I found a Phaeton with a factory installed television tuner in it at my Zurich VW dealer today. I took some pictures of the menus available to the user on the J523 Front Information Display and Control Head. This option has caught my interest, because it appears at first glance that it would not be too difficult to retrofit to a North American Phaeton. It seems that all that would be needed is the TV tuner itself, which is a separate control module that fits under the hat shelf at the back of the car (where many other control modules are), and a little bit of re-coding of the J523 to indicate to it that a TV tuner is present. I am assuming that the NAR Phaetons have the TV antennas built into the rear window glass, same as the European Phaetons, but I have not confirmed this assumption.
The first screen picture shows what the driver is presented with when the Audio/TV button is pressed, if the TV button in the lower left of the J523 (where NAR Phaetons have the FM button) has also been pressed. No picture is available, because this Phaeton was sitting indoors.
The second screen shows what appears if the ‘Settings’ button is pressed from the first screen. There are various choices, the usual brightness, contrast, and colour, as well as the choice of off-the-air TV reception, or display of an AV signal from an external input such as a DVD player or a television camera. There are two AV inputs available – both are open (unassigned) when the Phaeton is delivered. It is up to the driver to hook up additional AV devices if he or she wants. My guess is that these probably plug into the TV tuner module.
The third screen picture shows the various regions of the world that can be selected, for the purpose of specifying what TV signal modulation (PAL, NTSC, SECAM, etc.) is being used in that region. This screen will appear if the ‘TV Standard’ button is pressed from the second screen.
Michael
Main Control Page for Television Tuner
![Image]()
Screen that appears if 'Settings' is pressed from the main page
![Image]()
Screen that appears if 'TV Standard' is pressed from the second page
![Image]()
The first screen picture shows what the driver is presented with when the Audio/TV button is pressed, if the TV button in the lower left of the J523 (where NAR Phaetons have the FM button) has also been pressed. No picture is available, because this Phaeton was sitting indoors.
The second screen shows what appears if the ‘Settings’ button is pressed from the first screen. There are various choices, the usual brightness, contrast, and colour, as well as the choice of off-the-air TV reception, or display of an AV signal from an external input such as a DVD player or a television camera. There are two AV inputs available – both are open (unassigned) when the Phaeton is delivered. It is up to the driver to hook up additional AV devices if he or she wants. My guess is that these probably plug into the TV tuner module.
The third screen picture shows the various regions of the world that can be selected, for the purpose of specifying what TV signal modulation (PAL, NTSC, SECAM, etc.) is being used in that region. This screen will appear if the ‘TV Standard’ button is pressed from the second screen.
Michael
Main Control Page for Television Tuner
Screen that appears if 'Settings' is pressed from the main page
Screen that appears if 'TV Standard' is pressed from the second page
