Changing the rear view camera

[yyzx6]

Does anyone know if I can change the back up camera on the X6 with a different brand, but still get the same function like lane guidance......? The cameara quality is just very crappy compare to other camera I've seen.

[dmlgc]

I would like to know about this too, I hacked an after market one into my x5 and it has really good resolution. I don't have my X6 yet so I can't investigate to where the camera connects and what type of connectors.
Hopefully someone will enlighten us.

[chuck92103]

I am fine with the current camera. It is for navigating when backing up not family photos.

However, I think a bigger annoyance than the camera resolution is the fact it is never ready to display an image after getting in and starting the car. I am already down the street before the image shows up. So I rarely ever use it.

[yyzx6]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

I am fine with the current camera. It is for navigating when backing up not family photos.

However, I think a bigger annoyance than the camera resolution is the fact it is never ready to display an image after getting in and starting the car. I am already down the street before the image shows up. So I rarely ever use it.

The display quality of the camera is really bad and fuzzy! On my wife's Q7 I can CLEARLY see everything behind me.

[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by yyzx6

The display quality of the camera is really bad and fuzzy! On my wife's Q7 I can CLEARLY see everything behind me.

I don't have my X6 yet either, so I can't comment on quality.

I assume it could be one of two things:

1. The Imaging sensor is of poor quality and outputs a low resolution signal.

2. The lens in front of the sensor is of poor quality or is out of focus producing a fuzzy picture.

[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

I am fine with the current camera. It is for navigating when backing up not family photos.

However, I think a bigger annoyance than the camera resolution is the fact it is never ready to display an image after getting in and starting the car. I am already down the street before the image shows up. So I rarely ever use it.

My wife has a similar issue with the backup PDC system in her BMW... It takes WAY to long for the system to initialize. Sometimes the PDC shows up on the iDrive screen after she already backed out of the driveway and is half way down the road. I think this has something to do with the navigation DVD drive. The drive needs to initialize and start reading data before the iDrive controller is ready to process any other request/data input. I think/hope that the next generation HDD based iDrive should correct this problem.

[xDrive50i]

Here is a diagram of what the reversing camera in the X6 looks like:

[dmlgc]

What I would be curious about is the connection to ( I assume ) the nav unit. I am wondering how much of a roll the camera has in reverse guidance vs the nav unit. The camera could be a simple dumb camera with the nav/? providing the guidance. If that's the case upgrading to a better camera would be trivial. For some reason BMW seems to use butt ugly (like ones that come on x5) low grade cameras.

[chuck92103]

Originally Posted by dmlgc

What I would be curious about is the connection to ( I assume ) the nav unit. I am wondering how much of a roll the camera has in reverse guidance vs the nav unit. The camera could be a simple dumb camera with the nav/? providing the guidance. If that's the case upgrading to a better camera would be trivial. For some reason BMW seems to use butt ugly (like ones that come on x5) low grade cameras.

I am not sure if it is the camera or software but...

When you are in reverse and stopped, the camera pans down, when you start moving in reverse in appears the camera moves up towards the horizon. This is documented in the manual as well. So a regular camera may not work.

[dmlgc]

Thanks Chuck,
guess that answers it.

[xDrive50i]

The X5 (E70) and X6 (E71) use the exact same REVERSING CAMERA

Latest part number for the camera is:

66 53 9 181 757 (since MARCH 2008)

prior to March of 2008, the X6 appears to have a different camera listed than the X5 (E70). The X5 (E70) went through five different camera part numbers already! The X6 has two listed so far with the above part number being the latest in production.

[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

I am not sure if it is the camera or software but...

When you are in reverse and stopped, the camera pans down, when you start moving in reverse in appears the camera moves up towards the horizon. This is documented in the manual as well. So a regular camera may not work.

I believe I read somewhere that the camera does this to aid the driver if he needs to hook up a trailer.

