Kenwood DNX-9140 Thread - Page 3

I have yet to see SMS work on ANY phone with the DNX series.

It works on my cheap v195 phone and DDX812.
http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/bt/index.php

Hello, new to the forum and somewhat of a novice when it comes to AV systems. But I think I may have come to the right place.
Have a question about file storage on DNX 9140. I'm exploring alternatives to use of portable players. I'm sure I can use a stick drive to play music but storage capability is limited. I'm looking at various 500 GB portable drives such as Western Digital My Passport, Buffalo Iministration Turbo, and Imation Apollo, all 500 GB. Good price point and small enough to fit comfortably in my glove box. Does anyone have a sense as to whether this will work with my DNX 9140 via the USB connection or any issues I may encounter? Any other suggestions on alternatives would be appreciated. Thanks!

I am not sure about the 9140, but the 5120 is crippled with regard to USB drives and would guess that the 9140 is the same. You are very limited in folder and file structure size.

Maximum number of folder layers: 8
Maximum number of folders (per device): 255
Maximum number of files (per folder): 255
Maximum number of files (per device): 15000
Maximum number of files per playlist: 7000

You can have 15,000 songs, but they can be in a maximum of 250 folders. In other words you can not organize your albums by folder. They must be broken up into groups of 250 songs, divided into 250 folders.

All of the DNX series are pretty much the same... most (all?) all of the problems of the early units are still with this years models.

That is a DDX not a DNX, from, my understanding they are different platforms.

http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/bt/index.php


That link works for all Kenwood units and supported phones. The DNX9140 is listed as working with SMS on some phones (mine).

I am not sure what the reason for the reference to the link is. I am very aware of the Kenwood support and firmware site. The point is (and was) that Parrot makes the BT component for the Kenwood DNX series and it more than a little buggy. The tables list many features that do not work properly on the listed phones. Furthermore, Kenwood and Parrot are very slow at adding new phones to the list.

I agree it's buggy but some phones do work as listed. The DDX and DNX series use the same Parrot interface.(same firmware) I must have 10 current bug reports with Kenwood about problems. The USB file limitations are stupid and if you have more than a few songs (I have about 7000 on a 200G drive.) It can be really be slow.

I'm still happy with the units operation in general. I just finished a 2400 mile trip with 4 kids and because of the AV features of my DDX unit with addon GPS, I still have most of my sanity.

That trip to the race track really got my top speed up.

I echo BeanAnimal's sentiments. I have a DNX6140, and although the BT seems to play well with my Nokia 6300 (except for SMS), the UI is an eyesore that's incredibly poorly thought out. What sticks out:

• You can't go to the previous song in a playlist, only repeat the current one. WTF?
• Loading images or album art freezes the entire UI, including the volume knob. I would think the CPU inside, which can decode a DVD, would be able to handle one tiny JPEG without breaking a sweat...
• Very slow handling of USB devices. I had high hopes of using a portable USB hard disk with all my music on it, but it chokes and reboots. So I have to use a small USB stick instead.
• Boot up time. Yes, it's faster than the Pioneers, but it's still too slow. The unit draws power from the batteries even when the ignition is off or set to ACC, so why not keep the CPU powered up and running?

And yes, such a world of a difference when using the Garmin navigation screens, which are thoughtfully laid out, with BIG touch-screen areas.

It strikes me as odd that so many people seemed to have shelled out big bucks to buy the DNX series head units, but nobody seems to think that things like the poor UI are an issue. I guess it's hard to admit that we spent that much and didn't get our money's worth. Still, it's better than the Pioneers in two ways: boot time, and no Microsoft software in my car!

Yikes, tough stuff BeanAnimal...I gather you don't like the 9140.

So, what would you buy instead?

I don't have my 9140 yet. I am still waiting on it as the promised replacement for the bug riddled 5120. The joke is that, save a few minor cosmetic changes (like removing the volume knob) and an INTERNAL BT instead of the external KCA-BT200, they are they SAME Units.

I am not sure what I would get instead. I like the Garmin NAV better than any other unit. I NEED quality hands free though. Honestly, I may remove the unit and go back to the stock Ford head unit and add the Ford BT module and a standard Garmin suction cup NAV unit.

Kenwood has no clue what they are doing and it is not like they are going to figure this out any time soon. Honestly.

I want so badly to like these units, but they are just soooo bad that I can't.

I was looking at the Pioneer Premier DEH-P710BT HU to replace a stock unit in my '05 Outback. Then I started thinking about in-dash Nav & touchscreen. You've got me scared about Kenwood, though, and you're not the only one I've read who has problems. I have a Nuvi w/suction cup.

How about the Pioneer AVIC's?

The Kenwood UI is the standard weird menu system I see on lots on Japanese designed control systems. I was a EE for Fujitsu microelectronics here for 10 years and can tell you the DNX menus are light years better than what's on the Industrial internal use only products for wafer fabrication. Software engineers in Japan get no love.
http://gizmodo.com/5069366/why-zen-s...ome-from-japan

One thing I did to improve USB Hard-drive operation with lots of files was to use really short tags (16 chars) with blanks in unneeded fields (comments etc...) to improve memory usage. http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Kenwoods file routines really are bad.

[quote=honestly;16884115][quote=mntmst;16859647

thanks for the info checking it out[/QUOTE]

If you use mp3tag this config file contains a few convert actions for titles and album fields. (shorten)

 

Mp3tagSettings.zip 13.9072265625k . file

Does anyone know if the the new Palm Pre will connect with the 9140?

