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Custom Alpine i-Personalize Wallpaper

 

Frank Umbers
New member
Username: Monkster

Post Number: 1
Registered: Feb-06
Posted on   
Hey guys, anyone that's got an Alpine system that lets you use i-personalize, i got one of my nerdy coworkers to hack the wallpapers (told him I'd get him a date with a hot girl..ha loser).Now I can make any wallpapers i want. I was trying it out and made one that turned out kinda cool. Thought I would share.

application/x-zip-compressedUpload
custom_wp.zip (90.2 k)
 

jay
New member
Username: Jat90

Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
Ok know that you showed us you can make your own wallpapers. Can you please tell me how you do it? So that I may make my own too?
 

jay
New member
Username: Jat90

Post Number: 2
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
Or does anyone know how I can make my own? It dont seem that many people know how to do it accept this guy.
 

jay
New member
Username: Jat90

Post Number: 3
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
Guess not?
 

will owens
New member
Username: W2new023

Post Number: 1
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
how did you convert to apn so the alpine head unit could read it
 

Nyshadow
New member
Username: Nyshadow

NC USA

Post Number: 2
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Yeah i would like to know as well. Just bought the IVA-W200.
 

mark nicosia
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 13
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
i would love to know also. i'll look into.
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Post Number: 1
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Wow. Here is my research so far on this... After viewing APN files in a hex editor, its fairly obvious that the data is MPEG2 encoded (has the string "MPEG-2 Verification Sequence").
I found this page talking about i-Personalize and the specifications of the encoding. Best I can tell its not totally correct, but its close.

I belive the following about APN files:

* The data is MPEG2 encoded--likely by a linux based encoding method
* The file is really 2 - 32k files appended together
* The file must be exactly 64k total (65,536 bytes).
* The files get to be their full size via padding bytes at the end (FF values)
* Windows Media Player will play the files if you have "Nero Video Decoder" installed by Nero 7 Ultra Edition (and maybe other versions)
* The duration of the files tends to make it hard to see but Windows Media player does play both frames
* I think the second file is for a diferent aspect ratio and/or maybe PAL. It may play on rear displays, I don't have one. The file on this forum can be split exactly in half and the files compare identical. I also tested taking an Alpine file, splitting it and appending it to itself--it loaded fine.

Using these facts, I think I know why the original poster of this message hasn't said a thing since posting. The zip file attached contains an APN and JPG file. The JPG is NOT what is in the correctly encoded (I tested it) non-Alpine APN. It is really the goatse.cx guy (See Wikipedia for more info). So be warned you probably do not want that loaded up on your unit.

Hopefully this information helps someone else along. I've got an image all prepped for the unit I'd just love to figure out how to get encoded. Once I figured out the 64k exact byte padding, at least the unit downloads my file--it just comes in all black though. :-(

The unit I have and have been performing all my testing on is the IVA-W200.
 

mark nicosia
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 14
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
same unit i have.... if anyone finds out how to do this let me know
 

LA
New member
Username: 20la20

Franklin, TN U.S.

Post Number: 3
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
does this work for the IVA-D300 too? thats the unit i got
 

mark nicosia
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 15
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
I HATE Frank Umbers!!!

I HATE PEOPLE THAT SHOW YOU STUFF AND NEVER TELL YOU HOW TO DO IT.

why join this fourm so you can wave around your 1" pe*is? you make one post about you "hacked the wallpapers" but don't tell us how.

i think your full of sh*t and you found that wallpaper somewhere and are trying to take credit.

end rant!
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 2
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
does this work for the IVA-D300 too? thats the unit i got

I don't have an IVA-D300 to test on but I would assume yes the malicious hacked file should work on the IVA-D300. This is based on the fact that the IVA-D300 is listed as an i-Personalize wallpaper compatible model and that the alpine APN files are not provided as model specific.
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 3
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   

why join this fourm so you can wave around your 1" pe*is? you make one post about you "hacked the wallpapers" but don't tell us how.

Well the person that registered that account obviously had malcious intent, however, they did provide something that I for one have not found yet--a non-Alpine provided APN file that works.

Having one exist outside of Alpine in itself helps encourage people like me to think that its not all that proprietary a file format and can be generated with publicly available tools and advanced knowledge. Also the way he created the file which differs from how Alpine has done it, having the exact same bytes twice, proves another one of my theories--the file isn't a 2 frame MPEG2, its two 1 frame MPEG2s appended together. That lead me to the successful test of taking the first half of an Alpine provided file and copying it to itself and seeing that it works. Best I can tell, for those using only the dash screen--you'll never see the second frame.

i think your full of sh*t and you found that wallpaper somewhere and are trying to take credit.

Ironically, I don't think this guy is stealing credit. I specualte that he created the file himself and decided to be mean and do a little social engineering to "blind" people whom upload the APN file to their unit, thinking they'll get the JPG file image.
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 4
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Now for more technical tidbits from today's research...

If you don't have a basic understanding hex editors, file formats and image encoding, I'd recommend just skipping this post. I'm only going to answer technical questions pertaining to my research and/or new leads.

My guess is that the process of creating the MPG starts with saving a still image (720x480) as a PPM file in a program like Adobe Photoshop, then use that file in mpeg2encode (dang win32 binaries aren't working so I had to compile on my Fedora Core 5 system) from mpeg.org. Then use the tool with a .par file like mine below (except use your file name--my ppm is called sonic0.ppm): 

