'14/'15 Z51, Z06 Owners - Chime in if you updated your HMI
#241
I had a second call with them tonight and they re-confirmed that they are now aware that I have a Z51 3LT and the programmer will set it up to support the PDR. Which doesn’t make any sense because I’m assuming you can get that from the Vin number. They told me they would be programming at 483 LT this time. They’re shipping it on Friday so I suppose I won’t get it until sometime after Christmas. When I do I will swap it out and will find out. If it doesn’t work then I’ll just get my money back and call it a day.
The following users liked this post:
2Intense (01-16-2019)
#244
Instructor
Well, that was completely pointless. After several phone calls and multiple email exchanges assuring me that they would send me another unit that would not only be programmed to my VIN, but take into account that my car is a 3LT and as such, the HMI would be properly programmed to restore my reverse camera guidelines AND the PDR function. The HMI arrived two days ago and I installed it yesterday.
Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI will provide Apple CarPlay functionality but as many others on this thread pointed out, You pay an additional price by losing your reverse camera guidelines and It renders the PDR non-functional.
Back to the phones after the holiday I guess....ugh.
Infotainment.com either needs to make the system work properly or admit that they cannot make it work, and stop saying that they can. Continuing to misrepresent the product and lie through their teeth is annoying as heck and completely unethical.
Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI will provide Apple CarPlay functionality but as many others on this thread pointed out, You pay an additional price by losing your reverse camera guidelines and It renders the PDR non-functional.
Back to the phones after the holiday I guess....ugh.
Infotainment.com either needs to make the system work properly or admit that they cannot make it work, and stop saying that they can. Continuing to misrepresent the product and lie through their teeth is annoying as heck and completely unethical.
Last edited by 2Intense; 12-26-2018 at 12:29 PM.
#246
Instructor
LOL I wonder how many guys got in trouble this way...
Last edited by solotronics; 12-27-2018 at 01:51 PM.
#247
Instructor
Problem Solved ! PDR & Gridlines Back Online!
I know many of the members of the forum have had issues with losing the PDR function and rear cam gridline function when performing an HMI Upgrade using infotainment.com’s product. (There are others who lost the drive selection modes as well but that was not the case with me. However, their solution lies here as well, so read on..) I recently had the same issue and wanted to share my experience. Before you get put off by the length of this post, there’s a happy ending and an unlikely hero, so get some popcorn.
On December 6, 2018I contacted infotainment because I was interested in getting Apple Car Play for my 2015 C7 Z51 3LT however I had read about people having problems like losing their PDR (Performance Data Recorder) functionality in cars equipped. (Typically 3LT cars). I was assured that because my VIN number was being used and the HMI was being coded to that VIN that I would retain all functionality. Moreover, I was told that she had never “heard of anyone losing the PDR functionality” which was odd to me considering the number of forum members who had posted about it.
Based on this conversation I ordered the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Corvette MyLink® IO6 GPS Navigation Radio Upgrade for my car and I paid $1259.96 total. As my car is the 3LT package, it comes with the PDR as well as the full factory Nav, etc. but in order to add the Apple CarPlay I needed to replace the ACM or radio brain as well. So they shipped me an HMI, and new USB hub and the ACM (Radio Brain)
On December 17, 2018 after receiving the items, I installed them. Unfortunately, the original concerns raised with Taylor were confirmed as after installing the equipment 1) The PDR no longer functioned and 2) The Guidelines for the rear camera went away as did the menu option to turn them on and off. I emailed Taylor Infotainment.com about the issue who responded by telling me to email their support desk about the issue and open a trouble ticket. I did that.
On December 18, 2018I received an email from Sammy via a support email address at infotainment instructing me to recheck my connections and perform a Can-Bus reset. I did what was instructed and I informed Sammy that this accomplished nothing. Then he responded by telling me to go into the setting menu in the HMI menu and turn on the gridlines and perform another can-bus reset. At this point I had performed 3 can-bus resets and explained to Sammy that the menu option for the camera guidelines was no longer listed. This made his request completely erroneous and left me with the impression that no one at infotainment.com was actually listening to what I was saying and actually just reciting some sort of script.
Sammy went on to say in his email,”This is the first time a Corvette Customer has had any issues regarding a PDR,..” Again, I was frustrated by this response as clearly people had encountered this issue in the past. Several people had posted that they had raised the issue with Joe Mancinik (no longer with the company) at infotainment.com to resolve the rear camera guideline issue but he was unable bring back their PDR. So obviously there had been previous dialogue on this? This goes back to why I raised the concern with Taylor on the sales team on December 6 to begin with. Not only has it happened before, it had been a known issue. So Sammy essentially lied to me or made an assertion that he was not qualified to make. Again, my reason for asking prior to placing my order was to ensure the problems others were having related to losing the PDR and the back-up gridlines had been rectified in the units they were now selling. So, now completely frustrated , I called Sammy and re-explained everything all over again. I was told he would email a shipping label so I could return unit after which they would send a replacement unit. He again assured me that the new unit would be programmed to rectify the PDR and Rear Camera Guideline Issue. I attempted to educate him about the experiences of others who had experienced this issue in the past and further explained that the 2015 Corvette I had was a 3LT trim which is the trim that has the factory PDR. I explained what the PDR was and that there is a specific icon for it on the HMI Display and a multitude of menu options. This is the icon that no longer functions with your HMI installed. I emphasized to Sammy that this is particular to the 3LT trim level and to make sure the programmer was aware of this. He seemed dismissive of my concern and shrugged off the additional information I attempted to provide and assured me that this issue was going to be addressed by the “programmer.”
