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Rear Entertainment Retrofit

75K views 89 replies 33 participants last post by  vibbelito 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

I'm not sure if anyone has done this before so thought I'd share.

I have decided to retrofit my vehicle with the OEM rear entertainment system.

I recently retrofitted the OEM DVD changer, ever since my eldest daughter has been complaining she cant see the screen from the back!

Personally I dont like fitting aftermarket equipment so here I am retrofitting the rear entertainment system.

I already have rear comfort seats so the arm rest is there just missing the controller! :D

I purchased the screen and control unit from ebay for £150



The controller I bought separately for £80

This is the screen fitted:



Right now the fun part! My rear armrest does not have the provision for the rear idrive controller:



The dealer wanted £220 for the trim with the hole for the controller! :yikes:

I'm not made of money so decided to have a go at modifying the wood trim myself!

I bolted the rear armrest to a thick piece of aluminium using M5 stand-offs, the holes in the armrest casting had to be drilled to 4.5mm and taped to M5:



I then bolted the assembly to a milling machine and placed the rear controller stencil a colleague at work kindly made for me! :)



I then cut the arm rest trim to the stencil using 10mm slot cutter:



A little finishing off with a small file and the rear controller now fits the original trim:



Bear in mind this is wood veneer bonded to an aluminium casting, I found it best to carefully cut the wood veneer first to avoid cracking and chipping before going round a second time to cut the aluminium.

I have bought the new video module for rear entertainment, hopefully that will arrive next week. I do have a genuine hybrid Digital tv module for sale at the moment on ebay £390 this receives all UK freeview channels, the only reason for sale is its not compatible with the rear entertainment system due to some major wiring differences.

I will update shortly with wiring and fibre optic routing for the rear control module.

Stuart
 
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#2 ·
stuart you have been going like a madman on your 7 ;)
i applaud your work that is a very ballsy modification, but i suppose not for you. looks great :thumbup:


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#4 ·
Hi,

I'm not sure if anyone has done this before so thought I'd share.

I have decided to retrofit my vehicle with the OEM rear entertainment system.

I recently retrofitted the OEM DVD changer, ever since my eldest daughter has been complaining she cant see the screen from the back!

Personally I dont like fitting aftermarket equipment so here I am retrofitting the rear entertainment system.

I already have rear comfort seats so the arm rest is there just missing the controller! :D

I purchased the screen and control unit from ebay for £150



The controller I bought separately for £80

This is the screen fitted:



Right now the fun part! My rear armrest does not have the provision for the rear idrive controller:



The dealer wanted £220 for the trim with the hole for the controller! :yikes:

I'm not made of money so decided to have a go at modifying the wood trim myself!

I bolted the rear armrest to a thick piece of aluminium using M5 stand-offs, the holes in the armrest casting had to be drilled to 4.5mm and taped to M5:



I then bolted the assembly to a milling machine and placed the rear controller stencil a colleague at work kindly made for me! :)



I then cut the arm rest trim to the stencil using 10mm slot cutter:



A little finishing off with a small file and the rear controller now fits the original trim:



Bear in mind this is wood veneer bonded to an aluminium casting, I found it best to carefully cut the wood veneer first to avoid cracking and chipping before going round a second time to cut the aluminium.

I have bought the new video module for rear entertainment, hopefully that will arrive next week. I do have a genuine hybrid Digital tv module for sale at the moment on ebay £390 this receives all UK freeview channels, the only reason for sale is its not compatible with the rear entertainment system due to some major wiring differences.

I will update shortly with wiring and fibre optic routing for the rear control module.

Stuart
Hold up , Did you pay under $200 U.S. for the screen & REAR MMI module ???
Or did I use the wrong Money Converter ???
 
#5 · (Edited)
if it is uk british pounds it is 228ish usd, if it was euros it would be 195ish
either way that is a phenomenal deal on the parts
(believe that is the symbol for uk pounds)
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#8 · (Edited)
Thanks for the comments! Yep that's right I bought the screen and control module from a guy in Germany on eBay for 200 euros. That's why I'd thought I'd go for it!

Just waiting for the fibre optic cable and some connectors from the dealer to continue.

Running the new RGB cable and re routing the RGB from the NAV drive to the video module this weekend.

Making the CAN and power harness shortly, will post schematics later.

