially allow it be active)
(the coding might differ slightly if you have a more recent version of Xentry - but I believe the overall procedure is the same.)
- Reset the optical bus in DAS (I had to do it twice)
- Use the COMAND controller to go in to the system menu and see if SPLITVIEW option appears at the bottom activate it, and if all is well, the display will be different on the left and right sides.
- Disconnect SDConnect and you're done with coding.

Without ANY modifications to wiring, or having a remote or headphones - that is, with just the installation of the new screen here is what you can do:
- Start a DVD movie playing with SPLITVIEW off, then turn it on, and it will continue playing on the SPLITVIEW side, with audio coming from the vehicle loudspeakers. You will not be able to control the DVD menus while the vehicle is in motion (at any time the video is normally muted on the driver's side)

I would recommend that you get at least the remote control from eBay so that your passenger can turn SPLITVIEW on at any time, and activate and control the video/DVD menus. If the driver changes the audio source, the video continues playing on the SPLITVIEW side, which is when the passenger would normally wear the headphones.

What about those headphones and what does that extra wiring I thought we needed, do?
The wiring which is four extra conductors that go to the existing display harness and COMAND harness carry analog line level audio signals from COMAND unit to the display. The SPLITVIEW display then uses these signals for the IR emitters which send audio wirelessly to the headphones. If you don't want to bother with headphones, and just want the passenger to listen via the vehicle speakers, then you don't need to bother with this. If my friend decides he wants to get a pair of headphones, we'll see what we can do to put this in. I do NOT believe we will need to "layout the wiring harness on a workbench" to add it in.
As I mentioned above there are two cables that plug in to the COMAND display. One appears to carry power and CAN signals, the other is a very stiff multi-coxaxial display signal cable. It is to the first cable that the above audio wires are added using the existing wiring connectors and shells. Based on pictures we saw on eBay, the pre-facelift vehicles have a different cable connector setup .

Anything else?
The SPLITVIEW display has a very deep black contrast ratio that doesn't get washed out in direct sunlight as easily as the regular display. In some cases it almost makes it look like the display is "floating" in the center stack area. I did not notice anything different in resolution or sharpness when SPLITVIEW was on or off.

Also, do not fall under the impression that you don't have to replace the button panel with one that does not have the rotation buttons. There will be two faults if you leave the old button panel in....one in the button panel module itself that says something like "This is the wrong version of this module for this vehicle." and more importantly the instrument cluster module will have an error that says "Internal module fault." None of the faults really result in anything bad happening, both the old button panel and cluster seemed to operate fine, but I don't like leaving -F- marks in the DAS quick test. The instrument cluster fault cleared without any issues once the correct button module was installed.

before anyone asks: CANNOT BE DONE ON PRE FACE LIFT VEHICLES.

After all this tinkering, I feel like I've used one of my nine lives, in not bricking my friend's car.....

Good write-up, my car came with splitview installed, and I do like it a lot

Hey Jason, I was speaking about the cars without that option installed from the factory. I was wondering if the computer required any additional configuration to prevent the settings that normally prevent VIM in cars without split view. which it apparently does based on the AP175's write-up.

Does splitview display have only 50% effective resolution all the time? I notice that my RSE screen looks much more crisper than Command screen (with splitview turned off and vehicle stationary). Also command screen is very sensitive to viewing angle, for instance it is nearly unusable when viewed from the central position (best view only when seated in the front seat).

I think the screen is divided up in thin alternating vertical ribbons. Half are on the passenger's viewing axis and half on the driver's. It would follow that resolution is reduced by half in SplitView mode. It should be full res if it's possible to disable SplitView.

I did not perceive any reduced resolution, sharpness or detail between the non SPLITVIEW and SPLITVIEW screens. There is no noticeable flicker or change in the image quality on either side if SPLITVIEW is on or off. I can't do a side by side comparison so perhaps Androdev's opinion below makes sense.

I can say that it does not suffer from the same glare and washout, even in direct sunlight as the regular display. The optical distortion at the top of the screen that seems to be caused by the curved plastic cover is still present however.

