I thought I'd post some thoughts of the backup camera I recently added to my 2008 LR3 HSE.

I purchased the GVIF unit available on Amazon (model B00GFS7G26, about $193+ship) along with the adapter cable that is required for use in Land Rovers (about $13+ship). Both of these items came from the Amazon seller "technopark".

I also bought a generic rear camera (about $18+ship) from Amazon seller "Auto Wayfeng", which fits in (i.e. replaces) the Land Rover's factory license plate light.

I chose to buy this on Amazon, as opposed to other known-good GVIF units available from sites like hids4u.co.uk, based on the assumption that, should something go wrong, returning it to Amazon would be somewhat easy. In hindsight, that may have been naïve, as everything I purchased took about a month to arrive via Hong Kong Post, and surely returning something to Hong Kong would be every bit as cumbersome as returning something to the UK...

It arrived packaged nicely, however it was all a little confusing due to a lack of instructions. I knew straight away that I would not be granted a lengthy pass to go fuss around in the garage, so off to the car stereo shop I went. They were, as you might expect, a bit non-plussed to install something they didn't sell. However they agreed and felt confident that it would take them "about 3 hours". It ended up taking them 7, which cost me $420.

There is a video on YouTube that seems to use the same exact unit as mine (search for: "BACKUP CAMERA INSTALL IN RANGE ROVER HSE BY AUDIO 2000").

The car stereo shop I went to noted to me that:

• The colors on the wiring harnesses did not match the wiring diagram I found and printed off the internet (said wiring diagram was for this unit's model number).
• Technical support by technopark was via email and IM -- which, as you might expect, was slow, cumbersome and awkward. The shop said they mostly had to reverse engineer the installation from past experience with similar units. I've got a few more questions going out to them today...
• The shop was unable to make the physical button work, which is demonstrated in the YouTube video above. The button on mine just makes the screen go black.
• It only works when its in map mode, which is a huge disappointment for me as I normally like to have the map off. It sort of annoys me to see a slow, pixelated, out of date map on the screen, not to mention having to press "I Agree" every time I start the vehicle. If you have your screen in any other mode, the screen just flickers when you put it into reverse.
• The camera looks great, and I really hope that it withstands the test of time and weather. I have a Front Runner tire carrier and, with the camera mounted on the left, the view from the camera is fine.

Hey, it works -- but note the flicker when its not in map mode.

• https://vimeo.com/192153493

Not much to see here, the GVIF unit is tucked underneath the factory nav:





Rear camera:



Overall, I achieved my goal of having a rear camera for all the obvious benefits they provide. However, the total cost was quite a bit more than I expected, and I'm disappointed that it only works in map mode and the button doesn't seem to work, either. I would probably not recommend this unit to others. I hope these thoughts help others who may be considering this GVIF (or any other) unit as well.

 

Well! After reading (and re-reading) the manual a few more times, it turns out that pressing and holding the < button on the IR remote brings up another menu ("Factory Mode" -- this is not at all intuitive!). And from this menu I was able to center the image on screen. I updated my post above to remove this item from my comments! I am hopeful that maybe I have the wrong input source associated with the physical button, but haven't sorted that out yet...

 

If you need help sorting out wires, I have the Land Rover factory wiring diagrams, but I assume you were having trouble identifying the GVIF wiring?

I installed a similar rear view camera in my wife's RR, but honestly have never felt the need in the LR3 because the visibility is so good. You can't see jack squat out the back of the RR because the head rests are so big and there's not as much glass. The camera is almost a necessity. Nevertheless, I definitely appreciate the write up! Hope you find a way to get it to display no matter what mode you're currently in. I wonder if modifying any settings in the CCF would help?

 

Thanks, I think I'm good!

In the YouTube video above (at 2:20), he describes the toggle switch (to enable the rear camera while in drive) as "something extra". According to their tech support, there is no simple solution to switch to the rear view camera image while driving. To do this, you need to use additional relays...

And as to my comment above about it only working when its in map mode, this is because GVIF intercepts the video signal that goes from the OEM navigation box.

Lastly, in case anyone is looking for the manual, it can be downloaded here: http://car-solutions.com/en/gvif-int...san-jaguar.php.