AppleTV integration with E39 BMW

[tikitamde 0]

AppleTV in-car computer installation

Since buying a 2001 525i a few weeks ago, I have been wanting to make use for the 16:9 screen on the dashboard, and while there are plenty plans on connecting Windows-based computers to your car on this forum, I don't think anyone has yet installed a Mac in the car, so here is my configuration (YMMV).

Basic setup

I'm using an AppleTV (1st generation) to stream audio/video content to the car's entertainment system. It's connected to a 180W sine-wave inverter and via LAN cables to an Asus wireless access point (OpenWRT) with a 3G modem on 2degrees for continuous internet connection. The video output from the AppleTV (there's a way to enable composite output in colour) plugs into the Aux In on the 16:9 screen in the front of the car. The screen has been reprogrammed to allow video in motion and PAL input.

iPhone mounting and AppleTV remote

I use a Griffin TuneFlex adapter to cradle/charge an iPhone (perfectly fits the E39), and RemoteHD app on the iPhone that serves as a remote control for the AppleTV. This means I don't need to use an infrared remote, as I simply have the controls on the iPhone screen, and it works seamlessly over Wifi. The iPhone also has Sygic Aura GPS navi app which works very well. Except the iPhone, everything is installed in the boot and looks completely factory. The AppleTV and wireless router replace the CD changer, and although it's possible to put them elsewhere, I don't use the CD changer so it's easier to re-use those mounting brackets. It's powered with help from a 20W solar panel installed behind the rear seats, and a switch discretely mounted under the dashboard to turn the system off at night.

Integration with the car

With RemoteHD you can stream media via AirPlay to the 1st generation AppleTV, so that makes a very nice audio setup. Currently I'm using the mono input on Aux from AppleTV, and stereo connection from iPhone via tape deck adapter. I have also ordered GromAudio A2DP bluetooth/aux-in adapter and a cable that will allow CDs to be played in the background of the monitor while Aux is enabled. This will allow higher quality sound from the AppleTV through the CD changer input, and from the iPhone via A2DP, as well as simultaneously having the AppleTV content on the screen while the "CD" is playing. This should be arriving shortly and I will test in and comment on how it works.

Why use AppleTV?

An advantage to using an AppleTV (1st gen) is that it's designed to be cycled on/off for power, has a reasonable size hard drive capacity (160Gb) and a colour composite output (you need to load custom kexts to make it work). It also has a USB port, which will soon allow me to use GPS and mapping applications. Currently I can stream internet radio, play Pandora (with a PPTP VPN to USA) and access radio stations worldwide (like NPR or Groove Salad), and play YouTube and TED.com videos.

Having WiFi in the cars allows other devices like phones and laptops to share the internet connection, which is a bonus. I'm still thinking of what else I can do with this set up (plug USB into iBus perhaps?), so if you have ideas, do let me know. Thanks to @hotwire and @jochen for help with iBus programming, and @rgoodwin for help jailbreaking the AppleTV and loading custom kexts to enable composite output.

[graememck 0]

This sounds like something that I could go for! Well done.

Just a couple of questions:

• Did you do do the installation yourself? If so, what was the difficulty?

• Am I allowed to know how much it cost you?

Myself, I am not so concerned about the video, even though getting output via the Apple TV1 is quite a find! I have a Japanese navigation system so any (OEM) solution involving the 16:9 screen I have will be big money. I am tossing up whether to do something similar or just waiting out for a whole new touch-screen system to to replace what I have.

I am a Mac-head so your solution certainly appeals to me.

Graeme

[jochen 4]

The video output from the AppleTV (there's a way to enable composite output in colour) plugs into the Aux In on the 16:9 screen in the front of the car. The screen has been reprogrammed to allow video in motion and PAL input.

You'd be a lot better off going for RGsB video output from the AppleTV, the picture quality will be hugely better than composite video.

I do not know if the AppleTV supports RGsB at the right rates for the BMW system, some google research is required. The necessary sync-on-green may be tricky, may require extra hardware.

But the improvement in picture quality is HUGE.

Tips for storing movies:

a) there's no point putting a movie on the AppleTV harddrive in higher resolution than what the display can render. So rip the movies at the native size of the BMWs screen, it reduces the movie filesize down to around 100MB to 120MB per movie

the native TV AV-IN is mono audio only, with no tone controls. Depending on what radio module you have, you can mod the radio module to make stereo AV IN. Requires a change in cabling of course, but worth it for the stereo effect

I used my iPod to the AV-IN, using just composite video (all an iPod can output) and was very happy with the result. I never had time to mod my radio though.

