# Pioneer AVH-P8400bh Mini-Review



## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

AVH-P8400BH - <b>NEW!</b> - 2-DIN Multimedia DVD Receiver with 7" Widescreen Touch Panel Display, Advanced App Mode, Built-In Bluetooth®, and HD Radio™ Tuner | Pioneer Electronics USA

Ok, so I ordered my 8400 a couple of weeks ago and just got it installed over the weekend. I was super excited about the features it had and used them as a "selling point" to my wife.  Let's run through the ones that stood out to me real quick; dual usb, dual zone control, hd radio built in, bluetooth built in, android support, "app ready", and iTunes tagging. You can stream Pandora with this and you can add a nav module later, neither item mattered much to me but I wanted to mention them.

Previous to this, I was using the OEM head unit. This was because there were no aftermarket dash kits for the Murano until about two weeks ago (Metra--ordered it the same day as the 8400) and the stereo was integrated into one circuit board with the rest of the dash (so I couldn't fabricate one). The desire for change was better ipod control. In the OEM head, the ipod was controlled through the factory Sat. Radio line. This did not bypass the DAC, it did not display all the information, and it did not let you select sub categories (so if I went to an artist that has 7 albums in my ipod, I might have to go through 50-60 songs before reaching the one I want to hear). You may wondering why I'm sharing this in a review thread...it will make sense in a minute.

I got the Pioneer connected before I got my processor hooked up, so I wasn't able to listen to it for a few days. In that time, I got familiar with the controls. 

*What I liked:*
-I like that you have the ability to change the colors of the button and the display independently. I was able to get a near perfect match to the OEM button color in the car. 
-I like that the screen does a good job at avoiding glare issues.
-I like that the buttons are well laid out and the navigating the interface is easy

*What I didn't like:*
-The parking brake bypass feature.* Pioneer has updated this and the standard "relay trick" won't work any longer. You now have to engage the parking brake, disengage, and engage again. I didn't know this up front and thought I had wired my relay up wrong, which caused me to waste a few hours pulling the dash apart and poking around with my DMM. You can get around this feature by using a relay, letting the head unit turn on, turn the head unit off, and turn back on (since it will cycle the relay twice).
-The album info and album artwork loads slowly. There is a 2-3 second latency with this and I do not care for it at all. I don't care for the fact that the album is a gray square for several seconds, then the image loads, the album spins in a circle, and then sits stationary until the next track. I don't like that I can't turn the album artwork off either.

At this point, I'm excited about getting sound in the car. The few quirks were not too much of a deterrent for me. So once I got the sound working, I was sadly dissapointed again. 

When using an ipod, the latency issue I mentioned above becomes a big problem for me. If I skip forward one song, the next song starts playing instantly...no problem there. BUT, it still takes a few seconds for the information to load which IS an issue. Maybe it's just me, but I don't know the order of every song, on every album, from every artist I have in my ipod. With the latency issues I've mentioned, I can't just keep skipping while glancing at the song titles looking for the track I want. I have to skip, wait, skip, wait, skip...etc. It is VERY annoying to me, especially since the primary reason for the change to an aftermarket unit was for better ipod control. 

With the latency issue, trying to go back tracks is even worse. Lets say I just want to go back one song (go from track 3 to track 2). If I double-tap the back button (either the touch button on the screen or the physical button at the bottom--there is a redundancy there), I get mixed results. Sometimes it will just restart the song twice (restart 3, restart 3). Sometimes it will go to track 2 (restart 3, move to 2). Sometimes it will jump back two places (move to 2, move to 1). From try to try I don't know it's going to do. If I try and go back even more than one track, it gets really tricky. I don't know all the track numbers on the Chesky Demo disc by heart, so I will normally look at the titles as I move forwards and backwards. If I try that with the Pioneer, by the time the info loads, the song has usually progressed far enough that it just restarts when I press back. So I double-tap and wait for the info to load (but that puts me back into the unpredictable loop mentioned above). So what I ultimately do is go back to search, select the album that I'm already in, and select the track from there. This process is actually faster than simply using forward/back within the same album.

I have four idevices (iphone4, 3rd gen nano, 2007 "thicker" 180gig 6th gen classic, and 2009 "thinner" 180gi 6th gen classic). All have the latest updates. All have the same issues mentioned above.

To me, the above issue is unacceptable for a $650 stereo and I will be taking Crutchfield up on it's "no questions asked" return policy. I will not even try the other features as ipod funtionality was #1 for me and I feel it failed terribly. I plan to exchange it for the JVC AV70. I will lose built in HD radio and dual USB, but I gain the ability to turn off album artwork, the ability to turn off the internal amp, and $150.


*Bypassing the parking break feature is illegal and not recommended. I do it mostly on the principle that I feel I can excercise common sense on when to play a video and I don't like my stereo telling me I can't. The purpose, for me, is not to showboat or have multiple monitors play a music video while I drive, but so my wife can watch a movie from the passenger seat if she wants while we take a trip in our family vehicle.

Here is a quick video of what I'm talking about (if anybody can educate me on how to make link a thumb preview...shoot me a PM):

Pioneer AVH-P8400 Ipod & DVD Quirks - YouTube


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Awesome review, John!

Thanks for posting the info regarding the iPod. I think I'll save my money ...


Sent from my iPhone. Pardon the grammar.


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## psycle_1 (Aug 4, 2005)

That's pretty damn disappointing. I can't help but think that yours may be a bum unit. I might try to see if a dealer near me has one I could try in person. But I do appreciate the review and the heads up. Never been a fan of JVC product personally, but I may give it a go at some point.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

psycle_1 said:


> That's pretty damn disappointing. I can't help but think that yours may be a bum unit. I might try to see if a dealer near me has one I could try in person. But I do appreciate the review and the heads up. Never been a fan of JVC product personally, but I may give it a go at some point.