MPEG-2 Verification Sequence 
sonic%d   /* name of source files */ 
q%d       /* name of reconstructed images ("-": don't store) */ 
-         /* name of intra quant matrix file     ("-": default matrix) */ 
-         /* name of non intra quant matrix file ("-": default matrix) */ 
stat.out  /* name of statistics file ("-": stdout ) */ 
2         /* input picture file format: 0=*.Y,*.U,*.V, 1=*.yuv, 2=*.ppm */ 
1         /* number of frames */ 
0         /* number of first frame */ 
00:00:00:00 /* timecode of first frame */ 
15        /* N (# of frames in GOP) */ 
3         /* M (I/P frame distance) */ 
0         /* ISO/IEC 11172-2 stream */ 
0         /* 0:frame pictures, 1:field pictures */ 
720       /* horizontal_size */ 
480       /* vertical_size */ 
2         /* aspect_ratio_information 1=square pel, 2=4:3, 3=16:9, 4=2.11:1 */ 
4         /* frame_rate_code 1=23.976, 2=24, 3=25, 4=29.97, 5=30 frames/sec. */ 
7560000.0 /* bit_rate (bits/s) */ 
112       /* vbv_buffer_size (in multiples of 16 kbit) */ 
0         /* low_delay  */ 
0         /* constrained_parameters_flag */ 
4         /* Profile ID: Simple = 5, Main = 4, SNR = 3, Spatial = 2, High = 1 */ 
8         /* Level ID:   Low = 10, Main = 8, High 1440 = 6, High = 4          */ 
0         /* progressive_sequence */ 
1         /* chroma_format: 1=4:2:0, 2=4:2:2, 3=4:4:4 */ 
2         /* video_format: 0=comp., 1=PAL, 2=NTSC, 3=SECAM, 4=MAC, 5=unspec. */ 
5         /* color_primaries */ 
5         /* transfer_characteristics */ 
4         /* matrix_coefficients */ 
720       /* display_horizontal_size */ 
480       /* display_vertical_size */ 
0         /* intra_dc_precision (0: 8 bit, 1: 9 bit, 2: 10 bit, 3: 11 bit */ 
1         /* top_field_first */ 
0 0 0     /* frame_pred_frame_dct (I P B) */ 
0 0 0     /* concealment_motion_vectors (I P B) */ 
1 1 1     /* q_scale_type  (I P B) */ 
1 0 0     /* intra_vlc_format (I P B)*/ 
0 0 0     /* alternate_scan (I P B) */ 
0         /* repeat_first_field */ 
0         /* progressive_frame */ 
0         /* P distance between complete intra slice refresh */ 
0         /* rate control: r (reaction parameter) */ 
0         /* rate control: avg_act (initial average activity) */ 
0         /* rate control: Xi (initial I frame global complexity measure) */ 
0         /* rate control: Xp (initial P frame global complexity measure) */ 
0         /* rate control: Xb (initial B frame global complexity measure) */ 
0         /* rate control: d0i (initial I frame virtual buffer fullness) */ 
0         /* rate control: d0p (initial P frame virtual buffer fullness) */ 
0         /* rate control: d0b (initial B frame virtual buffer fullness) */ 
2 2 11 11 /* P:  forw_hor_f_code forw_vert_f_code search_width/height */ 
1 1 3  3  /* B1: forw_hor_f_code forw_vert_f_code search_width/height */ 
1 1 7  7  /* B1: back_hor_f_code back_vert_f_code search_width/height */ 
1 1 7  7  /* B2: forw_hor_f_code forw_vert_f_code search_width/height */ 
1 1 3  3  /* B2: back_hor_f_code back_vert_f_code search_width/height */
This is quite close to the original NTSC template file provided in the tar.gz--they just changed the comment and a few other settings. The "MPEG-2 Verification Sequence" string seems to finally show up in the right spot now. Now how to verify anything about this...

Whoo hoo! An MPEG headers quick reference. Now lets see here. How are we doing so far...?

I can see the start MPEG encoding sequence after 10 bytes. But its starting with 0xB3 instead of 0xBA like Alpine's stream... Ah! I finally got a 0xBA by muxing--using TMPGenc I went into File, MPEG Tools, Multpilex Tab, type MPEG-2 Program (VBR) added my mpeg2encode file and outputed it to a new file. Hmmm. Tons of padding but I'll assume its still valid for now. I've tried to mux with the mencoder from mplayer, but that had less than stellar results (wouldn't play locally).

The big mystery?

Alright that takes care of a lot, but I'm still in the dark on the first 10 bytes of the file. It looks like out of those bytes, only 4 are significant: 
 
 *pair1*                                 *pair2*  *start MPEG pack header* 
0x** 0x** 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x** 0x** 0x00 0x00 0x01 0xba 0x44
I fail to figure out what those 4 bytes are
(hex, decimal, binary or otherwise). Whatever they are, they appear to be unique per encoded MPEG image. I did some swap testing taking those bytes from another Alpine provided file and placing them in another Alpine provided file. I did this for the first pair only, the second pair only and then both. All 3 versions failed to display an image on my unit (using distinct never been used 8.3 file names). These bytes seem to be required and must be correct. :-(

I just wish I knew if they were something like a MPEG transport stream header, CSS header data, a checksum or if Alpine is using it for something itself. I suspect its something non-Alpine and more MPEG though.

I've tried my hand at an all TMPGenc solution, however, the file always seems extra paddy with a required TMPGenc version comment that spooks me into thinking maybe that will never work. Also MPEG2STAT (http://www.slac.com/ian/mpeg2stat.html) was quite useful for helping get the .par file correct.

Hopefully that gives someone out there more to chew on. I think I'm going to have to take a break. I've been working this silly issue for over 24 hours straight already (yes I slept in between). Good luck!
 

Ric Bailey
New member
Username: Homebrew

Little Rock

Post Number: 1
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

I for one appreciate your level-headed approach to this and hope you can solve this puzzle. I wonder if anyone has asked the obvious question to Alpine support how wallpaper files can be customized? My guess is that they don't permit it, at least yet. It mystifies me why they would have a feature for 'personalizing' their gear and yet prevent people from using it to the fullest extent. Best of luck in your endeavors. Cheers!
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 5
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
I for one appreciate your level-headed approach to this and hope you can solve this puzzle.

Thank you. :-)

I wonder if anyone has asked the obvious question to Alpine support how wallpaper files can be customized? My guess is that they don't permit it, at least yet.

Well based what I already know about the APN file format, unless Alpine themselves provides an application or web based service for image to APN file conversion, they won't be supporting non-alpine wallpapers. So to answer your question, I'd say if someone was to call Alpine you'd likely either hear "only Alpine provided wallpapers are supported and we don't recommend using others as they may corrupt or damage your unit" or something like "I think we may be working on a way for users to make their own wallpapers." which as far as I'm concerned is a rumor unless your talking to Alpine developers. In both scenarios, you've just wasted time talking to general tech support.

It mystifies me why they would have a feature for 'personalizing' their gear and yet prevent people from using it to the fullest extent.


In my opinon, the way they created the i-Personalize wallpaper feature was done the way it was done purely because it was easier for Alpine. When you think about it, to some extent all wallpapers are, in the Alpine world, are one frame movie/DVD/VCD files. It already plays movie files so all you are doing is setting a background movie that stops on the last frame. Sounds quicker to implement that than rather worry about supporting common file formats (such as JPG, GIF and BMP).

That and there is the second aspect that may have made them go the APN file route. They may have already seen the volume of calls supporting home burned media has caused. Do they really want to support users whom can't make wallpapers in a compatible file format, in the right dimensions or even that meets the needs of the 2nd version of the wallpaper that is embedded in the APN files? Probably not. Its bad enough they probably get people calling in because they can't rip their DVD correctly or don't understand how to burn using the correct file system/file name requirements.

Best of luck in your endeavors. Cheers!

Thanks. I know its just a matter of time. I only wish I didn't have to run downstairs to my Eclipse every time I had a new test to perform. The neighbors must think I'm a real goofball. :-)

Anyhow I look forward to playing with this project again this weekend...
 

Frank Umbers
New member
Username: Monkster

Post Number: 2
Registered: Feb-06
Posted on   
Well done Daniel, well done. You fags have an intelligent individual in your midst, and you should worship him.

I'm just disappointed that no one came forward with stories of "zOMG YOU SICK FU*K I'M NO FAG GET THIS SH*T OFF MY D310!!!!!11!oneoneshiftoneeleven". Any luddites willing to share their woeful tale? If I'm entertained, I will consider posting how to make your own (not that it will help most pe*is oriented individuals because it requires a brain not found in the groin).
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 6
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Wow Frank, I thought we'd never hear from you again. 1 post is a classic sign of a "disposable" account.

Well done Daniel, well done. You fA¤gs have an intelligent individual in your midst, and you should worship him.

Doy! I should have thought of trying high ASCII to get around this forum's filters. I wanted to say, in a legitimate context, that the wallpaper was of a gA¤y man and the forum wouldn't let me say gA¤y.

