Try giving Craigyb a ring at TCL SAT NAV he has owned many A8's and S8's and is often around the country so could arrange to come see you! +++

I tried but no dice, he said he hasn't got anything available.

It's far from catastrophic but as I'm one for originality I'll leave it alone as I don't want to replace it with a newer unit.

I just leave this alone - even thought I won't use it much the fact that digital TV is possible makes me want to do it.

Does anyone have any experience or views on this outfit:

http://www.tv-in-motion.co.uk/audi_Digital_TV.html

Are they selling a plug-in replacement box for the analogue tuner which will mean I can use the existing RNS / Nav Plus found in late A/S8s?

Sorry to pester but electrics & ICE are beyond my limited capabilities so all advice is appreciated.

That product looks like it's for RNS-E, not the RNS-D you'll have in a late D2.

Bah. I was hoping it was replacement unit for the analogue receiver in the boot which worked with the existing RNS unit. I'm making things awkward for myself by wanting to keep the original head unit for authenticity but also have unauthentic digital TV.

'Cake' and 'eat it' spring to mind.

I'd like to do the same, but can't find anything.
My feeling is that it "ought" to be possible with that RNS-E type unit, but apart from the different connectors I suspect there's some rather more subtle changes required on the interfaces.
Way beyond my pay grade. :tuttut:

If we have an FL D2 with RNS-D with OEM analog tuner we can replace RNS-D to RNS-E and then replace analog tuner to hybrid digital RNS-E tuner. This is what I did.

The digital tuner will work with existing rear window antennas too.

This upgrade path won't require changing the cable between the head unit and the TV tuner in the boot. That means we don't need to snake new harness to the boot from the head unit.

TV Tuner side connection is exactly the same and RNS-D side connection just need new 32-pin connector soldered instead of existing 11-pin connector. All required wires can be found in existing RNS-D 11-pin connector.

Below is mapping of pins from existing RNS-D side 11-pin connector to new 32-pin RNS-E connector:

PIN 1 - Audio earth - to PIN 28 of RNS-E
PIN 2 - Audio input (left-side) - to PIN 29 of RNS-E
PIN 3 - Audio input (right-side) - to PIN 13 of RNS-E
PIN 4 - Video input sync. - to PIN 15 of RNS-E
PIN 5 - Video earth - to PIN 30 of RNS-E
PIN 6 - PAL/NTSC (NOT USED, NO WIRE IN HARNESS)
PIN 7 - V-switch (NOT USED, NO WIRE IN HARNESS)
PIN 8 - Video input (blue) - to PIN 31 of RNS-E
PIN 9 - Video input (green) - to PIN 16 of RNS-E
PIN 10 - Video input (red) - to PIN 32 of RNS-E
PIN 11 - Screened earth - to PIN 14 of RNS-E

Does it make a difference as to which model the RNS-E is sourced from?

Pinout applies to all RNS-E units. Both pre-2010 models and post-2010 models.

But don't try to source the US unit :) They are different.

I suspect that the issue is compounded with the Canbus arrangement.

The RNS-D doesnt talk Audi Canbus, netiher does its TV tuner. It talks blaupunkt Canbus. Thats why you have to have the TMC Gateway module behind the dash to translate between the two and connect the Nav/TV to the Car/MFSW/DIS

As the RNS-E doesnt require any translation, I suspect it and its tuner both talk Audi Canbus.

So, the RNS-E tuner wouldnt be able to sit on the Tv tuner cable in the boot of a D2 and talk directly to an RNS-D. Whether you cold rewire things a bit and convince the RNS-E tuner to talk to the RNS-D from the other side of the TMC Gateway, who knows. I suspect if it were that easy, it would be well documented by now.

Kufatec are an excellent supplier for things like this, and they did do a range of aftermarket, but CAN driven, Multimedia extensions for the VW MFD / RNS Navigation units, and I note they now have a UK website and also seem to offer fitting. Not cheap though.

Supply and demand dictates that this sort of modernisation of a rare, older car isnt going to generate the sort of customer base to drive bulk prices down...