Stuart
 
#10 ·
Yeah! There's a lot of choice in the US but shipping and customs duty is a killer, parts generally are mid to high priced but the quality is good and plenty to choose from.

Saying that Europe is pretty good for parts, as long as you search for stuff using the German name! Shipping takes approx 3 days and is around £10-£20 depending on the size/weight.

The park heater I bought from Germany too, fantastic in the winter! Completely useless in the summer ha ha! Having the remote control is a must!

Just run the new cable for the RGB signal to the rear screen, coiled up behind the dash at the moment will bundle it with the power, CAN and MOST fibres and run it down the center console later in the week, dealer reckons parts will be in on Tues.

Finished the rear armrest today, will connect that up shortly.

Stuart
 
#11 ·
Nice job! Looks like OEM fit. :thumbup:
 
#12 ·
Fitted the trim back in the car last night:





Worked out quite well, very happy with the result.

I have attached the schematics for the wiring to add the rear entertainment, I am making an adaptor harness that plugs in between the front armrest switch control module, the power and ground are connected to the fusebox and splices under the dash.

Stuart
 

Attachments

#13 ·
that looks professional bro excellent work :thumbup:


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#17 · (Edited)
Thanks for the comments guys, Yeah it turned out better than expected luckily!

Just a quick update, breakers round my way are charging crazy money for the MMI connectors :mad:

Done a bit of searching and the main connector can be ordered from Tyco Electronics as free samples! :D

Main Power and MOST Connector:

Part No: 1-1355795-1

12 Way Insert (for the above housing):

Part No: 1394048-1

I'm just getting round to fitting the MMIF module to the back of the center console, the bracket is different and only available with a new center console! Hoping to make a custom bracket that will allow me to use my existing center console.

Connectors and MOST fibre should arrive at the dealer tomorrow so can make a start on the loom soon!

Stuart
 
#19 ·
Nice job Stu, I was lucky, the ride came with rear ent. and kids love it. Did the the controller come with headphone jacks? On the armrest when the headphones are connected, only the ppl sitting at the back watching the movie can see n hear while you continue listening to music on your regular speakers.
 
#20 ·
Hi, thanks, No it didn't, having trouble getting that at the moment, the trim you are referring to wires into the headset module in the boot. I will add this at a later date, I have bought a load of fibre optic cable and the ends so will make up some MOST fibres to add the headset module and DAB module at a later date.

The new video module arrived today, going to convert the wiring in my car tonight and test it out, will post progress and the wiring mod later.

Stuart
 
#21 · (Edited)
UPDATE:

Parts arrived at the dealer on Thursday, I ordered 7 meters of fibre optic cable, some ends, 6 way connectors and crimps etc....

Also the samples from tyco arrived too!!!





I started with removing the whole armrest and lower console trim to reveal the wiring loom on top of the transmission tunnel. Notice the cable guides either side.



You will have to excuse the state of my car! It needs a clean!

I then routed the new fibres to the dash using the cable guides.



I removed the MMI and center air vents to guide the fibres to the MMI connectors.



I then pulled the fibre entering position 1 and inserted it into a fibre joiner to the new cable.

The vacant position 1 in the MMI connector was now inserted with the other new fibre.



I then made the CAN and power harness I described in previous posts. This simply takes the CAN and terminal 58G to the MMIF, I designed this so it goes inline with the front switch control module. No need to cut and splice factory wiring!



And fitting.







I then made off the power and CAN connector for the flip up screen.



Power is taken from a vacant position in the front fuse box. According to the BMW WDS fuse 11 should feed the supply for the flip up monitor, however fuse 11 is one of the huge ones!? I decided to used position 8 which is empty. I bought the correct crimps that clip into the back of the fuse holder.

I then cut and stripped the fibres with a sharp Stanley knife.



And glued the ends on.



I then trimmed them to length, I quickly powered the car up to check which fibre was transmit and receive and fitted to the correct positions in the new housing.



Then made off wiring for CAN power and 58G and assembled connector.



Connected up and made off RGB harness (sorry phone battery died at this point!)

I added $603 to the vehicle order and coded MMIF for correct options, DVD park heating, nav etc.... and after a little fault finding.....





I had an issue with just white static on the video and NAV inputs, turned out to be a ground loop issue with the cable screen. All sorted now and working great!