I recently just got the 9140 and so far I am impress though i have a few questions to the experts who have used the unit for a bit

1) Is the rebate also available for Canadian's?

2) It is not letting me change the back ground picture for some reason. I am thinking its because of the skin that i have chosen. Doesn't even give me the change option under display

3) Is there a maximum limit of what size USB memory key that can be used?

4) Can you hook up a self powered Hard Drive to the USB port ?

5) Can someone provide a list of voice commands that can be used with this unit.

6) Is there a way to add vehicles?

I think that's it. I thank you for help!

Bump help a fellow person out

I don't work in a wafer fabrication facility... I put a $1500 head unit in a vehichle and the user interface AND functionality flat out sucks. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the entire DNX product line is a joke other than it has Garmin NAV built in. Honestly... it could not be much worse. I am STILL waiting (4 months now) on my 9140 replacement for my 5120. Kenwood has no clue how to support this product or improve it.

I've got a 160GB iPod Classic and a 16GB iPod Nano, both of which has the Video Playlists option under the Videos menu. However, Video Playlists is not available in DNX9140 via the ip301v cable. What gives? I have a ton of music videos that I would love to play to the rear monitors, and to individually select them to play is rediculous. Am I missing something?

1- No the rebate is not available thru Kenwood Canada

2- Then you are doing something wrong visit http://www.kenwoodforums.com/viewfor...4be5facb597c6a all the info is there

3- Not that i know of , just a limit in files and folders ( see previous posters posts )

4- Yes you can, i have a 2.5 500g HD in a portable box pluged in

5- ? Basic commands for functions, are in the manual ( stop, start, back, dial, next, where too, all sources, ect... )

6- Yes info on how to at provided link

Video thru USB

Maybe because what you consider problems aren't for most of us ? I have absolutley no problem with mine.

In my current Lexus ive had the following systems installed:

Kenwood DNX-7029 + KNA-G520
Kenwood DNX8022BT
Pioneer AVICF900BT
Kenwood DNX9240BT

And...i must say...i couldnt wait to get rid of the Pioneer unit...sold it off after just two months (i usually keep my un units 10-12 months!)...and got the DNX9240BT...and i cant begin to tell you have good the Kenwood's are compared to the Pioneers

For the record ive also tested all available 2-DIN MM systems the last 4-5 years from Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, Sony + a few other non-mentionables... And i must say, nothing even comes close to the DNX9240BT. However...coming from the DNX8220 (i leave out the two months of AVICF900BT ownership here)...afirst i was abit disapointed about the DNX9240 because of the now fixed recource-hog bug. Updated firmware...and voila. The worlds most complete 2-DIN navi system...for now atleast

And as for tips etc...heres my findings with the unit so far:

It will accept Topo-maps! (Use Garmins mapsource software)
It offcourse uses the same poi speedtrap-files as Garmin.
You can buy the Garmin Maps, they are much cheaper than the Kenwood ones (ive allready upgraded to "2010 first quarter" on my unit)

The "custom start up" screen has allready been mentioned, so i think i will shut up for now

You make it sound like asking for quality audio from blue tooth and a reasonable user interface are asking for too much? It is 2009, you may be happy with a 1980's clunky interface and audio quality that rivals a 1980's cordless phone... but MOST of us have a bit higher expectations and standards when we spend $1500-$3000 dollars. Be happy all you wish, but don't turn your nose up at people who expect more for their money when the technology is readily available. The product is poorly thought out and its interface and functions are poorly implemented. PERIOD.

Can you put you down as undecided?

http://www.nsaspook.com/extsw.wmv

For those of us that require a bit more quality than your average mp3 file can offer...the DNX-9xxx series (havent tried it on other players...yet) offers wav-compability. In other words, you can convert (not recode) your FLAC files to wav (takes about 1 second pr. song) and, like i tried today, burn them onto a dvd....and voila...you've got yourself a unit that can handle a lossless music format on DVD/USB/etc. Wich is one thing i know i have been looking for a long time!

Im going to test this on a large'ish usb disc leter, to see how well that works

Sad to hear that you ar THAT disapointed with the unit that you had...

And after having extensively tested a great deal of whats on the market today, i can tell you that...if you think the DNX5xxx is utter rubich....you most likely wont find anything else that is going to satisfy you...sorry.

What blows my mind is that MOST of the problems with the head unit are simply a result of poorly thought out interface workflow and/or the result of deisgners who have no clue what an inteface should function like. Of course the Parrot based bluetooth is total crap too...

I don't care if every other unit on planet earth is worse than the DNX series. That means they all suck and the DNX just sucks less. The price tag is too high for a product with so many blatant problems and so little progress towards fixing them. Kenwood has openly admitted that the product development is done overseas and they are pretty much deaf dumb and blind to the consumer complaints and bug reports. I spent a lot of money for a lot of problems and poor bluetooth functionality. Garmin gets it. Apple get it. Sirius/XM gets it. Kenwood just can't figure out how to put the pieces together behind an elegant interface. Insteat it feels like a 1980's space shuttle console complete with cryptic 3 letter abreviations for functions. Honestly, I could deal with the bugs if the UI wasn't so damn ugly, cryptic and poorly laid out. Give me (or any of us) one hour with the UI development team and the product would be light years better. That is what is so sad... you mean to tell me that not one bonehead at Kenwood said "the clock is waaaay too small" or "the phone dialer is hard to use and ugly" or "The station ID needs to show up on the preset buttons" or "there are too many steps involved in changing BASS or TREBBLE". Good grief....

Wow so much anger it is sad

You said it...