1. Can you play video from it on a Bolero? I see differing opinions on the forum...

 

2. Is the sound quality identical to music played via Mitsumi from an iPod?

 

3. When one song ends the start of the next track is cut off by around one second. The same music plays perfectly via the iPod. Is this normal?

 

4. Is there any way to enable a browse by artist etc function, or do you just always see a folder/file list?

 

I'm using a 64GB Transcend SD card, formatted as exFAT. SDXC and a transfer rate of 20MB/s

1.  I think some people have had some luck playing video from something like an iPod, which decodes the video and is just using the Bolero as a screen - what you're asking is can the Bolero decode the video file and play it, to which the answer is definitely no.

 

2.  It all depends on whether the iPod is doing the decoding on the Bolero when Mitsumi is used - I have no idea.  However, I'd defy anyone to really notice the difference, especially as both end up coming out the same speakers.

 

3.  This sounds like the iPod is doing the decoding, and just sending an audio stream to the unit.  Therefore, it will do gapless playback if that's what you've got set on your iPod.  With the SD card, it's the Bolero doing the decoding / playback, and unless there is an option to set gapless playback then it's unlikely there is much you can do about that.

 

4.  No idea, sorry.

1.  I think some people have had some luck playing video from something like an iPod, which decodes the video and is just using the Bolero as a screen - what you're asking is can the Bolero decode the video file and play it, to which the answer is definitely no.

 

3.  This sounds like the iPod is doing the decoding, and just sending an audio stream to the unit.  Therefore, it will do gapless playback if that's what you've got set on your iPod.  With the SD card, it's the Bolero doing the decoding / playback, and unless there is an option to set gapless playback then it's unlikely there is much you can do about that.

 

I can't see a setting for gapless playback, but I'm getting this issue even when playing a normal album, ie one with 2-3 second gaps between songs. The first second or so of music is missing, very annoying. Anyone know why?

 

4.  No idea, sorry.

 

Haven't tried it yet but from other posts I think you can just copy over the folders from your music library, ie Artist/Album/songs - I'd be happy with that, no need to browse by genre etc.

 

 

I'm sure I've seen pics of video playing on a Bolero from an Sd card - just can't find the relevant post at the moment.

 

I can't see a setting for gapless playback, but I'm getting this issue even when playing a normal album, ie one with 2-3 second gaps between songs. The first second or so of music is missing, very annoying. Anyone know why?

 

 

Haven't tried it yet but from other posts I think you can just copy over the folders from your music library, ie Artist/Album/songs - I'd be happy with that, no need to browse by genre etc.

 

 

 

 

Edited 21 June, 201411 yr by chelon

3. When one song ends the start of the next track is cut off by around one second. The same music plays perfectly via the iPod. Is this normal?

 

Anyone had this issue when using an SD card? Makes it unusable for music for me, but feel there must be a way round it

3. When one song ends the start of the next track is cut off by around one second. The same music plays perfectly via the iPod. Is this normal?

Anyone had this issue when using an SD card? Makes it unusable for music for me, but feel there must be a way round it

I use a 64Gb SDXC card too and do not have a problem with missing the start of tracks. What kind of music files are you playing? MP3, WMV etc, etc? Maybe this is something to do with it? All my files are MP3.

This appears to be a definite issue - both mp3 and m4a files are affected.

 

No one else seen this?

No missing the start for me either, using transcend 32gb card... occasionally doesn't show the album art ... but that's not uncommon it appears.

I know some older players had problem with music ripped in Variable Bit Rate. Shouldn't be a problem with a modern player, but that's what comes to mind when you say the beginning of the song is missing. (My entire Mp3 collection is VBR   )

Edited 25 June, 201411 yr by Svensken

A lot of my music is indeed VBR, I'll do some more testing to try to confirm if this is the issue.

 

Having said that, I've used VBR for years on various media/players and never had this issue - the same music plays perfectly on the ipod - why should it be diferent from the SD.....?

If you play the music from iPod connected to car stereo, the iPod decodes the mp3 files. If you play from a SD card, the car stereo itself decodes the files. So the mp3/aac files you have probably aren't faulty. Either the stereo has problem reading the SD card (try another card or reformatting to another format) or the stereo has problems decoding the files.

 

Sorry for any Swenglish...  :p  It feels like I write a lot to say very little 

Edited 25 June, 201411 yr by Svensken

Has anyone played music recorded as .m4a in True VBR (peak higher than 320 kbit/s) from SD card without any problems? Would ease my mind if I got it confirmed  :sun:

If you play the music from iPod connected to car stereo, the iPod decodes the mp3 files. If you play from a SD card, the car stereo itself decodes the files. So the mp3/aac files you have probably aren't faulty. Either the stereo has problem reading the SD card (try another card or reformatting to another format) or the stereo has problems decoding the files.

 

Sorry for any Swenglish...  :p  It feels like I write a lot to say very little 

 

That's ok, and I was thinking that myself - the only option my XP pc gives me is the exFAT filesystem. I thought that was one of the fastest, but I would try NTFS or another format if it was available on my pc.

