# Pioneer AVH-X8500BHS - The tips and tricks thread



## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

I though it would be a good idea to create a tips and tricks thread for this unit. I've had several issues that I ended working out oin my own due to the lack of information. Things like:


The unit will not take any USB or SD card larger than 32GB
The unit will not read any USB or SD card formatted in any format other than FAT32
The screen is extremely dim from the factory, for some reason I had to reset the unit and the screen looks very nice and bright, even under sun light
For some reason, the phone call pick up and hang up from the steering wheel controls do not work (any workarounds out there?), all other controls work just fine

If you have any other info that you like to share about this unit (or similar Pioneer units) this is the place to do it. Hopefully this thread will also serve the folks that are considering to purchase it.


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## 69Voltage (Jul 30, 2013)

This was one of two HU's I was considering and I remember reading complaints about difficulty viewing the screen in direct sunlight. Going to follow this thread.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

I haven't seen a unit yet that the BT buttons work on. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk now Free


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

quality_sound said:


> I haven't seen a unit yet that the BT buttons work on.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk now Free


If you pickup/hang up the call form the screen it works just fine. The steering controls for these functions are not responsive during a call. When not in a call the same steering control will move up/down folders in USB/MD.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

That's what I meant. The SWC buttons don't seem to work on any radio. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

I've been told that the iDatalink Maestro can be programmed to properly work the Bluetooth phone functions/controls on the Pioneer units.


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## whatitdo (May 24, 2009)

if using a pac audio swi piece you can program a answer call and end call for a pioneer now if your answer button on the steering wheel is on a different circuit from the steering wheel control it not going to work. if answer phone call is more important the volume, source, and etc. when programing the steering control module replace answering phone call with your choice. if you are using a pac audio piece program the up and down on your steering wheel from present up and down to track up and down that should change your usb from up/down folder to track inside of the folder


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

how do i program the buttons? i could not find it in the settings..


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## milz_long (Oct 23, 2013)

Has anyone here done the parking brake by-pass on this particular unit?? I've already tried the 3 wire relay thing off ebay and I just tried putting a basic 2-way toggle switch on the green parking brake wire off the Pioneer harness with the other prong grounded but I still cannot seem to get it to where I can control my ipod from the ipod itself and not thru the screen on the deck. I also have all the wiring to hook up my ipod for video as well as the wiring for my iPhone 5. Any ideas here?? Thanks for the help.


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

Anyone know how to remove the gap between songs? Pretty annoying when playing tracks that are supposed to be continuous.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

What format? iTunes can make gapless compilations. 


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

The recording is already gapless, but the head unit is adding the gap. There must be a setting to remove it but I cannot find it.


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## Negolien (May 17, 2010)

can try mixtrax if that one has it. Not really a big fan of that app myself though.


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

So, about that 32GB restriction I posted earlier where the head unit can only see up to 32GB devices (SD, USB, or Hard Drive), I was wrong. I think it has to do with how you format the device. Just for ****s and giggles I formatted a 160GB hard drive I had laying around with my Ubuntu machine and it worked beautifully. Here are my settings in case you want to use a larger hard drive with this unit:










This screen shot was done with my a 2GB thumbdrive I had near me, but the settings are the same. I think I may buy an even larger hard drive to try as all my music is lossless.


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## crazhorse (Mar 9, 2010)

Was curious about capacities with the Pioneer head units... just installed a AVH 4100NEX. Trying to figure out the best option for storage for my flac files.


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## Oklasfinest405 (Oct 25, 2015)

69Voltage said:


> This was one of two HU's I was considering and I remember reading complaints about difficulty viewing the screen in direct sunlight. Going to follow this thread.


My AVH-7700BT SCREEN I SUPER BRIGHT DURING THE DAY ! THE BOTTOM OF THE Option's List there is a Day And night mode That comes From A Reset on Automatic Mode switch to manual then prepare to be Blinded ! It Also Help that I Got 5% tint !


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

crazhorse said:


> Was curious about capacities with the Pioneer head units... just installed a AVH 4100NEX. Trying to figure out the best option for storage for my flac files.


Just format the USB device as plain old FAT 32 and it will work just fine. After the 160GB drive I got a 500GB drive and it works fine. The only thing is that the larger the drive the longer it takes for the unit to do the initial read (index) after turning on your car, once the indexing is done it will work fine.


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## crazhorse (Mar 9, 2010)

Ya ended up getting a 168gb sd card, works great sofar....


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## garykfnk (Apr 11, 2016)

Has anyone installed the AVH-X5800BHS in a Dodge with the Infinity Amp?
Im not getting sound out of the speakers.
Think I hooked everything right but I must have missed something, probably stupid.


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## TheTodd (Feb 11, 2016)

milz_long said:


> Has anyone here done the parking brake by-pass on this particular unit?? I've already tried the 3 wire relay thing off ebay and I just tried putting a basic 2-way toggle switch on the green parking brake wire off the Pioneer harness with the other prong grounded but I still cannot seem to get it to where I can control my ipod from the ipod itself and not thru the screen on the deck. I also have all the wiring to hook up my ipod for video as well as the wiring for my iPhone 5. Any ideas here?? Thanks for the help.


On my 4400 I have the parking brake wire run to ground through a basic toggle switch but the unit itself looks for the parking brake (or the switch in this case) to be on-off-on. Try that sequence and see if it works. If I just flip the switch it doesn't do anything. I can control my iPod directly anyway, but to watch a movie or even access my Bluetooth menu I have to do the on-off-on sequence.


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## dadebola (Sep 9, 2017)

fcarpio said:


> crazhorse said:
> 
> 
> > Was curious about capacities with the Pioneer head units... just installed a AVH 4100NEX. Trying to figure out the best option for storage for my flac files.
> ...


Hi there. I'm trying to use a SSD on my unit and it's not working for me. It's a 250GB SSD that's been formatted to FAT 32. The drive shows up on my PC as a local drive instead of a removable drive and I suspect that's the issue. Please can you help?


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