Avic D3 Europe
DVD / MP3 / WMA / CD / DivX, iPod direct control, Aux in, Builtin Sat Nav - Pioneer AVIC-D3 The AVIC-D3 is a Double-DIN GPS and entertainment system designed to integrate perfectly with your cars interior; you can even customise the colour of the illumination. The system has a 6.1 inch colour touch screen that is incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use; menus are dynamic, giving you quick and easy access to the functions you need at the time you need them. The heart of the AVIC-D3 is an advanced navigation system. You get full map coverage of 26 European countries; thats over 7.5 million kilometres of road and over 1.5 million points of interest. The D3 always knows where you are; even if there is a weak GPS signal. A 3D Gyro Sensor continually monitors your cars movements; so the D3 is quick to respond and reroute; theres no delay when youre trying to find your way.
You can avoid the traffic jams, too; the D3 has a built-in TMC (Traffic Messaging Channel) receiver, which alerts you to black spots and gives you several alternative routes, depending on your requirements. The D3 is compatible with just about everything.
You can bring your digital lifestyle in car. Play DVDs, MP3 music, DivX videos, CDs and more; or with optional accessories, you can connect your iPod, USB drive or a TV Tuner. Theres also a front aux. In which means you can connect almost any digital music player directly to the front of the system. Need help with Installation? Here at CarAudioCentre we offer a professional and reputable fitting service in all our stores. For all fitting enquiries and bookings please visit or call one of our nationwide stores.
Our fitters can install your new car stereo, DAB radio, audio visual, speakers, subwoofers or amplifier. We can also help to connect your iPod or MP3 player to you existing audio unit and can offer the best advice on the right in-car entertainment for your vehicle, to further this more we also offer a total 100% custom installation service for demo and show vehicles. So if you have an idea come on in and run it past us, the possibilities are endless and we are never too busy for an enthusiastic chat about our favourite subject.
Please note: 'That our two year warranty on products is only applicable to purchases made directly from us and that have been fitted in one of our stores.' 22888 AVIC-D3 DVD / MP3 / WMA / CD / DivX iPod direct control Aux in Built-in Sat Nav 554.99 GBP Discontinued The AVIC-D3 is a Double-DIN GPS and entertainment system designed to integrate perfectly with your cars interior; you can even customise the colour of the illumination.
The system has a 6.1 inch colour touch screen that is incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use; menus are dynamic, giving you quick and easy access to the functions you need at the time you need them. The heart of the AVIC-D3 is an advanced navigation system. You get full map coverage of 26 European countries; thats over 7.5 million kilometres of road and over 1.5 million points of interest.
The D3 always knows where you are; even if there is a weak GPS signal. A 3D Gyro Sensor continually monitors your cars movements; so the D3 is quick to respond and reroute; theres no delay when youre trying to find your way. You can avoid the traffic jams, too; the D3 has a built-in TMC (Traffic Messaging Channel) receiver, which alerts you to black spots and gives you several alternative routes, depending on your requirements.
The D3 is compatible with just about everything. You can bring your digital lifestyle in car.
Play DVDs, MP3 music, DivX videos, CDs and more; or with optional accessories, you can connect your iPod, USB drive or a TV Tuner. Theres also a front aux. In which means you can connect almost any digital music player directly to the front of the system.
Some functions work, some don't, but don't forget what you pay in europe for these working functions:) I got mine z2 refurbished in US (legal, not stolen! - hate stolen stuff) for 600EUR with shipping to NY.
European equivalent (used, origin unclear) is twice more on ebay. WHAT WORKS: I drive in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Austria), I use it for CD/MP3 playback (works fine, good sound quality, advanced sound settings - I have an amplifier), rear view camera (works - very important for me, saves space and very convenient), music from harddisk (works, and I will fix the ATA protection 'when I have time', so it will work even better with more mp3:), and radio (works, but not TA or AF), and DVD (works, because most people to not use originals - make a copy of your region 2 DVD through Shrink DVD and keep your kids happy in the car). PROBLEMS: GPS does not work, so does radio TA (quite bad, because I got used to it from before). Needless to say, makes no sense to try watching anything but original region 1 DVDs. Note to European readers of this message - please check the number of films available on region 1 DVDs and the prices - if you are into quality films, you will end up having a lot of originals from region 1. I did not even bother connecting the GPS antenna, because I know all the US gps functions and maps are useless. However, the GPS device must use maps from certain companies, tomtom, garmin or other.
It is a PC, very simple and stupid, but a PC. If I really have to fix the GPS (at this point I have done to much driving in the cities I go to to rely on GPS 'navigation' - I have my own shortcuts), I am sure I can google out some smart guy on the web who has some solution to it.
Cables are labelled/marked in the packaging (interesting to note, the unit is made in Chine, but cables are 'Made in Japan'), so just look at the installation manual, and do it. Here are some comments (these may be against Brussels designed safety regulations, so think about using them:) - take the risk in EU! 1 - connect ground, +12V permanent and +12V ACC cables to begin with. 2 - connect your amplifier or speaker cables (sort out cinches/channels and colors of the wires; requires diligence, but easy) 3 - think whether you want to connect the driving lights input; if you drive with lights on all day and year, the dimmed display will be difficult to see on a sunny day. On the other hand, the display is quite bright on the night of December 24th - think about installing a little switch to control the input from lights, if you are bothered by display brightness. 4 - speed control and hand brake inputs - just test their role in your car.