[jochen 4]

Myself, I am not so concerned about the video, even though getting output via the Apple TV1 is quite a find! I have a Japanese navigation system so any (OEM) solution involving the 16:9 screen I have will be big money. I am tossing up whether to do something similar or just waiting out for a whole new touch-screen system to to replace what I have.

The video module AV-IN is identical on the Japanese version of the BMW OEM nav system and on the Rest-Of-World version (ie: Euro)

Just set the nav system to TELEVISION, select AV-IN and voila: picture and sound from the AV source.

Tip:

There is no point keeping the Japanese nav computer in NZ, because you cannot get maps for it. You can just unplug the Jap nav computer and then the system reverts to the graphics generated by the TV tuner (at next cold boot).

You can also swap the Japanese nav computer with a Mk4 nav computer and have a resultant full Euro nav system, if you wish

[tikitamde 0]

You'd be a lot better off going for RGsB video output from the AppleTV, the picture quality will be hugely better than composite video.

I do not know if the AppleTV supports RGsB at the right rates for the BMW system, some google research is required. The necessary sync-on-green may be tricky, may require extra hardware.

But the improvement in picture quality is HUGE.

Tips for storing movies:

a) there's no point putting a movie on the AppleTV harddrive in higher resolution than what the display can render. So rip the movies at the native size of the BMWs screen, it reduces the movie filesize down to around 100MB to 120MB per movie

the native TV AV-IN is mono audio only, with no tone controls. Depending on what radio module you have, you can mod the radio module to make stereo AV IN. Requires a change in cabling of course, but worth it for the stereo effect

I used my iPod to the AV-IN, using just composite video (all an iPod can output) and was very happy with the result. I never had time to mod my radio though.

Thanks Jochen, good suggestions! I will look more into RGsB input on BMW, do you know where I can find the pinouts or other details for it? I'll google around for it anyway.

In regards to content, I'm mostly using it to play downloaded and streaming TED.com interview videos, so the quality of the original material is low in both mono audio and low res video. However, I have higher aspirations, and am already planning how to get stereo sound from the Apple TV.

In an effort towards improvement, today I installed my Grom Audio adapter, and now I have stereo RCA inputs instead of the CD chapter. These are plugged into the stereo output of the AppleTV, and work great. Of course the challenge now is to have the TV on Aux and at the same time receive sound from CD input, as right now I have to choose between either good sound and no video, or video and no sound. There are a couple of companies that sell adapters that allow sound from CD input to be played over the TV picture:

http://www.tv-in-motion.co.uk/bmw_tv_in_motion.html

http://www.tv-freischaltung.org/TV-Freischaltung.htm

Do you know either of these, or possible other solutions to this? What is the approach to modifying the radio that you mentioned to have stereo AUX sound input?

Thanks,

Alexei

PS also I found that I prefer to have the Japanese navi plugged in, as the graphics for OBC are nicer than without it .. just tidier fonts and a more pleasant color scheme. Of course, apart from that, it's pointless as you said.

[tikitamde 0]

This sounds like something that I could go for! Well done.

Just a couple of questions:

• Did you do do the installation yourself? If so, what was the difficulty?

• Am I allowed to know how much it cost you?

Myself, I am not so concerned about the video, even though getting output via the Apple TV1 is quite a find! I have a Japanese navigation system so any (OEM) solution involving the 16:9 screen I have will be big money. I am tossing up whether to do something similar or just waiting out for a whole new touch-screen system to to replace what I have.

I am a Mac-head so your solution certainly appeals to me.

Graeme

Hi Graeme,

Glad you hear you're interested in a Mac solution also. I think it's great, as the 1st gen Apple TV boxes are just slim versions of the Mac Mini, and so you can run any Mac OSX app on them, opening up the possibilities of what you can do with the system.

I did the installation myself, and it was very easy, but a little time consuming to get perfect. I looked for YouTube videos showing how to remove the rear seat (makes running cables easier) and found that it only takes a couple of minutes, so there's no technical challenge there. Laying the cables in the trunk took a few attempts to get right, as the space is limited, but now I am very happy with the outcome. If you like, I can take some photos and post them here.