On December 19, 2018 I responded to Sammy G’s email and asked him again if getting a replacement unit will bring the PDR up and Sammy G replied with,” Our engineer said it should come up on the replacement unit.” I was subsequently emailed a return label by infotainment.com under my original order, I completed an RMA form using an online link that was provided. I wanted them to expedite the replacement but was told they couldn’t ship me one until they received my unit back. The only way to avoid waiting the 3 days for my return to arrive on their end and another 3-5 days for them to ship a replacement was for me to pay an additional $500 (+$12.95 for expedited shipping) for a new order or what they call an “Advanced Exchange”. So, I did just that. I hadn’t been off the phone for more than 5 minutes and I received an email with a tracking number from infotainment.com. I thought to myself, if they were going to raise my concerns with their “programmer” and have him reprogram the replacement unit to address them. How could they already be shipping the unit? Now I was more skeptical than ever. I called back and asked to speak to a Supervisor. I was transferred to a woman who identified herself as Simone and indicated she was the customer support manager. She assured me that their programmer was a “GM expert” and knew what he was doing. She said they would be sending the correct unit this time. I assume she wasn’t aware I had already been given shipping details.
On December 22, 2018 The replacement HMI arrived. I removed the previously provided unit and installed this newly provided one only to find it did exactly the same thing. Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI renders the PDR non-functional and removes the Rear Camera Guidelines from the screen when in reverse as well as removes the Rear Camera Guidelines “on/off” option from the Settings Menu. At this point I had done everything I could do to communicate the issue to infotainment.com in the hope that the information I have been providing would facilitate the involvement of someone with a “technical” background who could take a closer look at the issue. To date I had spent @$1800.00 and in return I had not been provided the product that functions as advertised and when attempting to provide background on the issue I was lied to, dismissed and provided scripted responses.
On December 26, 2018Completely frustrated at this point, I sent an email to infotainment.com’s Customer Support and copied everyone at infotainment.com I had interacted with at that point. I went to the technical support page, initiated a chat and pasted the content of my email there as well. I was essentially asking to speak with someone with a technical understanding of what I was experiencing so we could solve it. If they couldn’t do that then they needed to be honest, admit they are unable to do solve it, give me my money back. More importantly, they need to acknowledge this shortfall by providing some sort of disclaimer on their website. They should be obligated to make owners of 2015 C7 Z51 3LT’s aware that their product will not work for that C7 model year and configuration without causing the loss of the PDR and reverse Camera Gridlines. I went on to post a copy of my email detailing my experience to the infotainment facebook page and sent another via Facebook Messenger.
Within a few minutes, I received a FB Messenger reply, a response to the post on their Facebook page as well as a response to my chat submission on their web page. All were from Joel who indicated he was the retail sales manager and that he was passing it on to “his boss”. Enter Simone again (apparently Joel’s “boss”), I received an email from her apologizing and indicating that she was now “working on my case” and explained that I should “pardon the information provided by the previous representatives” as they are “new and still in training”. She asked if she could call me the following day to discuss my issue and I responded with a resounding “yes! Please do!).
On December 27, 2018 I received another email from Simone telling me she would be calling but in the meantime wanted to see if I could provide a photo of the labels on the First HMI they sent me. I responded by sending her photos of the first one, the second one and the original one that came with my car. Later that day, Simone called me and told me they would be shipping a third unit and it would not be coming from their warehouse in Florida but rather was being drop-shipped by a 3rd party. Out of concern that my issues may get lost in the translation I asked if I could have the name and contact number for the 3rd party who was working on my replacement so I could speak with him directly. Somewhat reluctantly, Simone she provided me the info. After we got off the phone I took the original (first) HMI I had received from them and shipped it back using the shipping label provided by infotainment.com so I could get my $512.96 for the advance exchange for the second HMI credited back to me and wash my hands of infotainment.com. On January 2 my refund for the advance exchange posted and I was back to being only $1300 in the hole.
On January 3, 2019I sent a text message to the 3rd party programmer whom I found out is Anthony Brush, the owner of Mobile Video Integration, or MVI and an industry expert on GM infotainment systems. It was a tremendous relief to finally speak with someone who was actually familiar with the infotainment system architecture. For starters, he actually listened to what I had to say when describing the problem. At this point I have been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I have bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
After walking him through the various iterations of HMI’s and explaining the PDR as it relates to the 2015 cars and the Z51 and 3LT package, etc. Anthony quickly deduced the unit that was enroute to me was not going to solve the problem either. Moreover, he theorized it was not simply an HMI programming issue but an issue with the software in the ACM (radio brain) as well. He said he had an idea as to how to make it work but I would need to give him a few days to get his hands on a couple ACMs. At this point I had been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I had bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
Within days Anthony shipped me a new HMI and two ACM’s that he had purchased and programmed. I installed the ones he told me two and the first combination worked perfectly.