I'm just disappointed that no one came forward with stories of "zOMG YOU SICK FU*K I'M NO FAG GET THIS SH*T OFF MY D310!!!!!11!oneoneshiftoneeleven". Any luddites willing to share their woeful tale?

Ironcally, the first person to post about the file not being what it was supposed to be (me) would be gA¤y and familiar with the goatse.cx guy so my reaction was nothing more than a little groan at the attempt to shock someone. Guess that one backfired. :-)

Worst I'd say story wise for myself is that when I tested if your file worked, I made it a point (since I knew what it should really do before using it in my unit) to be prepared to upload another wallpaper immediately afterward and try to cover up the screen during the test lest some passerby think I'm watching my p0rn DVDs. :-)

If I'm entertained, I will consider posting how to make your own (not that it will help most pe*is oriented individuals because it requires a brain not found in the groin).

I think I'll stick with the satisfaction of figuring it out myself rather than worry about finding amusing stories that might make you consider to give information. At this point our only guarantee we have right now is that is possible to make a non-Alpine file work and that we can use this one file as a model for further research.

I am a little bit curious though. The nerdy coworker you spoke of... He didn't exist, did he? :-)
 

Ric
New member
Username: Homebrew

Little Rock

Post Number: 2
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

Classic (and classy) response! Ignoring the moron, I'm still looking forward to a true solution which I'm sure you or someone else will deivse soon enough. Keep up the good work.

Ric
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 7
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
I'm still looking forward to a true solution which I'm sure you or someone else will deivse soon enough. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the compliments. :-) On that note an update from this weekend. Saturday bright and early my Eclipse went into the shop to finally take care of an obnoxious squeak runing my IVA-W200 experience. :-) They thought they had it after replacing a somewhat leaky strut, but just 10 minutes down the road it was back. So they put me in a loaner for the weekend. There goes my vision of research this weekend.

I did get a lead on the "mysterious first 10 bytes" in my e-mail I'm following up on, but so far its seems more like a red herring. Using various Alpine files as a sample, I fail to see either of the two byte pairs being the file length (exceeding the 32k for one half when converted). I also did some extensive research into checksum and CRC techniques that are 16 bit (2 bytes). So far making various combinations of file divisions that make sense (with and without headers/padding combos) but never had a match in the checksum. I even became familliar that MPEG2 even has its own form of CRC, but alas its 32-bit and even being doofy and putting all 4 bits together doesn't make it match.

Maybe there is something wrong in my math. Or maybe I'm not segmenting the files in the right place. Or even maybe its a checksum technique I have not tried yet. I know I got to try plenty courtesy of the opensource Java app "Jacksum". I know, I like to jack some too. :-)

Anyway joking aside, I just got my car back today so its on again for more research. Based on that last 4 byte switch test, however, I really need to solve those silly little 4 bytes before going further. I don't even need the unit to test those. If they are tryly the length and a checksum, I should be able to come up with the same first 10 bytes alpine used in the same alpine file, only being given all but the first 10 bytes. Just so far no luck and only a small handful of 2 byte techniques available. Hopefully I'll have more to report next weekend and hopefully the clue fairy visits me again and pushes me further along.
 

Martin Kuffel
New member
Username: Strangelogic

Clinton, MD USA

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Daniel - Looks like it's just a single frame muxed MPEG2 movie. Though the one I downloaded says it is 640x480 ...
I will have to hunt around. I'm not much for hacking file formats, but between all the DVD authoring tools on my Mac I would think this should be fairly easy to create basically a single-frame (duration of the 'movie' is 1/30 of a second) muxed MPEG2.

My first attempt failed tonight (Editing tools just don't think a single frame is worth their time.. ). And I don't think I have the determination you have for this process, but...
Thanks for digging into this. Hope you come up with a solution.
 

Daniel
New member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 8
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Daniel - Looks like it's just a single frame muxed MPEG2 movie. Though the one I downloaded says it is 640x480 ...


I think 640x480 is a side effect of the codec used to decode it. Every last one I have downloaded is 720 x 480--which makes sense for NTSC encoding. What was the file name of the one you used?

I'm not much for hacking file formats, but between all the DVD authoring tools on my Mac I would think this should be fairly easy to create basically a single-frame (duration of the 'movie' is 1/30 of a second) muxed MPEG2.

Hopefully the muxing will not also mux in a silent audio stream. That is one of the key differences between Alpine files and files generated by tools that let you mux video without audio.

My first attempt failed tonight (Editing tools just don't think a single frame is worth their time.. ).

Well if I understand enough of this now from my research... I would suspect the effects of your failed test (assuming you had a test file of 65,536 bytes) would be it "downloading" the file, but only showing up as a black background but you can still upload real APN files over your black image just fine. This would be because the first 10 byte header didn't have a valid checksum and length.

And I don't think I have the determination you have for this process, but...

Well I kinda think I have too much determination into this. I've got what I belive to be a solid method for making the alpine header information. I can take any half of an APN file, truncate off the header and padding and without being given any extra information, re-generate the same header and padding. This does bring me to a snag caused by a lack of patience on my behalf though.

Unless you make the header correctly, all correctly sized APN files will fail the checksum and it will not attempt to use the MPEG2 data leaving you with a black wallpaper. If you have a valid header, but incorrectly encoded MPEG2 data (i.e. your MPEG2 is a pure video data with no muxing) the unit will try to use the data leaving you with the black screen as before, but this time your unit won't read any discs. You can navigate the unit on all screens but it won't read even the disc it just read wallpaper data from (even in the same boot). It also won't let you select your other valid wallpaper data in the i-Personalize menu.

This is what has happened to me. I have an IVA-W200 brick. :-( But from the ashes, I build anew. I've decided to put my money where my mouth is--I bought another IVA-W200. I'm leaving the new one alone in my car but am taking a step back and trying to use the old unit for testing. My first goal will be to restore it to a useable state again. Hopefully this won't involve sending it back to Alpine. If I can fix it, I'm sure the information can help someone out and it will also make me much more capable to test things.

Thanks for digging into this. Hope you come up with a solution.

I hope so too. If all goes well, I plan to sell the development unit on E-Bay with a wallpaper of the user's chosing (in the correct dimensions of course). That will hopefully recoup most of the costs of buying a second unit.

Anyhow thats my update for this weekend. I've managed to at least get the old unit to power up in my apartment now--I just got to figure out how to "unlock it" (so I can access the "other setup" menu) and restore/blank the flash memory. At least now I don't have to run downstairs to try things. :-) Just wish I didn't have such a large brick wall stairing me down...

Hopefully I'll have more news to report next weekend.
 

Jack Franks
New member
Username: Anvil82

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
I have sent Daniel a test apn file.

We will see if it works, as I am awaiting installation of my iva-w200 to test myself.

Thanks!!
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 11
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Nope. The file sent, alba.apn, won't work. It at least has the following problems:

*It doesn't have valid Alpine header bytes.
*It contains a single 2 frame MPEG2 instead of 2 one frame MPEGs separated in their appropriate 32k segment.
*It fails to meet the file size requirement of being exactly 65,536 bytes

Looking at it, its not more than the output from a single TMPGEnc job. Alpine files require more processing external to TMPGEnc. The current size (65,540 bytes) alone will keep the unit from even trying.
 

