I purchased a 2010 xB yesterday. It came with the upgraded Alpine stereo. Apparently, it's a region-wide "standard" option that every xB in SE will come with. You still pay for it, of course.

First a couple of observations that I haven't seen discussed already. It has HD radio built in, and since it's more or less my rule to never read the manual, I stumbled on it while just playing with the radio. Increase in clarity and quality is very appreciable even to a non-audiophile like me.

It has a backup camera capability. On the menu, you can enable subwoofer and backup camera. Of course, you need to have a sub or backup camera installed to make use of it, but since I was considering purchasing an entirely different double-din headunit for some of these functions, it is worth noting.

My third observation segues into a question. While flipping through the manual (my experiment with HD radio got me curious enough to actually do this), I discovered that the AUX input also handles video. You would need some kind of RCA to mini-plug cable. If your video player of choice has RCA out, then you're set. I have a Zune 120 gig that can output video through the headphone jack, so I would need to purchase another RCA/miniplug cable and get three inline couplers. Straight miniplug to miniplug cable most likelyu won't work with Zune, since M$ scrambled the video/audio in the cable. Google it for more info.

Of course, the video is set to disable when the car is in motion. My question is, anyone know an easy hack to enable the video with the car in motion? I know such hacks are widely available for virtually every other ICE device. I know this unit is new and someone may have to tinker with it to figure out exactly which wire to move/ground but hopefully, this post may get someone intrigued enough to tinker.

I was pretty much all set to but Pioneer's AVIC-Z11BT and sell the Alpine but I may wait until the Scion releases navigation module's price.

 

I have the same unit and I am glad to hear about the video feature I guess I mised that part in the manual. Thanks for the heads up on that. I am looking for the "upgrade" also for the video viewing mode.

 

I pulled the Alpine HU to take a look in the back.

Back

Model information

I'm going to look up some Alpine headunits from their website and see if I can figure out what the connectors are for. But if you have experience with other Alpine units, you may be able to tell me.

I figure the yellow RCA is for the backup camera. I connected a video source there and enabled backup camera option but nothing showed up when I put the vehicle in reverse. Maybe there's a setup menu or config menu that you can access by some key combination or screen press combination.

 

Another thing I thought of... Maybe I need to reset the HU by disconnecting it from the battery. Since I wasn't planning on doing anything but looking, I did not disconnect the battery while I snooped around. Maybe that's why the backup camera connection wasn't working... For those with backup camera install experience, you simply connect the RCA and power up the camera, right? The HU does the switching to backup video when the transmission is set to reverse, right?

As for the connectors, the first two on the left seem the Toyota standard. The one left of the blue is where the VSS connects to and is the one that needs to be messed with in all likelihood for navi hack.

 

There is a set of plugs needed to input the video into the radio that are sold through Optomize website.
RCA type inputs for video and lock outs for when the car is moving.
Also Back up camera input plugs

Simple kit includes two Toyota plugs that have composite video input on one and parking brake and reverse lead input onthe other.
www.optomize.com
I think its right around $30

 

Thanks for the info. However, the site seems to be for sale and does not list any car-related items. Do you know anyone else carrying it?

 

 

found out something new today about my hu. i upgraded to the APAS+Nav and when i played my ipod and put it on random, it would shuffle albums and not songs. for the hell of it i pressed and held the random button, then it beeped and showed a folder icon. then it started shuffling by song. i couldn't find this in the manual and it seems counterintuitive since with the folder icon i would have expected it to shuffle albums. but eh.

just thought i'd share.

i'm loving my xb more and more everyday.

 

speaking of ipod controls.. sometimes when i go to an artist-album, there are two arrows at bottom of screen.. hitting them jumps to the next album by the same artist. a quick way to do so instead of going through menus again..

but sometimes.. those arrows aren't there? (and yes i was on an artist that had multiple albums)

without those arrows, it takes forever to scroll back through all the artist (I have a ton) to get to another album.. but can't see any rhyme or reason why they show up sometimes and sometimes they don't.


any updates on the navi hack? it's pretty much worthless to me as it is.

 

Any more/new info on this topic? I have this HU and I have a Zune as well

I'm interested in the backup camera option too.