Bingo!
My PDR is back online and the Gridlines on the rear back up cam are back as well! My full factory functionality remains intact and the Apple Carplay & Android Auto work perfectly.
Anthony has it figured out now so if you are looking to add Apple Carplay or Android Auto to your C7, or if like myself and may who have posted above, you have already purchased it elsewhere and are experiencing issues with the loss of your PDR, Gridlines, etc. I would recommend reaching out to Anthony Brush at MVI.
He’s been working the GM infotainment systems since the 1990s and was a lifesaver in my situation. In retrospect wish I would have found him from the beginning. Anthony’s a busy guy but responds pretty quickly via text which worked well for me. I have provided his cell and a link to his website below. I am confident he can help the other forum members who seem to have had a similar experience to mine. Best of luck!
After posting this I had requests for pictures/video etc. so I put this together:
Text Anthony Brush at 919-995-9523
MVI Website: https://www.gm-navigation.com/
On December 6, 2018I contacted infotainment because I was interested in getting Apple Car Play for my 2015 C7 Z51 3LT however I had read about people having problems like losing their PDR (Performance Data Recorder) functionality in cars equipped. (Typically 3LT cars). I was assured that because my VIN number was being used and the HMI was being coded to that VIN that I would retain all functionality. Moreover, I was told that she had never “heard of anyone losing the PDR functionality” which was odd to me considering the number of forum members who had posted about it.
Based on this conversation I ordered the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Corvette MyLink® IO6 GPS Navigation Radio Upgrade for my car and I paid $1259.96 total. As my car is the 3LT package, it comes with the PDR as well as the full factory Nav, etc. but in order to add the Apple CarPlay I needed to replace the ACM or radio brain as well. So they shipped me an HMI, and new USB hub and the ACM (Radio Brain)
On December 17, 2018 after receiving the items, I installed them. Unfortunately, the original concerns raised with Taylor were confirmed as after installing the equipment 1) The PDR no longer functioned and 2) The Guidelines for the rear camera went away as did the menu option to turn them on and off. I emailed Taylor Infotainment.com about the issue who responded by telling me to email their support desk about the issue and open a trouble ticket. I did that.
On December 18, 2018I received an email from Sammy via a support email address at infotainment instructing me to recheck my connections and perform a Can-Bus reset. I did what was instructed and I informed Sammy that this accomplished nothing. Then he responded by telling me to go into the setting menu in the HMI menu and turn on the gridlines and perform another can-bus reset. At this point I had performed 3 can-bus resets and explained to Sammy that the menu option for the camera guidelines was no longer listed. This made his request completely erroneous and left me with the impression that no one at infotainment.com was actually listening to what I was saying and actually just reciting some sort of script.
Sammy went on to say in his email,”This is the first time a Corvette Customer has had any issues regarding a PDR,..” Again, I was frustrated by this response as clearly people had encountered this issue in the past. Several people had posted that they had raised the issue with Joe Mancinik (no longer with the company) at infotainment.com to resolve the rear camera guideline issue but he was unable bring back their PDR. So obviously there had been previous dialogue on this? This goes back to why I raised the concern with Taylor on the sales team on December 6 to begin with. Not only has it happened before, it had been a known issue. So Sammy essentially lied to me or made an assertion that he was not qualified to make. Again, my reason for asking prior to placing my order was to ensure the problems others were having related to losing the PDR and the back-up gridlines had been rectified in the units they were now selling. So, now completely frustrated , I called Sammy and re-explained everything all over again. I was told he would email a shipping label so I could return unit after which they would send a replacement unit. He again assured me that the new unit would be programmed to rectify the PDR and Rear Camera Guideline Issue. I attempted to educate him about the experiences of others who had experienced this issue in the past and further explained that the 2015 Corvette I had was a 3LT trim which is the trim that has the factory PDR. I explained what the PDR was and that there is a specific icon for it on the HMI Display and a multitude of menu options. This is the icon that no longer functions with your HMI installed. I emphasized to Sammy that this is particular to the 3LT trim level and to make sure the programmer was aware of this. He seemed dismissive of my concern and shrugged off the additional information I attempted to provide and assured me that this issue was going to be addressed by the “programmer.”
On December 19, 2018 I responded to Sammy G’s email and asked him again if getting a replacement unit will bring the PDR up and Sammy G replied with,” Our engineer said it should come up on the replacement unit.” I was subsequently emailed a return label by infotainment.com under my original order, I completed an RMA form using an online link that was provided. I wanted them to expedite the replacement but was told they couldn’t ship me one until they received my unit back. The only way to avoid waiting the 3 days for my return to arrive on their end and another 3-5 days for them to ship a replacement was for me to pay an additional $500 (+$12.95 for expedited shipping) for a new order or what they call an “Advanced Exchange”. So, I did just that. I hadn’t been off the phone for more than 5 minutes and I received an email with a tracking number from infotainment.com. I thought to myself, if they were going to raise my concerns with their “programmer” and have him reprogram the replacement unit to address them. How could they already be shipping the unit? Now I was more skeptical than ever. I called back and asked to speak to a Supervisor. I was transferred to a woman who identified herself as Simone and indicated she was the customer support manager. She assured me that their programmer was a “GM expert” and knew what he was doing. She said they would be sending the correct unit this time. I assume she wasn’t aware I had already been given shipping details.
