mhobizal

Has anyone tried putting a card into the PCMCIA card slot on a 2008 Acura TL with Navi? They claim it is no longer hooked up, but the owners manual says it is reserved for the dealership's use.

I know that in previous models, you could put music files on a compact flash and using a PCMCIA Compact Flash adapter, you could listen to the files thru the stock stereo.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Wrong. You can't listen to music files in this TL nor in previous TLs.

mhobizal

Thanks for the correction. According to the sales guys you used to be able to. On Honda Accords with Navigation, this feature is available. To bad that Acura did not keep this feature.

Xtabi

Does anyone know what the slot is used for? Is this slot on other TLs older than the 08? If not maybe the 08 NAVI unit is the same one they are going to be putting into the 09.

This is possible because sometimes they alter the production lines early with gear they will be using in a future model. They just say it is for the 'dealer' only because it may not be fully functional with our cars.

Just a thought....

csmeance

I would bet that the PCMCIA card is used by alpine to load specific firmware on to the drives. Also its probably used by the dealerships to get logs for the navi and other stuff.

jzacuto

This isn't meant to sound snotty, it's just that lots of people are mislead about this slot and the question has been asked and answered so many times since this unit with the PCMCIA slot hit the market.

Using the slot to store and retrieve/play music files is not a feature available on *ANY* Honda family (that includes Acura) navigation system. The PCMCIA slot on the DVD player portion of your navigation system is intended as a maintenance port only and has no functional value to the end user.

The only way to play .MP3 files (or other downloaded music) on a stock Honda/Acura radio or navigation system is to use the dealer-installed music link option or to install an aftermarket unit to link an MP3 player to the stock head unit.

We're car shopping for a TSX/Accord/Ridgeline right now and you would be SHOCKED at how LITTLE the sales people know about their own products. I was actually told that if I buy an Accord without navigation that if I wanted to add the factory-installed option later that I could.

Um... No... you most definitely CAN NOT add Honda/Acura navigation systems to the car as a dealer-installed option. Yes, people have done it on their own, but it's expensive and takes dozens of man hours to do. And the dealer won't do it!

When we asked about the features of the Accord as compared to competitive models, the sales guy actually said something to the effect of "I don't really know much about cars, especially cars other than these (Hondas)."

I mean... to not know your competition? Seriously...

Just be careful not to always accept what the dealer tells you as gospel. In the end, they just want to sell you a car. Even if they have to lie or make things up to do it!

dhkkim

do you know if you can swap out 2005 tl's audio system to 2007+'s audio system? so i can play mp3s and wma on my tl. and how much will the new audio system cost?

jzacuto

hehehehe Again... NOT meaning to sound mean or unhelpful, but if you search AZ, you'll find that this too has been asked and answered dozens of times.

I suppose you COULD swap the systems, but you're looking at over $3000 in parts for very little reward. And you can't interchange parts of the system as they are only compatible within their respective nav-system generations.

On the bright side, you can use many popular DVD-A burning programs out there to create DVD-A libraries of your MP3s. Lots of people have done it and the sound quality is great.

I think if you search "Adobeman" and "DVD" both here and on Google you can find a wealth of information on how to do it.

nalek

iTrader: (1)

I just stumbled accross something in the 2007 TL service manual (Page 23-11)

It seems that the PC Card "can" play WMA and MP3 on SOME MODELS. (See the note at the top of the picture.
Its listed as an "ATA (PC CARD)" in the glossery of the Audio Section.

Im assuming this is for the PC card on the DVD Unit.. I dont know of any other PC card in the car.
(The audio section is very thick, Im not gonna read the whole thing to figure out where it refers to the ATA, sorry

timmahh

I tried an 8GB CF III card in a CF III PCMCIA card reader; I copied the entire nav disc to it and it did not recognize it

rbf351

it works on the new civics with navi. no other honda/acura seems to be able to do this

jzacuto

Hmmmm! Very interesting! I just might have to eat some crow!

I'd be interested to hear if maybe old CF modules work. (Noting that someone posted about using an 8GB one and it didn't.)

ahgil

i hope someone would be able to help me out here

my dvd unit keep on saying read disc error and i know the unit itself wont able to read any disc anymore. I am wondering if anyone have this experience and does the PCMCIA slot will be able to store the navi disc data and read it from there so i dont have to replace the unit

If i have to replace the unit anyone selling.... for cheap haha thanks
Gilbert

csmeance

The PCMCIA slot will do nothing for us. for 150 dollars, you can send the unit to alpine and they will fix anything wrong with it. Call alpine up and talk to them. But if your car is under warranty, take it to the dealership as the navi drive costs over 2K