TV Option.....

[Big Ste]

Have found out that there is an idrive tv retrofit kit available for the 6 series (part no 65 50 0 390 845) it fits in the front behind the dvd navi controller. There is also a kit for the 7 series (65 50 0 407 052) & 5 (65 50 0 416 282).
The bit I am struggling with is my dealer, who will not reseach this for me, so if anyone can help that would be great. All of these kits must have fitting instructions and I believe they should be compatible, any thoughts

[Big Ste]

Made even more progress today, the actual item for the E70 is called a video module and the part no is (65509146608) and is both PAL & NTSC, there is 1 on ebay at the moment for £400 ($800).
Now the difficult part, is there any wiring in place? and does the car then need coded? Are the antennas in the rear quarter windows?

Can anyone help!

[rodybmw]

Do you have the link to the eBay listing?

Here are the part numbers for the E60 and E63 Retrofit kits that I found on my BMW ETK CD, but my ETK is old and I don't have the E70 on it. I'm ordering a new ETK and will check and see if there is a TV Retrofit kit for the E70 when I get it.

[Big Ste]

Here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=009

and another:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-i...spagenameZWDVW

[Fastbuck]

This may be of interest to some too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TV-FREE-INTERF...QQcmdZViewItem

[rodybmw]

Originally Posted by Big Ste

Here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=009

and another:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-i...spagenameZWDVW

The second item is just an aftermarket switcher that has many AV Inputs that it can route to the iDrive display.....there are a lot of these types of interfaces around, but they don't include a built in TV tuner and can't be controlled through iDrive. BMW has their own version of this (I think they call it the ACM), but it is much nicer as it is controlled VIA iDrive......it still is just an I/O switcher though, so no TV tuner.

The first item is indeed the BMW TV tuner for the E70, but it is not a kit. It is one that has been pulled out of an E70 and is being sold now. Since it is not a 'kit" it does not come with any cables that may be necessary or any other needed items, like antennas. So while the module itself is the correct one I would not get it since we don't know what else is needed to make it work in the E70, whereas a true "retrofit kit" would include all the necessary things.

[rodybmw]

Originally Posted by Fastbuck

This may be of interest to some too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TV-FREE-INTERF...QQcmdZViewItem

That "TV FREE" module will be useful for those who want to see the new DVD-Changer's (or oem TV tuner's) video output on the iDrive screen while the car is in motion.

[Big Ste]

For those of you who are still looking for a tv option in your X5, I may have found a fix. A German company called Ampire sell a interface and DVBT tuner kit that will work via the i drive. Also ther is a company in Manchester that will fit this kit (£1200) together with a dvd player. I am informed that some BMW dealers have retrofitted this kit. The only part I have not got fully sorted is how to recode the OBC after this kit is fitted, as the parts are available for 698 euros. Below are the links:

http://server6.gs-shop.de/200/cgi-bi...AnbieterID=334

http://server6.gs-shop.de/200/cgi-bi...AnbieterID=334

http://www.cat1.co.uk/retrofit.php

Will keep you posted

Regards

[rodybmw]

I just took a look at Ampire.de and it looks like they make some interesting things. The model number that the company in Manchester lists (DVB-T100SL) seems to be just the DVB-T tuner, but the "kit" that they mention must contain an additional item to make it interface with, and be controlled by iDrive. It's probably the Ampire MST200AV Integrated Multimedia Adapter. Also, while I found the DVB-T100SL tuner on a few German websites I could not find it on Ampire's website, but they do have a DVBT200 which seems to be a newer version of it.

The combination of the DVB-T100SL plus MST200AV (and perhaps DVBT200 plus MST200AV) may do the trick of having an oem-like integrated TV tuner that is controlled by iDrive............but unfortunately it will not do any good to those of us in the US because there is no DVB-T here.

[rodybmw]

I emailed my contact at BMW Niederlassung in Munich and he replied that he now works at BMW AG and referred me to a colleague of his that still works at Niederlassung. I emailed her a few E70 parts questions including a question about pricing and part number for the TV Tuner Retrofit Kit. She replied to me that the Retrofit TV tuner for the E70 is going to be available in April 2008. Right now they only have the DVB-T Settop Box, which you can only use if you already have the factory installed TV Tuner. So it looks like I'm going to wait until April 2008 and hope that the OEM BMW TV Tuner retrofit kit works in the US like the old E53 one used to.......and that it would be plug-n-play like the old one. If there is a need for the dealer to do any coding to activate it then this would mean trouble as the US dealers would have no clue how to do that.