Kids are very happy now! Although after being out today and listening to a peppa pig DVD for two hours I'm definitely going to be fitting the headset interface next!

Stuart
 
#25 · (Edited)
Thanks! Yeah they love it, got a 3hr drive tomorrow so will keep them quiet!

To terminate the fibre you buy the brass coloured ends from the dealer, you need to strip the outer covering of the fibre cable and put the ends on, I glued them, I think they could be crimped using a 4 point tool, I have one but didnt want to risk it.

The new OEM fitted fibres have plastic ends so they must be glued on too!?

Anyway you don't need to polish the ends or do anything fancy like that, it's called POF or plastic optical fibre, it has a CSA (cross sectional area) approximately 100 times bigger than glass fibre optic cable and so they are not as critical which is great news! Got about 2.5 - 3 meters left over and 8 ends so will be making up some short fibres to retrofit the headset module and DAB tuner.

Stuart
 
#28 ·
Thanks! Yeah they love it, got a 3hr drive tomorrow so will keep them quiet!

To terminate the fibre you buy the brass coloured ends from the dealer, you need to strip the outer covering of the fibre cable and put the ends on, I glued them, I think they could be crimped using a 4 point tool, I have one but didnt want to risk it.

The new OEM fitted fibres have plastic ends so they must be glued on too!?

Anyway you don't need to polish the ends or do anything fancy like that, it's called POF or plastic optical fibre, it has a CSA (cross sectional area) approximately 100 times bigger than glass fibre optic cable and so they are not as critical which is great news! Got about 2.5 - 3 meters left over and 8 ends so will be making up some short fibres to retrofit the headset module and DAB tuner.

Stuart
Thats some pretty useful information there!

My dealer insisted you couldnt buy the fibre cable at all (I found the pack on REALOEM, but thought it needed special tools to use). Thats why I swapped out my TV to get DAB!
 
#26 ·
excellent documentation this should be a sticky :thumbup:



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#30 ·
PAPER, if you think it's worthy, go for it. Thanks!

Stuart
 
#38 ·
That's very impressive work. Nice job.

I'm curious if anyone can advise on how to go about this, stateside? I wouldn't want to attempt the work myself as I'd make a horrible mess but are there specialist companies that would perform a similar install, apart from my local BMW dealer? My closest/biggest/supposedly-best local car audio/video/entertainment center won't touch 7 series' since they're scared of the electronics in the car and they they might kill it. I'm in the Charlotte, NC area, if anyone knows a good option for rear DVD install with the controls. Not too worried on costs, within 'reason'.
 
#39 ·
Thanks, it's really not that difficult, it looks complicated but it's just power, can bus and fibre optic thats required hardware side, I did post some schematics for the can and power breakout lead I made that fits in between the plug for the front controller and the controller.

Coding is very simple, just change your VO (vehicle order code) to add rear entertainment and code the MMIF module to match your options.

The rear controller is plug and play if you have the rear armrest with electric seats. Otherwise you will need to retrofit the rear armrest, again this is just power and can bus again. The car is designed to be easily configurable at the factory, therefore retrofitting a majority of equipment is pretty straight forward.

Any questions just ask

Stuart

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#40 ·
Rear Entertainment System Only Plays Old Movies

Looks like you have been through these systems in great detail. I have a 2008 X5 4.8i I bought used. My rear entertainment system will only play DVD movies that are very old - like old James Bond. Any movies made from about 1980 onwards it will not play. I am using DVD's I bought from stores - not ones I have burned myself.

Any thoughts?
 
#41 ·
Looks like you have been through these systems in great detail. I have a 2008 X5 4.8i I bought used. My rear entertainment system will only play DVD movies that are very old - like old James Bond. Any movies made from about 1980 onwards it will not play. I am using DVD's I bought from stores ***8211; not ones I have burned myself.

Any thoughts?
Yep, it's most likely a dirty laser from dust getting into the unit, basically it can't focus properly making it difficult for it to read dual layer DVDs. That's why it will read single layer DVDs as I imagine the older films you are able to play are single layer.

It is also a sign that the laser is ageing, the laser power can be increased but you can ruin the laser if your not careful. To be honest its unlikely, the drive isn't that old and It's probably just dirty.

Stuart

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