DICE Ipod integration in my Honda Accord

5Nov/0613

DICE Ipod integration in my Honda Accord

Ever wanted to use your iPod in your car? I did. In fact, a lot of people do. Quite a few cars these days are coming out with factory installed iPod integration. Others have a line-in input built in.

Background

If you're not lucky enough to have one of these, there are a few more options. The one I used to use, and I think the majority of iPod in Car users use is the FM transmitter. After doing a lot of research a couple of years ago, I ended up picking the Monster iCarPlay Plus Wireless FM Transmitter. It was great when I moved to Houston in a UHaul, but we had to keep changing the station as we went across the country. Then, I used it for a while in my Saab 9-3 before replacing the factory stereo with a Sony stereo with a line-in. Chenging the stereo was messy and I had an ugly cable sticking out. Well, I used that until the engine blew in my '99 Saab at around 105,000 miles.

The Dice install

My current ride is a 2004 Honda Accord EX. The factory radio is a 6-disc in dash changer with XM radio. I dont use XM and the installation stops that from working. I purchased a Digital in-car entertainment (DICE) unit through River Oaks Car Stereo in Houston, TX. The model # for the Dice for my car is "i-Honda-R3". The list price on the DICE website is $159.99. According to River Oaks Car Stereo, there isnt much room to discount it, so they gave it to me for $149.00 + installation. I brought the car in and the installation was botched the first time! The DICE unit was broken. So, they returned it and I came back a week later to complete the installation. They did a great job of hiding the unit. The cable comes out in the center console arm rest and you cant see the iPod at all!

Operation

When you turn on the car, the DICE unit (usually) registers as a CD Changer. The iPod turns on and starts playing the last song. If there is no playlist you have defined, it will begin playing your tunes, shuffling all songs. The volume of course works, and the track change works. Skipping back and forth within a song works too, however, it is not easy to be accurate. Turning off the radio while the car is on switches off the iPod and the song stops and starts without any noticeable content missing.

Issues

Sometimes the Dice unit doesnt register when the car starts up. It's really unfortunate that the only way to get it to register is to turn the car off and then back on again. For my Honda, the CD text doesnt show up. This isn't really an issue and I was aware of it, however, on XM, the text shows up, so this must have been too big a technical hurdle for the DICE people to overcome for my car. Maybe the market isnt big enough for the Honda to make it work perfectly?

Conclusions

Although there are a couple of quirks, the DICE unit is an awesome way to listen to your ipod in your car. Audio clarity is excellent, and hiding the ipod in the center console means I dont have to mess with things when I get in and out of the car. The price is pretty decent considering alternative options are not as good and generally dont allow you to skip tracks.

Filed under: Apple, Articles & Papers, Cars, Personal, Reviews, Technology, ipod, opinion Leave a comment

Rowca

I have a 2005 Honda S2000 with a Satellite capable radio/CD player. My son the resident expert installed the Dice, Silverline i-Honda-R. I regret to say it is very buggy and after a week of on and off again performance the Dice is presently not functioning. Meaning I get the Dice logo but no tunes. I have switched iPods and was rewarded with an "attached" signal. The included instruction manual leaves much to be desired and they definitely need expand the "troubleshooting" portion. Bottom line, the DICE is not user friendly. I thought I did a decent job of researching my purchase but this website provides amble evidence that I am not alone in my disappointment. My assessment-- the Dice Silverline i-Honda-R3 is not ready for prime time...

dww

I installed the USASPEC version from http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/htm....

It's a highly rated site on Bizrate. I installed it in about 2 hours on a 2007 Accord VP, no nav, no XM, no changer. The kit comes with an IPOD control cable that allows you to control selections via IPOD *and* through the console. It also supports RCA which I also ran cables for.

IPOD works like a charm with every ignition startup. I can control playlists via IPOD, I can shuffle and skip music via console. I also hooked up a portable DVD player to RCA cables (for the kids). Madagascar sounded great.

Adrian Malta

I've recently bought an Accord 2004 EX with 6 CD changer and FM Radio. I read all the reviews about FM transmitters such as the ITrip and none seem to do the Job 100%. I read about the DICE and the other adapters but still there seems to be no 100% consensus that one of them is the ultimate solution. I badly want to be able to attach some form of MP3 player. Can anyone give me a 100% option?????????????????

Shahryar

I'm an '04 Accord w/ Nav owner who uses his XM too. It seems the DICE is a little too shaky so I think I'd rather just get something installed that gives me an Aux input to use with an ipod. I'm not a big fan of using the Tape input adapter (I have a tape player in my '04 Accord too).

