Found out that the Pioneer X8500 and X5500 have more differences that aren't listed.

[Bmr4life]

So I've had the AVH-X5500BHS installed in my car for over a week. Thought it was a great HU outside of the sun washing out the screen. So I started my search over again looking into more HU's. I bench tested a Kenwood DDX470, but it was slow with usb drive and required a special cable to play from my ipod (lame). I had an SPH-DA100 for a while also, tried with it with ARliberator and thought it was cool, but hated that it didn't have all the normal HU functionality so I got rid of it also.

After bench testing all these different HU's, I decided just ditch my X5500 and just get the X8500 because I wanted to have App Radio again with my android. I just have to figure out a way to block the sun or deal with it. So I swapped in the X8500 today after work. The listed differences are the ability to play H264, removable screen, HDMI input, an extra usb, sd card reader, and App Radio for Android. What I've found is that this HU is a lot faster than the X5500. Menus are quicker. It sorts through my Ipod faster. The album art spins when you switch tracks. Seen all these things after just 5 minutes of tinkering around, probably find more once I use it for real. I know the X8500 came out a couple months after the X5500, I'm thinking that they made some upgrades during that time period.

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[rfmayhem 10+ year member]

So I've had the AVH-X5500BHS installed in my car for over a week. Thought it was a great HU outside of the sun washing out the screen. So I started my search over again looking into more HU's. I bench tested a Kenwood DDX470, but it was slow with usb drive and required a special cable to play from my ipod (lame). I had an SPH-DA100 for a while also, tried with it with ARliberator and thought it was cool, but hated that it didn't have all the normal HU functionality so I got rid of it also.
After bench testing all these different HU's, I decided just ditch my X5500 and just get the X8500 because I wanted to have App Radio again with my android. I just have to figure out a way to block the sun or deal with it. So I swapped in the X8500 today after work. The listed differences are the ability to play H264, removable screen, HDMI input, an extra usb, sd card reader, and App Radio for Android. What I've found is that this HU is a lot faster than the X5500. Menus are quicker. It sorts through my Ipod faster. The album art spins when you switch tracks. Seen all these things after just 5 minutes of tinkering around, probably find more once I use it for real. I know the X8500 came out a couple months after the X5500, I'm thinking that they made some upgrades during that time period.

are you able to use app radio on android phone and listen to Pandora or even stream the music off your phone to the radio like its a ipod connected

 

[NFrazier 10+ year member]

are you able to use app radio on android phone and listen to Pandora or even stream the music off your phone to the radio like its a ipod connected

I'm not him, but yes you can. App Radio functions require the AH-200

 

[Bmr4life]

I'm not him, but yes you can. App Radio functions require the AH-200

App radio function truly only requires an hdmi cable, mhl adapter, and a 1 amp micro usb charger. That's what comes in the kit plus more useless stuff.

I got my parts for $25 which includes the HTC oem mhl adapter that my phone specifically required due to the special extmicro connector.

 

[rfmayhem 10+ year member]

I'm not him, but yes you can. App Radio functions require the AH-200

Can I use pandora and play my music of my phone with the av-200

 

[rfmayhem 10+ year member]

App radio function truly only requires an hdmi cable, mhl adapter, and a 1 amp micro usb charger. That's what comes in the kit plus more useless stuff.
I got my parts for $25 which includes the HTC oem mhl adapter that my phone specifically required due to the special extmicro connector.

once I get these cables Can I use pandora and play my music of my phone thur the radio and also use app radio for nav. and neflix?

 

[tommydh 10+ year member]

Its not that its newer its the higher "line" for them. look at there catalog it starts with XXX-1500,XXX-2500 and so on and each bump in number has a few more features.

 

[Bmr4life]

Its not that its newer its the higher "line" for them. look at there catalog it starts with XXX-1500,XXX-2500 and so on and each bump in number has a few more features.

That's obvious and you're missing my point. No where does Pioneer call out the differences that I've noticed. Had I known these things, I would have probably went for the X8500 in the beginning.

 

[Bmr4life]

once I get these cables Can I use pandora and play my music of my phone thur the radio and also use app radio for nav. and neflix?

Look through the app radio forum, appears to be yes. It would require you to root your phone and to buy the ARliberator app from the market. Pretty much, if your phone can do those things at the same time now, it would still be able to do this with the radio with ARliberator.

 

[jar1zx 10+ year member]

You should be able to run Netflix I have a iPhone 5 and I can watch it. On my setup it puts the Netflix on the screen of the 8500 but I have to pick what I want to watch on the iPhone when the show loads the Netflix red screen goes off and show plays

The app radio extensions puts the icons on the screen of 8500 so I just touch radio to open just about any app

 

[jar1zx 10+ year member]

And you can play games like angry birds just by touching 8500 screen. Same as playing on phone

And I'm working on putting some movies and songs on a hard drive. The 8500 has a extra USB I thought it would be cool to hook up a hard drive and have a lot of song vids and so on. Ill chime in when I get it hooked up