Court23:

I once thought as you do (why am I quoting Jedi nonstop all of a sudden?) but I stopped at a few points, the main one being the iPod interface. If you search the internet thoroughly, you will find people disappointed with the Pioneer iPod interface.

From what I can understand, you can only play within a playlist (there's no "Shuffle Songs" button like on a 4G iPod). Furthermore, it's hell to find a song or even an artist. It sounds like the "scroll" when you press the down button isn't as fast as people might like. I have 1045 artists on my 40gB Ipod (only 3/4 full, too!) and I wouldn't want to scroll down to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's if I had to click a button 1044 times.

I also heard it only shows 8 character at a time. So it's "Born to R" from "Bruce Sp" and "Yellow S" from "The Beat" which would bum me out eventually.

Do a search, check Crutchfield, and do a general search. You'll find people in other car forums (if you want an alternate universe, go find out what the Audi people whine about) who are most displeased with the Pioner iPod interface. I don't mean to down your trip, but check it out!

Thanks for the info. Bummer though, as every time I think I'm making progress I have to start over.
Maybe now I'm back to getting a handheld nav/GPS unit and a HU that is designed to work with the Ipod.

Take a look at the Eclipse AVN5435. I'm not sure if it has an iPod interface, but it has everything else and does them very well.

OnyxXterra -
I believe I saw somewhere that you have the Eclipse AVN5435 or the previous model. I'm pretty sure you said you liked it. Do you have any major complaints, does it work well with the Ipod? Do you find the Nav system to be good enough for you?

From what I can find about the avn5435 I think you have to use the aux port for the Ipod. Which means that you will need to control the Ipod from the Ipod, there are no on screen controls.

I think you're right, and I definitely want to control the iPod from the head unit. What do you think you want to do? You need good sound AND control.

I don't have an Ipod, and i don't think i want one (i know if i get one, i'll love it). Fitting 130 mp3's on a cd is fine for me.

I love my AVN2454 (previous model). The nav works great! i only have 2 complaints that may have been addressed in the new model:
1 - mp3's fast-forward and rewind slowly (minor)
2 - there are only 6 FM presets. i don't really listen to the radio so this is not a big deal for me.

An ipod would indeed need to be connected via the aux input.

At this point I really don't know. I did like what I saw when I looked at the Eclipse units. They seemed to do everything but control the Ipod thru the HU, however a new model above the 5435 is coming out, maybe it will integrate the Ipod???
So far I've not seen one that does all that I want it to do so either I wait and keep looking or go the opposite approach and get a HU that works with the Ipod and a handhelp GPS/nav device. I'd prefer the all in one unit but who knows when that might happen. The other option is to get a unit that will work with the Ipod but use the aux ports instead of controlling it from the HU.
I wonder how much that will bother me in the long run. I mean that's how I use it now with the Itrip and it's not great but I'm definately used to it so it wouldn't really be a change. However the sound quality would be MUCH better.
Do you know where you are heading???

onyxXterra-
Thanks for the reply. The eclipse units do seem pretty good, and I've found a few forums where people have then and love them. No major complaints at all which is a first. From what I understand using the Aux input does not degrade the sound quality at all, is that correct. It just means you have to control it thru the ipod instead of the HU, correct? If so, maybe that's something i can live with.
Looking at their web site they do not show a list of dealers and the usual stores don't seem to have them either. I guess you have to go to a car stereo only store to get them?

In terms of not losing sound quality through a line-in, I think you would lose a little bit. Follow me here. In the iPod, the song is stored as data. The iPod turns the data into audio, THEN puts it to the headphone amp, which controls the volume and boosts the signal. Try turning your volume all the way up on your iTrip, you'll see the problem.

A head-unit that plugs into the dock connector takes the DATA directly from the iPod, and turns it into audio on the head unit. In the audio world, the less steps your AUDIO has to go thru, the better the sound. It doesn't matter so much in terms of data. I think you'd get noticeably better sound from a direct connection to the docking connector.

CDDIG
Well that stinks that it will degrade the sound quality. I did read on either a different HU or an ipod connector that the device will boost the signal and "clean up the music" to make it sound even better then it did to start with. I need to remember where I read that and find what decive that was. I'm pretty sure it was some sort of adapter.
In any event the sound thru the aux port should be MUCH better then thru the Itrip...

That is for certain. Have you ever gotten "buzzed" by someone else's iTrip? I was listening to Garbage one day and someone pulled onto the highway next to me and all of a sudden I was listening to that new Gwen Stefani thing. Not cool at all.

You need to go to authorized Eclipse dealers only. Call the number on the site, and they will refer you.

Hey Kenwood owners, can anyone confirm that the DDX (any unit #) can play mp3 files from a burned DVD? That's exemplary, because I don't need to tell you how much data can fit on a DVD...

I fully follow what y'all are saying about the sound degradation by using the aux inputs, but i can not see it being that big of a degradation where you will actually HEAR a difference. I would like to know if someone can test this theory on a system where they have the ipod hooked through the data cable then hook it through aux inputs on the SAME system and see if there is any audible difference. my money is on No Audible Difference.

In my opinion, it is worth the extra time and effort of locating an authorized eclipse dealer to get an eclipse headunit. the build quality is outstanding, very solid. the components they use are audiophile grade circuitry. they made some ergonomic improvements on the new model. Eclipse is one of those companies that focuses on top-quality over bells-and-whistles.

