Fitting An Asuka Tv Tuner In A M35

[andynogo]

Well I finally got around to installing the TV tuner in my M35.

The car is a2001 M35 ARX with factory reverse camera, Japanese TV and bose stereo .

I bought an Asuka TV tuner from Chook on the forums and the rest of the stuff I had in my electronics parts bin or bought from Jaycar.

I also decided to run a 3 RCA lead from the glovebox to the Asuka AV1 input so that I could plug an ipod/dvd player etc in and view it on the screen (but only if the source is ntsc I believe). At the very least it will play the sound through the car stereo.

The first step was to buy 5m of four core shielded cable for the 3 RCA lead, along with a yellow, red and white male RCA plug, and a plate with RCA female connectors on it (all from Jaycar). Once finished, I had the three male plugs on one end (-->Asuka) and the females on the other, to be mounted above the glovebox.

I removed the glovebox (four screws inside top edge including latch screws and two on the bottom edge at each end), then removed the passenger kick panel and all the trims on the passenger side of the car. The trims on the bottom of the door openings simply pull up, the centre pillar one is clipped in place with fairly firm clips and the trim piece that runs up towards the rear from the back seat area is clipped and also has a hidden plug underneath the black trim that runs along the cargo area under the rear side window.

To remove that black trim, there are screws and clips. Some of the screws are behind hooks and some are behind little covers but are pretty obvious.

The rear left side trim doesn't need to be removed but loosened. Pry the plastic covers away on the chrome luggage hooks and unscrew them. Pull the rubber boot seal away and pry the side trim away- there's two plastic clips securing it but a flat blade screwdriver will help pop them.

Once this is all done, run whatever leads you need to the front of the car- at least the IR extender for the new tuner remote control. I ran that and my RCA lead.

The TV tuner box is secured vertically behind the side trim panel and can be recognised by the 4 aerial leads going in to it. Mine has a reverse camera so the wiring harness plugs into the AUX input socket (VTR in xanavi language). That little harness has a flying lead and socket on it as well, which is identical to the socket on the tuner(top right in first image below). So it's either the socket on the tuner or the female plug on the flying lead that we're going to be using to plug the asuka tuner in to. Oh, and ignore the "UP" marking on the tuner box- it's mounted facing down in our cars. The last photo shows the aux socket top left and power socket bottom right- for future reference.

In order to connect the asuka to the original tuner, you need a lead. You can buy one for Chris Rogers on the forum or if you're more adventurous, you can make one. I was impatient so decided to make one out of an old RCA lead and some computer connectors. The connectors are the sort that are used for front panel led's etc to connect to the motherboard. Only do this if you're pretty confident with your soldering skills as it's pretty fiddly.

The connection layout is as per the photo. VTR R+(red centre pin), VTR L+(white centre pin) and VTR GND are the audio connections. The grounds can be joined (this is the outer part of the RCA plug) for the VTR GND connection.

This is the new lead plugged into the flying harness

The VTR+ and VTR- are the video feeds which are the yellow RCA lead connections (again + is centre pin).

The top right pin in the socket is for the shield, which I didn't bother with. If you have a long cable run then you might need it. My lead ended up being around 20cm and it's fine.

On the diagram I drew above, the colours are the Nissan wiring loom colours.

Next, cut the connectors off the aerial leads, strip them back and join them in pairs. I soldered the centre conductors together to make it easier to connect- make sure all the braid is away from the centre. I was supplied with screw in connectors which aren't that secure but I made do. I ended up tightly wrapping the connectors with tape to hold the aerial leads in.

Power for the asuka. I only needed constant 12V, ignition switched 12V and earth. Earth is easy and I used one of the mount screws for the tuner. To get power, I piggy backed the power for the original tuner. As you look at the tuner in the car, there is a four pin harness going into the unit on the same side as the four aerials. On this harness, yellow is +12V and green is ignition switched 12V. I soldered my wires here- try to not twist and tape as they may well come loose. You can see below that the power harness also has a plug and socket- I found it easier to take the power off further up the harness past that plug and socket.

Up front, I stuck the IR receiver under the glovebox near the kick panel and my RCA sockets in the top of the glovebox- there's a little opening almost designed for it!

Now connect it all up and test. I hit the TV button on the dash then select the "VCR" setting. You should come up with the asuka test screen, which after the initial setup will probably be in black and white. Go into the menu, select ntsc output then tune and away you go!

If anyone wants larger photos, let me know and I'll email them to you.

Edited December 13, 2010 by andynogo

[Commsman]

Hey Andy.

That's a great write up. I'll be referring everyone to your guide when the new tuners arrive. Thanks

Cheers, Leon.

[andynogo]

No problems Leon. The fitting procedure should be pretty much the same for any digital tuner. Just wanted to add that the factory reverse camera still works as normal- the car automatically switches between the reverse camera and aux in (asuka tuner in my case). I'm guessing that cars without the reverse camera will simply have no harness plugged in to the factory tv tuner so the top right vtr/aux socket will be empty.

