X5 E53 Rear Entertainment System
 

Hi everyone! Please I need some help bad! I have been struggling with this for a few weeks already and I got so frustrated and it's not making anymore sense to me because I have tried everything. I have installed Rear Entertainment System myself on my X5 and I'm pretty sure that i did all the connections right! I have the installation manual from BMW and I found it pretty easy to install. everything is working find... the system powers up and the dvd plays movies and the sound is fine but th eonly issue I'm having is most time I get the picture in black and white! sometimes I get it in color for 5 or 10 minutes but then the image starts to stumble and it goes bakc to black and white! someone told me that the filter that's connected to the dvd harness it might be damaged so I went and I bought one for $75 and still it wouldn't solve the problem. then I spoke to a few guys and and they all sugested that my module was damaged so again I went and I bought another module and still wouldn't solve my problem. I tried different monitor from a friend... same thing, I even tried another bmw dvd player same is my system dvd player again nothing changed. it's driving me crazy because I tried all diifferent parts and I spent $150 on parts for nothing. the only thing that is left and I havn't tried is to buy new monitor cables but I really don't wanna spend anymore money for nothing!! does anybody have this system and experienced the problem I'm having? and what is the solution for it? I spoke ot my dealer and they couldn't help me much and they asked me to bring my car in and they said it can take a few hours, so that mean it can run for a few hundred dollars and I really cant affored to pay any money. I would appreciate any help and advice!! thanx guys!!!

BMW = Invision
 

Really enough said. They are a marginally reputable company. I thought they were a great company, then it all went wrong.......

The next news you are going to get is, "if you installed it yourself, the warranty is void" that is what I got.

Let me know if you need more info.

Wow I didn't see that coming! By installing it myself that would void my warranty? Did you have the same system?? Wow I didn't realize how much I wrote until now! I hope that people are gonna be bothered to read this long thread and get some replies! So do you have any advice for me what it might wrong with my system? Thank you!

sam this is a longshot. you said the color is fine...then messes up... is the color fine without putting a dvd meaning.. a blue screen the main dvdplayer menu screen.. can that screen come up and stay clear.. if that comes up and stays clear ... then we might be able to eliminate the monitor cable being the issue. Next what is the hidden menu set to pal/ntsc or auto.. hold menu for like 7 seconds. ... finally does it make this distortion on every input meaning aux 2 and aux 3.

Man... thank you so much for contacting me!! I really appreciate that! I didn't know about this hidden menue! I just tried it... it was set to Auto, I tried to play around with it and set it to Pal and NTSC and no difference in the picture still black and white. ok when I turn on the monitor I get the blue screen but when I turn on the dvd it turns to black and white and if I turn off the dvd player it does back to blue screen. hope that answer your question? as for the aux 2 and aux 3 im not familiar with that and not sure what that option is for but I tried once to have it on aux 2 and hooked it my iphone to the monitor I got sound but no picture. I don't see what the cables would be damaged because they are brand new cables but then again I can't think of anything else to do except the cables. I would really appreciate any advice or sugestions man!! thank you!!

I do have the same system and have been sent several communications by the MFG stating they will not honor or stand behind their system.

If you run into the same problem, let me know how it works out.

Are you having some issues also with your system?

sam_x5 - I am interested in buying one of these. I know that they are outdated but I like how well integrated they look with the interior. Can you show a picture of yours? Front, back, and maybe a side view? Also how much did it cost?

okay sam serious i am begining to think the dvd player is at fault. Okay here is how we are going to test. We are going to make a cable that you can plug into the monitors as aux input 2. The pinout for the bmw cable is kinda of reversed.. you will need a 3 ring headphone connector.. and like pigtails to connect to rca.. this adapter from bmw cost 21 bucks.. not sure why.
okay the pinouts for the bmw are just like this webpage

Getting Video out of an Apple iPod with a standard Audio Video RCA Cable - Scott Hanselman

• Tip - Left Channel white signal
• First Ring - Video yellow signal
• Second Ring - Ground all grounds
• Ring closest to the cable - Right Channel red cable

if you look on this webpage it also tells you what the ipod uses. so then you can make and adapter to work with IPOD.

Again this is just to verify that the monitors are good and possibly the dvd is hosed.

this is what i use to give you and idea of what it looks like
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/357/p10100141ng.jpg

It most likely is not the player because in the first post sam_x5 said that he tried another player and it had the same problem.

sam_x5 - do you have an external monitor that you can connect directly the the dvd player?