On December 22, 2018 The replacement HMI arrived. I removed the previously provided unit and installed this newly provided one only to find it did exactly the same thing. Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI renders the PDR non-functional and removes the Rear Camera Guidelines from the screen when in reverse as well as removes the Rear Camera Guidelines “on/off” option from the Settings Menu. At this point I had done everything I could do to communicate the issue to infotainment.com in the hope that the information I have been providing would facilitate the involvement of someone with a “technical” background who could take a closer look at the issue. To date I had spent @$1800.00 and in return I had not been provided the product that functions as advertised and when attempting to provide background on the issue I was lied to, dismissed and provided scripted responses.
On December 26, 2018Completely frustrated at this point, I sent an email to infotainment.com’s Customer Support and copied everyone at infotainment.com I had interacted with at that point. I went to the technical support page, initiated a chat and pasted the content of my email there as well. I was essentially asking to speak with someone with a technical understanding of what I was experiencing so we could solve it. If they couldn’t do that then they needed to be honest, admit they are unable to do solve it, give me my money back. More importantly, they need to acknowledge this shortfall by providing some sort of disclaimer on their website. They should be obligated to make owners of 2015 C7 Z51 3LT’s aware that their product will not work for that C7 model year and configuration without causing the loss of the PDR and reverse Camera Gridlines. I went on to post a copy of my email detailing my experience to the infotainment facebook page and sent another via Facebook Messenger.
Within a few minutes, I received a FB Messenger reply, a response to the post on their Facebook page as well as a response to my chat submission on their web page. All were from Joel who indicated he was the retail sales manager and that he was passing it on to “his boss”. Enter Simone again (apparently Joel’s “boss”), I received an email from her apologizing and indicating that she was now “working on my case” and explained that I should “pardon the information provided by the previous representatives” as they are “new and still in training”. She asked if she could call me the following day to discuss my issue and I responded with a resounding “yes! Please do!).
On December 27, 2018 I received another email from Simone telling me she would be calling but in the meantime wanted to see if I could provide a photo of the labels on the First HMI they sent me. I responded by sending her photos of the first one, the second one and the original one that came with my car. Later that day, Simone called me and told me they would be shipping a third unit and it would not be coming from their warehouse in Florida but rather was being drop-shipped by a 3rd party. Out of concern that my issues may get lost in the translation I asked if I could have the name and contact number for the 3rd party who was working on my replacement so I could speak with him directly. Somewhat reluctantly, Simone she provided me the info. After we got off the phone I took the original (first) HMI I had received from them and shipped it back using the shipping label provided by infotainment.com so I could get my $512.96 for the advance exchange for the second HMI credited back to me and wash my hands of infotainment.com. On January 2 my refund for the advance exchange posted and I was back to being only $1300 in the hole.
On January 3, 2019I sent a text message to the 3rd party programmer whom I found out is Anthony Brush, the owner of Mobile Video Integration, or MVI and an industry expert on GM infotainment systems. It was a tremendous relief to finally speak with someone who was actually familiar with the infotainment system architecture. For starters, he actually listened to what I had to say when describing the problem. At this point I have been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I have bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
After walking him through the various iterations of HMI’s and explaining the PDR as it relates to the 2015 cars and the Z51 and 3LT package, etc. Anthony quickly deduced the unit that was enroute to me was not going to solve the problem either. Moreover, he theorized it was not simply an HMI programming issue but an issue with the software in the ACM (radio brain) as well. He said he had an idea as to how to make it work but I would need to give him a few days to get his hands on a couple ACMs. At this point I had been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I had bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
Within days Anthony shipped me a new HMI and two ACM’s that he had purchased and programmed. I installed the ones he told me two and the first combination worked perfectly.
Bingo!
My PDR is back online and the Gridlines on the rear back up cam are back as well! My full factory functionality remains intact and the Apple Carplay & Android Auto work perfectly.
Anthony has it figured out now so if you are looking to add Apple Carplay or Android Auto to your C7, or if like myself and may who have posted above, you have already purchased it elsewhere and are experiencing issues with the loss of your PDR, Gridlines, etc. I would recommend reaching out to Anthony Brush at MVI.
He’s been working the GM infotainment systems since the 1990s and was a lifesaver in my situation. In retrospect wish I would have found him from the beginning. Anthony’s a busy guy but responds pretty quickly via text which worked well for me. I have provided his cell and a link to his website below. I am confident he can help the other forum members who seem to have had a similar experience to mine. Best of luck!
After posting this I had requests for pictures/video etc. so I put this together:
MVI Website: https://www.gm-navigation.com/
Last edited by 2Intense; 01-27-2019 at 12:13 PM. Reason: Added Video Link
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#248
I know many of the members of the forum have had issues with losing the PDR function and rear cam gridline function when performing an HMI Upgrade using infotainment.com’s product. I recently had the same issue and wanted to share my experience. Before you get put off by the length of this post, there’s a happy ending and an unlikely hero, so get some popcorn.
