DNX8120 Tech Question

[sicarius82]

Hi all,
I just installed the Kenwood DNX8120, and love it. The only problem is, I can't seem to get it to play music videos as part of a "playlist" from my iPod. I've made a specific video playlist, but it ends up just playing the song, not the video. So I'm forced to change through the list every time my passenger (or myself) watch a different artist. I find this an extreme hassle and very dangerous. Is there anything I'm over looking? Thanks.

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[Khiladi1020]

Are you able to view the ipod videos independently without going through the playlist? Is your Ipod video setting set for "video out" or whatever the name is for those settings?

 

[sicarius82]

Are you able to view the ipod videos independently without going through the playlist? Is your Ipod video setting set for "video out" or whatever the name is for those settings?

yes, i can watch videos independant from the playlist. i have the KCA-iP300V harness so i can watch videos. it works fine, just no playlist or play all mode for music vids.

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[Khiladi1020]

Hmm, I have a DNX8120 but haven't installed it yet, and I suspect I will run into this problem too. However, I noticed this problem with my ipod beforehand, as I've made a music video playlist and can't cycle through the tracks without going back to the menu to manually change them. So I suspect this is more of how the Ipod is setup and we first have to figure out a way around that so we can apply it to the kenwood....

Anyone else made a playlist of videos through their ipod? Tips on getting them to play through the list without having to manually select them?

 

[sicarius82]

I have an epiphany. Although pretty lame, since the DNX8120 reads the music videos and separates via artists, how about making the artist all the same designated by a "." or something, then add the artists name at the beginning of the song title so it reads ". - NSX - Fastest in the West." I'm at work right now, and won't be a able to try it out. All will be listed as "." Too bad I'm at work right now, so I won't be able to try it out until tomorrow. Crossing fingers...

 

[sicarius82]

HAHA!!! Victory is mine. The above works. Although all my artists are "." they are listed together, sort of like a playlist. I guess it'll work for now. Thank you ingenuity.

 

[Khiladi1020]

Let me see if I understand--you put the video files in a regular playlist, and when cued up, they played and skipped without problem? If that works, thats so weird why Ipod won't do that from the regular music video list...

 

[sicarius82]

Kenwood reads all video files and segregates as necessary (movie, music vid, etc). When it segregates, it sorts by artist name. If all of the music videos have the "same" artist name, then they will all be listed under as that one artist. Pull it up and all the music videos with that "artist name" will be displayed and will play continuously. If you don't adjust the artist name, they will are be segregated and you will only listen to however many songs you have for a certain artist over and over again. Say you have (2) Eagles music videos, you will only watch those two, unless you exit out and change manually to some other artist. Pretty crappy, but this way with the "same" artist method, you can watch all the music vids without exiting and switching to a new artist.

 

[Khiladi1020]

I think I found a better way around this from this thread:
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?p=1251274

Basically, you got to make sure all your videos have the "Skip when shuffling" set to "No" as well as the "Remember playback position" set to "No". Select Shuffle to "songs". Then, when you go into videos, then select your videos, you should be able to skip ahead and back while watching the videos, just as you do normally with songs. They will also play continuously! Tested it out on my ipod and its all good! Now hopefully when I install the Kenwood, it will remain the same. :biggrin:

 

[sicarius82]

I think I found a better way around this from this thread:
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?p=1251274

Basically, you got to make sure all your videos have the "Skip when shuffling" set to "No" as well as the "Remember playback position" set to "No". Select Shuffle to "songs". Then, when you go into videos, then select your videos, you should be able to skip ahead and back while watching the videos, just as you do normally with songs. They will also play continuously! Tested it out on my ipod and its all good! Now hopefully when I install the Kenwood, it will remain the same. :biggrin:

Yes, that works for just playing iPod, but it doesn't work with the Kenwood Double din. There is no "playlist" option for videos. The only playlist is for music, which totally disables the video output when listening to music. If you want to watch a video, you must go through the video menu. The only available options are "movies, tv shows, music videos, and video podcasts." I've contacted Kenwood about this issue, and they told me that currently the Kenwood DNX8120 do not support video playlists. My reply was simply recommending that they add this in later products and try to work on an update for the current 7120/8120.

 

[johnnymo]

How do you update the firmware on the DNX8120? I'm looking at this unit but am bothered by this issue and the problems with Crackberry phones.

 

[sicarius82]

How do you update the firmware on the DNX8120?

whenever kenwood decides to come out with an update, you'll be able to download directly from their website. then you'd download the file, burn it onto a cd/dvd, and follow the easy to read instructions on the screen.

http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/mm/firmware/2008/eng.html

unfortunately there is no current update for the DNX8120.

...I'm looking at this unit but am bothered by this issue and the problems with Crackberry phones.

I can't help you out about the blackberry synching. I've adapted to the DNX8120 and it's functions. just follow what i did above and you should be watching videos just fine. too bad there is no function for playlists when watching videos. under iTunes, just change the name of the artist to Rock, Rap, Porn, etc. It will show all the videos which have the same "artists" name so it's sort of a way around. i don't regret getting the DNX8120. what would make it better was if they had the same layout as an iPod. pretty much a large version of an iPhone/iTouch/iPod in your car. hope that helps.

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