idengrenme

I will build on some of Batman's review of the MediaLinkQ+. I'm in a 2006 IS350 Mark Levinson Nav with hard-wired DVD car-in-motion picture-on override.

BUGS:

1. Noticed the steering wheel controls don't work sometimes for advance song next/back. I know there is a fix coming for this.

2. Reverse view stays engaged sometimes when the car is put in R and then Drive. When the car goes back to DRIVE, If the MLQ+ should always put the car in some other view besides the reverse camera.

RESPONSE TO BATMAN'S COMMENTS:

1) Striking improvement in sound quality vs. Analog...

MY ASSESSMENT: Agree completely. I have the first-generation Vaistech SoundLinQ SLI (the big one) that connects to iPod , with analog connection to the car. The sound improvement is remarkable.

2) Ease and speed of browsing - searchability.

Agree, easier to find stuff.

4) The video quality on the system is excellent. Not HD, but very close. Given the size of the screen the video looks superb.


Agree, videos from the iPod touch look excellent. The sound is awful analog though.

5) A really good looking interface.

Agree, and two more things regarding interface:
- I know about the album art stretching controversy but I just don't care.
- The contrast of non-selected playlists is bad... gray on black? impossible to view in sunlight.

1) Include Apple Composite AV cable. Most people will want this, include it and price it accordingly. The lack of including this was unexpected and cost me time.

Vaistech should just ask people if they need it, and be clear that it's the STANDARD Apple cable, not some proprietary spliced cable that only Vaistech can sell. I actually already had this RGB (component) AV cable and didn't need one from Vaistech.

2) Buttons vs. touch and swipe anywhere on the screen. When I first turned it on, I was thinking of my iPad and tried to touch playlists to select playlists. That didn't work, so I had to use the arrows on the right to select the line and then press select. Same thing with scrolling - you have to use arrows and can't swipe. These are probably limitations of the Lexus capacitive touch screen so not sure Vaistech could do anything about this anyway - but it would be better.

AGREE but I have a different suggestion. First, from a usability perspective, it is natural human behavior to try touching a song and expect it to play. This is how the MP3-mode built into the Lexus system works. However, there may be no way around this, because the song-list display you're seeing from MLQ+ (as I understand) is controlled by Apple, from iOS4 interface. And Multitouch? Don't even think about it on any Lexus nav interface, much less a GEN5.

Here is my (HIGHEST PRIORITY) suggestion: We have hardware buttons on the steering wheel, so let's re-purpose them for MLQ+. (hopefully it is possible to do this). Three steering wheel hard buttons should be re-wired: Song-Select Up (SSUP), Song-Select Down (SSDN), and MODE.

- SSUP/SSDN should always scroll up or down on the screen (duplicating the functionality of the UP/DOWN MLQ+ controls on the right side of the screen)*
- SSUP/SSDN (hold 2 seconds) advances to the next song in the current playlist (this is the current default behavior of the buttons).
- MODE (brief press once) should be ENTER (select song or playlist)
- MODE (hold 2 seconds) should go BACK

(I never use the useless MODE button for anything anyway - if I want satellite, FM, or MLQ+, I'll just hit the respective button. who the hell cycles through modes as much as they use the volume and SSUP/SSDN buttons? let's put this button to good use as ENTER/BACK!)

This is the kind of thing that would make for an awesome driver experience. It would be natural behavior, and it would also be safer (rather than trying to position your finger on the MLQ+ on-screen controls and take your eyes off the road).

3) Lack of menu for iPod video out. You have to select videos using the Ipod screen rather than browse the videos on the ML screen. This is actually annoying. I think it would be great if they had a way to browse your music videos on the screen. Better yet just add music videos to the iPod Audio qout interface and have the system toggle the modes automatically.

AGREE.

4) For non PS Override users, you need to enter a password each time to play video. I have it so it was easy. But if you don't this will be a pain.

Don't care (I have hardwired override) but I can see why Vaistech has to do this in the U.S. where we would sue our own puppy for peeing on the carpet.

5) Have to press enter to go back from scrolling by letter to slow scrolling. It would be slicker if they could switch to slower scrolling speed the moment you lift your finger from the screen. Pressing enter, then pressing arrow again is an unnecessary step.

Don't care (personally). I don't do too much scrolling, I primarily use playlists.

6) Only one USB port. If they had 2 USB ports, I could leave the iPod connected using the Apple Composite AV cable, and still have an extra port in the cabin for memory stick, HD and for software updates. The way they set this up, I have to open up the center console, disconnect the Apple cable to free up the USB port. Then do the same to reconnect it. That's a pain.

Hmm... how would the MLQ+ know which device to read from if there were a memory stick and iPhone plugged in? Even if it could, maybe a USB hub would work? For accessability for updates, I am probably going to run the USB Extender cable to the inside of the center console armrest and remove the cigarette lighter , for easy accessability.

7) Add bluetooth A2DP option.

AGREE.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

-- higher priority --

1. HARD DRIVE. The use case of putting a hard drive in the MLQ+ is not well supported by Vaistech. Also, documentation for doing so isn't very complete. I asked by email for the appropriate hardware to mount my SATA 2.5" HDD in the MLQ+, and what I got was a single hard drive ribbon cable ($15). No IDE-to-SATA conversion kit, no power cable, no mounting screws. I have to piece all this stuff together. Vaistech should realize that SATA 2.5" drives are common, not IDE HDD's, and we just want to get a kit and plugin our SATA HDD.

-- medium priority --

3. PLAY DIGITAL-ENCODED MOVIES (DTS, DD5.1) FROM INTERNAL HDD. Directly play MP4's from the HDD. Or, what if the internal HDD could emulate Mark Levinson DVD player by requiring that DVD's be "stored" as .ISO in a special folder on the HDD.

-- lower priority (prob requires hardware mod) --

2. DIGITAL SOUND. I want to install a Mac Mini, AppleTV, or some other media device in my car and play videos from it, instead of the iPhone. It would be really awesome to have a way to interface with the digital sound in my Lexus Mark Levinson system (Toslink?)

sscorbitt

Hi, Can you tell me where you hid this monster??

Scott