Jack Franks
New member
Username: Anvil82

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Bah sorry, I rushed it and didn't see you already tried tmpgenc.

Next thought.
 

patrick
New member
Username: Coolhand

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
I was looking for this issue on the german Alpine support board and officials say they already made such a tool, but they still need a windows server with remote desktop access etc. because they want to make it web based (that was in march).
They also said they didnt find a source code for the converting software which is compiled for Windows.

Right now they have a DOS program, but they dont want to give it out since they feel its "too ugly" or something... *shrug*

Ill keep you updated!
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 12
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
I was looking for this issue on the german Alpine support board and officials say they already made such a tool

Could you provide a link to this forum post you are speaking about? Even if its in German, we still got Babelfish.

I don't recall there being an official Alpine support form, German or otherwise.
 

patrick
New member
Username: Coolhand

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Sorry should of thought about that.
http://www.alpine-extranet.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=75
 

Martin Kuffel
New member
Username: Strangelogic

Clinton, MD USA

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
So - If my translation is correct, it sounds like, Alpine USA provided windows software so that they can develop their own wallpaper for the german market, and they didn't share the source... Otherwise, Alpine in germany might be willing to make a tool so people could make their own.
I think for 1 or more reasons Alpine wants to keep this proprietary format, proprietary.
Any luck with the 'brick' Daniel?
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 13
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Thanks for the link Patrick. Kind of ironic they would like to provide image to APN conversion as a web service. Thats what I have been pondering too, but I'd probably have to run my own web server since my host is Linux and the code I've been working on is C#...

Any luck with the 'brick' Daniel?

Well I got ballzy enough to open the unit. I'll go into a little better description of the inside later but the short summary is that I'd need to connect to their proprietary connector to do any diagnostics or flashing. I actually made things worse by not putting in the video ribbon cable back fully and it now displays in a funky black and whitish thing. Now I wouldn't want to sell it nor would I want to use it if I got it repaired. Its only future is research guinnea pig.

The plan now is to *thouroughly* do my homework instead of jumping the gun just because I have one thing working reliably. On the second IVA-W200 I have, I paid an extra $75 for the "1 free software screwup repair" option--especially since he said it was covered if it was a result of my wallpaper research. Once I am happy I have it 100% correct, I'll try it on my new unit.

On that note, I tried a manual muxing by inserting bytes and alterning MPEG characteristics technique to mux the m2v last night. The results looked surprisingly good in hex, but they wouldn't even play property in my MPEG2 codec. :-( I will try the same technique again one more time just in case I made a manual mistake. I was tired but still came up with a QA technique--which did catch a typo I had made (incorrect offset).

I'll give a more detailed update this weekend. I'm at work now and need to get back to work... :-)
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 14
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
For those with a morbid curiousity... Here is a picture I took of the inside of my bricked IVA-W200. It is in the first layer after you remove the DVD drive. There are 2 more layers under this and I only went one more layer deep. Its a pain to put it all back together and you ended up getting the white goopy stuff all of over yourself if you are not careful.

Upload
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 15
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
VICTORY IS MINE!

Upload

OK I know I'm going to get a flood of messages, but here are some notes.

Do NOT send me wallpaper requests at this time. I will probably be accepting them next weekend with the plan to choose one a week and provide it publically on my site. These requests will require you use a web form I provide and your file must meet the size (720 x 480 JPG or BMP) and be uploaded to a pubically accesssable URL you provide. I would advise trying to make the picutre make sense when covered by the standard display elements of the player screen.

I own an IVA-W200 and have tested the first wallpaper on my own unit to work. For someone acknowledging the risk of having their unit cease functioning (my other IVA-W200 stopped reading discs alltogether while developing a process to create these), I would like to know if my wallpaper works on the following units that Alpine say are i-Personalize Wallpaper compatible:

IVA-D310
DVE-5207
DVA-9860
DVA-9861
DVA-9965

I assume since Alpine does not provide separate files for these units, all use the exact same format files.

Due to the nature of creating these wallpapers, I can already tell you the process is not for the average user. Considering that, with the exception to one person privately reporting information, nobody else was able to collaborate with me on the project I think its best to provide a [free] web service for converting these wallpapers with its own error checking and such.

The one wallpaper a week idea will probably go on to allow others to benefit from my research early but not keep me swamped with requests that the web service is never completed. I am doing this on my own time as a "hobby" afterall. :-)

On a technical note, I will say that the .par file I previously provided was close but had some flaws in itself. Also I would speculate that Alpine's discomfort with releasing the "DOS" (win32 console) tools they have for creating wallpapers is due to the unprofessionalism involved in releasing an "application" thats really not much more than a batch file calling a few applications powered by Cygwin. Top it off with no validation/error checking it could potentially create some bricked systems. Of course not having source to unify all the apps can also be a bit frustrating for them. Maybe my success in creating these will help Alpine speed the process of making a web service of their own available.

Anyhow enjoy! Hopefully success stories on the other units will be rolling in soon. Remember though, my files are provided as is and you assume all risks including the risk it will brick your unit and you'll have to send it into Alpine for repairs for a fee which, from when I called my reginonal repair center in Denver, would take around 4-6 weeks and costs $50 fee just for diagnostics on the unit alone.

And without further delay... My APN page:

http://www.pride-rock.com/apn/
 

Stuart Vernon
New member
Username: Stuartv

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

Would you consider documenting the process of converting a 720x480 BMP? So that the more technically savvy among us *could* potentially make our own?

- Stu
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 16
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Would you consider documenting the process of converting a 720x480 BMP? So that the more technically savvy among us *could* potentially make our own?

My current intent is to provide documentation after I release a working web service.
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Good going Dan, can't wait for the site to come up. I also would like to see the docs. Again Thank you for all the work you have put into this.
 

mark nicosia
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 20
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
thanks alot. i can't wait. how long does it take to make one? 10 min, longer? i and a lot of ppl i work with are very computer savey so when i know how to do this and i know i can get it working maybe i can help you out.
 

patrick
New member
Username: Coolhand

Post Number: 3
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
awesome work!
you want to do it online aswell? please dont tell me it will take anywhere near as long as those guys at Alpine germany.
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 17
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
awesome work!

Thank you.

you want to do it online aswell? please dont tell me it will take anywhere near as long as those guys at Alpine germany.

Yup I am working up a web service as well. I kinda took this weekend off but at least managed to throw together just before I head off to bed, the submittal page I mentioned last week. Not sure how long it will take me to make the full web service but one thing is for sure... Whatever I do will be thoroughly tested with my unit to ensure any automatically generated files do not damage any units. I'm surprised I haven't heard of anyone using my first wallpaper yet though. :-( I'd like to fix any compatibility problems that may exist that are not experienced on the IVA-W200. I'm doubting there are any, but the only way I'll know is by confirmed reports or buying the other units myself. Paying for 2 IVA-W200s myself to do this research has been high enough cost as is...

Anyhow as I mentioned before, the submit page is up and running and is linked on my page of wallpapers. I also added one wallpaper this week that was the result of some more testing and trying to resolve an issue with converted image sizes...