On December 6, 2018I contacted infotainment because I was interested in getting Apple Car Play for my 2015 C7 Z51 3LT however I had read about people having problems like losing their PDR (Performance Data Recorder) functionality in cars equipped. (Typically 3LT cars). I was assured that because my VIN number was being used and the HMI was being coded to that VIN that I would retain all functionality. Moreover, I was told that she had never “heard of anyone losing the PDR functionality” which was odd to me considering the number of forum members who had posted about it.
Based on this conversation I ordered the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Corvette MyLink® IO6 GPS Navigation Radio Upgrade for my car and I paid $1259.96 total. As my car is the 3LT package, it comes with the PDR as well as the full factory Nav, etc. but in order to add the Apple CarPlay I needed to replace the ACM or radio brain as well. So they shipped me an HMI, and new USB hub and the ACM (Radio Brain)
On December 17, 2018 after receiving the items, I installed them. Unfortunately, the original concerns raised with Taylor were confirmed as after installing the equipment 1) The PDR no longer functioned and 2) The Guidelines for the rear camera went away as did the menu option to turn them on and off. I emailed Taylor Infotainment.com about the issue who responded by telling me to email their support desk about the issue and open a trouble ticket. I did that.
On December 18, 2018I received an email from Sammy via a support email address at infotainment instructing me to recheck my connections and perform a Can-Bus reset. I did what was instructed and I informed Sammy that this accomplished nothing. Then he responded by telling me to go into the setting menu in the HMI menu and turn on the gridlines and perform another can-bus reset. At this point I had performed 3 can-bus resets and explained to Sammy that the menu option for the camera guidelines was no longer listed. This made his request completely erroneous and left me with the impression that no one at infotainment.com was actually listening to what I was saying and actually just reciting some sort of script.
Sammy went on to say in his email,”This is the first time a Corvette Customer has had any issues regarding a PDR,..” Again, I was frustrated by this response as clearly people had encountered this issue in the past. Several people had posted that they had raised the issue with Joe Mancinik (no longer with the company) at infotainment.com to resolve the rear camera guideline issue but he was unable bring back their PDR. So obviously there had been previous dialogue on this? This goes back to why I raised the concern with Taylor on the sales team on December 6 to begin with. Not only has it happened before, it had been a known issue. So Sammy essentially lied to me or made an assertion that he was not qualified to make. Again, my reason for asking prior to placing my order was to ensure the problems others were having related to losing the PDR and the back-up gridlines had been rectified in the units they were now selling. So, now completely frustrated , I called Sammy and re-explained everything all over again. I was told he would email a shipping label so I could return unit after which they would send a replacement unit. He again assured me that the new unit would be programmed to rectify the PDR and Rear Camera Guideline Issue. I attempted to educate him about the experiences of others who had experienced this issue in the past and further explained that the 2015 Corvette I had was a 3LT trim which is the trim that has the factory PDR. I explained what the PDR was and that there is a specific icon for it on the HMI Display and a multitude of menu options. This is the icon that no longer functions with your HMI installed. I emphasized to Sammy that this is particular to the 3LT trim level and to make sure the programmer was aware of this. He seemed dismissive of my concern and shrugged off the additional information I attempted to provide and assured me that this issue was going to be addressed by the “programmer.”
On December 19, 2018 I responded to Sammy G’s email and asked him again if getting a replacement unit will bring the PDR up and Sammy G replied with,” Our engineer said it should come up on the replacement unit.” I was subsequently emailed a return label by infotainment.com under my original order, I completed an RMA form using an online link that was provided. I wanted them to expedite the replacement but was told they couldn’t ship me one until they received my unit back. The only way to avoid waiting the 3 days for my return to arrive on their end and another 3-5 days for them to ship a replacement was for me to pay an additional $500 (+$12.95 for expedited shipping) for a new order or what they call an “Advanced Exchange”. So, I did just that. I hadn’t been off the phone for more than 5 minutes and I received an email with a tracking number from infotainment.com. I thought to myself, if they were going to raise my concerns with their “programmer” and have him reprogram the replacement unit to address them. How could they already be shipping the unit? Now I was more skeptical than ever. I called back and asked to speak to a Supervisor. I was transferred to a woman who identified herself as Simone and indicated she was the customer support manager. She assured me that their programmer was a “GM expert” and knew what he was doing. She said they would be sending the correct unit this time. I assume she wasn’t aware I had already been given shipping details.
On December 22, 2018 The replacement HMI arrived. I removed the previously provided unit and installed this newly provided one only to find it did exactly the same thing. Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI renders the PDR non-functional and removes the Rear Camera Guidelines from the screen when in reverse as well as removes the Rear Camera Guidelines “on/off” option from the Settings Menu. At this point I had done everything I could do to communicate the issue to infotainment.com in the hope that the information I have been providing would facilitate the involvement of someone with a “technical” background who could take a closer look at the issue. To date I had spent @$1800.00 and in return I had not been provided the product that functions as advertised and when attempting to provide background on the issue I was lied to, dismissed and provided scripted responses.
