17 replies to this topic

[Rory_newton]

I bought an Alpine 117E a few weeks back to replace my 9887 (Needed a headunit that fully supported and charged my Iphone as my iphone kept running out of battery, plus I needed a change). I knew that by switching to the 117E I would no longer have the option to run active, but this was ok as I run passive, and felt that iphone support was more important....

Anyway, I've been having a few issues with it!
1. It will only recognise my iphone some of the time! Sometimes, I plug it in and it searches the iphone fine, other times it starts charging as usual, but wont play though my headunit! It says 'This device is not supported...blah blah' on my iphone! I can turn my HU off and on multiple times and it still wont recognise it. After unplugging and plugging in a few more times it eventually works.
2. It is INCREDIBLY slow! When i'm playing though my iphone I can hit the random button (I always use random..) and I will literally have to wait 10 seconds for it to play! It takes around 6 to recognise that I have pressed the button and will then beep and show "Mix all" on the screen, with another 4 seconds to play the first song. (I havent tried the random button using a CD, but i'll try that tommorrow and see if its the same!)

Its driving me insane! I'm currently using the USB extender cable and usb iphone cable that came with the HU, but that seems to be working ok as ive plugged in my white authentic iphone cable straight into the HU usb and it behaves exactly the same. My alpine 9887 had almost no delay when using the random function....

Are these common problems of the 117E that I have to deal with? Or should I be getting this fixed under warranty?
I'm fairly sure i've read about this somewhere, but cant find where so that's why i've got a feeling it might be a common fault/problem with this HU.....

Thanks!!

Edited by Rory_newton, 13 September 2011 - 11:52 PM.

[Damon]

I have no fixed cure for you, but what I can say is that iPod/iPhone/iPad control seems not to be a fixed thing. I am currently concluding a mega-test on a group of current model CD tuners that will be published later this week and in it I focus heavily on the iPod support. They all wear the 'Made for iPod' and 'Made for iPhone' offically licenses logos, yet many of the units were what I would consider very average in their control functionality. Some gave me 'accessory not supported' like you had with the iPhone yet still worked. Some were buggy and gave intermittent 'ERROR' displays that required unplugging and reconnection of the cable.

In short, sadly we can't expect a perfect interface with all Apple devices. In particular the touch screen based models that go through constant firmware upgrades by Apple or get superceded every 12 months. iPhone 5 looms in the next month or so, and who knows what will happen with that.

I think that you should at least have the right to take the CD tuner back to the store and show them the problem, then ask to swap for another CDA-117E to see if the problem is fixed. Don;t ever be afraid to call Alpine Australia and ask their thoughts on this too. They value their customers highly and will make every effort to support you via their official dealer network - where you bought it from of course.

[justdofit]

Damon, on 14 September 2011 - 07:52 AM, said:

I have no fixed cure for you, but what I can say is that iPod/iPhone/iPad control seems not to be a fixed thing. I am currently concluding a mega-test on a group of current model CD tuners that will be published later this week and in it I focus heavily on the iPod support. They all wear the 'Made for iPod' and 'Made for iPhone' offically licenses logos, yet many of the units were what I would consider very average in their control functionality. Some gave me 'accessory not supported' like you had with the iPhone yet still worked. Some were buggy and gave intermittent 'ERROR' displays that required unplugging and reconnection of the cable.

In short, sadly we can't expect a perfect interface with all Apple devices. In particular the touch screen based models that go through constant firmware upgrades by Apple or get superceded every 12 months. iPhone 5 looms in the next month or so, and who knows what will happen with that.

I think that you should at least have the right to take the CD tuner back to the store and show them the problem, then ask to swap for another CDA-117E to see if the problem is fixed. Don;t ever be afraid to call Alpine Australia and ask their thoughts on this too. They value their customers highly and will make every effort to support you via their official dealer network - where you bought it from of course.

I can't wait to see this mega-test. This issue is really interesting on many levels - ranging from marketing to technical through to end user experience..

Sadly I think this problem will be ongoing until the ability to update head unit firmware is common place (or even possible). Unfortunately Apple don't take aftermarket (non Apple) accessory compatibility into account when re-developing their iOS (or Mac OS) software, and focus more on feature adding and bug fixing issues with the iPod/iPad/iPhone device itself. TBH it's probably not realistic for them to test against the massive array 'Made for iPhone' / 'Made for iPod' products out there as this would limit options with software development etc... This approach is very 'Apple' and familiar to anyone that has used 'non-retail' Apple products over the last few iterations of hardware platform (PPC to intel) and connectivity platform (ADC to DVI to DisplayPort & Firewire to Thunderbolt etc...).

In my opinion the 'Made for iPod' and 'Made for iPhone' branding is totally mis-leading and un-fair to both the consumer and the manufacturers of aftermarket accessories, as the goal posts are constantly moving and the ability remain compatible with the latest iOS software in most cases requires the ability to update firmware, and also to make this process as easy/seamless to the end user as it is to up update the device iOS (i.e. plug your iPhone/iPod/iPad in and receive a prompt to upgrade - and automate the rest of the process on acceptance of upgrade).

Unfortunately until head units are able to upgrade firmware, the only apple device I would recommend for car use would be an iPod classic, due to it's slow moving software update cycle and less aggressive interface changes being closer to that of the head unit hardware upgrade cycle (actual replacement of head unit) of most users. This is a real shame as devices such as the iPad have great potential for an awesome in-car setup...

Edited by justdofit, 14 September 2011 - 09:39 AM.