Enjoy!
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey dan ' i will try it out on a 310 tommorrow
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 18
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
hey dan ' i will try it out on a 310 tommorrow

Thank you! I look forward to the first confirmed usage of the wallpapers on any unit other than mine...

That reminds me....

I would not recommend using the goatse.cx wallpaper zip on this forum post. It may have worked for me, but after analysis it does make a few mistakes that could flake out on units other than the IVA-W200. You probably don't want to be blinded by a man's gaping A'sshole anyhow.

And now a few notes on the wallpaper submittal process I think I should mention now that I've had a chance to see the first few wallpapers roll in.

* Contrary to popular belief, I do NOT speak Spanish.
* Wallpapers cannot be "sped up" or "guaranteed" by offering to pay me. I will not accept payment for wallpapers.
* Any submitted e-mail addresses will ONLY be used for contacting you concerning the wallpaper submitted.
* As the previous bullet implies, I will not be tracking images for credit of their original arranger. I will only be providing known copyright information in the bottom of the page.

On a technical note:

A critical issue has become apparent to me now that I'm trying more than my initial test wallpapers... 32K isn't that much space to place "detailed" wallpaper. So far it looks like there has always been a low enough "quality setting" to allow any wallpaper to be converted, but in my opinion if you go too low--it just isn't worth it. Just think of what its like setting JPG files to the lowest quality setting. MPEGs are the same way. Here are a few tips to help ensure your image won't have to be severly lowered in quality to fit:

* Use solid colors on as much of the image as possible.
* The lower quantity of color transitions, the more compressable an image is.
* Sending pictures as BMP instead of JPG has its advantages. Why? BMP is a lossless format. Sure I may have to download a file that is over 1 MB, but you won't get the copying machine effect. You know--copy a document, use the copy as a source of the next copy and so on... You eventually get a poorly photocopied chain letter or public school materials... :-)
* Yes less colors helps, but its only because it implies less color transitions.

Here is an example (scaled to 600x400<100k for compatibility with this forum--correct dimensions used in MPEG conversion) using JPEG compression, which has simillar results as MPEG2 compression. In picture A and B you'll see that there are only 5 colors utilized. Both images were saved at 70% quality.

Picture A (98,826 bytes)
Upload

Picture B (6,184 bytes)
Upload

Just by having signifincantly less color transitions, you could take approximately 93.7% of the original size off. Also if you zoomed in on both pictures, you'll see almost no quality loss in picture B. Looking at that zoom of Picture B, where does the quality get off? Where the color transistions.

Well I think that should do it for wallpaper tips for now. Picture A is a real wallpaper submittal I intend to release, however, as is--it is too big to fit in 32k without making it look like crap. I'm still seeing what can be done to make a wallpaper that will assist in the positioning of images. For myself, I actually just took a picture of an alpine wallpaper, scaled and cropped the image to the correct dimensions, cut the wallpaper into a new layer and voila--I have a decent layer overlay for developing wallpapers. It looks like crap with the scaling but it gets the job done (for the mostpart--I still want to slightly adjust the Sega logo one of these days).

Good night!
 

Ken II
New member
Username: Kenii

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

Thanks for the hard work. I just started to search for this stuff. I figured out the MPEG-2 and 2 pic formats and decided to start making sure I wasn't about to reamke a wheel thats already been made. :-)

I'm going to reread this thread and let it sink in.

Thanks!

 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 3
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey got to try both files and they worked looked great on a 310. i have been triing to post all week but forum would not accept the post. if you need any othes tested let me know. i still would love to see the process myself however.
thanxs
dave
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 4
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey got to try both files and they worked looked great on a 310. if you need any othes tested let me know.
thanxs
dave
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 5
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey got to try both files and they worked looked great on a 310. i have been triing to post all week but forum would not accept the post. if you need any othes tested let me know. i still would love to see the process myself however.
thanxs
dave
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 6
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey dan i got to try them on both the dva-9860 &
dva-9861 today

dave
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 19
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
hey dan i got to try them on both the dva-9860 &
dva-9861 today
hey got to try both files and they worked looked great on a 310

Thank you Dave! Wow, only two more units left before my wallpaper files have successfully been used on all compatible units. Just the DVE-5207 and DVA-9965 are left. Given they worked the first time, I'm feeling pretty good about the last two units.

And now... This weeks wallpapers (yes I decided to do more than one) are up on my site. This is the first week I encoded wallpapers provided by others on the Internet. I wasn't that happy with how the Porsche one looked in my units player screen, but I left it as is to kinda prove a point.

I managed to throw something together for the previously mentioned grid wallpaper concept that compressed to 32k but I'm not all that pleased. But then again... I really think the concept should be done the other way--make images you can layer over you wallpaper to see the occlusion over the various menus (separate image editor layers). Thats pretty much what I did--but mine looks like crap. I'd love to make one that was pixel perfect but thus far those attempts haven't proven fruitful (digital screen capture). I think what is complicating things is that I'm pretty sure the unit isn't providing the images in their full resolution--its probably doing some resizing. I've noticed it a bit when playing DVDs. Wish they used a little smoother resizing method. I also in this recent batch detected a little unit created cropping too... Hmmm...

I did bring up enough courage to work on my 2nd IVA-W200 and try and fix the display connection problem I created. I finally remembered something about those ribbon connectors that I've seen in other electronics that I wish I would have remembered earlier. The sides can be pulled out like a little lever (horizontally) to allow you to put the ribbon in easily and press them back in to lock the ribbon in. Using the locks, I was able to get the video cable in up to the little arrow marks on the board showing how far they should go in. My video is fixed. :-) Now, unfortunately I still can't understand how I can unlock the unit without using real foot break and parking break lamp pinch connectors. I probably need something a little more sophisticated than my portable rechargeable battery jumper kit that I've been using to power the unit in the house. :-)

Anyway, have a nice Memorial Day and enjoy!
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 20
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Hope you're all enjoying Memorial Day. I know I am. :-)

I'm in quite the Sonic The Hedgehog mood so I decided to test my amateur Photoshop skills a bit and make another Sonic wallpaper today--this one based off some Sonic Rivals artwork. Took me longer than expected since I just couldn't stand breaking the aspect ratio or cropping Shadow and Knuckles so I just had to edit them out. I keep thinking the game should be called Sonic Soccer based on the promo artwork. :-)

Anyhow, hope you like it!
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 7
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey dan i think i have access to a dva-9965, if i do i'll try the screens on it. i'll let you know when i have tried it. and thanxs for the background you did for me

dave
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 21
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
hey dan i think i have access to a dva-9965, if i do i'll try the screens on it. i'll let you know when i have tried it.

