Issues with line out functionality - TT 530

benjamino · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 24, 2007 Posts: 6

I have some issues with the line out functionality on the TT 530 - it seems partly finished really. Maybe because it's not a widely used feature. Anyway here is my email I sent to TomTom detailing the problems. Would be interested in any thoughts/work-arounds etc.

philpugh · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject:

You aren't alone in the disappointment with BT handsfree not being integrated into the line-out. As far as I can make out it was supported in earlier versions but has been removed by TT. As far as I can make out it's something to do with licence/usage issues between TT and the supplier of the handsfree h/w & s/w? I'm sure someone here will give us more details.

I've "fixed" the problem by buying a new car radio that has BT connectivity. I get phone hands free and TomTom spoken directions via BT and very good sound it is too! Also plays MP3s from a USB stick - so no need to connect my iPod to the TT unit.
_________________
Phil

jimbo_hippo · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 18, 2005 Posts: 444

I think in later versions you will find that routing the nav commands to anything external isn't possible either. They come out of the onboard speaker whatever the settings. And to be honest I much prefer this anyway with my setup. Because there is no way to do 'a mix' so to speak and set levels for different elements it's impossible not to scare yourself to death aproaching a junction.
_________________
Tom Tom GO 720
Orange M3100, Orange SPV M5000
TomTom Navigator 6, Destinator 6
Holux GPSslim

mikealder · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:12 pm Post subject:

Both Bluetooth and Line Out can be used for either/ both the Nav voice and music, only hands free audio using a phone call is the only sound that cannot be routed to anything other than the internal speaker.

A forum member did work out a hack to send the phone audio out via the line out but this was very quickly disabled by a TomTom software update!

Your line out connection could be suffering from "Ground Loop interference" and it is possible to stop this by fitting a "Ground Loop Isolator" between the TomTom and the car deck. These don't cost a great deal and work very well - Mike

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:15 am Post subject:

I've had a long standing gripe that TT have "cheated" somewhere to make the TTS voices louder in software, and it makes them distorted compared to the real voices (more so than you would expect from them being electronically generated). Try a "real" voice to see if that sounds distinctly better, just out of interest.

You won't get anywhere with your request for handsfree audio over the line out, but keep badgering them about the relative volumes, what I would like to see (and have tried suggesting to them more then once) is a "volumes page", something like this:

(just a mock up, before you all get excited!)

Having said all that, if it is REALLY bad, it might just be a faulty unit. I had a 940 where the audio broke up really badly and it turned out to be a hardware fault on the motherboard.

jimbo_hippo · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 18, 2005 Posts: 444

Andy_P, you and I keep meeting over this subject don't we! The above image sticks in my mind everytime I fiddle with the audio settings in Tom Tom notably as a wonderfully presented 'wish list'. The irony is that in days gone by you had channel gain and a master on most things luxurious or just a VOL knob on vanilla products. With modern software you seem to end up with too many 'amps' in line with each programme adding another control to daisy chain with the others and make good audio more and more difficult. Then along come Tom Tom and give us the 'one size fits all' VOLUME slider! :-) Bless them. Great navigation, cr*p at mixing a band!

J
_________________
Tom Tom GO 720
Orange M3100, Orange SPV M5000
TomTom Navigator 6, Destinator 6
Holux GPSslim

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:53 am Post subject:

Yeah, I keep banging on about it, in the hope that if a few other people think "that's a good idea" and suggest it to TT themselves, then TT might finally decide its a good idea too!

It got really annoying for me, that I'd created a whole load of Camera warning voices, which matched the level of the "real" navigation voices really well.

But if you switched to a TTS voice it was quite a lot louder (and distorted, but that's another story), so if you turned the master volume down to a comfortable level for the navigation instructions, the camera warnings are just a bit too quiet.
And because they are recorded to maximum digital level, there's not a damn thing you can do about it. (Well a bit of judicious compression/limiting helps a bit, but it would be so much better if you could just tweak the levels properly).

benjamino · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 24, 2007 Posts: 6

Thanks for that info. I have tried it with a recorded voice and it sounds perfect. Even it high volumes it still sounds fine on the speakers. Certainly fine at any volume I would use if I have passengers. So think I'll stick to the recorded voice for now. If I miss it reading out street names I'll switch back. So yeah I agree it sounds like its distorting because they have set the levels too high for the TTS. Lets hope they fix it soon! Also really really hope they can sort out the bluetooth over line out too.

	PocketGPS
	Web