Problem with iPhone Bluetooth and Pioneer DEH-9800BT

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Level 1

6 points

Problem with iPhone Bluetooth and Pioneer DEH-9800BT

Hi!

I have a Pioneer DEH-9800BT and I've used it over the years a LOT with my iPhone, and it worked fine for phone calls, except it doesn't auto connect, which means that every time I get in the car I need to connect manually. But I've gotten used to it. But now, with OS 3.0, they brought a new feature that I've been excpecting for a LONG time: Bluetooth audio.

Theoretically, I can now listen to the songs on my iPhone through the car stereo using no cables.

I say theoretically, because when I actually do it, the songs do play, but every few seconds I get a small gap of silence, like a skipping record. it doesn't last for more than a few milliseconds, but it's enough for me to notice it. What's the deal here? Not enough bandwidth? What? Is the problem on the stereo side, or on the iPhone side? Anyone?

MacBook Pro 17" 2.66MHz, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 1, 2009 11:02 AM

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Answer 1

qumefox

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2009 1:46 PM in response to baterax

I actually am in the same situation with identical hardware. One possible test I think would be to try the iphone with another BT audio client other than the DEH-P9800BT and see if it still skips. If so, It's an iPhone issue. If not, it's the 9800's BT implementation that's buggy. Might also try another BT audio source with the pioneer, though if your like me, you probably don't own any other BT sources or playback devices other than the iPhone and the 9800. :P

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Answer 2

qumefox

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2009 3:06 PM in response to baterax

Actually I just ran into a friend who has a razor v3m and we tried it in my car. There were no issues whatsoever with BT audio playback using the v3m. No skips or pops at all, so looks like the issues is definitely with the iPhone's A2DP BT profile.. I only hope it gets fixed with the next iphone update.

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Answer 3

Jul 13, 2009 9:04 PM in response to qumefox

i've got an AVIC D3 not sure which BT module its using but it works fine streaming audio...no bugs!

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Answer 4

stjung

Level 1

15 points

Jul 13, 2009 9:38 PM in response to baterax

I'm having the same exact problem! I'm using the Pioneer DEH-4900IB with the bluetooth add-on. Every few seconds, the audio cuts out for a millisecond, so it makes the song sound choppy. I don't know if it's the head unit or the iPhone, but I assume it's the iPhone since phone calls sound fine (contact me about that by the way, you have to register your phone so the head unit looks for it when you turn your car on)

Do you suppose it's because we're using both bluetooth for the calls and for the iPod audio?

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Answer 5

qumefox

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2009 10:27 PM in response to airguitar

The DEH-P9800BT has BT built in. No add on module needed for it.

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Answer 6

qumefox

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2009 10:35 PM in response to stjung

As I said before. I found a friend who had a motorola razr v3c phone that supported audio playback as well, and when we bonded it to my DEH-P9800BT in my car, it had no problems playing back audio through the head unit while the iPhone skipped regularly.. Leading me to believe the iPhone's A2DP (stereo audio) bluetooth profile has issues. while the HSP and HFP profiles work ok.

If it was the 9800BT that had the problem. the v3c should have had the same skipping when it was playing back as the iphone does. Who knows.

Maybe its a processing issue. Is anyone with one of these headunits that are having issues using one of the new faster 3Gs iPhones? Mine's just a 3g.

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Answer 7

Jul 24, 2009 2:06 PM in response to qumefox

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem with my iPhone 3G 3.0 and a Pioneer DEH-9880BT.
I performed two tests:
• Connected one HTC cell phone as BT audio source for the Pioneer. It worked well, with no gaps.
• Connected my iPhone to a Motorola S9 Bluetooth headphone and… it worked perfectly too!
Conclusion: both iPhone and Pioneer work well, but not together!
I really hope that someone manages to find a way to correct this issue, or hopefully, with the 3.1 firmware for the iPhone…

Regards

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Answer 8

Aug 24, 2009 1:29 PM in response to mfogaccia

Just came across this very same issue when streaming music to the latest version of Ford Sync. No data is missing, just momentary pauses in music playback at seemingly random intervals.

A friend in the Ford group that engineers Sync says they are working with Apple on the issue.

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Answer 9

Aug 27, 2009 9:49 AM in response to baterax

I have this same problem with the 3G 3.0 and P9800BT. I'm going to try to reboot my phone and then reconnect and see if this still happens. Really annoying to have this capability but have it ruined by this. Has anyone just gone to a auxilary hardline to the Iphone and reciever?

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Answer 10

Aug 27, 2009 1:54 PM in response to Luckyboyee777

I'm having the same issue with my Alpine KCE-400BT module. Sounds like from these posts and after speaking with Alpine techs, that this is an iPhone issue.
Googling iphone bluetooth skipping pulls threads with other people have same issue with, for example, Ford Sync

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Answer 11

apalika

Level 1

0 points

Sep 2, 2009 8:12 AM in response to baterax

I am experiencing the exact same millisecond skipping in every 3-7 second, on iPhone 3GS connected to JVC KDR-800. It is very annoying! I could hook up the iPhone to the JVC with the cable and have crystal clear sound but then I would have to tether the laptop via Bluetooth, what actually sounds like a good idea but here are the problems that way
1.) all calls have terrible quality during bluetooth tethered session
2.) can not stream online radio from laptop via Bluetooth
3.) internet cuts out more often via Bluetooth session
Hopefully apple will fix some of this Bluetooth bandwidth guzzling problems.

🙂

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Answer 12

Sep 14, 2009 10:52 AM in response to baterax

I'm having the same issue with the JVC KD-BT1 head unit that has integrated Bluetooth. Bluetooth Audio used to work fine with my old N95 8GB and voice calls seem (thus far) to be ok, it's the music streaming that's causing the issue.

Phone HAS been upgraded to OS 3.1, but the problem still exists with this version.

Shame as the sound quality is far superior to something like my old iTrip, which was great for my iPod, but doesn't charge the phone 😟

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Answer 13

baterax Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 30, 2009 12:29 AM in response to baterax

OK water got into my car and I had to replace the headunit. The DEH-9800BT wasn't available anymore so I got a DEH-P800BT and it now auto connects fine.

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