On December 26, 2018Completely frustrated at this point, I sent an email to infotainment.com’s Customer Support and copied everyone at infotainment.com I had interacted with at that point. I went to the technical support page, initiated a chat and pasted the content of my email there as well. I was essentially asking to speak with someone with a technical understanding of what I was experiencing so we could solve it. If they couldn’t do that then they needed to be honest, admit they are unable to do solve it, give me my money back. More importantly, they need to acknowledge this shortfall by providing some sort of disclaimer on their website. They should be obligated to make owners of 2015 C7 Z51 3LT’s aware that their product will not work for that C7 model year and configuration without causing the loss of the PDR and reverse Camera Gridlines. I went on to post a copy of my email detailing my experience to the infotainment facebook page and sent another via Facebook Messenger.
Within a few minutes, I received a FB Messenger reply, a response to the post on their Facebook page as well as a response to my chat submission on their web page. All were from Joel who indicated he was the retail sales manager and that he was passing it on to “his boss”. Enter Simone again (apparently Joel’s “boss”), I received an email from her apologizing and indicating that she was now “working on my case” and explained that I should “pardon the information provided by the previous representatives” as they are “new and still in training”. She asked if she could call me the following day to discuss my issue and I responded with a resounding “yes! Please do!).
On December 27, 2018 I received another email from Simone telling me she would be calling but in the meantime wanted to see if I could provide a photo of the labels on the First HMI they sent me. I responded by sending her photos of the first one, the second one and the original one that came with my car. Later that day, Simone called me and told me they would be shipping a third unit and it would not be coming from their warehouse in Florida but rather was being drop-shipped by a 3rd party. Out of concern that my issues may get lost in the translation I asked if I could have the name and contact number for the 3rd party who was working on my replacement so I could speak with him directly. Somewhat reluctantly, Simone she provided me the info. After we got off the phone I took the original (first) HMI I had received from them and shipped it back using the shipping label provided by infotainment.com so I could get my $512.96 for the advance exchange for the second HMI credited back to me and wash my hands of infotainment.com. On January 2 my refund for the advance exchange posted and I was back to being only $1300 in the hole.
On January 3, 2019I sent a text message to the 3rd party programmer whom I found out is Anthony Brush, the owner of Mobile Video Integration, or MVI and an industry expert on GM infotainment systems. It was a tremendous relief to finally speak with someone who was actually familiar with the infotainment system architecture. For starters, he actually listened to what I had to say when describing the problem. At this point I have been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I have bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
After walking him through the various iterations of HMI’s and explaining the PDR as it relates to the 2015 cars and the Z51 and 3LT package, etc. Anthony quickly deduced the unit that was enroute to me was not going to solve the problem either. Moreover, he theorized it was not simply an HMI programming issue but an issue with the software in the ACM (radio brain) as well. He said he had an idea as to how to make it work but I would need to give him a few days to get his hands on a couple ACMs. At this point I had been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I had bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
Within days Anthony shipped me a new HMI and two ACM’s that he had purchased and programmed. I installed the ones he told me two and the first combination worked perfectly.
Bingo!
My PDR is back online and the Gridlines on the rear back up cam are back as well! My full factory functionality remains intact and the Apple Carplay & Android Auto work perfectly.
Anthony has it figured out now so if you are looking to add Apple Carplay or Android Auto to your C7, or if like myself and may who have posted above, you have already purchased it elsewhere and are experiencing issues with the loss of your PDR, Gridlines, etc. I would recommend reaching out to Anthony Brush at MVI.
He’s been working the GM infotainment systems since the 1990s and was a lifesaver in my situation. In retrospect wish I would have found him from the beginning. Anthony’s a busy guy but responds pretty quickly via text which worked well for me. I have provided his cell and a link to his website below. I am confident he can help the other forum members who seem to have had a similar experience to mine. Best of luck!
Anthony Brush
Phone: 919-995-9523
MVI Website: https://www.gm-navigation.com/
On December 6, 2018I contacted infotainment because I was interested in getting Apple Car Play for my 2015 C7 Z51 3LT however I had read about people having problems like losing their PDR (Performance Data Recorder) functionality in cars equipped. (Typically 3LT cars). I was assured that because my VIN number was being used and the HMI was being coded to that VIN that I would retain all functionality. Moreover, I was told that she had never “heard of anyone losing the PDR functionality” which was odd to me considering the number of forum members who had posted about it.
Based on this conversation I ordered the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Corvette MyLink® IO6 GPS Navigation Radio Upgrade for my car and I paid $1259.96 total. As my car is the 3LT package, it comes with the PDR as well as the full factory Nav, etc. but in order to add the Apple CarPlay I needed to replace the ACM or radio brain as well. So they shipped me an HMI, and new USB hub and the ACM (Radio Brain)
On December 17, 2018 after receiving the items, I installed them. Unfortunately, the original concerns raised with Taylor were confirmed as after installing the equipment 1) The PDR no longer functioned and 2) The Guidelines for the rear camera went away as did the menu option to turn them on and off. I emailed Taylor Infotainment.com about the issue who responded by telling me to email their support desk about the issue and open a trouble ticket. I did that.
On December 18, 2018I received an email from Sammy via a support email address at infotainment instructing me to recheck my connections and perform a Can-Bus reset. I did what was instructed and I informed Sammy that this accomplished nothing. Then he responded by telling me to go into the setting menu in the HMI menu and turn on the gridlines and perform another can-bus reset. At this point I had performed 3 can-bus resets and explained to Sammy that the menu option for the camera guidelines was no longer listed. This made his request completely erroneous and left me with the impression that no one at infotainment.com was actually listening to what I was saying and actually just reciting some sort of script.
