darksom1

No, I had both sides up. I called DICE today and they said the first set of pins should be down and the others up. My car is at Acura getting serviced right now, so I have to wait until I get it back probably tomorrow to do the change.

2008 Acura TL

You guys know anything about this? Text with XM.
http://www.autotoys.com/x/product.php?productid=10496

omari

Nick,
I unplugged the radio but had no luck with the master reset...

I threw away the packaging so I need to grab the number off the unit so I can follow up at DICE.

Could it be the way it was installed??

darksom1

This is what people have been looking for! How is it possible? It would be a Sunday where I can't call anyone to talk to them...can't wait til Monday!!

darksom1

To those who have a Classic, don't upgrade your firmware to 1.1.1 or you will be stuck with just the scrolling title on your iPod and it won't shutoff when you turn the car off!! Stay with 1.0.3!!

I installed 1.1.1, then downgraded to 1.0.3 and everything is back to normal! I even have FULL use of my iPod when in text mode!

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

It's not that simple. I think I have this figured out. Because the XM uses the car's data bus to send XM text, this PnP cable serves as a data interrupt to the XM tuner.

Bus technology intializes the data stream at vehicle start though, and the Cice kit emulates the XM data stream... which is why you can't have both.

What does this mean?

Flip toggle switch. Start car. XM works with text. Dice works without text.
Want Ipod text?

Turn off car, flip toggle switch the other way, start car.
XM Works no text, Ipod work with text.

Great... another toggle switch that very ugly to use... No thanks.

kevintl21

hey how do you downgrade? cause my ipod doesn't turn off when i turn off my car!

darksom1

What operating system do you have?

kevintl21

windows xp home

lavo

How exactly does the Silver line differ that the R4. How does the R4 get controlled VS. the Silver. Can you just skip tracks within the playlists, rather than artists, albums AND playlists?

Will all ipods have text display, I understand some are not compatible.

Thanks for the info in advance, reading all these threads I get confused with how they differ.

2008 Acura TL

You have figured this out all by yourself or do you have a unit in hand that shows this?

Dutch Oven

Hey Guys,

Haven't seen any posts yet from anyone with the Silver actually installed so here goes.

Installation:

I installed mine last weekend and it was pretty easy, took about an hour. (Note: I've got an 05 TL with Navi and he DICE is in SAT mode). Hardest part is plugging in the harness to the back of the head unit, I used the bent coat hanger method to guide it in (after removing the console trim and the 2 panel pieces). Dice unit is under the seat and Ipod is in the center console. I snipped a corner off the little plastic cover at the bottom of the console to run the cable. All in all I am extremely happy with the installation.

Usage:

I have an 80gb classic model, I believe it's the 5G. In itunes I have smart playlists by Genre so all Classic Rock automatically goes to the Classic Rock playlist, etc.. One thing the Dice unit has made very clear is the need to be extremely consistent with your ID3 tagging. Make sure you spell band names, albums, genres etc the same everywhere, you REALLY need to keep your Itunes clean and organized or you'll have a hard time navigating in the car, esp with 80gb of songs.

So first thing I do when hitting the road is to choose a playlist (Preset 2). You can scroll with the channel button on the steering wheel or the tuning knob. I find the knob faster but with either method there is serious lag between the scrolling and the playlist (or artist or abum or song) displaying on the screen. If Dice can fix that lag the product will get 5 stars, as of now it's 4.5.

Moving on, once I choose my playlist then I select preset 3 to choose an artist, then I select preset 4 to choose an album. If I want to scroll through songs on that album I can hit preset 1 and do that or just let the album play. If I want to switch to another album by the same artist I just select preset 4 again and scroll through them, again either with the tuning knob or the steering control. Or I can press 2 and switch to another playlist or 3 to switch to another artist within the current playlist. One very nice thing is that when you go to the artist mode it scrolls from the artist you were last listening to rather than putting you back at the A's. This is VERY important if you've got hundreds of artists and you were last listening to someone starting with J.

Sound:

Fricking awesome. I am blown away. I rip at 192vbr and it sounds fantastic. You won't be disappointed.

Gripes:

1) When you turn off the engine and then come back, it starts playing the song where you left off, however if you then want to change albums or artists you have to start over. Meaning, if you're listening to AC/DC's Back in Black, stop/restart the car and then want to switch to Highway to Hell you can't just hit preset 4 for Album mode and scroll through all AC/DC albums. Instead it will scroll through EVERY album by every band on your iPod. So you have to re-navigate to the appropriate playlist, then artist mode, then album mode. Big pain. But once you're driving you can navigate as I described above.

