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Hi all. I have an 2001 M35 Stagea (2.5 RX) that I picked up a few weeks ago, and am in Auckland, New Zealand. I wanted to make use of the oem pop-up screen and was impressed with the use of the TV tuners used over there in Australia, along with the use of reverse cameras etc. Below I will layout the process I followed, what I bought, how much it was, and where it was from., to aid anyone else reading this that might want to do the same. Unfortunately the CD player in my Stagea is broken. As the stereo is ‘moulded in’ to the console I initially got quotes on replacing the stereo console panel to fit an aftermarket stereo. The cheapest quote of a half a dozen installers in Auckland was Rapid Radio, that was $639nzd plus the price of the new stereo (So the $639 was made of the new console panel and labour). Other quotes were significantly higher than that, and then of course a bunch of places didn’t even reply. Rapid Radio gave me prompt informative replies to emails (in addition to being cheapest) so if you needed to get anything done professionally I would go there. However replacing the console panel meant losing the oem screen (as the factory stereo/air con is not as deep as an aftermarket stereo). I then considered other options. I planned my set up to have: TV tuner (With USB for playing of movies and music due to no functioning CD player) Reverse Camera It took a little digging but the digital tv we have in New Zealand (“freeview”) is MPEG4 H.264 with 8mhz channel spacing. I purchased a TV tuner off ebay that was compatible with that, had USB, had dual antenna inputs, it also has Aux RCA input. The tuner was $169.99aud including shipping from ebay seller “kissmegoodbuys”. I’ve found this tuner to work well with the Stagea oem antennas and picks up Freeview well. The auction listing specified that the tuner had a “parking switch” pin. I was hoping that meant a reverse switch (as in wanting a reverse camera when you’re parking) but unfortunately it is meant for a park brake (all it does is give me a warning message on watching tv while driving if 12v is fed into it). For the Reverse Camera I wanted to go with a camera that was mounted on the rear illumination plate light lens. I was disappointed to find that there were no standard Stagea cameras on ebay so measured it up and found the closest/most similar lens was for a Renault Koleos. That lens turns out to be a direct replacement fit with the Stagea lens. The camera was $18.13usd including shipping from ebay seller “sunwayonline2009“. I also purchased a “2.4Ghz Wireless RCA Video Transmitter&Receiver for CAR REAR VIEW Camera Monitor” from the same seller for $18.38usd including shipping, so I wouldn’t have to run any new cables to the tailgate from the boot. However I found the wireless unit to be absolutely useless – it powered up but did not transmit a video signal (the transmitter and receiver were tested in line of sight, about 2cm away from each other and still got no signal). It could just be my unit, but I would recommend against buying them and just running an RCA lead to the tailgate. A more expensive wireless unit may be better, but then if the price gets too high just running an RCA lead gets more and more attractive. I had also purchased a Clarion MSS430 AV switch unit for a future install, but as the tv tuner I bought doesn’t utilise a reverse camera automatic switch, I needed to use it now. The clarion has 4 inputs, with 3 outputs, each output has an individual wired controller to select which input that output will utilise, independent of each other (so while the screen up the front displays a reverse camera, a backseat screen can display tv tuner, while another screen can display dvd etc). The Clarion unit was $25usd + $60usd shipping, for a new unit from a US-based seller (they only had 1 unit to sell so no point naming them). To make the RCA plug for the oem tuner I purchased a jumper wire from www.nicegear.co.nz (search PRT-10374). I cut off one end of an old 3-rca to 3-rca lead and soldered the jumper wire leads to their appropriate RCA centre/shield. The purpose of the pins on the oem tuner aux-input is already detailed elsewhere so I won’t go through it. The jumper wire is $3nzd with 4 pins each end (so one jumper wire is all you need when cut in half). Shipping is $5nzd flat rate (to NZ) but you might find some other stuff to throw in with your order. Of course you could always get the connectors out of an old computer. Below is a plan of the wiring I did. Audio/Video leads are on the left, with power and signal leads on the right. The Audio out of the tv tuner is split to also feed into the Clarion along with the reverse camera video – this is due to the fact I use the tv tuner for playing mp3s via USB, and when the vehicle goes into reverse and the screen automatically jumps over to the reverse camera, I still get the music playing from the tv tuner. Where wires cross over/touch each other they are not connected, unless they are the same colour. There are 2 switches. One earths the C1/Cont1 pin on the oem turner to bypass the motion block. The other switch stops power feeding to everything (so if I am parked and listening to the radio, the battery is not draining supplying power to everything unnecessarily. There are 3 relays. In the diagram, the coil (pins 85 and 86) are vertical on the left, with pins 30 and 87 vertical on the right. Relay 1: When acc power is fed through Relay 1 (and the switch is on) then 12V+ from the battery lead is fed to the Acc 12V+ inputs on the devices. Relay 2 and 3: When the reverse gear is engaged Relay 3 feeds 12v to the Clarion reverse switch and also to Relay 2, which in turn grounds C1/Cont1 pin. This all forces the Clarion to output the reverse camera and the oem screen to display it, when the reverse gear is engaged. I’m keen to hear any feedback or suggestions, or any queries. Also thanks very much to Commsman for plenty of advice on what I was doing. Will try and take photos during the week.

Hi All, another question about my stagea. i am not sure what stereo options were available in japan for the 260RS when it was sold. I found a massive bundle of wires that started behind the stereo and ran all the way to the boot of the stagea and ended tucked into the left side of the car (LHS rear wheel area). connected to nothing at either end, but it seems there was a cd stacker behind the left boot trim, now just empty space. When it arrived here it had been decked out with aftermarket system, AddZest (Clarion). It had the DVD Head unit with slideout screen and hideaway box/receiver, 5.1 surround component and TV Tuner. I have managed to get most things working fine however 2 things are left that are bugging me. The radio tuner's range is not expanded and i wanted to know what i have to do to expand it to tune all australian radio stations. Also, how do i receive TV signals/channels in australia (melbourne). Does it have anything to do with the FM expander? or is it something else entirely? Can anyone help me understand what is required to get the TV Tuner (Addzest/Clarion) box to display. All i get is static when i try to find a signal.