brommy

I'm considering adding the media pack to my 520d SE order but I'm wondering if there are any problems with how the 3 systems work. For example, does it slow the iDrive up, can you turn the voice off on the sat nav, can you still see the radio display clearly with the split screen, is the handsfree effective, does the voice control have many facilities that actually work etc, etc.

bmw.co.uk/bluetooth has my phone (Nokia 6021) but lists a different software level of v 03.83, mine is v 04.10, how can I be sure that this will work?

I'm guessing there are quite a few of you who have it, so what do you think of its features and do they work well in the 'real world'?

jimhook_uk1

Works great! I have perspective view on the right hand side permanently and the other main window features are fine. Bluetooth works fine with my Sony Ericsson K750i.

PeterS

I've had a couple of E61s, one without the Media pack (525d Sport) and my current one (535d SE). It's easy enough to use the split screen with the Media pack to see the options you'd want - I usually have the perspective map on the larger screen (left hand side), and the OBC on the right. Voice control works well enough to easily access radio/cd/telephone menus when required. I haven't had any problems with the hands-free set up,though as mentioned in an earlier thread, my current Nokia 6680 does not allow phonebook access through I-Drive.

If you don't have the Media pack the I-Drive set up boots up far quicker, and you don't get the BMW 'splash' screen, it just goes straight to the main menu. However, IMO without the media pack the 'communications' menu is useless - it just gives you the BMW contact numbers. The navigation menu is replaced by the OBC menu, and the climate menu is overkill IMO as all you can do is alter the temp of the air out of the centre vents... It's only when you have Nav, Advanced Climate and the bluetooth kit that the I-Drive controller makes any sense; without these things its just an overly complex way of accessing the radio, again all IMO.

HTH

Peter

brommy

Thanks Peter. I was hoping to be but off and avoid the additional outlay!

Anyone else had experience of this media pack?

Nige Nige

Sorry to disapoint you, but I don't think I will put you off spending the money on the media pack and voice control.

I usually have the map (indicating direction of travel) on the left and computer or journey computer on the right. The currently selected radio station is displayed botom left of the screen and you can simply change channels using the steering wheel +/- buttons. When in guidance mode, the distance to go and ETA are shown on the bottom right of the screen (replacing the date).







Voice control works great and simple commands help you change the left screen to display exactly what you want. My most used commands are "fm" to bring up the radio display, "CD player" to bring up cd (usually a mp3 compilation disc of favourite tracks dowloaaded from I tunes), "CD disc 1 or 2 etc " to select the 6 disc changer (fantastic sound by the way), address book" to select a destination, and "map" to go back to my default nav setting.

Get it, spend a little time working out what is best for you and you will love it.

My only comments are that it is a little slow to boot and it would be nice to be able to select the radio display in the right hand screen.

One expression comes to mind "BIG BOYS TOYS"

Nige

Nige Nige

In my enthusiasm to convince you about the media pack / voice control I forgot to to answer some of your specific questions.

It is easy to switch off voice for sat nav (don't listen to Jeremy Clarkson !). When in map mode select the icons on left hand side of screen, select the top icon which will mute the nav voice instructions. You can just see what I mean in the photo below





Hands free and blue tooth is very effective and communication both ways is loud and clear (Motorola V3 Razr).

Voice control of your telephone list takes a little practice, but when dialing a number (from my default map view), I generally say "A to Z" which brings up the telephone list and then say "dial Fred Bloggs" to select my call. The computer the asks if you wish to dial the number, you answer "yes" and that's all there is to it.

Nige

Fenix1

The media pack on my Setpt 05 did not include even basic voice control. It may be added now, but make sure before you order. It seems that the voice option was removed when the media package was originally developed by BMW.
Bluetooth integration with a Nokia 6310i is flawless

The functionality of the items is fantastic, apart from the slowness of operation.

It can be VERY slow, taking up to 30 second to respond to an iDrive command.

On one occaison I clicked the iDrive controller to the left 35 times(So I could switch off the spoken directions), without any response, before giving up.

To summarise

Great functionality, especially with TMC, I would pay extra for voice command if it would give a speedier response, but if I had a speedier response from the current system I wouldn't need voice command.
If only there was a software update which had more efficient polling

Ultraviolet

Nige

cannot get my Razr v3 to work at all... what's the secret? If I go into the comms area of iDrive, wait for it to tell me to swich the phone on, go into bluetooth on the v3 and say find me.... nothing happens! Any ideas?

cheers,

UV

PeterS

From memory, you don't pair a phone from the communications menu. You have to go into 'settings' (press down on the controller form the main menu screen) and select 'communications interface'. Under there is an option called 'bluetooth' I think. Select that, choose 'phone', and you get a screen that says something like 'phone connectable'. Try pairing your phone when this is showing, and all should be OK...


Peter

chrishei

I like it. easy to use once you learn the ins and outs of the system..... spend the xtra money for what you spend for the car its a small investment.