unOfficial 2008 alpine iDA-X--- series HU thread

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

This is the "How To" from USCFAN and what I presume you are using to create the wallpaper.

here is the walk through for custom wall paper.

You need to download irfanView and the converter

here is the converter website if link doesn't work.

http://www.xoned.net/content/xoned/p...-apn-converter

To obtain a working RAW image you can freely use IrfanView with this plugin pack:

http://irfanview.tuwien.ac.at/plugin..._400_setup.exe

step 1) Just open your preferred image in irfanview, then use Image->Resize/Resample to set the image to 320x240 72 dpi.

Finally save your image as a RAW in the location: c:\tools\x100\, choosing RGB Interleaved in the dialog box, without using Flip Image.

step 2)

Converter:

1) extract exe and dll in c:\tools\x100\

2) convert your image in RAW and put it in c:\tools\x100\ ----this is what the 1st step was about.

3) click Start->Run and type "cmd.exe" (without quotes)

4) in the cmd prompt type "cd c:\tools\x001\" (without quotes)

5) now type "xndconverter.exe myfile.raw" (without quotes)

If no error occurs your converted apn file should be ready in c:\tools\x100\.

The only way I could get the alpine deck to see the files is to use a usb memory stick. It would NOT work using the ipod to download the wallpaper. I would test whatever usb memory stick by downloading some alpine wallpaper and putting them on the head unit.

If you run into any problems please PM or if you would like I don't mind doing a couple for you if you can't get it working.

Here is a link to a site on how to start with a good image.

http://www.pride-rock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22

You need the APN converter file to make the conversion.

Do you have this file?

Here is the link to the converter file.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xpvd1ymzvzy

The Xoned site is down for maintenance but they are caring enough to post links to the files most needed.

Hope this is what you need and works for you.

 

[XtremeAaron]

Yup thats what im trying to work off of. See the irfanview folder called "plugins" has an icon that has a penguin on it? it opens a video viewer, im stuck at step one! haha Thanks.

 

[XtremeAaron]

Got it to work! Problem is only a link to the irfan plugin was in the post, not the actual program.

Now my only question is why on my flash drive I can have all my artists alphabetized but when hooked to the alpine its no longer abc order...

 

[USCFAN 10+ year member]

Glad you got it to work! Sorry about not making it more clear you needed the irfanView program.

All i included were the hard to find programs/files in my post.

Now for your problem, it might be that the deck looks at the file name instead of the song/artist name.

Really its worth picking up an ipod, this deck work sooooo awesome with them.

 

[XtremeAaron]

Yeah thats not a bad idea, itd never leave the truck, i dont even use my new sansa clip.

 

[java230 10+ year member]

could anyone get me a pick of the back of the faceplate and the Hu with the faceplate off? i am trying to see if i can remote mount my faceplate. TIA

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

So, I've been out of town for the past three weeks. I finally got back and picked up a Western Digital USB HD and loaded it with about 40 albums.

If you're still around Kai, I've got a question for you...

The drive works great - the HU reads it perfectly. When I loaded all my initial albums, the folders were all alphabetized. Yesterday, I loaded 4 more albums onto the drive, and instead of automatically inserting them into alphabetical order, they were placed on the bottom of the list of previously loaded albums.

So I plugged the drive back into my PC and what do you know, all the folders are listed in alphabetical order. But when I plug it back into the HU, the newest additions appear back at the bottom of the list.

Do you have this issue too? How do I move Bjork from the bottom of the list over to just beneath AC/DC were it belongs?

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

I have noticed what you describe.

I believe it may have been mentioned by someone but don't remember the details.

I do not know why it does it nor how to correct it, sorry.

 

[rscott82]

I have an Alpine iDA-X100 connected to a IPOD Nano 3rd Gen player. It works okay when first connected but after several songs the IPOD will lock up. After resetting the IPOD it will work okay again for awhile. No problem with the IPOD when not connected to the iDA-X100. Anyone else have this problem? Not sure if its the IPOD or the Alpine. The IPOD has the latest firmware updates.

Thanks, Rick

 

[XXVANN 10+ year member]

I have noticed what you describe.I believe it may have been mentioned by someone but don't remember the details.

I do not know why it does it nor how to correct it, sorry.

