General Car A/V Discussion

Re: Kenwood DNX 8120 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

Stephman — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:32:41 GMT

Bluetooth update 1.70 is working with my Kenwood DNX-8120 and iPhone 3G with iPhone OS 3.0.

With the 3.0 iPhone OS update, I'm also able to stream music from my iPhone 3G to my 8120. But the crap part about doing it this way is the screen doesn't show mp3 info. So I still keep my iPhone connected to my 8120 via the KC100 cable of whatever it's called.

One problem I have run into is that sometimes Bluetooth overrides my cable connection. The screen shows that a mp3 track is playing but I don't hear anything. I have to change the input to Radio, disconnect my iphone then plug it back in then I can hear audio again via KC100 cable.

So what I do when I get into my car now is...

-start the car

-wait for the iPhone to connect to my 8120 via bluetooth.

-once BT connection has been established, then hard connect iPhone to 8120 via KC100

I'm hoping Kenwood releases a new BT firmware update to account for these new BT features the iPhone has in the 3.0 update.

Re: Kenwood DNX 8120 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

Exorcist70 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:15:06 GMT

just wanted to chime in here.......

The BT-200 w/version 1.70 update works very well with the DNX7100.

right out of the box the BT-200 sounds like crap (robotic sound on the "callie" side) - so update 'er!

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

L2C — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:49:44 GMT

Do u have any luck with iphone working with bt-200

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

counselor — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:21:39 GMT

Rustin, do other functions of the iphone work on your KCA BT200, like the phone book download, direct dialing, etc.? Right now all I can do it accept calls and call a number that i've called from my cell then switched to hands free or incoming calls. I've downloaded 1.61 from Kenwood, but I still have the same problems.

Kenwood KDC-x590 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

machesis — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:13:05 GMT

I updated my KCA BT-200 to version firmware 1.61 and the G3 Iphone now transmits much more clearly. my headend is a KDC-x590 with sirius and bluetooth ad ons.

thanks to the original poster for the firmware update link.

my bluetooth handsfree was useless prior the update using the iphone

Kenwood DPX701 and iPhone 3g work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

Myfins1 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:50:19 GMT

The FirmWare version 1.61 for the BT-200 was successful in fixing the garbled sound on the listeners end. I don't think that the problem is with head units but with the Bluetooth adapter (unless bluetooth is built into the head unit). If you upgrade your firmware to 1.61 and are having garbled sound on the listeners end, this should fix your problem. It was night and day difference.

The switching to iphone and back to bt-200 did not work as a work around for me. The directions for updating (the pre-work to put your head unit in the mode to upgrade firm ware) were not very clear. You have to go into phone sel and make sure that BT200 FW 1.XX has an asteric (*) in front of it. Mine appeared like: *BT200 FW160 and if you leave it on the screen just like that, its ready for the upgrade. If no asterick is there, press and hold the right knob for a few seconds until the asterick appears.

After the PC software completed, it took about 3 minutes for the head unit to say Completed.

I hope this helps others!

Re: Kenwood DNX 8120 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

jklems — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:51:46 GMT

I just wanted to post an update. The v1.61 update fixes the same iphone problem on the DDX812. Not surprising because the DNX8120 and DDX 812 are pretty much the same box minus the built in Nav. NAV is an add-on module for DDX812

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

berty — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:00:15 GMT

These is an iPhone bug. The KCA-BT200 is an Parrot product so is the same unit like Parrot 3000. I have it installed with an Kenwood DNX7200 navigation and so on. The only one who can solve the issue is APPLE. But it seams that they made it on purpose, so everyone must buy the Bluetootth for iPhone from them (some thing similar to iTunes policy). They think they are crafty, but on long terms, these policy it will be dangerous for the iPhone sales.

My suggestions (what I am doing), is to take an old phone with Bluetooth, take another sim card with a diferent number (Twin card service or an Team servis, depends from the mobile provider), forward the calls to these sim card (optio only when my phone is swiched off). Pair the old phone with your Bluetooth in the car and every time you enter in the car switch off your iPhone and turn on your old phone. Another subbestion is to block the caller ID on your old phone so noone will get rhe other number from you and noone will call you on it after you exit the car.