I wonder if this is the patent for the technology behind SPLITVIEW: https://www.google.com/patents/WO2000036578A1?cl=en
(Patent holder is Qualcomm Incorporated, filed around December 1999)

Correct. There is no difference to me either whether it's on or off. It's very clear. I think it only matters on the w222 where the splitview in that car is half the res.

Same here on mine.

Hi guys,

I'm trying to retrofit splitview at my w216, may I ask happy splitview owners to take a look at this x39/30 connection point? How does it look like? Information in WIS is very limited.
Thank you.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...2d717a6d2e.png

Retrofit SplitView into a 2007 S65
 

Hello, I recently purchased a very lightly used, 50k mile 2007 S65. I read through the threads discussing retrofitting the Splitview however I didn't see anybody trying to retrofit into a 2007 MY. Can it be done?

apl175,

I know you mention this cannot be done on pre-facelift vehicles. For those of us who are not that familiar with what that exactly means, are you referring to a facelift done to the W221, or are you referring to the W220's and before? For example I have a 2007 W221, is that a pre-facelift vehicle?

Thanks,

split view was only the facelift with NTG 3.5 head unit from 2009, I think even then it was an option

screen and comand unit to be replaced... $1200 dollars second-hand, plus a coding hero to sort the mess

Thank you for responding. So am I to understand that I can do the retrofit but it will require replacement of my Command and screen, along with coding? If so, any chance you know what part numbers I would need?

Thank you

yes possible, affordable no, a good idea even less so.... the later comand unit is 3 times less reliable, far more expensive and in the USA they stopped doing maps in 2015

and the likelihood of finding someone to do the job at a sensible price even less likely - coding toys on a Merc is not like BMW. On those any kid within 100 yards has done it on 1000 times before, you can find 30 coding sites with step by step guides on DIY and the dealer tool software and the physical module files are out there for you to download off the internet.

BOTUS, thanks for the reply. However I found the part number (221-870-59-95-80) for the Command unit for both the 2007 (without splitview) and the 2009 (with splitview) is the same. If you have info to the contrary please let me know.

late 2009 facelift cars (really 2010 model year) had the NTG3.5 unit. It looks much the same but is very different.

These had the OPTIONAL extra of split view. They do not use the same comand unit.... BUT I guess possible a split view on the NTG 3.5 comand was only software a cable and a very different screen.... but I would expect as its pushing two pictures at special screen, you would think it had enhance graphics horsepower ?

For facelift vehicles which have the NTG3.5 unit, adding SPLITVIEW requires at minimum ONLY ONE part.
- a New display screen (obviously you need this)
The rest of this stuff is borderline not optional
- a replacement button panel that removes the two tilt display buttons - without this you get errors during Quicktest
- an extra cable that goes between the COMAND processor and the display that carries analogue audio to the Infrared emitters next to the display (otherwise no headphone audio)
- the W221 facelift COMAND remote control (otherwise it's difficult, but not impossible to control the SPLITVIEW side of the dsiplay)
- the W221 facelift COMAND wireless infrared headphones (otherwise the passenger can't hear a separate audio source - but can do without if the whole car wants to hear the SPLITVIEW source)

You also need DAS or Xentry with Developer mode.
You do NOT need a new COMAND processor unit or any other cables if you have the newer NTG3.5 unit on facelift cars.

If anyone would like to undertake similar, I recently sold the S350 that I retrofitted Splitview to a few months ago and have put all of the parts I used , along with a new wire harness on ebay.
Search for splitview on ebay and you'll find the listing for the full kit of parts. Unfortunately I'm only shipping within the USA for this auction to avoid hassle. Less interested in making top $$ on it, than I am just getting rid of the parts instead of them being scrapped or e-wasted.

Not trying to be difficult
 

"before anyone asks: CANNOT BE DONE ON PRE FACE LIFT VEHICLES"

First off I have a 2007 S65 with 54k miles.

I know you say that this will not work on Pre-Facelift vehicles, can I please just ask why it won't work, or better yet "how do you know that", without the whole group pulling out their flame thrower on me?

Thanks,