I set a $1k budget to do this installation, comparable with getting a Dynavin unit (which I didn't like, since it's WinCE-based and the UI is rather clunky and slow). Here's a quick cost breakdown:

Apple TV 160 GB: $250

180W sine-wave Inverter: $200

Grom Audio CD-changer replacement with bluetooth/A2DP: $150

Asus WL-500g Wifi access point with OpenWRT: $50

2degrees 3g modem (usb, for OpenWRT): $70

20W solar panel: $150

Cables/switches/fuses: $25

Griffin TuneFlex iPhone adapter: $50

iPhone 3gs: BYO

What makes this easier for me is that I already had the AppleTV, the inverter, the Wifi access point and the iPhone adapter, so I only had to spend on the missing items. And of course thanks again to @hotwire and @jochen for help with iBus programming, great stuff.

[tikitamde 0]

Update - now with iphone A2DP bluetooth streaming

Today I received and installed the Grom Audio adapter and Bluetooth cable:

http://gromaudio.com/store/aux_adapters/bm...interface_.html

http://gromaudio.com/store/grom_accessories/cable-btd.html

Briefly, the Grom Audio adapter plugs in where the CD changer was, and has two killer features:

1) It allows the iPhone to connect via bluetooth A2DP, to stream music wirelessly and work as a phone handsfree

2) It's integrated with the steering wheel track+/- control buttons in iPod app, and even in Pandora!

The adapter works well, with one exception. There is a high pitch sound that changes as the car engine revs higher and lower - the higher the revs, the higher the pitch. It's quite annoying, but luckily not very loud (I can only hear it when the music is on pause and there's nothing playing through the stereo).

If the engine is off, it works perfectly, so I am sure the noise can be fixed.. I contacted Grom Audio tech support, and will post an update when this issue is resolved. I know that others have had this problem, and fixed it somehow - any suggestions what it can be, and how to remove the noise?

[tikitamde 0]

Update - now with iphone A2DP bluetooth streaming

Today I received and installed the Grom Audio adapter and Bluetooth cable:

http://gromaudio.com/store/aux_adapters/bm...interface_.html

http://gromaudio.com/store/grom_accessories/cable-btd.html

Briefly, the Grom Audio adapter plugs in where the CD changer was, and has two killer features:

1) It allows the iPhone to connect via bluetooth A2DP, to stream music wirelessly and work as a phone handsfree

2) It's integrated with the steering wheel track+/- control buttons in iPod app, and even in Pandora!

The adapter works well, with one exception. There is a high pitch sound that changes as the car engine revs higher and lower - the higher the revs, the higher the pitch. It's quite annoying, but luckily not very loud (I can only hear it when the music is on pause and there's nothing playing through the stereo).

If the engine is off, it works perfectly, so I am sure the noise can be fixed.. I contacted Grom Audio tech support, and will post an update when this issue is resolved. I know that others have had this problem, and fixed it somehow - any suggestions what it can be, and how to remove the noise?

The audio noise is now fixed. GROM sent me a replacement cable with a noise suppressor free of charge directly to NZ. They are a nice company to deal with, very helpful, and I like the product too. With the audio noise fixed, it's an ideal solution for having a straight-through digital connection from the iphone to the amp, with the analog conversion only happening once into the speakers.

I installed it behind the TV tuner and ran the CD changer cables from where the CD changer was to the back panel behind the rear seat, it was quite a simple change with only a couple of cable ties to undo and replace.

The sound path is from a digital source (MP3/AAC) to digital transmission (A2DP bluetooth) and digital connection via GROM directly into the amplifier and iBus. It works very well, and the included cable is just long enough to mount the Grom device in the boot and run the supplied cable under the back seat for the bluetooth aerial and along the driver's side for the microphone to be mounted at the top of the A pillar.

It's also great for having both a handsfree and a music player integrated with the car - I can answer the phone when it rings by pressing the Track Up button on the steering wheel, and the music automatically mutes. Very convenient, and great value for about $150 NZD shipped.

[nordschleife 0]

What is the approach to modifying the radio that you mentioned to have stereo AUX sound input?

I'm keen to know the answer to this as well. I don't have a reverse camera (yet) but is it something to do with using those inputs for Aux-in (as the audio is still routed through the radio module when reverse camera is active)?

If its not that do I need a BM54 or will my BM24 suffice?

Cheers

Matt