[andynogo]

I've since learnt that the factory antenna amps may not be powered up when setting the factory system to "VCR" to get the asuka signal. I'll be looking into this. Having said that, the reception in my car is pretty decent most of the time.

If this is the case, it should be easy enough to hook the factory amps up to an ignition switched 12V. Might be a good idea to run a power cable down to the back of the car from the fuse box if you're worried about overloading the circuit- quite a few people have done this with theirs. I didn't bother and haven't had an issue...but you never know...

[ironpaw]

Just curious - I've got an Asuka installed in the back of my car. How hard is it to swap it for a WDTV Live device? I don't need the TV tuner really - I just want media playback.

The only issue I forsee is that the remote won't work as the WD device doesn't have an extended IR receiver like the Asuka does...

I prefer the WD device as its alot of flexible then the Asuka when it comes to file formats and connectivity...

HA - this fixes the remote control issue: http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=&t=2332

looks like it should be a swap & plug n play job...maybe

Edited August 1, 2011 by ironpaw

[zei20l]

the tuners that Leon is selling has a media player built into it

yes it plays MKVs

[ironpaw]

yeah the one I got was an older one - it was already installed it the car. I don't know if its upgradable firmware wise or not, but I'm not going to buy another device of the same nature. The Asuka can't stream over wifi so its useless to me - I'm planning to stream the contents over wifi to a 7" or 10" android tab in the back so the kids can watch it.

Right now the Asuka can only play certain AVI's and outputs to the front screen. The kids keep bitching about not being able to see the screen properly and I worry about getting pulled over by the cops....

plus the WDTV + a wifi dongle would be like $120...

Also I'm not sure if the new Tuners supplied by Leon supports USB HDD's...a 32GB USB key is too small for all my MP3's AND movies for the kids...

Edited August 1, 2011 by ironpaw

[Commsman]

Your tuner has extra video outputs for rear monitors, yes? Why not hook some up (inbuilt into headrests perhaps) so you can have the front screen down & not be concerned about being nabbed? I've seen them for real cheap on Alibaba.

Not sure how to easily get round your file playing woes though, and I haven't got a 32Gb+ USB to try out in my tuner to see if it plays, sorry.

I wonder how effortless streaming wi-fi in your car would be? Kids being kids I could see lots of "dad can you fix this". lol

BTW, new tuners are on the way. Essentially the same as first batch but anodized black not gold, slightly smaller and with SD card slot as well. Nice!

[ironpaw]

Your tuner has extra video outputs for rear monitors, yes? Why not hook some up (inbuilt into headrests perhaps) so you can have the front screen down & not be concerned about being nabbed? I've seen them for real cheap on Alibaba.

Not sure how to easily get round your file playing woes though, and I haven't got a 32Gb+ USB to try out in my tuner to see if it plays, sorry.

I wonder how effortless streaming wi-fi in your car would be? Kids being kids I could see lots of "dad can you fix this". lol

BTW, new tuners are on the way. Essentially the same as first batch but anodized black not gold, slightly smaller and with SD card slot as well. Nice!

I rather deal with Wifi streaming then ripping stuff up and laying cables...its just me

The killer is still file format and size limitations. I don't want to reencode all my WMV's and MKV's...with the SD card slot your max capacity will be 64GB...which should be just ok....I guess.

[Commsman]

I rather deal with Wifi streaming then ripping stuff up and laying cables...its just me

The killer is still file format and size limitations. I don't want to reencode all my WMV's and MKV's...with the SD card slot your max capacity will be 64GB...which should be just ok....I guess.

The new tuners still come with USB also. Not sure about limits on those, but it could be 64Gb for SD & maybe 32Gb or 64Gb for USB?? (just plucking figures) but combined it's starting to get decent.

[ironpaw]

The new tuners still come with USB also. Not sure about limits on those, but it could be 64Gb for SD & maybe 32Gb or 64Gb for USB?? (just plucking figures) but combined it's starting to get decent.

The one I got (Asuka HIII) already has USB.

But for the price of a 64GB USB key I could get a portable 1.5TB USB 3.0 HDD

[zei20l]

i should stick a USB hard drive in there with NTFS and FAT32 and see what it can read

probably only FAT32 as it can record onto the USB from the TV tuner

[ironpaw]

i should stick a USB hard drive in there with NTFS and FAT32 and see what it can read

probably only FAT32 as it can record onto the USB from the TV tuner

I doubt the Asuka can do NTFS...

Which one do u have?

[zei20l]

sorry, i dont mean the asuka one, i mean the 'Leon one' (what brand is it?? lol)

[whitestag]

lol i still havent installed my one, lost the cable from standard tuner to asuka, should really get around to doing that....

[andynogo]

I can confirm that with the factory TV set at "aux" to get the asuka/aftermarket picture on the screen, the factory antenna amps are NOT powered.