CDDIG and OnyxXterra -

I did some more research yesterday and found a some pretty cool information. I called Eclipse and they pointed me to the ONLY dealer in my area. So I went over and he had some literature on the new AVN5495 that is just now out. Far as I'm concerned it's the perfect device. It's basically the same as the AVN5435 with some upgrades. It has Circle Surround II so you get multichannel surround sound over the unit's 4-channel speaker system from any audio program source. It also has a preamp with output level of 5V with low 55 impedance. They upped the power output from the 5435 and added DSP. However here is the biggest bonus. They have put in a 40 GB harddrive. 10 GB of this space is taken up by the NAV system leaving 30 GB for up to 3000 songs to be stored on it. Meaining you can download 3000 songs from you're Ipod right into the HU so you never need to take you're Ipod if you don't want to. You don't need to find an adapter or direct hookup, you can still hook it to the aux port if you want and play songs but once you copy them to the HHD you really never need to do that. The device will also Rip an entire CD as it's being played and will save those songs on the HHD, even if you stop it mide way it will not messs up the song. It will even allow you to record songs off the radio and it will keep them for you as well. Of course you can see the track info.
I'm sure there are other things I have forgotten to mention but I think those are the major points. Only downside is the price. He was saying around $2700 for the HU. When you compare it to other HU's it's not all that bad but $2700 is still $2700 so you have to be sure you really want this unit. After my talk and reading some about it I'm pretty sure it's what I want, now just need to get some extra money together.
I hope this helps you're search!!

Court, thanks for that info on the new unit!!! The new model shows promise of being a great performer. Eclipse has had a HDD unit in their line-up for quite some time now so they have a great system. It's not like this is their first HDD unit that will need some bugs worked out of it. And $2700 isn't all that bad when you consider the pieces of equipment it can do the job of/replace. I paid $2600 installed for my AVN2454 a year and a half ago! and it's already outdated! Maybe i'll sell it and get a new model!

Yea I know that they have had the HDD option, part of their Music Juke system I believe. Since I only ever remember half of what I should, I can't remember exactly what the dealer told me but the new one is supposed to be MUCH better then the old system. Anyway, it does seem to cover my needs. I'm going to try to learn a bit more before I buy it but right now it's my #1 choice!
Thanks again for all of you're help. I'd never nave even thought of eclipse if you had not mentioned it.

Hey court23; that's some awesome info. I don't know if the site said I had any Eclipse dealers (one of the reaons they've kind of been on my back burner) but the HDD thing sounds mighty awesome. A question though: how do you get your 30gB worth of music onto the unit? I wouldn't have the patience to re-rip all my discs, and that'd have to be one long firewire cable to make it into my bedroom! But that sounds indeed awesome.

The true turn-off is the price; that's basically to me like buying one of the other units we've been talking about (DDX-8017 + Nav unit from Kenwood on eBay is "only" $1985) plus $100 for the iPod adapter and still enough left over to buy two iPods. If I didn't already pay $400 bucks for my iPod, I'd be more gung-ho about it, but I don't mind bringing the 'pod with me.

CCDIG - Yea I agree the price does seem a bit much but for all you are getting it doesn't seem all that bad. the price does include a 3 year warranty as well as a 1 year warrenty against theft from you're vehicle. If it's stolen tehy will replace it free no questions asked, or so I'm told. I've not seen that from any other manufacturer. As for getting the music from the Ipod to the HU. My understanding is that it will read\copy the music directly off of you're Ipod so there is no need to run the long cable from the bedroom to the truck. It also will read a small memory stick like the ones you can put in your digital camera so you can copy music that was if need be.
The nice thing I see is that it's all in one unit taking up less space in the truck. If I went the Kenwood way I'd have to have the HU plus another unint installed for the Nav and I am trying to avoid that. The other nice thing for me is that after all the music is copied into the HU from the Ipod I can use the Ipod in the other car while the wife can use the HU in they truck or vise versa.

If i'm not mistaken the HDD is like a cartridge that you pull out of the headunit and hook up to a pc via firewire or usb cable. I haven't actually used one, so i could be incorrect.

The older units that use the MusicJuke HDD feature have a 20GB drive that can hold up to 3000 songs and it also has a memory stick slot.

Here's some more info:
http://www.eclipse-web.com/avx/avx_special.htm

Hey court23 I will agree that the all-in-one unit is nice indeed. I am not sure where you can mount the Kenwood nav unit, I saw one person put it in the "cubby hole," but I wouldn't want to lose that space. I have far too much stuff in there (gum, emergency soda, sunglasses) to want to lose it. I am not sure where would be a good place to mount extemporaneous (xtemporaneous?) nav units and the like.

OnyXterra - My limited understanding is that the HDD does not come out, but I'm not 100% sure either. If that were the case I would have thought the dealer would have mentioned it. Guess more research is in order. Does you're NAV system give you GPS info, lat-long info? I have not been able to find that anywhere. I did ask them about installing an older system but it was only a couple hundered less then the AVN5435 so maybe it's just better to get the new one. I jsut wish the 5495 wasn't SOOO much more then the 5435.

CDDIG - I agree, I have no idea where you would put the other device, one of the things I like about the X is that there is a lot of storage space for all the extra stuff you seem to keep in your car. I don't want to loose any of it. Because of that I'm really trying to find that all in one option.

The nav on my AVN2454 is run off a dvd nav disc, which makes for easy upgrades. It does indeed give lat/long coordiantes and you can even set a destination using lat/long coordiantes if you know them. It is very handy to have the nav in the truck. I travel a couple times a year and it's nice to be able to type in "Wal-Mart" and find the closest 20 Wal-Marts to wherever I am, along with their phone number to call and see if something is in stock. The only minor complaint i have is no fault of the eclipse headunit, i think it's common to all nav systems......is that the Point-Of-Interest icons are sometimes off the mark from where they should be. But this is very minor to me.

Yes, the DDX7015 did play MP3s from a burned DVD. It's not supposed to and I had the system hang on me (rarely) which I just restarted and it was fine.