AV input in rear of centre console explained.

[UKenGB]

On some (mostly non US) X5s there is an AV In and AV Out socket mounted in the rear of the centre console, ideally situated so that rear seat passangers can use them. But there is a lot of confusion surrounding their exact spec. I have been trying to get to grips with the AV input and this is what I have discovered.

First of all, the AV input to the TV can be selected from the AV button next to the sockets or from the front TV screen, the AV option is one below Programme 1 (and/or above Programme 30). The TV format for this input is set independently to other inputs. IOW, for TV reception you specify the country you are in and this will set whether it uses PAL, SECAM or NTSC. The reversing camera is ALWAYS NTSC and this AV input can be set to either of the above 3 modes without affecting TV reception.

Next, you will not get a picture if the car is moving. I have been variously told that it needs to be in P and/or with the handbrake on. The latter is certainly not true, but the former may be, I didn't check it myself. Just make sure it's in P when you test anything.

Now we come to the socket itself. This is NOT a 4 way AV type 3.5mm jack socket as stated elsewhere on this forum and also by my BMW dealer. I really couldn't see why they would use a 4 way socket as this would carry Composite video, left and right audio plus ground and this didn't make sense as the TV tuner only has a MONO audio input.

In fact I have ascertained that it is a regular stereo jack, but connected for Video and Mono audio. So Tip/Ring/Sleeve is Audio/Video/Gnd. Now maybe it's just me, but this seems totally barmy, being completely non standard and not even stated obviously so that the correct lead can be used. In fact I can only assume you are meant to make your own as I know of nothing else that uses this configuration. But maybe that's just my ignorance and there's lots of kit that does.

Anyway, once I set the AV input to the correct format (I used PAL as that's what the iPod was set to) and arranged the correct connection, I had video on the front screen and MONO audio. Not ideal, but at least it is doing what it is supposed to, despite BMW's best efforts at keeping it all a secret.

Of course there is still the question of why BMW thought MONO audio was acceptable, but I'm afraid I cannot answer that.

[scale20]

Thanks for your info. I will try make it work this way. But if the sound is going to be mono only, there is not much point in hooking up the iPod to this one. Then I will once again need to see if I can install a AUX 8which is not possible according to the local BMW dealer.


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Originally Posted by UKenGB

On some (mostly non US) X5s there is an AV In and AV Out socket mounted in the rear of the centre console, ideally situated so that rear seat passangers can use them. But there is a lot of confusion surrounding their exact spec. I have been trying to get to grips with the AV input and this is what I have discovered.

First of all, the AV input to the TV can be selected from the AV button next to the sockets or from the front TV screen, the AV option is one below Programme 1 (and/or above Programme 30). The TV format for this input is set independently to other inputs. IOW, for TV reception you specify the country you are in and this will set whether it uses PAL, SECAM or NTSC. The reversing camera is ALWAYS NTSC and this AV input can be set to either of the above 3 modes without affecting TV reception.

Next, you will not get a picture if the car is moving. I have been variously told that it needs to be in P and/or with the handbrake on. The latter is certainly not true, but the former may be, I didn't check it myself. Just make sure it's in P when you test anything.

Now we come to the socket itself. This is NOT a 4 way AV type 3.5mm jack socket as stated elsewhere on this forum and also by my BMW dealer. I really couldn't see why they would use a 4 way socket as this would carry Composite video, left and right audio plus ground and this didn't make sense as the TV tuner only has a MONO audio input.

In fact I have ascertained that it is a regular stereo jack, but connected for Video and Mono audio. So Tip/Ring/Sleeve is Audio/Video/Gnd. Now maybe it's just me, but this seems totally barmy, being completely non standard and not even stated obviously so that the correct lead can be used. In fact I can only assume you are meant to make your own as I know of nothing else that uses this configuration. But maybe that's just my ignorance and there's lots of kit that does.

Anyway, once I set the AV input to the correct format (I used PAL as that's what the iPod was set to) and arranged the correct connection, I had video on the front screen and MONO audio. Not ideal, but at least it is doing what it is supposed to, despite BMW's best efforts at keeping it all a secret.

Of course there is still the question of why BMW thought MONO audio was acceptable, but I'm afraid I cannot answer that.

