Dynavin info: D99 PLUS (D99+)......Fall 2012

Originally Posted by halo0

However I'd prefer to bypass my phone altogether and run google music from the HU with my music stored locally on SD, if possible.

If I understand you correctly then yes....the android unit can do that. When I have an android unit in my car I use a 32GB card with my music files and use the android media player.

I'm referring specifically to the Google Music app, i.e. the headphones icon in the upper left in this screenshot.



Google Music is Google's cloud-based music archiving and streaming application. Basically you upload your music collection to their servers and then you have access to it from anywhere using your android devices or a web browser. It also has the capability to save the music locally on a per device basis, by marking the songs/albums for offline listening from the app. The reason this is a killer app for me is that if this worked I could download all of my music to the SD card via Google Music and I'd instantly have access to my entire collection, as well as having the capability to sync new music (that I add or purchase via my phone or browser) to my car while it's parked in the garage on wifi. There would be no need to manually add new files to a card, or to mess around with clunky bt streaming or tethering.

If I knew the Dynavin could do that, and the navigation was passable, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Here's an example of what Google Music looks like while a track is playing.

Understood, I am aware of it but have not used it so I dont know how well it works on the android dynavins, havent seen and discussion of it that I can recall either. Might be a better question for the android thread or the M3evolution thread as those are all android users in those threads.

Google Music does indeed work on the Dynavin Androids.

that was easy.....just have to ask the right person

Originally Posted by hybridNz

If the only hardware change is the screen, why cant the radio side OS update be propergated to D99 users who where the early adopters and payed full price but 0 updates?

Wont be looking at one of these again for any future vehicle ... getting sick of being burnt.

+1! It's pretty clear that most these changes are software based and could easily run by the D99! Really shocked that dynavin has offered 0 support and had 0 updates on this product that I spent $1000 on!

I can understand the price drop, but they should give us early adopters an upgrade option for the physical unit or AT LEAST provide us with the same software updates.

MANY of the parts are different so the changes in the plus units are not due to simple software changes, its in large part a new unit, but it keeps the D99s look, thus the D99+ name....

People get upset every time when a new product comes out and in general I try to stay out of it.....but its been said before, if you choose to buy a product, buy it for what it does TODAY, not what you think/hope it might do some day. That is a sure fire recipe for disappointment.

I do my best to make sure all of my customers get a unit that does what its supposed to on the day it is purchased and that it will continue to do that for the duration of the warranty period, but thats all anyone can promise! Frankly that seems pretty reasonable....Manufactures are always going to make things bigger, faster, better, if they dont they will quickly get passed by (notice all the Dynavin "clones" out there?). If you have to make every advancement backward compatible you cant move forward! You MUST move the target. That is just how it is.

Cell phones (iOS in particular) have given people the idea that they can always have the latest greatest by just upgrading some software, that is not how it is with the vast majority of products, including car stereo products. The more hardware based they are, the more this is true. Most manufactures replace their models on a yearly basis, dynavin did about 9 months on the D99 and is still making the D95s at 16 months. A little short on one model, long on the other, pretty typical in the industry.

Originally Posted by jeffb325@DynavinSolutions

MANY of the parts are different so the changes in the plus units are not due to simple software changes, its in large part a new unit, but it keeps the D99s look, thus the D99+ name....

People get upset every time when a new product comes out and in general I try to stay out of it.....but its been said before, if you choose to buy a product, buy it for what it does TODAY, not what you think/hope it might do some day. That is a sure fire recipe for disappointment.

I do my best to make sure all of my customers get a unit that does what its supposed to on the day it is purchased and that it will continue to do that for the duration of the warranty period, but thats all anyone can promise! Frankly that seems pretty reasonable....Manufactures are always going to make things bigger, faster, better, if they dont they will quickly get passed by (notice all the Dynavin "clones" out there?). If you have to make every advancement backward compatible you cant move forward! You MUST move the target. That is just how it is.

Cell phones (iOS in particular) have given people the idea that they can always have the latest greatest by just upgrading some software, that is not how it is with the vast majority of products, including car stereo products. The more hardware based they are, the more this is true. Most manufactures replace their models on a yearly basis, dynavin did about 9 months on the D99 and is still making the D95s at 16 months. A little short on one model, long on the other, pretty typical in the industry.

I understand that. My frustration is the lack of support from dynavin as a whole. Between a lack of firmware updates (regardless of a new model) and their unwillingness to release the source code of an open source project (android), despite the fact that they are legally obliged to, is very frustrating.

Jeff - Please don't take offense to this. You are a huge asset to the community and obviously none of my support complaints pertain to you.

Dynavin has always supported me as the dealer so that I can support you, they dont support customers directly, so who you buy from has a lot to do with the support you get.