Thanks Dave. Wow with you doing the bulk of the unit tests... Do you work for a car audio store or something? :-) The first time you submitted the wallpaper had an e-mail address that kinda makes me think you do... Not sure why I got the same URL again (well mostly--without the trailing /) with a different name though (Peter?)...

and thanxs for the background you did for me

Well it was my favorite out of the ones submitted this week so it was a pleasure. Just wish it had a little less color transitions--the quality dropped a tad below what I would have liked it to be. I was puzzled at the phrase at the bottom "Least I could do" until I did a little Googling around. Quite interesting what comes up when do a Google images search on leasticoulddo.com :-) At least I know one reason I hadn't heard of the site. The sexy pics, for the mostpart, cater to straight guys. 8-)

Speaking of the text at the bottom of that pic... The unit created cropping ate a little bit of it. I didn't pay much attention to it until that wallpaper--but apparently the cropping has been there the whole time. I can even see on my first sonic wallpaper where his finger is closer to the edge than it is in the full image.

Brings up a very good topic... How much cropping is occuring and how should this be addressed in future wallpaper development?

The answer leads me towards thoughts of writing a wallpaper viewer application. This application would simulate the wallpaper display as it would be in unit--cropping, menus and all. I still have no clue how the various units menus and screens vary though. Drives me crazy knowing I can't even get all the icons to test overlay with on my real unit (i.e. I don't have an IPOD to test wallpapers with the IPOD icon).

Anyhow, I'm keeping my focus on the back end image to APN conversion. Someone else is welcome to step up and try to create something to assist in virtually showing the various ways images get covered up/cropped. If I end up getting around to doing it myself, I'll probably do it in C# using .NET 2.0

Anyhow, good night out there...
 

Dave Lowe
New member
Username: Autoaudio

Chepachet, RI USA

Post Number: 8
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
hey dan, ya i work at a store. i have been playing with the background on a 300 (got alot of black screens and colorie lines). peter is a friend, and least i can do is a cartoon i follow online. i think i missed the header issue but that makes sense now. i still would like to try my hand at making my own and/or helping with any overflow you might need help with ????
anyways thanxs again and can't wait for the next step. i believe that the other store has a 9965 on the board, i will be going there this week so i'll check it out then

dave
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 22
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
i still would like to try my hand at making my own and/or helping with any overflow you might need help with ????

Well you being someone with access to most of the units, I think first thing, short of finding a method to do this digitally, that would be useful is taking high resolution digital pictures of the various screens of all the units using a single wallpaper (probably the grid wallpaper) and as consistently aligned as possible (at least horizontally using level/tripod). Getting all the icons (CD, IPOD, AUX, etc) would be important as well. All these pictures can be used to derive pixel perfect overlays for wallpaper development.

But of course if a digital camera isn't available, I guess that the image viewer application is going to be on hold for a bit... I was hoping to do my unit's screens digitally but got stuck not having a way to unlock the unit while inside my house. Even then, I'm not sure the video outputs will show the menus the main unit does or if its output only. It might help answer the mystery on what the second copy of the wallpaper is used for though--and why it seems to have a different aspect ratio...

If you can't help with this, hopefully someone can.
 

bob impact
Bronze Member
Username: Bobimpact

Post Number: 18
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
I'm working on a Photoshop layer derived from the same idea (level photos taken in my shop) using the grid. We've been ridiculously busy lately, so I will do what I can
 

mark nicosia
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 21
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
you guys are great. i'm also willing to help in any way also. my w200 is on it's way to my house right now.

 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 23
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
OK this weeks wallpapers are now up on my site.

This week there is a series of solid colored wallpapers available for those that do not like the distractions of an image or perhaps are just theming their cars by color.

Also this week's wallpapers illustrates yet another thing to consider when wallpaper creating... It seems that Alpine (at least on the IVA-W200) is using some kind of scaling on the images. The "Club Lexus" wallpaper has some of the edges shaking on my unit. This is probably exactly what was bothering me on DVD playback as well... Its for that reason, I'd suggest maybe using some drop shadows or glow on high contrast images.

Anyhow, enjoy!
 

Jack Franks
New member
Username: Anvil82

Post Number: 3
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
Great work, still trying to find a wallpaper that I really like and won't be covered up by the osd.
 

Nick Nerantz
New member
Username: Grkgod

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
anyone make me an M3 logo not covered or a BMW one...I am totally retart when it comes to photoshop and imagery...any help greatly appreciated!!
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 24
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Well this weeks wallpapers are going to be delayed... I've been having problems with the hosting company I use and it finally got to the point to where some e-mail has been dropped and the site has been unavailable at times.

I'm having to spend my time I'd normally spend on working on wallpapers and the web service on migrating web hosting companies. I should be back up and running by next weekend. As is, I have 6 new user submitted wallpapers I will be publishing once things are back in order.

Sorry about the delay. I'm just as dissappointed--I'm going to have to pay a little more annually now to go with a bigger hosting company with better bandwidth and reliablity. I knew I'd eventually have to move, but I didn't expect it to be so badly timed. :-(
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 25
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Whew... Well the migration in web hosting companies went off with few problems and I solved all the important ones. My web site should have much better speed and reliability now.

And now for this week's wallpapers...

There are 8 new wallpapers on my site. There won't be any next weekend though as I will be out of town enjoying my first San Francisco pride celebration. :-) Wallpapers should resume the following week.

Enjoy!
 

David Wallace
New member
Username: Setite

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jun-06
Posted on   
how come there are no more replies after the mention of the pride festival?
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 26
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
>how come there are no more replies after the mention of the pride festival?

Because I only post updates on weekends and last weekend was pride. We are coming up on a weekend and there should be quite a bit of wallpapers coming out. I worked a few on the airplane but just as many came in during this week. I'll continue to post when they are available on this forum post.
 

David Wallace
New member
Username: Setite

Post Number: 2
Registered: Jun-06
Posted on   
oh you misunderstood me... not you... everyone else... no reply to pride from everyone else... just found it odd... the pride thing just shocked the heck out of me... so do you take email requests??
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 27
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
>oh you misunderstood me... not you... everyone else...

Ah I see. Yeah things have been quiet.

>just found it odd... the pride thing just shocked the heck out of me...

Maybe they are speachless. :-) I'm not sure why so late though. I thought I was outted on my "April 30, 2006" post. Unless of course I am assuming incorrectly again its the silence that is shocking you, not my trip to SF for pride. :-)

>so do you take email requests??

In respect to wallpapers, I only accept wallpapers that meet the requirements documented on my APN Submit Page that are submitted via that form. I spend enough time as is coding the web service and encoding wallpapers to not be spending time trying to come up with a wallpaper that meets someones idea or adjusting an existing wallpaper to meet the requirements. On that note though, I gather from the response the last public request on this forum got--ask and publicly someone may do the wallpaper and properly submit it to me.
 

E. Schol
New member
Username: Playspel

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
>I only accept wallpapers that meet the requirements documented on my APN Submit Page that are submitted via that form.

Hi Daniel,

I submitted a wallpaper to you (team ice factory)
And i hope it is in the right requirements, so you can process it.

I tried some APN file from your webpage on my D310, and it was working perfect.

Grtz, Edwin.
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 28
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
It's that time again... The new wallpapers are up on my site now after working on them all day. All 23 of them. Of course the one week I skip wallpapers, there has to be more than normal. :-)

Now on that note, a few things to discuss with this weeks batch of wallpapers that haven't come up as issues before.

On the topic of adult wallpapers, I don't have any problems doing them but by the same token I need to keep the images on the site in accordance with my web host's terms of service. So my solution so far will be to censor the image and provide the uncensored image in the actual APN.