Tried re-formatting the card as NTFS - the Bolero won't read it, despite the manual saying it's supported.

 

Also found out the tracks play perfectly from the SD card on the laptop, but not on the Bolero - so it does indeed look like some kind of delay in the unit causing this, but I can't see any settings to tweak.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

Not had any delay issues playing from an SD (128gb). It goes from song to song just like a CD.

Got a mixture of formats but 95% is 320 MP3 files.

Are all your songs in one folder? How deep are the songs on the drive?

Mine are organised in folders as follows:

SD CARD>Album name>Songs.mp3

Edited 28 June, 201411 yr by JamesVRSmk3

Not had any delay issues playing from an SD (128gb). It goes from song to song just like a CD.

Got a mixture of formats but 95% is 320 MP3 files.

Are all your songs in one folder? How deep are the songs on the drive?

Mine are organised in folders as follows:

SD CARD>Album name>Songs.mp3

 

Have tried:-

 

SD>Album/song.mp3

SD>Artist/Album/song.mp3

 

Same issue - been Googling it to no avail. Really would like to fix this, since planning to put all the music on the SD, thereby avoiding need to carry the ipod in the car all the time

I just copied the folders from iTunes onto mine, plays OK. I'm using a SanDisk SDXC card not sure if using a good quality/fast card would make any difference.

I just copied the folders from iTunes onto mine, plays OK. I'm using a SanDisk SDXC card not sure if using a good quality/fast card would make any difference.

 

My card is class 10, but says the transfer rate is 20MB/s

 

I didn't go for a faster card since this is only going to be used for playing tunes in the car. Anyone know if the read speed could cause this issue? As I say it plays perfectly from the card on the laptop.

chelon,

 

It's the same on the Bolero in the MkII as well.

 

I asked this question a couple of years ago about gapless albums, etc. and the only answer I could find was on a VW forum that basically said it happens and you just have to get used to it!

 

I have my Ipod in my car and I am now just used to missing the first split-second of every song on a gapless album - it's pretty annoying on albums where the songs are mixed (I have some classic House/Dance albums that I listen to occasionally).

 

It's pretty crap if you ask me that VAG cannot get a unit that will gaplessly play m4a or MP3 files, from either an SD or an Ipod (I tried the SD card route as well and the same thing happened) - I even logged it with Skoda UK a couple of years ago and they've come up with nothing since............

 

My previous BMW's could do it perfectly.

 

H

chelon,

 

It's the same on the Bolero in the MkII as well.

 

I asked this question a couple of years ago about gapless albums, etc. and the only answer I could find was on a VW forum that basically said it happens and you just have to get used to it!

 

I have my Ipod in my car and I am now just used to missing the first split-second of every song on a gapless album - it's pretty annoying on albums where the songs are mixed (I have some classic House/Dance albums that I listen to occasionally).

 

It's pretty crap if you ask me that VAG cannot get a unit that will gaplessly play m4a or MP3 files, from either an SD or an Ipod (I tried the SD card route as well and the same thing happened) - I even logged it with Skoda UK a couple of years ago and they've come up with nothing since............

 

My previous BMW's could do it perfectly.

 

H

 

Ah so it's only gapless stuff that's affected? I indeed think that most of my stuff is encoded gapless - I will encode an album later with gaps and see if it plays properly.

 

Curious as to how others are saying they don't get the issue - I'd have thought gapless would be very common. This is the first issue I've heard of.

I've been using digital media for a good number of years now, and have never used 'gapless' :-)

If you want to try formatting the card to plain FAT32 rather than exFAT (which not everything can cope with) Google "HP USB Disk Format Tool" -  a simple but effective little utility which gives the option of FAT32 or NTFS. You may need to "Run as Administrator" if using it on Windows 7.

If you want to try formatting the card to plain FAT32 rather than exFAT (which not everything can cope with) Google "HP USB Disk Format Tool" -  a simple but effective little utility which gives the option of FAT32 or NTFS. You may need to "Run as Administrator" if using it on Windows 7.

 

Thanks - all I get on the laptop are NTFS and exFAT as options, so I'll try FAT32.....

If you're using a larger SD than 32G or using SDXC you need ExFat due to SDXC fast read/write potential.

I'm using ExFat on my SDXC 32g card and there's no lag/playback problems on my unit.

If I would be u, I would book a test drive on your nearest Skoda dealer and try your

Sd card in there unit. if the problem still there it's Sd card or mp3 file might be the fault, otherwise it's your infotainment that might need an update?

Definitely try another brand of SD card too - not all devices and cards play nicely together. Sometimes the read/write speeds of the card can be an issue... if it's a fast one, try a slower one , etc.

Have now tried NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT with no joy. Haven't managed to try a different card yet, but I suspect it's more to do with the gapless playback.

 

I looked in the encoding software but couldn't find a setting for gapless, so is this detemined by the player? I'm finding the same issue either with standard albums or ones with continuous music (eg Pink Floyd The Wall).

 

First second or so of every track is missing - the same music plays fine from the ipod/Mitsumi on the Bolero.