BUT....the android project...I thought you might be referring to that. You have a decent point there, ive asked them about it, suggested they cooperate with you guys. They seem very reluctant and frankly I think its because of the "clones". Dynavin was the first one to get the formula right on these types of units, the first to use dealers, and the first to get android into a car stereo, all of that was good but it cost money to do it right, so when the knock offs appeared it was trouble....and even though they were VERY problematic and offered no support, and didnt work much of the time, they were cheap, so they still took a big chunk of the business (including mine). I agree that Dynavin is obliged to release the code but I also understand why they might be reluctant....

Originally Posted by podge3

Google Music does indeed work on the Dynavin Androids.

Does it allow you to save music to local storage (SD) for offline listening?

It seems like a simple firmware upgrade. Are there any new components? Has anyone opened it up down an ifixit style comparsion of the internal components? I have a D99 and would love that fix for the USB/SD interface.

Originally Posted by hybridNz

If the only hardware change is the screen, why cant the radio side OS update be propergated to D99 users who where the early adopters and payed full price but 0 updates?

Wont be looking at one of these again for any future vehicle ... getting sick of being burnt.

Just saw this post. I agree this should just be a firmware upgrade if no hardware has changed. I might even pay for the upgrade if they price is reasonably.

Originally Posted by halo0

Does it allow you to save music to local storage (SD) for offline listening?

Yes. I've actually got a 120GB SSD acting as my SD card mounted in my glove box, connected via USB. Works like a charm with Google music :-)

Originally Posted by episof

Just saw this post. I agree this should just be a firmware upgrade if no hardware has changed. I might even pay for the upgrade if they price is reasonably.

You guys are killing me! We just went over this at length further up this page.... The DVD drive is different, the PCB board is different, the bluetooth module is different, the main board is different, the touchscreen is different, AND the firmware is different.

Please dont post things like this if you dont know about them, it perpetuates misinformation, remember your posts will still be here months and years from now when you have long forgotten about it.....and ill still be getting emails with questions about the "firmware update that turns a D99 in to a D99+" (that doesnt exist)

Originally Posted by morningisbad

Yes. I've actually got a 120GB SSD acting as my SD card mounted in my glove box, connected via USB. Works like a charm with Google music :-)

I have a major (man?)crush on you right now.

Any pics of the display? Feel free to pm or post them in my thread if we don't want to clutter up this thread.

Originally Posted by halo0

I have a major (man?)crush on you right now.

Any pics of the display? Feel free to pm or post them in my thread if we don't want to clutter up this thread.

Yeah me too..... did you hack the hardware or did M3evolution bake USB access into his ROM and I missed(forgot?) it.....

Originally Posted by jeffb325@DynavinSolutions

Yeah me too..... did you hack the hardware or did M3evolution bake USB access into his ROM and I missed(forgot?) it.....

Nope. I've got a 4 port USB hub plugged into the android side. 1 for USB access (ran into the ashtray) just in case anyone riding in the car has a flash drive with music. 1 with a bluetooth adapter (more on this below...). 1 with the wifi. 1 for the SSD. The big issue was that the SSD wasn't recognized by android on boot. You could force it to be recognized by either plugging and unplugging it from the USB (lame) or with a command from a terminal emulator (again..lame). So what I did was trick android into thinking that the SSD was actually the SD card was actually the SSD. The SD slot on the front doesn't work once android is booted. However, because the android side is run by an emulator and the SD slot is hardwired to the parent client and not to the emulated android, you can still flash a rom with the SD

Anyways, bluetooth. Right now I've got torque hooked up to the dynavin with bluetooth and I've got a valentine 1 coming in the mail tomorrow. I'm going to configure the dynavin to act as a remote display for the V1. That way I can see the V1 output on the dynavin and run the V1 blacked out

I'm a terrible DIYer when it comes to the car...so it was nice to actually be able to work on something I understand, haha.

Originally Posted by halo0

I have a major (man?)crush on you right now.

Any pics of the display? Feel free to pm or post them in my thread if we don't want to clutter up this thread.

Display doesn't look any different. Just shows a really big SD card.

I meant the display while google music is playing/in use.

Originally Posted by morningisbad

So what I did was trick android into thinking that the SSD was actually the SD card was actually the SSD.

How exactly did you perform said trickery? Rom? Or hardware mod?

Originally Posted by halo0

I meant the display while google music is playing/in use.


How exactly did you perform said trickery? Rom? Or hardware mod?

Oh. I can snap a pic next time I'm in the car.

I'd have to look it up again to figure out what I changed, haha. But I can look and let you know. It's just a file buried in the OS that controls and defines the ports on the device.