2) I have it set for long scroll mode. I would like it to scroll the full artist, album, and song title name constantly on both the nav screen and the upper console screen. It does do that on the Nav screen but on the upper console screen it only scrolls for a few seconds after the song starts and then it just shows the song name statically. When the next song starts it scrolls but stops again after a few seconds and then just displays the song name, truncated if it's too long. Maybe I've set something wrong here but it seems there's no way for it to scroll constantly.

3) No track numbers or song timers.

4) lag when tuning/scrolling through artists/playlists/albums/songs as mentioned above. This is the biggest issue. I thought the silver was supposed to make it faster than previous models but if this is faster I'd hate to have seen the old model.

5) songs start playing as you're scrolling. if you're scrolling through your playlists or artist or albums and you let it sit for more than a second or so on any one item it will start playing the first song in that playlist or the first song from that artist or the first song on that album. It makes finding your song VERY annoying and tedious. There is probably a technical reason for this but it really drives me crazy. I wish I could scroll to my playlist and then press a button to select it, then scroll to an artist and then press the same button to select it. Or maybe better would be for it to start playing automatically but only after the item had been selected for 5 seconds or so. That would be MUCH better.

That's about it. Few more notes: the manual is not clear on this but on the nav screen if you hit "Mode" it toggles between "Channel" and "Category" mode. I don't know what the difference is other than you WANT Channel mode because it allows the navigation I described above. If someone else can describe the pros and cons of each I'd love to hear it. Also, make sure you do NOT connect the XM cable to the Dice cable after disconnecting the XM cable from the head unit, that's how you get the XM bleeding. Just leave the XM cable hanging there.

Overall I am EXTREMELY happy with this unit, and $160 shipped from Gig Harbor is an absolute bargain.

Cheers,
Dutch

lavo

Dutch, BTW killer name, this is HANDS DOWN the best post on acurazine about the dice adapter, Uncald4 (seller of this item) failed to describe this item as well as you. This is exactly what I was asking for, Ebay has the silver line for 149 +shipping, about 6 bucks cheaper than here on AZ. Could anyone give a write up on the R4 adapter and how it differs? I'm trying to decide which to buy, the silver line or the R4.

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

Great write up. Your complaints about the Silverline kit is exactly why I went back to using the Gen2 kit. It's much easier to fly through your music from the iPod itself, which the Silver kit doesn't allow. But your Classic, iPhone and 3rd gen NANO don't allow that either. If you have any of those newer iPod's it doesn't get any better than the Silverline kit. Unless you change to an aftermarket deck.

Thank you for your comments lavo. Always appreciated.

lavo

Anytime I can tell the truth, I capitalize

darksom1

Not true in all cases...

My R4 allows me to change the songs and everything on my iPod 80GB Classic in text mode! I am using 1.0.3 firmware on my Classic.

The 1.1.1 won't do it.

Dutch Oven

Well, for me the whole point of this exercise is to be able to control the iPod from the head unit and the steering wheel and keep the iPod hidden so I am more than willing to deal with the issues I mentioned.

lavo

So what is the actual difference between the silverline and the R4, some say the Silverline is faster, then I read that the R4 will allow you to change artists and some say the silverline can only change artists. I'm so confused!

lavo

any help?

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

I'm a big boy. I figured this out all by myself. You have to read the fine print...

2008 Acura TL

Big or little, makes no difference to me, unless you have unit in hand or installed to confirm this. BTW, I'm not into fine print.

tjm222

I think I am ready to buy my DICE but hope to get some last minute "difinitive" clarification before ordering. Anyone in the know, please give a stab at the following:

06 TL with Nav
iPhone
Don't Care about XM at all and will disconnect completely

1. Will iPhone while connected fully function as a phone with Handsfree connect?

2. Will I have controll of ipod function from iPhone while connected?

3. Will text be on nav screen and will there be controlls from steering wheel?

4. I will look to run both the iPhone jack and Aux jack into the center arm rest....any suggestions on placement of the dice unit? Under seat or behind dash? I'm leaning towards under the seat so I can adjust the bass, mid, and treble settings if I use the Aux jack.

5. Any recommendations on where I can get this professionally installed even though I buy the unit online? I simply don't want to dig into my dash....it would be like operating on your own kid. How many hours should it take a pro? 1 max or possibly 2?