[AudioRabbit]

I've tested an iPhone 4 against two different CDA-117Es and haven't seen those issues. It's response to buttons can be a little laggy, but still less than a second.
What model iPhone do you have, and is it up to date? The older devices have slower flash inside them and may take longer to walk a large library.
Also how many GB of music is it dealing with? I was testing with about 9GB (632 songs).

[Chris.]

I know with mine 120gig iPod Classic, it is faster to have the iPod on shuffle already, then to click random on the HU and let it think about it.. thinking about it though it would be around 10ish seconds.

Depending on what I am doing it can have over 16,000 Songs/Podcasts/Other on it and still not full.

[Langas]

I use a 6th Gen 80gb ipod on my 117E and havn't had too many issues.

The one feature (I'm not sure if it has / hasn't got it) is a hands on / hands off setting...so you can still use the ipod to control track selection?

Other than the ipod stuff, the other very annoying thing is a high pitched 'squeal' that comes from the screen....It stops when you pop the front face...

[justdofit]

I hope these niggling issues are resolved with the next flagship alpine unit... Am really keen to upgrade the old CDA-105 to something with a better display, as the single line is a real pita...

[Highkey]

I would perhaps make sure firstly that the software on the iphone is up to date. Generally Alpine has been one of the better models to intergrate with Apple products so if a software upgrade does not fix the problem the 100% go back to the store as to be honest this does not sound quite right. Another option to upgrade the software on the bluetooth module as well.

Link: http://www.alpine.co...age.php?pid=429

[justdofit]

Highkey, on 14 September 2011 - 07:48 PM, said:

I would perhaps make sure firstly that the software on the iphone is up to date. Generally Alpine has been one of the better models to intergrate with Apple products so if a software upgrade does not fix the problem the 100% go back to the store as to be honest this does not sound quite right. Another option to upgrade the software on the bluetooth module as well.

Link: http://www.alpine.co...age.php?pid=429

Unfortuneately, quite often the latest iOS version is not always the best for compatibility, I lost count of the amount of times I upgraded my iPhone and then manually rolled back to 3.1.3 (not possible through iTunes and requires sourcing archived iOS packages and some additional software to install them on your phone etc...). From memory every version from 3.1.3 to 4.2.1 had major issues with connectivity and speed (or lack of) and often flat out incompatibilty. This will differ depending on your iPhone model - always refer to the manufacturers (Alpine) list of supported iOS versions for your exact model and / or chat to your local dealer, as rolling back iOS is often not allowed by Apple and could possibly void warranty...

[justdofit]

justdofit, on 14 September 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

Unfortuneately, quite often the latest iOS version is not always the best for compatibility, I lost count of the amount of times I upgraded my iPhone and then manually rolled back to 3.1.3 (not possible through iTunes and requires sourcing archived iOS packages and some additional software to install them on your phone etc...). From memory every version from 3.1.3 to 4.2.1 had major issues with connectivity and speed (or lack of) and often flat out incompatibilty. This will differ depending on your iPhone model - always refer to the manufacturers (Alpine) list of supported iOS versions for your exact model and / or chat to your local dealer, as rolling back iOS is often not allowed by Apple and could possibly void warranty...

LOL just realized you were the local Alpine dealer... So yeah, do what she said

[Matskies]

I had some Problems like this, so what I did was restore the phone, deleted everything off and then resynced it. It seemed to fix the problem as I haven't had any trouble with it since.

Also i've downloaded apps which I can use to replace the iPod app on the phone. So once you start playing a song from that specific app it overrides the iPod app and let's you browse your library in the other letting you change
songs through the phone itself, which makes things pretty easy.

Hope this helps

Edited by Matskies, 27 September 2011 - 09:05 AM.

[Damon]

Matskies, on 27 September 2011 - 09:03 AM, said:

I had some Problems like this, so what I did was restore the phone, deleted everything off and then resynced it. It seemed to fix the problem as I haven't had any trouble with it since.

Also i've downloaded apps which I can use to replace the iPod app on the phone. So once you start playing a song from that specific app it overrides the iPod app and let's you browse your library in the other letting you change
songs through the phone itself, which makes things pretty easy.

Hope this helps

Sure, but every time you switch the car off/on the system reverts to the native iPod music. It doesn't resume the App based music or video by itself. Its hardly what I'd call an 'intergrated solution'.

[Matskies]

Damon, on 27 September 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

Sure, but every time you switch the car off/on the system reverts to the native iPod music. It doesn't resume the App based music or video by itself. Its hardly what I'd call an 'intergrated solution'.

Yeah, I know that. I was suggesting it as a quick fix until he figures out what the problem is, better than using the buttons if they're lagging heaps:)

Edited by Matskies, 28 September 2011 - 01:01 PM.

[Rory_newton]

Thought I should probably update this thread!
Anyway, I tried everything I could, but still couldn't get it to work properly!

I then went and bought an 4s iphone as an upgrade to my 3G phone and I decided to keep the 3G in my car for music. Anyway I realised a few weeks later that my itunes had also put all my music onto my new iphone even though I told it not to! So I figured I would test it on my headunit to see if it behaved the same way as the 3G. it didn't! All the buttons are much more responsive and hardly any lag when pushing buttons. Browsing via songs or artists is still a bit slow (But still faster than the 3G!), but thats no big deal!

So it looks like ill be using my 4s in the car now!

Edited by Rory_newton, 25 January 2012 - 03:32 PM.

[Mr. Drifter]

would be similar to how i noticed there was a few seconds gap between songs on my old video, and it'd take time to respond, but when i put my new classic in, it was all pretty much instantaneous.. I'd say phone was at fault then