I don't know man. I just watched the video from car stereo warehouse and it shows the same latency issues. They don't talk about it, but it's slow loading info on there too.


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## evo9 (Jul 6, 2005)

pionkej said:


> *What I didn't like:*
> -*The parking brake bypass feature.* Pioneer has updated this and the *standard "relay trick" won't work any longer. * You now have to engage the parking brake, disengage, and engage again.* I didn't know this up front and thought I had wired my relay up wrong, which caused me to waste a few hours pulling the dash apart and poking around with my DMM. You can get around this feature by using a relay, letting the head unit turn on, turn the head unit off, and turn back on (since it will cycle the relay twice).
> -The album info and album artwork loads slowly.




This is not new with Pioneer. It's been around since the introduction of the AVH-P7600DVD back in 04. The fix is a PAC-TR7. No porgramming of the TR7 is needed. Just connect these 4 wires, red black green & white.


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## psycle_1 (Aug 4, 2005)

pionkej said:


> I don't know man. I just watched the video from car stereo warehouse and it shows the same latency issues. They don't talk about it, but it's slow loading info on there too.


Latency on loading the album info isn't too big of a deal for me. The issue with trying to go backwards track wise is.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

evo9 said:


> This is not new with Pioneer. It's been around since the introduction of the AVH-P7600DVD back in 04. The fix is a PAC-TR7. No porgramming of the TR7 is needed. Just connect these 4 wires, red black green & white.


Thanks for the heads up. Last Pioneer I bought was the 4200dvd and the relay option worked fine on it. Looks like that was more my mistake than anything else.



psycle_1 said:


> Latency on loading the album info isn't too big of a deal for me. The issue with trying to go backwards track wise is.


The album info isn't too big a deal for me either. The problem is the track skipping issue is tied to it. If you change one song (from 1 to 2), it plays instantly, BUT you can't change to song 3 until the info has loaded. This makes moving forward through tracks slow and moving back through tracks nearly impossible (like my video shows).

I decided to send an e-mail to Pioneer (in addition to the call I already placed) to see if anything could be done. I told them I could even make a video and forward it to them if they needed to see what I was talking about. I'll keep this thread updated as this all pans out.


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## kramder (Feb 28, 2008)

What processor did you use with the 8400? I am interested in this deck but like the features of my H701.


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## aznaznazn (Jan 27, 2010)

Good review. My thoughts exactly. I just got the same exact unit and I am in the same boat as you! The changing back the song is a pain. I dont know if I want to bother to return the unit. I need to try out the parking relay. I thought I messed up somewhere too haha.


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

aznaznazn said:


> Good review. My thoughts exactly. I just got the same exact unit and I am in the same boat as you! The changing back the song is a pain. I dont know if I want to bother to return the unit. I need to try out the parking relay. I thought I messed up somewhere too haha.


I'm not happy your in the same boat, but I'm glad you chimed in. Pioneer tried to tell me I had a faulty unit. Every video I saw on YouTube was like mine too, they just didn't talk about it because most of them are posted by stereo shops.


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## aznaznazn (Jan 27, 2010)

pionkej said:


> I'm not happy your in the same boat, but I'm glad you chimed in. Pioneer tried to tell me I had a faulty unit. Every video I saw on YouTube was like mine too, they just didn't talk about it because most of them are posted by stereo shops.


Yeah, for the newest and latest technology that Pioneer developed is pretty disappointing.


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## aznaznazn (Jan 27, 2010)

pionkej said:


> I'm not happy your in the same boat, but I'm glad you chimed in. Pioneer tried to tell me I had a faulty unit. Every video I saw on YouTube was like mine too, they just didn't talk about it because most of them are posted by stereo shops.


I just tried to change the song back with the double click and it never glitched out on me. It did before but for some reason it was working fine. I still do get the lag when I change to the next song too fast the info doesnt show up right away.


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## 700whpfocus (May 10, 2010)

I WONDER WHAT IS THE BEST PRICE YOU CAN GET FOR IT?


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## pionkej (Feb 29, 2008)

700whpfocus said:


> I WONDER WHAT IS THE BEST PRICE YOU CAN GET FOR IT?


?????


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## crispin (May 23, 2011)

700whpfocus said:


> I WONDER WHAT IS THE BEST PRICE YOU CAN GET FOR IT?


I wonder if you rode the short bus to school...


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## TEARfromRED (Oct 2, 2009)

the latency issue has been a killer on just about every DD unit i've owned... I'm still using an alpine w404 because it's almost not existent. how can a lower end unit from several years ago outperform some of the new stuff in that area?


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

My pioneer x930bt had an odd procedure to bypass e-break


Pioneer AVIC-X930BT Video Bypass - YouTube

Took me 5 minutes.


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## Loudtaco (Dec 7, 2006)

tyroneshoes said:


> My pioneer x930bt had an odd procedure to bypass e-break
> 
> 
> Pioneer AVIC-X930BT Video Bypass - YouTube
> ...


Completely different.
The Avic units must have the mute wire re-pinned, and the parking wire gounded simultainiously to disable the "nanny". If you just ground the parking brake, no matter the order, as soon as you reach 15mph the system will cutoff video again. 
The newer AVH models require that evrytime the vehicle is started, you must ground the wire, un-ground the wire, and then ground it again.

I just bought the 8400bh, installed it on Monday; so far I'm loving the unit. I have some of the same concerns as everyone else, but I researched all my options and the Pioneer had the least negative attributes, with the most features; and hands down the best display.


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## Mu$ickfiend (Aug 11, 2012)

Just bought one. Hope my works better


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