On the topic of wallpapers with people, please provide the name of whom is in the picture. If you can't even provide that, you probably wouldn't know anything about the image's copyright.

On the topic of image titling... I really struggled with it this week. Please provide a title in the notes field when submitting if the title isn't obvious. If, in looking at my goofy titles, someone knows a more accurate title, just let me know. I think I got most of them though. I will probably continue to struggle with female pA"rn stars though. :-)

On the topic of images that contain a name or nick name/screen name... If you provide one of these to encode, please also provide a version that is suitable for anybody to use. Personally, I'd rather no images containing a name or nick be submitted at all.

Anyhow, with this being the largest batch I've ever done I opted to spend some time coding to take care of some of the manual work. It took about 2 hours extra, but in the end my new code drasticaly reduces the risk of errors and cuts about 5-10 minutes off the time to render wallpapers. Also, it automates bitrate selection so now images can be at their optimum quality instead of as close as I can get it. Still no time slated for public web service and documentation to go live, so please continue to be patient. Slowly, I'm getting closer.

Enjoy!
 

David Wallace
New member
Username: Setite

Post Number: 3
Registered: Jun-06
Posted on   
Oh yea and i didnt mean shocked though i said that. i meant more that i was thrown off by mention of it in the context of the thread. ill submit the wallpapers to you when i get my photoshop working... i must ask though, and forgive me if this has been answered, have you made a step by step guide yet? I understand that its no easy feat but I'm sure i can do it if my hand is held throughout
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 29
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
i must ask though, and forgive me if this has been answered, have you made a step by step guide yet?

Nope. No step-by-step guide for making the images in Photoshop (or any other image editor). No step-by-step guide or any documentation on how to encode as an APN file. (was unsure which step-by-step you were referring to)

On that note, I heard tale some unit photos are in the works to assist with a kind of "preview in unit" application but so far none have come in yet. :-( Guess everyone is just as busy as I am.

Also while I'm thinking on it... I've been tossing around the idea of hosting my own forum for this. This thread is becoming a sea of information that I wish I could edit the top post and keep it as a summary post. Maybe in the coming weeks...
 

Reuben James
New member
Username: Reubjames

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

Just wanted to show some appreciation for your hard work on these backgrounds. I uploaded the STi logo on your last batch. It's now loaded on my W200 and works great.

I look forward to seeing a web service that would automate the process and if I can offer any help, I would be glad to.

Thanks a bunch.
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 30
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Just wanted to show some appreciation for your hard work on these backgrounds. I uploaded the STi logo on your last batch. It's now loaded on my W200 and works great.

Thank you. Glad to hear the wallpapers continue to work on others units. I test every one of them on my unit before release, but its always a little extra reassurance to hear someone else say they work.

Now... This weeks wallpapers are online now. Yet again, I got Sonic The Hedgehog fever and made a 3rd Sonic wallpaper. This time around, I decided to try my hand at semi-creative image placement in an arrangement focused on making it look as good as possible on as many screens as possible.

Enjoy!
 

johnny lemoine
Silver Member
Username: Johnnylemoine

LaPlace, Louisiana United States

Post Number: 868
Registered: Aug-04
Posted on   
does this work on the CDA 9835? sorry if this has be answered before.
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 31
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
does this work on the CDA 9835? sorry if this has be answered before.

No. A list of iPersonalize wallpaper compatible units can be found here on Alpine's web site.

This weeks wallpapers are online now.

Enjoy!
 

cuffnum
New member
Username: Cuffnum

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
Daniel, THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK. I just got my wife a iva-w200 today and went searching for a way to make my own. hopefully someone will come up with something soon, My wife would love to have the kids on her w200. Thanks again.
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 32
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Well got some bad news today. One of the wallpapers submitted had just the right charactersitics to make my encoding application mis-encode it. As a result, I have partially bricked my system.

Probably later this week I'll post the images that passed physical testing. All but 3 images got tested--1 of which never even made it to final testing because it was the first image someone submitted that absolutely could not compress to less than 32k and still be valid.

Kind of sad... This weekend I was going to upgrade the submit facilities to use a genuine file upload--an important step in the final web service. I made some good progress, but with my unit as is looks like things will be on hold.

On a positive note, the problem I experienced is repeatable (not a fluke) and something I can have the computer catch before it goes to physical QA. Its a little late for my unit though.

Not sure when I'll have my unit fixed though. Two unexpected trips this year have put me behind on cash so it'll have to wait. Even then, I know getting them fixed is a slow process... Unfortunately this time around I can't afford to buy a 3rd IVA-W200. :-(

Its been fun working this project for the past few months, but looks like I've got a snag that'll hold me up for a least a month but probably more. I'll keep everybody posted if something changes.
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 23
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
sorry to hear that. i might be able to get the w200 swaped :D. let me look into it.

e-mail me havok13154 AT gmail . com (for bots)
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 1
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
Could someone make these into wallpapers for me, and give it to daniel to make into a .apn? here are the URLs to the pics. Thanks in advance :-)

http://www.pc-driver.net/fond-ecran-sexy-girl.jpg
http://neo95.ifrance.com/elisha%20cuthbert%201ecst.jpg

btw, my email is hoganchild AT gmail . com (for email bots, like that other dude did :P)
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 2
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
Also, i tested out some of those wallpapers on my unit, which is an IVA-D100 (similar to the D310, but a bit cheaper). That head unit isn't on the compatability list, but it works just fine.
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 3
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
Also, Daniel, i've bypassed the parking brake thing on my unit. Instead of hooking the two yellow wires up to the respective brakes, i got my install guy to hook them up to a pair of switches, and mounted them on a free space on my dashboard. Looks really slick, and i don't have to worry about that brake shite. Just flick the switches a few times, and you're good to go. Not sure exactly how he set it up... he had to cut into some of the other wires and whatnot, but i'm sure any self-respecting installer could figure it out for you.
 

Robbie Kush
Silver Member
Username: Robman0079

Post Number: 109
Registered: Jun-06
Posted on   
Hey since you guys are talking about Alpine Head Units i was wonderin if the Alpine CVA-1014 model is any good. I dont get why it is so cheap???? if anyone of you guys could help me out???
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 4
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
From what I could find, it doesn't have a cd or a dvd drive. In order to play any kind of discs with it, you need a cd/dvd changer. It also only has one pre-out, so if you eventually want to hook up some high end speakers with a 4 channel amp, you'll be unable to do so. That, and its ugly as fück.

Also, i could only find any reference to it on a select number of sites. I couldn't find any mention of that model on the alpine site. It's probably an old model. Even though it might be cheap by itself, you'll end up spending more money, as you'd have to buy a disc changer as well, and it would just be a hassle. If your looking for an in-dash moniter to fit in a single DIN slot, i recommend the IVA-D100. Its not too much money, and it seems to be a pretty good head unit. I just got mine installed about a week and a half ago.
 

James h.
New member
Username: Hardon586

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
Daniel,

Sorry to hear about your IVA-W200. I am more than willing to help with repair costs/replacement costs. I figure it is the least i could do after you helped me out with the Honda logo. Maybe if a few other peeps help out you can get your unit up and running sooner than expected. I'll email you as well.
 