These is the only way until APPLE will fix these issue, (uncript the iPhone's Bluetooth).

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

Dr J — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:03:17 GMT

I own the DDX 812 by Kenwood and had the same problems with my iphone 3g. The sound on my end was crystal clear but garbled on the listener end. Toggling back and forth quickly from the stereo to iphone and back works great. It clears the sound on the listener's end. I will try to find out from Kenwood if a 1.61v update is available. Thanks for the information in these posts!

Re: Kenwood DNX 8120 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

wakkoroti — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:18:31 GMT

Would this work with the KVT-512 does anyone know? I saw there was an 1.5.1 Head update but can't seem to find any other BT-200 updates.

Re: Kenwood DNX 8120 and iPhone work with the Bluetooth v1.61 update!!!

jklems — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:32:03 GMT

Thank you soooooooo much for posting this. I was getting pretty tired of people complaining about how I sounded on the handsfree of my DNX8120.

The software update install documentation is good. You just unzip the file to the root of your thumbdrive, plug the thumbdrive into your usb cable of the DNX8120 and turn it on. Once it boots up, set to standby mode, go to setup, then Software Information, and click Start - and about 5 minutes later, it will ask you to reboot (turn off and on). Screen will go black and tell you the update is in progress. Dont forget to unplug your thumbdrive when it says "Update Complete".

I am so stoked they go this working. what I dont understand is why the Kenwood website only has the 1.60 update posted on their site. That update does fix anything for the DNX8120 that I am aware of. I did notice that v1.61 causes the bluetooth connection to wait a little longer to connect when processing a call. You can tell by watching the icon above the DTMF button; it seems like its waiting to make sure it negotiates with the iPhone bluetooth connection. Im not a wireless engineer or anything, but hey, it it works it works.

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

norcalmike — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:56:48 GMT

For those that were wanting it, Here is a RapidShare download link for the Kenwood KCA-BT200 1.61 update that Kenwood sent me. Its for the DNX5120 and iPhone. Anyone else use at your own risk. It fixed my iPhone 3G issues.

http://rapidshare.com/files/143287606/BT200_Update_Using_BlueTooth.zip.html

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

SteveW — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:31:55 GMT

Update:

There is now a FIX for the DNX8120, firmware version 1.61 fixed my DNX8120's iphone mic quality.

This is the file for the DNX8120 NOT the BT200. I tried using this file with the Parrot Bluetooth updater and while it looked like it uploaded, it sat there for 30 minutes with no reboot (when I flashed to 1.60 it worked within 5-8 minutes or so). On restart, I had a BLANK firmware number, then it showed 1.61 but wouldn't pair with the iphone. Thankfully I was able to reflash to 1.60 and it works again (but no mic fix).

Here is the file (crossposted from Apple discussion forums): see more of my adventure with nearly bricking the DNX8120's BT because I didn't follow directions!

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7878221#7878221

*** This is for a USB update of the DNX8120 only, DO NOT use on BT 200 or via Parrot Bluetooth Update utility ***

http://rapidshare.com/files/137365613/IPhoneUpdate.zip.html

*** This is for a USB update of the DNX8120 only, DO NOT use on BT 200 or via Parrot Bluetooth Update utility ***

I post this here since I have both a DNX8120 and a DNX7120+BT200, and since the BT200 is the same module, I expect once we see the 1.61 update for BT200, the iPhone mic quality will finally be fixed.

Good luck!

- Steve

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

SteveW — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:42:10 GMT

Thanks for the heads up on this. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to solve the mic quality problem: I still need to toggle the iPhone (3G, firmware 2.01, Rogers in Canada) to get good voice quality under the 1.60 Kenwood firmware. This is the same on BOTH my DNX 8120 unit and the DNX7120 w/ BT200 module (yes, I have both units).

- Steve

Re: Kenwood KCA-BT200 and iPhone

mad — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:47:18 GMT

Try to update to the new version of firmware 1.60 for the BT-200

http://www.kenwood.com/bt/information/eng160.html