What's the easiest way for me to go about this? I see a lot of links. But can anyone give suggestions on which tutorial gives the best advice. If I was to get the dealer help a little, I read on the logjam forum (http://logjam.d3datasolutions.com/forums/index....) that the dealer has a tool for $20 (or themselves can do it) which would remove the nav using the AC vents? Any advice on that.

By having a tape player put in, am I maybe in trouble? (because I'm using an iput on the Navi?)

Lynn

I'm on my 2nd unit now, having sent the first back due to it not registering at least 50% of the time. The company I bought it from claims "these units are solid" so it must be my BRAND NEW 2007 HONDA PILOT factory radio that is "defective" and therefore they will not refund my money without a 25% restocking fee. (Plus me paying the shipping to return the unit twice now.) They sent out a replacement unit, though it took 7 1/2 weeks from time they received the first one back and me badgering them several times before I received the replacement unit. The replacement unit does the same thing. As much as I love that this is the only unit I can find that allows both text display (in SAT radio mode) and full ipod control, it's just too frustrating to have to keep restarting the car to get it to work. Sometimes I can sit there and restart 8 times before it works. That is just unacceptable.

BEWARE because many places do charge a restocking fee.

Colin

Yes and yes!

foobar

I'm tempted to pick one up, but I want to know two things.
1:does it charge the ipod?
2:is manual ipod control still possible? If the reciever controls don't do what I want, then at least I can choose songs by hand, right?

gvillegirlie

I just purchased the DICE IHonda R3 2nd Generation. Ironically I have had similar issues. I took it to a local shop to install it, 3 hours later and a dead battery it still did not work as planned. I too have a 2004 Honda Accord EX with XM and Navigation. I am not sure where the problem lies but the steering wheel control (channel up/down) I am told should control my tracks, but it doesnt. The text is suppose to display on the big Navi screen like the XM use to but it does not. There is however some text appearing where the clock is. Finally the most frustrating part is that every other time you turn the car on it does not recognize the unit and I too have to turn it back off then on. I called DICE and they are sending me another unit. I can live with most of the issues, but I really need the steering wheel controls to work. Does anyone by chance have good install instructions, I wonder if part of the issue was due to install? Perhaps something is just connected wrong. Thanks!!

Colin

Yeah, I admit - not registering every time is getting frustrating. I cringe every time I have to turn the car off and on again since I know that puts stress on the engine. I will have to try the playlists thing. I guess I never fully read the instructions! :)

Tom

I'm in the middle of my install of the Dice unit and have found the same quirks. I'm still within the 2 week return period and I'm seriously considering doing so. The reality is that I not satisfied with the Dice unit ~usually~ registering as a changer. I've had the SNHOND3 aux converter installed (though no ipod control) for about 3 years and never had a problem. Obviously more is going on with the Dice unit than a simple AUX passthrough, but for $160 I expect AT A BARE MINIMUM for the unit to register every time.

As for playlist control, it is quite functional - though VERY clumsy. You can make up as many playlists as you want. What you do is go to "disk 2" when in CD-C mode and then use the track fwd/bak button to navigate playlists. The quirk is that the playlists are not numbered so although you "see" numbers on the radio head, the reality is they have no correspondence to which playlist is on the pod. You can navigate up or down, but that's it. If you just accept that the "track #" NEVER corresponds to which playlist you're listening to, you'll be happier. Also, as mentioned, when you turn the car off and on again, the iPod starts playing right where you left off. Great, except the the track number revert to 1 even if you're on song 20. Just accept that the track number MAY correspond to your track numbers within your playlist and you'll be happy.

Once you find your playlist you want, you go back to "CD-1" and you're on track 1 of the selected playlist. Navigation is straight forward within playlists.

The Dice unit is an inelegant solution though the sound is very good and the install is very easy. The fact that the unit only registers about 80% of the time is a good reason for me to go aftermarket with a whole new radio.

Colin

No, I have not been able to change playlists.

Colin

Im pretty sure I mashed all the buttons on my stereo to see what they did. I'll give it a shot and report back.

Jason

Nice writeup. The Dice site says you can access your playlists using the "CD" buttons, so changing playlists is the same as changing "CD"s. Is that true?

blog comments powered by Disqus

« Move iTunes to an external drive on your Mac – intelligently Monty Python – Argument Clinic »

Pintmaster