6. Which Unit should I buy exactly? R4? and is that different than R3? What is Silverline?...is this different than the above mentioned models?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Tim

lavo

Can anyone tell me exactly how the Silverline and R4 differ?

Black_dc2

^Ditto for me also. Same phone, different year car 2004 w/nav.

AcuraTL06

I am currently using my iPhone with the Dice Silverline in my 06 TL w/Navi.

1. Yes, the iPhone will have all phone functions while connected. Also works with the HFL.

2. No, I cannot use any iPod functions on the phone while connected.

3. Yes, Album > Artist & Song Title will appear on the audio screen on the Nav. And yes you will be able to control the volume, skip tracks, and select source from the steering wheel mounted controls.

4. I don't use the aux jack on my Silverline.

5. Self installed.

6. I didn't do enough research on the other two, but I the Silverline cause it was the newest one.

tjm222

Just ordered the Silverline...Thanks.

Install under the seat or behind the dash?

2008 Acura TL

Just got an email from autotoys.com. This unit coming in a few days.
http://www.autotoys.com/x/product.php?productid=10485

AcuraTL06

I chose to install it behind the dash, between the two center consoles because I didnt use the aux input. If the rain stops tomorrow, I'll see if I can take some pics.

saturdaysaint

Bump... I'd love to see the pics of where the iPod is installed.

AcuraTL06

This is where I original installed it, but I was getting cellphone interference, so I moved it.


This is where I moved it to. So far hooking it up in the armrest has been so much more convenient and easier to access. Especially without the long cable.

saturdaysaint

That looks ideal! Do you know if that would be possible with an 04' TL? I understand that the 06' added the line input in the armrest compartment, so I wonder if that also somehow made wiring the armrest easier (or possible at all).

AcuraTL06

What do you mean by the line input in the armrest for the 06's? Are you talking about the slit on upper compartment to run the cable up from the bottom compartment?

saturdaysaint

Yes, I'm wondering how you wired it in there.

I'm a total novice when it comes to car installs - I'm just wondering if it will even be possible for me to bring my 04' to some pros and get the same result. Thanks.

AcuraTL06

The cable is plugged into the Dice unit mounted behind the dash, in between the two center storage bins.

Here's some pics of how the wire looks under the upper arm rest. Sorry for the bad quality. I'm at work, so I just ran out and took some quick snaps from my iphone.



This pic shows you where I drilled the small hole to run the wire through. I decided to drill at the corner, that way I can keep the hole small and I still can put back the OEM rubber mat.

2008 Acura TL

I checked with the car audio shop I frequent and they talked with http://www.peripheralelectronics.com/

The iPod unit is ready to ship. The audio shop is going to order the unit and call me when it comes in so they can install it. Should be within a week. This is the shite, right here:
http://peripheralelectronics.com/pro...?ProductID=276

Say hello to my little friend.......iPod with text, full control, charging and XM. Together at last.

lavo

Let me know how this works out for you, I was contemplating getting the dice, but this sounds promising.

2008 Acura TL

I will post back here once it's installed.

dgilman

For Nick @ Dice,

What is the preferable firmware verision with the Dice R3 on a 08 TLS? I'm using 1.1.3 on a second generation Nano, and 1.2.3 on a video IPOD. Sometimes they both fail to init on starting the car (I have to turn car off and restrart; IPOD stuck at INIT screen) Thanks in advance!!

nalek

iTrader: (1)

Dont get your hopes up about Nick@Dice responding. He hasn't logged in since 2/4/08.
Maybe I missed something about him, but he used to respond within a couple of days...

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

Nick has left DICE to take care of some family issues. Adam@DICE is the Acurazine support for DICE Electronics. He's on here just about everyday.

dgilman, the start-up issue that you're having is a problem with Honda/Acura radios. It's rare that we see it but it's most common in 2007/2008 Acura TL-S, 2006/2007 RL and 2006/2007 Accord. I've spoke with Honda and Acura customer service about the issue. They are both aware of it and do not have a FIX planned for it. Their previous FIX was to pull the Musiclink. At this point any iPod or AUX-IN adapter is "aftermarket" and they will not warranty a radio because of an aftermarket add-on.

I've verified this start-up problem with the Musiclink, Peripheral, Blitzsafe, USAspec and DICE iPod and AUX-IN adapters. The only way to lessen the occurance of your iPod failing to start is to turn your IGNITION to ON and wait about 5 seconds before you start the car.