Dazman Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Hi all, I have just recently become a member and this is my first post. I recently insured my Alphard with Adrian Flux and what a pleasure it is to drive. Anyway, which head unit is the best replacement for the original NHZA W59G. I would love the replacement unit to be compatible with steering wheel controller and maintain my back up camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojie Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 Hello Dazman, Welcome to the Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.ac Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 What does that headunit look like, and what year of manufacture in your 20series, the wiring plugs went through several changes between 2008 and 2015, with different parts of the loom 'hidden' dependant on if you had intelligent parking assist (auto parking with 3 or 4 cameras), rear camera only, Navigation, media HDD, usb input, rear screen, 8 or 18 speaker setup etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 Thanks for responding. My Alphard is a late 2009 on a 59 plate. My car does not have park assistant or 8 speakers and does not have a USB input. You can play DVDs on the unit. The unit can also accept a SD. I looked at many Alphards before I went this one and I did notice that there are different head units. I will take a better photo of the unit, the attached photo was on my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 Photo taken from the manual apologies if this does not help. Later I will take a better photo of the unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 Here is a photo of the unit in my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 Follow up on NHZA-W59G navigation head unit, my initial intention was to get rid of this ASAP. However, having spent some time with the unit, just over a week I'm just starting to get use to the unit, only just mind you. So far I managed to set up the speakers when I was playing a CD very easy to set up. My next goal will be to connect my phone via Bluetooth and connect my wife's iphone via the AUX input. One thing I did notice I managed to come across a menu that appears to monitor the diagnostics of the car, I need to do somemore investigation as I can not remember how I found this menu. I will do another follow up in due course. I will not be getting rid of this unit under circumstances, never thought I would be heading in that direction..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojie Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 What year is your Alph ? There is all sorts of info in some HDD units. Maintenance schedules etc. Quite amazing for the year. Some members use Google translate to help understand 'what is what' in the display (until they get used to it). I elected to keep my 'old' head unit as replacements are not cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 My Alphard is a late 2009 which has been registered on a 59 plate. I'm going to carry on exploring the menus eventually I will get use to it. I do agree for a 2009 head unit it was incredibly advanced even by today's standards. I will keep posting on my progress and hopefully it will help others whare are thinking about changing the unit. Like I said before I will not be changing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.ac Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I don't have info on the panasonic headunits, just that I am certain you can update the firmware to english, and updates the maps via DVD/SD I recall reading about it on some website whilst trying to find out about my own headunit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 The ability to update the firmware and maps is very interesting. If you ever come across the website let me know. I will have do some research as well, I did see a few videos where by the firmware was updated. The difficulty is finding someone in this country that can do the firmware update and also apply the update to different types of unit. I did suspect the unit is panasonic, I will start doing some digging and I will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulS Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 If you go into the menu there's a screen that has options that seem to include service status, diagnostics, etc. This video https://youtu.be/96rPLLQ1GHQ shows how to get into the menu (initially by keeping the G Book button pressed whilst turning the lights on & off), then use your phone with Google Lens to translate the options on the menus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 The ability to update the firmware and maps is very interesting. If you ever come across the website let me know. I will have do some research as well, I did see a few videos where by the firmware was updated. The difficulty is finding someone in this country that can do the firmware update and also apply the update to different types of unit. I did suspect the unit is panasonic, I will start doing some digging and I will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 I'm sure with my unit I managed to enter the maintenance menu without turning the lights on and off and holding down a button. I purchased a SD card and down loaded onto the card a WMA file essentially a music file. For some reason the unit says it does not recognise the file format which is a little odd. The unit should be able to play WMA format. If anyone has used the used slot and managed to get it working please let me know. Has anyone connected a phone to the aux and played music via the aux input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 I must admit a few days ago I was willing to give up on my HZA WG59 nav unit. I could not get the SD card to play any of my music for some bizarre reason. I have successfully managed to connect my phone via Bluetooth as an external media. So now I can play my music from phone and control the volume and track selection from the steering wheel controller. Note this unit has an unusual Bluetooth connection. Once have paired your phone to the unit you must press an icon on the screen 'connect' to connect your phone. Most Bluetooth devices wold connect as soon as your Bluetooth is initialised. Not this unit, you must press connect on the unit if the 'BT' has been struck out. I tried connecting my phone via a aux lead, absolutely rubbish, stick with Bluetooth or CDs. In my next post I will experiment with the DVD player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 Latest on the NHZA-W59G, for some reason in day time the display was unreadable. Some how the display brightness was turned down. My mechanic has a habitat of changing the settings on my car when he does any kind of work. On this occasion he switched my lights completely off now this is linked to head unit and if switch head lights to certain setting the display on the head unit is basically so low it is unreadable. I set my lights to auto so in the day the head unit display is not compromised in anyway. Result I can now reverse the car in the day and use my back up camera. My last post will be on the DVD player, I'm just waiting for a region 2 NTC DVD to be delivered so that I can test the player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojie Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 55 minutes ago, Dazman said: Latest on the NHZA-W59G, for some reason in day time the display was unreadable. Some how the display brightness was turned down. My mechanic has a habitat of changing the settings on my car when he does any kind of work. On this occasion he switched my lights completely off now this is linked to head unit and if switch head lights to certain setting the display on the head unit is basically so low it is unreadable. I set my lights to auto so in the day the head unit display is not compromised in anyway. Result I can now reverse the car in the day and use my back up camera. My last post will be on the DVD player, I'm just waiting for a region 2 NTC DVD to be delivered so that I can test the player. Hi Dazman DVD should play PAL DVDs; mine does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 Strange, I tried a PAL region 2 DVD I.e. DVDs that play in the UK and it did not work. I take it you unit is the same as mine NHZA-W59G? The manual says the unit will only play region 2 NTSC. Interesting, I will another PAL region 2 DVD and a region NTSC when it is delivered and I will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojie Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 10 hours ago, Dazman said: Strange, I tried a PAL region 2 DVD I.e. DVDs that play in the UK and it did not work. I take it you unit is the same as mine NHZA-W59G? The manual says the unit will only play region 2 NTSC. Interesting, I will another PAL region 2 DVD and a region NTSC when it is delivered and I will report back. I have a series 10, with the HDD headunit. My unit is an older version. It also, probably, shouldn't pay PAL, but it does ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazman Posted April 7, 2022 Author Share Posted April 7, 2022 I purchased a NTC region 2 DVD and the head unit played it as expected. Fortunately there was and option to play the DVD in English. In summary if you are happy to live with out a sat nav then why change the unit? Yes it has been journey and yes at one stage I felt like throwing in the towel. However, now that my phone is connected via Bluetooth it is all good. This unit was way before its time. Sound quality is spot on and I have saved myself a lot of money. Using a Japanese head unit is not everyone's cup of tea, I will be sticking with it..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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