RE: 2004 Ford Expedition - Audiophile/CD6/Satellite/DVD + Sirius Satellite Kit # 4047453 (possible glitch)

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 3:50 PM
To: *******@Visteon.com
Subject: 2004 Ford Expedition - Audiophile/CD6/Satellite/DVD + Sirius Satellite Kit
# 4047453

Visteon
Mr. *********
Products and Development
Electronics Division

Mr. ******,
I would like to begin with letting you know that the New Ford Expedition I purchased last thursday through my X-Plan has turned out to be a most satisfying experience. All the features, the ride, the handling, outside noise suppression, and last but not least the Audiophile/CD6/Satellite/DVD system is a great hit. I ordered the Visteon Sat Kit # 404753 for the DVD combo from my Ford dealer and being a former mechanic, I installed it myself. The enclosed instructions were precise. The enclosed parts (tuner, harnesses, Sat attenna, brackets, etc.) fit perfectly. It took me approx. 3 hours to complete. I then contacted Sirius and activated my unit. I must say the sound is great. Well, after a full weekend trial run with my "college" sons, your product came away with rave reviews.

Only 1 problem came up. The satellite mode will not work “up front” simultaneously with DVD playing in rear.
(head unit display reads SRC CONFLICT)

The AM/FM and CD modes will work “up front” simultaneously with DVD playing in rear.

Hollingsworth-Richards Ford in Baton Rouge, hasn’t installed any SAT units yet. Visteon authorized-New Orleans’ Radio Sales and Service technician informed me he believes the SAT unit/DVD combo is uncapable of simultaneous play. This in my opinion defeats the purpose of the combo/kit. I will not return the SAT kit as I am pleased with the quality sound. IF this SAT unit is supposed to work with the DVD playing, I just wanted to let you know there’s a glitch in the system. I would enjoy working with anyone interested in this problem. Call me anytime. Thank You.

Yours truly,
Eric

>>>>>REPLY FROM VISTEON (division of Ford)<<<<<

Eric, sorry I was not able to get back to you yesterday. I did, however, personally check into your situation with the DVD/Satellite combo installation. The good news is that your installation is correct and there is not a glitch in your system. Unfortunately, that's the bad news as well.

The reason that "dual play" mode will not work with satellite radio has to do with a hardware constraint on the 6CD radio head unit. The radio head unit was designed with a single stereo input for external audio sources. So, the radio is capable of playing a combination of sources in front and rear (AM/FM Tuner, CD, DVD) but can only play one external source at a time (e.g. DVD player, Satellite tuner, or remote disc changer).

Since there is only one stereo connection on the head unit (already used by the DVD player in your case), there is a satellite/DVD combo kit that takes advantage off an audio switching feature built into your rear seat entertainment system to route the audio to the head unit. This switch can either route the DVD audio to the head unit (does this whenever DVD is active) or will route a second external audio source (Satellite tuner in your case) to the head unit when the DVD system is inactive. So, when you have DVD active and try to get satellite at the same time the radio recognizes that it does not have access to the Satellite tuner audio since it knows that DVD is active on it's only external stereo input (hence the message on the radio display that there is an audio source conflict).

It might be possible to modify the system to bypass the DVD system audio switch and route the satellite audio directly into the radio head unit, but this would require that the DVD system be disconnected from the radio head unit (Data network, and audio). In this case I think you could listen to DVD on headphones while listening to Satellite on the vehicle speakers, but you would loose the ability to control the DVD system from the radio head unit and you could never play DVD audio through the audio system speakers (only headphones). I don't recommend this because I can't guarantee proper Rear Seat Entertainment operation without having it correctly connected to the radio head unit (there may be software glitches) and modifying wiring could introduce problems such as vehicle electrical noise getting into the satellite or DVD audio.

I'm sorry, Eric, that I can't give you a simple fix that will make the system work exactly how you expected. One of the challenges of technologies that come along quickly, like satellite radio, is that we aren't always set up properly with current audio systems to add them in easily. So, there are a few compromises that early adopters, like yourself, get stuck with. I sincerely hope, however, that you are satisfied overall with your new Ford Expedition and Visteon supplied multimedia electronics. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact me by phone or email.

Sincerely,
***********
Senior Manager - Global Radio Platform
Electronics PD
Visteon Corporation

PS. I'd also like to thank you, Eric, for contacting us to point out that other consumers may be confused by the "dual play" limitations in the DVD/Satellite combo systems. I'm going to ask our aftermarket group, who develop these kits for our Visteon audio distributors, to consider how we might avoid this confusion (e.g. service bulletin and/or installation note as part of kit).

 

Did they ever fix this or is this still the case???

 

I don't know if the SAT/DVD problem has ever been fixed.
Sorry,
Eric (351VENOM/LOUISANA)

 

Could you please give me the name and/or e-mail address and telephone number of the specific person with whom you spoke at Visteon. I will contact them and ask. If that issue has not been resolved, I don't think I want to get it. Thanks!

 

Their explanation makes perfect sense to me. The only way I can see that you could get around this is to have an FM modulator (I know, no one likes to degrade the satellite radio!!). It should be possible to connect up the satellite radio audio output to both the head unit and the modulator in parallel. You could then use the direct connection for satellite radio when the DVD isn't in use in the rear, and revert to the fm modulator operation (select FM on the appropriate frequency) when the DVD is in use for the rear. You only would experience reduced sound quality when the DVD and satellite were in use at the same time.