[dmlgc]

Ok, I haven't seen the X6 camera yet so maybe BMW improved it's looks, sounds like definitely it's functionality. My X5 is an 2006 E53 so at that time the BMW rear view camera was this big black box thing by the license plate. So I did after market. I hope that they have at least made it look better. I sure the resolution will be a subjective thing depending on what you're use to.

[shenard]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

I am fine with the current camera. It is for navigating when backing up not family photos.

However, I think a bigger annoyance than the camera resolution is the fact it is never ready to display an image after getting in and starting the car. I am already down the street before the image shows up. So I rarely ever use it.

That is kind of driving me crazy too. everything I start up the car and switch to reverse it is never ready like my wifes Lexus RX330. You have to hit accept on the iDrive and then wait a few seconds for system to be ready.

[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by shenard

That is kind of driving me crazy too. everything I start up the car and switch to reverse it is never ready like my wifes Lexus RX330. You have to hit accept on the iDrive and then wait a few seconds for system to be ready.

shenard, try to eject the navigation dvd and next time you start up the car (without the navigation dvd in the drive), see if the display comes up faster. Some drives have issues reading the navigation dvd and hence it takes sooooo long for the system to be ready.

[shenard]

Originally Posted by xDrive50i

shenard, try to eject the navigation dvd and next time you start up the car (without the navigation dvd in the drive), see if the display comes up faster. Some drives have issues reading the navigation dvd and hence it takes sooooo long for the system to be ready.

I will check tomorrow when I start up the engine. Do the dealers have a service bulletin or fix for this?

[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by shenard

I will check tomorrow when I start up the engine. Do the dealers have a service bulletin or fix for this?

Don't think so, none that I have seen or come across....

But the DVD drive may have issues calibrating/focusing the laser on the disc and it may take a couple of tries before the drive can finally read data reliably from the DVD disc.

Try removing the disc before you start your car. See how long it takes the system to bring up the rear view camera. If it is considerably faster, you may want to check with your dealer and see if they can get you a different navigation DVD (even if it is just to test). If the time improves with a different disc, it may be the combination of the disc and drive that causes this delay.

Please remember that there will always be a certain delay for the system to initialize before it can accept any kind of input.

Hope this helps...

[chuck92103]

Originally Posted by xDrive50i

Don't think so, none that I have seen or come across....

But the DVD drive may have issues calibrating/focusing the laser on the disc and it may take a couple of tries before the drive can finally read data reliably from the DVD disc.

Try removing the disc before you start your car. See how long it takes the system to bring up the rear view camera. If it is considerably faster, you may want to check with your dealer and see if they can get you a different navigation DVD (even if it is just to test). If the time improves with a different disc, it may be the combination of the disc and drive that causes this delay.

Please remember that there will always be a certain delay for the system to initialize before it can accept any kind of input.

Hope this helps...

The problem is boot order I think. Nav boots first. should be last. I think bluetooth is the last thing to boot currently.

Should be camera/pdc, bluetooth, etc. nav should be last since it takes the longest.

[shenard]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

The problem is boot order I think. Nav boots first. should be last. I think bluetooth is the last thing to boot currently.

Should be camera/pdc, bluetooth, etc. nav should be last since it takes the longest.

I wonder if the dealer can change this somehow? I will ask them. Perhaps, if enough people complain about this then BMW NA will change this. Does not seem like it would be a hard fix.

[chuck92103]

Originally Posted by shenard

I wonder if the dealer can change this somehow? I will ask them. Perhaps, if enough people complain about this then BMW NA will change this. Does not seem like it would be a hard fix.

I know with all of the cars I had with iDrive, it tooks 28 seconds to boot from a cold start with nav. About 10 seconds without nav.

If you don't use CA, and unlock the car using the fob from afar, the boot time starts as soon as the door(s) unlock. So by the time you get in the iDrive is ready.

CA does not give you ample time for the boot sequence before driving.

[OmanXDiver]

i want to change the camera, its useless especially at night!

[chuck92103]

Originally Posted by OmanXDiver

i want to change the camera, its useless especially at night!

Any camera would be unless it is infrared or you had a bright bright backup light.

You know you can change the display from camera to full PDC graphics?