Limitations of DICE MediaBridge?

[ZedFourM]

I have the most basic set-up in my car (HAVE: Professional radio, pre-wired for CD Changer, MFSW, 6 speakers. DON'T HAVE: sat nav, CD changer, DSP) and I want to add a way of playing my music collection and having Bluetooth connectivity.

Ideally I'd like to have my whole music collection (about 600Gb) with me, but I'd settle for a 160Gb iPod. The music source will mostly live out of sight (glovebox, boot, between seat storage) but I listen to a lot of new music so I must have ID3 tags displayed.

My preferred solution would probably be an aftermarket head unit, but I can't seem to find one that does what I want and actually works (e.g., the Parrot Asteroid and RKi8400 look great on paper, but get terrible feedback on the web).

So, the DICE MediaBridge 1500 seems to be the way to go. Can anybody confirm (or deny) the following?

• There is only one input cable - so it's iPod or USB flash drive but not both at the same time
• Using a USB flash drive of over 4Gb will take a very long time to index - and it does this every time you switch the car on
• There is no voice control implemented
• To make a phone call, you can only dial out from the handset
• The CD changer is disabled
• Even if I place the MediaBridge and the input cables at the front of the car, I'd still need to run a cable to the back of the car to pick up the CD Changer connection - i.e. I can't do this at the head unit end
• It's very tedious to select a particular artist if you have a lot of music. (e.g. if I want to listen to some Ramones, I need to go to the Artists menu and then step through every artist from A to R before I get to Ramones - which could be hundreds of clicks)
• It will work with an Android phone

Many thanks for any information.

 

[SpikedJuice]

Hi ZedFourM,

After just fitting a DICE Mediabridge 1500, I'll try to offer some assistance

- You're correct - there is one USB connection so it's either an iPod or USB flash drive. There is also an AUX input so you could connect the iPod to the AUX and therefore have both plugged in.
- I can't comment on this since I haven't tested it, but I believe it will depend on the make and speed of the flash drive itself. I would go with a much more reputable brand (e.g. Sandisk) and one with a high read/write speed to minimise the index speed.
- Voice control is available depending on the phone. It works with my iPhone 4S (as does Siri)
- As per previous answer, you can dial out using voice control if your phone is compatible
- That is correct - the MediaBridge must be connected using the existing CD changer wires. It can't be connected to the headunit at the front without some rewiring I imagine. Running a cable to the back is quite a simple job though and the video guides on Youtube are very comprehensive and easy to follow.
- Yes, it can be tedious but I think this is more a limitation put down by the Business headunit. You can scroll via Artists, Albums or Playlists to make things easier. Alternatively you can navigate via your iPod/MP3 player
- I have only tested the Bluetooth streaming (A2DP) from my girlfriend's Android phone and can confirm it works.