[hangman]

what about AV out, what is it used for? any usefull tips? thanks

[mojoman]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

Anyway, once I set the AV input to the correct format (I used PAL as that's what the iPod was set to) and arranged the correct connection, I had video on the front screen and MONO audio. Not ideal, but at least it is doing what it is supposed to, despite BMW's best efforts at keeping it all a secret.

Of course there is still the question of why BMW thought MONO audio was acceptable, but I'm afraid I cannot answer that.

Thanks for the tip.

I have that input in the rear console and have always wondered what on earth it could be for so thanks

Can I ask you to explain what cable you used to get the Ipod video to that jack config? I presume you fashioned one yourself but are you coming from the headphone jack or the base of the Ipod?

OR did you rework the AV Input connection in the car to match something you already had that Apple produces in the way of cables?

Do you have any pics or pin/diagram/schematics etc we could see?

Cheers

[mojoman]

Bump

[Sher KamaL]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

On some (mostly non US) X5s there is an AV In and AV Out socket mounted in the rear of the centre console, ideally situated so that rear seat passangers can use them. But there is a lot of confusion surrounding their exact spec. I have been trying to get to grips with the AV input and this is what I have discovered.

First of all, the AV input to the TV can be selected from the AV button next to the sockets or from the front TV screen, the AV option is one below Programme 1 (and/or above Programme 30). The TV format for this input is set independently to other inputs. IOW, for TV reception you specify the country you are in and this will set whether it uses PAL, SECAM or NTSC. The reversing camera is ALWAYS NTSC and this AV input can be set to either of the above 3 modes without affecting TV reception.

Next, you will not get a picture if the car is moving. I have been variously told that it needs to be in P and/or with the handbrake on. The latter is certainly not true, but the former may be, I didn't check it myself. Just make sure it's in P when you test anything.

Now we come to the socket itself. This is NOT a 4 way AV type 3.5mm jack socket as stated elsewhere on this forum and also by my BMW dealer. I really couldn't see why they would use a 4 way socket as this would carry Composite video, left and right audio plus ground and this didn't make sense as the TV tuner only has a MONO audio input.

In fact I have ascertained that it is a regular stereo jack, but connected for Video and Mono audio. So Tip/Ring/Sleeve is Audio/Video/Gnd. Now maybe it's just me, but this seems totally barmy, being completely non standard and not even stated obviously so that the correct lead can be used. In fact I can only assume you are meant to make your own as I know of nothing else that uses this configuration. But maybe that's just my ignorance and there's lots of kit that does.

Anyway, once I set the AV input to the correct format (I used PAL as that's what the iPod was set to) and arranged the correct connection, I had video on the front screen and MONO audio. Not ideal, but at least it is doing what it is supposed to, despite BMW's best efforts at keeping it all a secret.

Of course there is still the question of why BMW thought MONO audio was acceptable, but I'm afraid I cannot answer that.

Thank you very much, this will help me with my E38 740i, it has the exact configuration you talk about.

Wonderful, & I don't even think many BMW technicians know about this

[X5 Meister]

bump to UKenGB.

[UKenGB]

Not sure what the bump is for, but in case it's about how I did it...

I left the BMW socket alone and made my own connector lead with adapters and stuff. If I was going to install it permanently I would make a special lead that directly matched (i.e. no adapters used) the iPod output to the BMW input. Just follow the pin configuration I described above.

I cannot now remember which output I used from the iPod - it was just a test to establish the BMW socket configuration, but IIRC you can only get composite video from the dock connector on the base of later iPods, whereas earlier devices output CV at both connectors. That's a bit speculative as I don't have an early iPod to confirm.

For the audio, you need the iPod to output MONO or you'll just get one of the channels and it'll sound terrible.

There are ways to use this video input with the Stereo AUX input I believe, but I've not tried that.

[nigwhyrito]

Sorry to raise and old thread but does anyone have the part number for that piece for the rear console. I have rear seat entertainment and today I took it apart and saw the cable underneath the dvd player mount. So I connected a three ring audio video cable 3.5mm pigtail. i was able to play back my audio in stereo and get a video signal. tested with a camcorder and portable dvd player.