Daniel Romero
New member
Username: Bichito

Miami, FL United States

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
Hello All

FYI...

PAC TR-7 Module Bypass the Video and function Block in 10 Sec.

Works Great.

Bye...Upload
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 26
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
i have one just installed a w200 and that and it works :D. no trick with hitting the brake or anyhting it just works
 

James
New member
Username: Thefivespeeder

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
I'm sure a lil donate section on the page couldn't hurt, lol, hey havok do you drive a 7thgen civic?
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 28
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
nope i drive a lexus
 

will owens
New member
Username: W2new023

Post Number: 3
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
i have the PAC TR-7 Module Bypass for my alpine but now my truck thinks the parking brake is always on and my warning horn sounds what should i do so i can drive down the road and watch my dvd
 

will owens
New member
Username: W2new023

Post Number: 4
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
tell us how to did it ourselves Daniel so we can make our own pics.
 

Stuart Vernon
New member
Username: Stuartv

Post Number: 3
Registered: May-06
Posted on   
will owens, you must have the TR-7 hooked up to your truck's parking brake wiring. That's not how it works. You should have it hooked up to the wiring on your Alpine only. If it's hooked up right, the truck won't (can't) even know it's there.
 

Vincent Dees
New member
Username: Vindes

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
This is very interesting info so far.

The Alpine nav units are also used on the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnums. Some of us have been looking at the files on our NAV DVDs and wondering how to modify our own APN files. Looks like at least somebody has figured it out.

On behalf of all the other owners of Alpine systems out there, we'd really love to know the secret you've discovered on how to correctly pack up these images. Our formats clearly differ somewhat. On our systems the image file sizes vary significantly. Ranging from 200kb up to several Mb.

Our system DVDs appear to be structured so that the main software, maps, etc. reside in the root directory and vehicle specific startup images are in different directories. We'd love to know the secret to customizing those images.

Any help greatly appreciated.
 

robvan69@hotmail.com
New member
Username: Robvan69

Alberta Canada

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
so just a question has anyone else figured out the whole ipersonalize thing, this is the only forum talking about it and the only source for custom wallpaper has been put on hold. now i have no idea what daniel said about how to make these wallpapers, but i do know that he was doing 6 or more wallpapers a week, maybe daniel should help us out by sharing info so more people can work on it and maybe one day create a program to do it automatically. With the only guy able to make the wallpapers not sharing info, it looks like the whole project is lost at daniel's broken equipment. Daniel, share man, help us help ourselves. One of us in this forum should be able to pick up where you left off.
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 30
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
stop asking him. if you piss him off l'm going to romp on your face. i sent in a wall paper too but he is having problems we offered to help and when he is ready he will let us know.

badging people only makes them pissed and then they don't want to give FREE HELP!!!!
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 33
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Thanks for the support Havok. You expressed my feelings quite well. :-)

I worked on the project for about a month before making my first break through first wallpaper. I also spent money on a second unit... The whole time I've had little to no technical support in the matter and all the investment. I don't think its that selfish of me to keep relases on my terms--especially since in the end, my goal is to provide my full research and possibly finished tools (if the quality is high enough).

Anyhow now that I've broken the silence, a brief update on myself. After the 2nd unit has had its issues, my health took a turn for the worse. Bad case of strep that had my tonsils swell up enough it was imparing my breathing. First time I ever got hooked up to an IV at the ER...

Upload

After that some more unexpected expense came my way. My first company trip ever--to Las Vegas. My first trip to Vegas for that matter. I was there to work, but still managed to have a little fun on the side. Didn't help me out on the IVA-W200 fix fund though...

And now I've finally got some arrangements in order to get my unit fixed for free. If all goes well I should have the unit in a few weeks. I'm probably going to be sending the unit off Monday. Meanwhile I've started some work on putting up a forum for this project and abandon ecoustics. Its been OK, but its getting to the point to where I really would like to moderate the posts.
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 31
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
i hope you feel better and i can't wait to join your forum.
i'm straped for cash but if you need it i got $10 for your fund. via paypal
 

robvan69@hotmail.com
New member
Username: Robvan69

Alberta Canada

Post Number: 2
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
ok i think you got the wrong idea havok, all i was trying to say in my post was to share info if daniel can't continue on, it appears now that he can so thats a good thing. lets say he couldn't continue, then we would all be at alpine.com downloading their sh*%. Besides whats the harm in sharing info. So dont "romp on my face" or whatever you said, first of all you dont know me so dont threaten people you dont know. i wasn't bagering him, so you stop pissing poeple off. All i was doing was re-stating points that others made previous to me. I understand daniel has the rights to his findings. And if he wants to keep the steps a secret then thats his choice. And daniel, if youre looking for donations to your fund, email me. If money will speed things along ill pay to get wallpapers for my d310.
 

Havok
Bronze Member
Username: Havok13154

Poway san diego, Ca USA

Post Number: 33
Registered: Mar-06
Posted on   
if you read this whole thing, others have asked him and he didn't give the info then. like me i stoped asking how to do it. if 10 ppl ask in the same post then it is the same as 1 person asking 10 times. as everyoen can read this topic.
 

robvan69@hotmail.com
New member
Username: Robvan69

Alberta Canada

Post Number: 3
Registered: Aug-06
Posted on   
well i only posted once so i thought i would just ask too, if enough people express interest and offer to help then we will all get what we want. i for one dont like what alpine has to offer and think its garbage that i paid 1900.00 for an in dash that i cant even put my own images on, im stuck with the crap alpine puts out. so im not gonna sit here and post responses to you havok, if daniel needs help with this whole thing then im offering to help any way i can, if that means paying for wallpapers then i will. I just want to see this thing through. I have followed this thread from day one and finally decided to post.
 

David Wallace
New member
Username: Setite

Post Number: 4
Registered: Jun-06
Posted on   
bicker bicker bicker get a room
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 5
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
LoL easy fellas, lets all just get along ;)
 

Daniel
Bronze Member
Username: Dgutierr

Dallas, TX USA

Post Number: 34
Registered: Apr-06
Posted on   
Alright... Here, I suspect, is the end of my posts on ecoustics.com

I've finished throwing together my own forum on my own site. Without further delay...

The forum is now OPEN!

http://www.pride-rock.com/forum
 

Kenneth
New member
Username: Maverick10gk

Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-06
Posted on   
Does anyone know what the quality of the images are on the Alpine DVA-9965? Obviously they can be as good as the IVA-W200 right? Thanks all!
 

Bob Idiens
New member
Username: Hoganchild

Post Number: 6
Registered: Jul-06
Posted on   
hit up the link in the post above yours... This thread is pretty much dead.
 

Tim Carter
New member
Username: Tim_carter

New York, NY USA

Post Number: 1
Registered: Dec-06
Posted on   
Hi Guys

I have a problem i hope that you could help me with, i have just gotten a alpine IVA-w200 and i found this post and you were writing about it..

My problem is this, when i press the setup menu button, i can se 4 buttons, but the last one on the right has no text on it? should this button be the othersmenu button?? i cant seem to find the i-personalize menu anywhere?? Could this be because the guy who installed this hasnt connected all the wires properly??

Hope you can help me. im lost :-)

thanks again..
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