Sammy went on to say in his email,”This is the first time a Corvette Customer has had any issues regarding a PDR,..” Again, I was frustrated by this response as clearly people had encountered this issue in the past. Several people had posted that they had raised the issue with Joe Mancinik (no longer with the company) at infotainment.com to resolve the rear camera guideline issue but he was unable bring back their PDR. So obviously there had been previous dialogue on this? This goes back to why I raised the concern with Taylor on the sales team on December 6 to begin with. Not only has it happened before, it had been a known issue. So Sammy essentially lied to me or made an assertion that he was not qualified to make. Again, my reason for asking prior to placing my order was to ensure the problems others were having related to losing the PDR and the back-up gridlines had been rectified in the units they were now selling. So, now completely frustrated , I called Sammy and re-explained everything all over again. I was told he would email a shipping label so I could return unit after which they would send a replacement unit. He again assured me that the new unit would be programmed to rectify the PDR and Rear Camera Guideline Issue. I attempted to educate him about the experiences of others who had experienced this issue in the past and further explained that the 2015 Corvette I had was a 3LT trim which is the trim that has the factory PDR. I explained what the PDR was and that there is a specific icon for it on the HMI Display and a multitude of menu options. This is the icon that no longer functions with your HMI installed. I emphasized to Sammy that this is particular to the 3LT trim level and to make sure the programmer was aware of this. He seemed dismissive of my concern and shrugged off the additional information I attempted to provide and assured me that this issue was going to be addressed by the “programmer.”
On December 19, 2018 I responded to Sammy G’s email and asked him again if getting a replacement unit will bring the PDR up and Sammy G replied with,” Our engineer said it should come up on the replacement unit.” I was subsequently emailed a return label by infotainment.com under my original order, I completed an RMA form using an online link that was provided. I wanted them to expedite the replacement but was told they couldn’t ship me one until they received my unit back. The only way to avoid waiting the 3 days for my return to arrive on their end and another 3-5 days for them to ship a replacement was for me to pay an additional $500 (+$12.95 for expedited shipping) for a new order or what they call an “Advanced Exchange”. So, I did just that. I hadn’t been off the phone for more than 5 minutes and I received an email with a tracking number from infotainment.com. I thought to myself, if they were going to raise my concerns with their “programmer” and have him reprogram the replacement unit to address them. How could they already be shipping the unit? Now I was more skeptical than ever. I called back and asked to speak to a Supervisor. I was transferred to a woman who identified herself as Simone and indicated she was the customer support manager. She assured me that their programmer was a “GM expert” and knew what he was doing. She said they would be sending the correct unit this time. I assume she wasn’t aware I had already been given shipping details.
On December 22, 2018 The replacement HMI arrived. I removed the previously provided unit and installed this newly provided one only to find it did exactly the same thing. Absolutely no difference. Identical flaws exist with this unit as with the previous one. Installing the infotainment.com replacement HMI renders the PDR non-functional and removes the Rear Camera Guidelines from the screen when in reverse as well as removes the Rear Camera Guidelines “on/off” option from the Settings Menu. At this point I had done everything I could do to communicate the issue to infotainment.com in the hope that the information I have been providing would facilitate the involvement of someone with a “technical” background who could take a closer look at the issue. To date I had spent @$1800.00 and in return I had not been provided the product that functions as advertised and when attempting to provide background on the issue I was lied to, dismissed and provided scripted responses.
On December 26, 2018Completely frustrated at this point, I sent an email to infotainment.com’s Customer Support and copied everyone at infotainment.com I had interacted with at that point. I went to the technical support page, initiated a chat and pasted the content of my email there as well. I was essentially asking to speak with someone with a technical understanding of what I was experiencing so we could solve it. If they couldn’t do that then they needed to be honest, admit they are unable to do solve it, give me my money back. More importantly, they need to acknowledge this shortfall by providing some sort of disclaimer on their website. They should be obligated to make owners of 2015 C7 Z51 3LT’s aware that their product will not work for that C7 model year and configuration without causing the loss of the PDR and reverse Camera Gridlines. I went on to post a copy of my email detailing my experience to the infotainment facebook page and sent another via Facebook Messenger.
Within a few minutes, I received a FB Messenger reply, a response to the post on their Facebook page as well as a response to my chat submission on their web page. All were from Joel who indicated he was the retail sales manager and that he was passing it on to “his boss”. Enter Simone again (apparently Joel’s “boss”), I received an email from her apologizing and indicating that she was now “working on my case” and explained that I should “pardon the information provided by the previous representatives” as they are “new and still in training”. She asked if she could call me the following day to discuss my issue and I responded with a resounding “yes! Please do!).