The first one is apparantly related to navigation (when you are in a tunnel, the navigator calculates your position). I did not connect it.
The second one decides which functions work when the the car is parked/moving. My idea was to have all the functions working regardless whether I am driving or not. So I am driving with the handbrake 'on' all the time:) CONCLUSION Think about what you expect from your car stereo for the money that the american unit costs. When I checked the cost pioneer/jvc units with similar functions in EU, the results I found are more expensive (you may be luckier - please check the price yourself) than the north american avic z2.
So I think it was worth it. Even if GPS does not work, and it does not have TA function. I like quality sound, and hate cables and ipod connectors and chargers (even with rockbox).
Avic Z2 does the job. And also gives hope that 'some day' I will load the EU maps. Some functions work, some don't, but don't forget what you pay in europe for these working functions:) I got mine z2 refurbished in US (legal, not stolen! - hate stolen stuff) for 600EUR with shipping to NY.
European equivalent (used, origin unclear) is twice more on ebay. WHAT WORKS: I drive in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Austria), I use it for CD/MP3 playback (works fine, good sound quality, advanced sound settings - I have an amplifier), rear view camera (works - very important for me, saves space and very convenient), music from harddisk (works, and I will fix the ATA protection 'when I have time', so it will work even better with more mp3:), and radio (works, but not TA or AF), and DVD (works, because most people to not use originals - make a copy of your region 2 DVD through Shrink DVD and keep your kids happy in the car). PROBLEMS: GPS does not work, so does radio TA (quite bad, because I got used to it from before).
Needless to say, makes no sense to try watching anything but original region 1 DVDs. Note to European readers of this message - please check the number of films available on region 1 DVDs and the prices - if you are into quality films, you will end up having a lot of originals from region 1.
I did not even bother connecting the GPS antenna, because I know all the US gps functions and maps are useless. However, the GPS device must use maps from certain companies, tomtom, garmin or other. It is a PC, very simple and stupid, but a PC. If I really have to fix the GPS (at this point I have done to much driving in the cities I go to to rely on GPS 'navigation' - I have my own shortcuts), I am sure I can google out some smart guy on the web who has some solution to it. Cables are labelled/marked in the packaging (interesting to note, the unit is made in Chine, but cables are 'Made in Japan'), so just look at the installation manual, and do it.
Pioneer Avic D3
Here are some comments (these may be against Brussels designed safety regulations, so think about using them:) - take the risk in EU! 1 - connect ground, +12V permanent and +12V ACC cables to begin with. 2 - connect your amplifier or speaker cables (sort out cinches/channels and colors of the wires; requires diligence, but easy) 3 - think whether you want to connect the driving lights input; if you drive with lights on all day and year, the dimmed display will be difficult to see on a sunny day.
On the other hand, the display is quite bright on the night of December 24th - think about installing a little switch to control the input from lights, if you are bothered by display brightness. 4 - speed control and hand brake inputs - just test their role in your car. The first one is apparantly related to navigation (when you are in a tunnel, the navigator calculates your position). I did not connect it. The second one decides which functions work when the the car is parked/moving. My idea was to have all the functions working regardless whether I am driving or not. So I am driving with the handbrake 'on' all the time:) CONCLUSION Think about what you expect from your car stereo for the money that the american unit costs.
Avic D3 Disc Update
When I checked the cost pioneer/jvc units with similar functions in EU, the results I found are more expensive (you may be luckier - please check the price yourself) than the north american avic z2. So I think it was worth it. Even if GPS does not work, and it does not have TA function. I like quality sound, and hate cables and ipod connectors and chargers (even with rockbox). Avic Z2 does the job.
And also gives hope that 'some day' I will load the EU maps. Jzsax, Can you clarify? Does the head unit give an error reading the European disc? Is there a code or some other text on the screen that may help identify the malfunction?
I have other branded GPS systems designed and sold in the US working fine in Europe so I am understandably curious. Here is what i have done so far. I have used the link above trying to get the US AVID d3 to work with the Euro NAVI Discs. The Navi Disc Versions i have are the US and Euro CNDV90MT i have also tried changing some of the string values within the file DVI.DAT which contains the market version for the discs. Other files remained stock, unchanged. I Changed the value from EU to UC and the US AVIC was able to read the discs.
Default location is Berlin Germany for disc three. However, the time zone is still off and not adjustable to a GMT +1 time zone and there is no Satellite lock. The antenna is getting a good signal but i am sure it does not know the transmission signature for the Satellites here in this time zone. I Really believe that the key to make this work is in the OS that gets loaded from the disc when you, say (Upgrade Navi disc versions or Change Languages) This is what has the Satellite Information for the AVIC to know what to look for here in Germany. There is no need for a different Antenna. It is just a matter of giving the AVIC the right information so it can know what to look for around here.