DICE Silverline - First Impressions

Hmm. Vagabond had me all excited about the Silverline, but while this does add capabilities you don't have right now, it sure doesn't sound any more intuitive. And perhaps (if your observations bear out for others) not much less buggy. I think I'll stick with what I got. At least it works 95% of the time for me!

 

Just got mine this afternoon and set it up. LOVE it. Everything works exactly as advertised. I was a little worried at first; then I read the directions.

 

Any way you could post a video of how it works? I'd love to see it in action first...

 

I just installed my Dice unit today and was a little confused at first also. While I love the fact that I can blast my own music now, I feel like I'm just as distracted now as I was when I was using my iPod controls. Here are my issues:

1. Does somebody know how to have the Artist and Song Name appear on the screen, instead of Album Title and Song Name. I have no idea what artists title their albums, and so I have no idea who is singing the song.

2. Is there a way to have the tuner knob on the actual radio change artists? Right now, it seems as if I can only use the tuner buttons on the steering wheel to change artists, meaning I'm forced to push the button, wait for the next artist, then push the button again. How do I go from blasting Ace of Base to pumping out some Spice Girls? One artist at a time...that would take SO long.

3. I was under the impression that the Dice unit would turn the iPod on and off once the car was turned off and the power had stopped. However, it looks like my iPod stays on after the car is off, and once it finally turns off, I'm forced to manually turn it back on when I start the car?

To anyone who may know...there is a chance I messed something up in the install, and I'm simply one correct connection away from having all these issues be fixed. But, I'm pretty sure it's all correct, and if that is the case, while this unit is awesome for providing me with my music through my radio, it is not an easy system to use.

I look forward to hearing from other people about what they think, and any troubleshooting if something I may have setup or hooked up is leading to these issues.

 

I have the Silver line iPod controller on another non-Prius car, and at the moment, I am decidedly under-whelmed. Recognizing the chance that I am making some mistakes, I am holding off a final assessment, but right now, things don't look too good on the DICE front.

 

I just shot video of the installation today, I'm still working on the kinks with mine too, I have NO text at all on mine. any help?

 

what kind of iPod?

are your dipswitches correct? (are you in iPod mode or DICE mode?)

 

new nano, I'm in mp3 mode. ipode switches are up/down (off/on)

 

i think the new iPods (nano, classic, touch) can only operate in DICE mode, so both of the switches need to be the same

 

i've tried every combination, frustrated,

 

I received my Dice SilverLine on Friday and installed it Saturday (took about 1.5 - 2 hours to complete). I have been very happy with it to this point. I have an '08 Prius and a 3rd Gen iPod (a clunker).

I did a lot of testing in every mode and found out a few things that may help some of you. For one, I prefer satellite mode because the different controls (track, playlist, artist etc) are written on the screen so you don't have to remember what is what. I also like satellite mode because it appears to be the only mode that scrolling works on. I can't tell the difference between long scroll and short scroll though. I never use the artist/album search when using my iPod, so perhaps I don't realize the shortcomings of this mode on the dice unit. The dice unit in satellite mode works very well if you are someone who just wants to play playlists. This is all I do, so I am very happy. In this case, except if I change playlists, I can just leave it on the "text" screen. The track title and artist album just scroll across the screen.

There are some things I would like it to do better, but I realize that Dice can only offer limited functionality due to how the car's stereo system was designed. I would really like a search function, but I understand that is a pipe dream. I also would like a way to leave the "Audio" screen up. It only puts it up for about 10 seconds then either goes black or goes back to the "Energy/Info" screen. If anyone knows how to make it do that I would be in your debt.

I think people need to realize something though when they find something isn't as intuitive as it could be. The people that make these devices (Scosche, Dice, Vais, etc.) are really boxed in. They are trying to make something work when they weren't able to design the interface. The interface is hard coded in the computer in your car. So, they can only make it work so well. An example of this is that the "Tune" knob does not work as some people would expect for scrolling. It is possible that this does not send anything in Satellite or MP3 mode out the connector in the back of the head unit. If this is the case, there is nothing that Dice could do about this. They can't make the controls do something they didn't do before.

Fweeper

 

Here is what I would suggest:

Try satellite mode for the Car (on/off I think) and Dice mode for the iPod (off/off).

I have found this to be the most intuitive mode. The text will display when you select "TEXT" on the main screen.

Fweeper