On December 27, 2018 I received another email from Simone telling me she would be calling but in the meantime wanted to see if I could provide a photo of the labels on the First HMI they sent me. I responded by sending her photos of the first one, the second one and the original one that came with my car. Later that day, Simone called me and told me they would be shipping a third unit and it would not be coming from their warehouse in Florida but rather was being drop-shipped by a 3rd party. Out of concern that my issues may get lost in the translation I asked if I could have the name and contact number for the 3rd party who was working on my replacement so I could speak with him directly. Somewhat reluctantly, Simone she provided me the info. After we got off the phone I took the original (first) HMI I had received from them and shipped it back using the shipping label provided by infotainment.com so I could get my $512.96 for the advance exchange for the second HMI credited back to me and wash my hands of infotainment.com. On January 2 my refund for the advance exchange posted and I was back to being only $1300 in the hole.
On January 3, 2019I sent a text message to the 3rd party programmer whom I found out is Anthony Brush, the owner of Mobile Video Integration, or MVI and an industry expert on GM infotainment systems. It was a tremendous relief to finally speak with someone who was actually familiar with the infotainment system architecture. For starters, he actually listened to what I had to say when describing the problem. At this point I have been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I have bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
After walking him through the various iterations of HMI’s and explaining the PDR as it relates to the 2015 cars and the Z51 and 3LT package, etc. Anthony quickly deduced the unit that was enroute to me was not going to solve the problem either. Moreover, he theorized it was not simply an HMI programming issue but an issue with the software in the ACM (radio brain) as well. He said he had an idea as to how to make it work but I would need to give him a few days to get his hands on a couple ACMs. At this point I had been under the dash on both side of my C7 so many times in the past several weeks I had bruises on my ribs from laying across the rocker panels.
Within days Anthony shipped me a new HMI and two ACM’s that he had purchased and programmed. I installed the ones he told me two and the first combination worked perfectly.
Bingo!
My PDR is back online and the Gridlines on the rear back up cam are back as well! My full factory functionality remains intact and the Apple Carplay & Android Auto work perfectly.
Anthony has it figured out now so if you are looking to add Apple Carplay or Android Auto to your C7, or if like myself and may who have posted above, you have already purchased it elsewhere and are experiencing issues with the loss of your PDR, Gridlines, etc. I would recommend reaching out to Anthony Brush at MVI.
He’s been working the GM infotainment systems since the 1990s and was a lifesaver in my situation. In retrospect wish I would have found him from the beginning. Anthony’s a busy guy but responds pretty quickly via text which worked well for me. I have provided his cell and a link to his website below. I am confident he can help the other forum members who seem to have had a similar experience to mine. Best of luck!
Anthony Brush
Phone: 919-995-9523
MVI Website: https://www.gm-navigation.com/
The following 2 users liked this post by e4life82:
2Intense (01-16-2019),
Foo Fighters (01-16-2019)
#249
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
2Intense - thanks for blazing the trail. I'll contact Anthony and see if he can help me also with getting the PDR to work again.
Did you inquire about getting the GM applications to download? I could never get that to work. Others thought it was an issue in the GM back office system and is never going work.
Did you inquire about getting the GM applications to download? I could never get that to work. Others thought it was an issue in the GM back office system and is never going work.
The following users liked this post:
2Intense (01-17-2019)
#250
Instructor
2Intense - thanks for blazing the trail. I'll contact Anthony and see if he can help me also with getting the PDR to work again.
Did you inquire about getting the GM applications to download? I could never get that to work. Others thought it was an issue in the GM back office system and is never going work.
Did you inquire about getting the GM applications to download? I could never get that to work. Others thought it was an issue in the GM back office system and is never going work.
#251
Intermediate
#252
Instructor
Not sure if you understood the thread/post. The issue is with 2014-2015 C7's looking to upgrade. I already indicated at's a simple HMI "off the shelf" swap for a 2016-2019 C7. That said knowing what I know now, I would use Anthony at MVI before I'd spend a nickel at infotainment.com again. Regardless of what year my C7 was.
#253
Not sure if you understood the thread/post. The issue is with 2014-2015 C7's looking to upgrade. I already indicated at's a simple HMI "off the shelf" swap for a 2016-2019 C7. That said knowing what I know now, I would use Anthony at MVI before I'd spend a nickel at infotainment.com again. Regardless of what year my C7 was.
Last edited by e4life82; 01-17-2019 at 10:20 PM.
#256
Instructor
#257
Burning Brakes
I have a '17, so most of this isn't applicable to me but I'd love to have HD radio. Do you know if this is in Anthony's wheelhouse too? I suspect/hope that if you add a 2018 - onward radio tuner it would work.
#258
Instructor
yes, absolutely. At first we were worried that I would lose HD radio but he was able to retain it along with the other modifications. I will be posting a video here in the next 30 minutes that should add some color to everything for those unfamiliar.
#259
Instructor
Go easy on me though, I very seldom do these and it shows 😬
Last edited by 2Intense; 01-18-2019 at 05:42 PM.
The following users liked this post:
KnightmareCS (01-18-2019)
#260
Burning Brakes
Dude, nice vid! Thanks for that!
Exactly what I was looking for. You confirmed PDR functionality with a test drive right? And I know they're Onstar related, but do weather and traffic do anything?
Gave me another reason to buy mods $$$$$$
Exactly what I was looking for. You confirmed PDR functionality with a test drive right? And I know they're Onstar related, but do weather and traffic do anything?
Gave me another reason to buy mods $$$$$$