Everything About Pioneer AVH-G115DVD

I got a request from one of my family member to install an audio-video entertainment in our car. Actually this is not a good idea for myself since my current audio system here here and here is satisfying enough for the sound quality.

But I think I will do it anyway. I should experience myself for having an AV head unit on car and how does it feel. So I searching the suitable AV head unit for this project within my very low budget and end up to this Pioneer AVH-G115DVD.

This head unit is the lowest tier in the Pioneer line-up and affordable. I got it for about US$100 brand new and this is what you should know about this AV head unit which I believe no one will telling you about this before.

Pioneer AVH-G115DVD is 2017-2018 model which similar to the previous model, is the AVH-G105DVD. They shared the same features and specification.

The "G" series is the lowest, entry level Pioneer for AVH series. The improvement model is their next tier which is the "A" series. Although the "A" series have all the same specification except additional Bluetooth mirror link capability (yes, it is quite useful) and additional audio feature that has the time alignment and 13 band graphics equalizer.

Do "A" series means better? Yes of course.

You should consider that the "G" series sound quality is not great but way better than the OEM car audio or cheap Chinese made head unit. Consider the price range for "A" series is above US$160 and if this price is not bothering you, then you better going to the "A" series.

Let's discuss about the input/output features in this AV head unit.

One of the Pioneer AVH-G115DVD features is the steering remote 3.5 mm jack input. The Pioneer have this smart feature to program the assigned button for steering remote control. It navigate through the setting and will works for every cars with or without steering remote adapter.

Like the others Pioneer head-unit, the AUX input is also available, but only at the head unit back panel. This AUX input can received audio and video signal from any source you have using standard TRSS 3.5 mm AV jack. This video format input is obsolete since today standard is all HDMI for hi-res audio video format. But glad for this entry level Pioneer head-unit still presenting this feature.

Testing the audio quality by using the iPod line out and go to this AUX input of AVH-G115DVD doesn't sound good enough for me. It is sound muffled and degrade in the sound quality. The same music files playing through the USB stick inserted at the front panel sounds better. The same music as well but in CD format insert to the CD slot of this AVH-G115DVD also sound much better. When no video signal present in the AUX input, the display keep blank which doesn't feel esthetic at all.

The other connection is the RCA line-output for front channel and rear/sub-woofer output. This is standard for today head-unit to have this line output for future sound upgrade by install additional power amplifier.

Because this head unit is an AV system, there is additional feature in the BUS socket input is the parking brake sense cable which marked with the green color. This cable is install together with the parking switch on the hand-brake. This is to protect the driver to keep focus while driving for the safety issue. While we want to disable this feature, please make sure this function is legal to the road safety regulation before attempt it.

By disable this feature, the display will keep playing without any control from the hand-brake. Connecting this cable to the ground or negative will permanently disable this safety function and the head unit will keep playing the video while driving.

There is also camera video input feature which can be controlled to the reverse switch cable as well. This feature to put additional rear camera for reverse navigation display function.

Pioneer is best at their user interface. It is very simple and self explanatory. The UI is fast to navigate without any lagging or whatsoever.

The display is quite bright and has wide viewing angle. Not the best display since it is only 800 x 480 resolution and I cannot complaining for this price point. Overall for this low resolution car entertainment is still enjoyable and I don't have any issue watching from this resolution.

The only issue for the display is the display color imbalance. The red color display is too dominant. So, when the display that contain red color will feel that this color is too striking. The picture setting is simple which doesn't helping this issue at all.

I often using USB stick to play the music video. I am using 32 GB Sandisk USB flash disk and this head-unit can read the content fast enough without any issue. By default it will play the music files first, then you can navigate to choose the other media you want to play. The USB can play Music, Videos, or Pictures.

For playing the music files, I prefer copied the AAC files from my ripped CD using the iTunes on PC. Since the AAC is more advance in term of files size and sound quality compare to the MP3 files, this AAC files is also having the most compatibility with Pioneer AVH-G115DVD. So far, I having 2 music albums that cannot be read with this head unit correctly compares to more than 50 albums that I copied to this USB flash disk.

Most of the music album art cannot be display in this head-unit. The large number of files can make this head-unit freeze and then restart. This might be the issue with the internal processor that cannot capable to handle this large database.

For the movies playback, this head-unit is capable to play DIVX movies. No wonder there is the logo on the bottom right corner.

So all you need is download the free DIVX converter programs from the official DIVX websites, then put the output setting to Home Theater because it convert the video in same size as the display screen. Then the next step is put the video files you have on the PC to this programs then let the DIVX converter covert the video to it desired format.

When talking about this head-unit sound quality, some adjustment to the Audio Setting and tailored the sound to make it better is required. I prefer to use the default EQ preset by keep the default setting "Powerful", then the "Loudness" in ON and MID position. The additional Bass Boost +1 is needed when your speaker can handle more bass.

Strange that this Audio Setting can be return to default when I turn this head-unit OFF. Especially for the Loudness setting back to OFF again. This keep annoying me since I should turn it ON again every time I turn it ON again and again.

Other feature like playing DVD disc or CD audio is no issue at all. The menu is easy to navigate just like playing DVD or CD audio on a DVD Player at home. When insert CD audio, this head-unit will takes more time to read this CD audio format compare when read the DVD format.

Then Radio reception is good enough with clarity in sound. This also feature radio digital broadcast information that display the radio station name and the broadcast title or the songs name on screen.

This Pioneer AVH-G115DVD is worth for money.

It shared the same function and display specification to the upper Pioneer head-unit "A" tier except the Bluetooth function which right now I am not using it at all and prefer to play on my files using USB flash disk.

All the function is easy to navigate although some audio setting cannot be stored and this quite annoying. The sound quality is okay, better than your average OEM car stereo head unit. Overall quality is impressive but not the best, similar to it's price.

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