I have the same issue with my X100 w/hard drive.

After this weekend when I went for an 8 hr drive and I couldn't randomize my entire hard drive collection, I had enough of using a USB drive with the X100 and purchased a new 160GB iPod Classic last night.

I spoke to Alpine support about my random issue. He told me that the X100 has to re-index on each album change, and that there is a limit of 10,000 songs that it can handle at once. It would seem to be true as it usually took about 30 seconds for me to switch from one album to another (absolutely unacceptable, it took me less time to eject and re-insert a CD in my 9835). It took more than 12 hrs to categorize and convert my WMA files to M4A in iTunes last night/this morning (//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/verymad.gif.3f39c5c2fd57527b671fad3efdfac756.gif:verymad but once I get the iPod connected, I'm hoping that I will have the performance I'm after.

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Good info XXVANN.

It takes around 10 to 15 seconds for my x001 to access my 160gb hard drive when I first connect it, then around 10 seconds to access all my folders...around 45gb of music. Once it is accessed it only takes a second or so to access the songs in each folder...about as fast as a usb thumb drive.

I do not know why they index the way they do but it is not that big a deal to me and is worth it for the ability to use a 160gb hdd or the new high speed usb thumb drives.

 

[XXVANN 10+ year member]

Good info XXVANN.It takes around 10 to 15 seconds for my x001 to access my 160gb hard drive when I first connect it, then around 10 seconds to access all my folders...around 45gb of music.

By way of comparison I had a 7200rpm 250GB 2.5" SATA drive, with 180GB of music stored onboard.

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Good info XXVANN.It takes around 10 to 15 seconds for my x001 to access my 160gb hard drive when I first connect it, then around 10 seconds to access all my folders...around 45gb of music. Once it is accessed it only takes a second or so to access the songs in each folder...about as fast as a usb thumb drive.

I do not know why they index the way they do but it is not that big a deal to me and is worth it for the ability to use a 160gb hdd or the new high speed usb thumb drives.

It takes about 5 seconds for my X100 to access my HD, and then it starts playing the first song of the first album automatically. Scrolling through albums and selecting tracks is instantaneous with mine (though I only have maybe 500 songs).

Here's one fix for alphabetizing my files. Yesterday, I plugged the HD back into my computer and added an empty folder to the HD. Then I dragged and dropped each album file into the new folder and now they are all alphabetical again. I suppose I would have to do this every time I add music, and it will become tedious when I have a lot more music loaded, but for now, it works for me.

I think I'll be hard pressed to ever come up with even 10GB of music, so I'm thinking about buying a 16GB thumb drive or a used 5th generation 30GB iPOD off ebay. IIRC, I didn't have this alphabetizing problem with the 1GB thumb drive I started with.

Refresh my memory, is there a higher quality or lossless format that the X100 is compatible with? I use Windows Media Player to rip/burn and I experimented with the higher bit rate formats, but the X100 didn't recognize them. I re-ripped about 40 of my favorite CD's over the weekend into MP3 320bps format. Each album is about 100MB in size and sounds just fine to my ears.

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info palmfish...I may try that folder trick.

Your description how your x100 accesses music is the same as my x001 though my initial hd access, when it is disconnected from the connector, is what I describe.

I prefer a usb drive and use 2 8gb drives. One holds all my albums in their individual folders seperately while the other has several folders for "favorites hard rock, favorites soft rock, hard rock, lite rock and oldies, etc." I also create a seperate folder when going on a road trip with music tailored for the trip.

WMA and mp3 files are all the hu's will read unfortunately. My music is all in mp3 format at 320bps. I have compared identical songs in wma and mp3 format and my ears, with my system, does not notice a difference so I am satisfied.

 

[Ali1 10+ year member]

here is a couple shots of my installed x100 in the blazer.

overall, its performance is outstanding in terms of speed and progress, but its lack of features has made me think twice. This headUnit is exactly like an ipod. All it does is play music ( if you use bluetooth/phone feature,maybe you'll benefit). Changing bass from -7 to 7 (like Alpine's other HUs such as the 9885/9887,98xx) is not an option anymore.... I was hoping that Alpine would atleast keep that with the Ipod players such as the x001/x100/200/300......