I took power from the +12V ign supply for my asuka and fed it into the amps- sorted.

The amps are powered by a little brown plug that comes off the antenna leads down near the TV units. I snipped and spliced the new power supply in- onto both wires. Make sure the snipped unused wires are insulated as they may have 12V on them at times.

Edited August 4, 2011 by andynogo

[YEE-HAA]

Well I finally got around to installing the TV tuner in my M35.

The car is a2001 M35 ARX with factory reverse camera, Japanese TV and bose stereo .

The TV tuner box is secured vertically behind the side trim panel and can be recognised by the 4 aerial leads going in to it. Mine has a reverse camera so the wiring harness plugs into the AUX input socket (VTR in xanavi language). That little harness has a flying lead and socket on it as well, which is identical to the socket on the tuner(top right in first image below). So it's either the socket on the tuner or the female plug on the flying lead that we're going to be using to plug the asuka tuner in to. Oh, and ignore the "UP" marking on the tuner box- it's mounted facing down in our cars. The last photo shows the aux socket top left and power socket bottom right- for future reference.

In order to connect the asuka to the original tuner, you need a lead. You can buy one for Chris Rogers on the forum or if you're more adventurous, you can make one. I was impatient so decided to make one out of an old RCA lead and some computer connectors. The connectors are the sort that are used for front panel led's etc to connect to the motherboard. Only do this if you're pretty confident with your soldering skills as it's pretty fiddly.

The connection layout is as per the photo. VTR R+(red centre pin), VTR L+(white centre pin) and VTR GND are the audio connections. The grounds can be joined (this is the outer part of the RCA plug) for the VTR GND connection.

This is the new lead plugged into the flying harness

The VTR+ and VTR- are the video feeds which are the yellow RCA lead connections (again + is centre pin).

The top right pin in the socket is for the shield, which I didn't bother with. If you have a long cable run then you might need it. My lead ended up being around 20cm and it's fine.

On the diagram I drew above, the colours are the Nissan wiring loom colours.

Next, cut the connectors off the aerial leads, strip them back and join them in pairs. I soldered the centre conductors together to make it easier to connect- make sure all the braid is away from the centre. I was supplied with screw in connectors which aren't that secure but I made do. I ended up tightly wrapping the connectors with tape to hold the aerial leads in.

Power for the asuka. I only needed constant 12V, ignition switched 12V and earth. Earth is easy and I used one of the mount screws for the tuner. To get power, I piggy backed the power for the original tuner. As you look at the tuner in the car, there is a four pin harness going into the unit on the same side as the four aerials. On this harness, yellow is +12V and green is ignition switched 12V. I soldered my wires here- try to not twist and tape as they may well come loose. You can see below that the power harness also has a plug and socket- I found it easier to take the power off further up the harness past that plug and socket.

Up front, I stuck the IR receiver under the glovebox near the kick panel and my RCA sockets in the top of the glovebox- there's a little opening almost designed for it!

Now connect it all up and test. I hit the TV button on the dash then select the "VCR" setting. You should come up with the asuka test screen, which after the initial setup will probably be in black and white. Go into the menu, select ntsc output then tune and away you go!

If anyone wants larger photos, let me know and I'll email them to you.

Hi

This may or may not be a noob question, but Im making the flying lead to plug into the JDM tuner and I dont have factory rear camera and am wondering

1: if, in my picture attached, is that the view when you are looking into the plug on the JDM tuner or into the loom itself? and...

2: for the guys who own a PM35 and have done this mod, if the wire configuration is the same as the earlier tuner as used in this example as they are different part numbers to the later ones, and the later ones dont have the rca inputs on the jdm tuner.

Thanks in advance!

[YEE-HAA]

OK

I have managed to answer my own question, with the help of reading another post where someone fitted a tuner to a v35.

He gave me the idea to unscrew the circuit board from the case itself and presto the information I needed was there.

They are in fact the same configuration on my board @ least, and you can see it will be whilst looking into the plug on the tuner itself.

Its best compared whilst the board is upside down, and the words "VTR R+" & "SHIELD" whilst they are @ the bottom of the picture labelled 'car pics 031A', they correspond to being @ the top of the plug/top of the same picture .

Also I have a picture of the main grey plug which contains all the other vital connections such as power and ground etc. Hope this is of some help to you guys.

[whitestag]

sorry to drag an old thread out of the grave, but i just got around to installing my asuka, but now i cant get it to show on screen, followed the install instructions, but in this one says to select the VCR, where do i do that? it shows nothing...

kinda stumped, i got a 250t RX with bose, no reverse camera. any idea's on how to get it to show?

[whitestag]

sorry finally found the option, but its just a black screen, any idea;s as to whats wrong, im fairly sure i didnt mess the wiring up, when i turn the asuka on and off you can hear the sub click, so i guess its sound works.