intrica

This is correct. I think of this as a pretty arbitrary restriction brought on by poor design; it's almost as if they went out of their way to limit functionality. A DVD full of high-quality MP3 or even WAV files would have been awesome. Note that using mp3s you get the track and folder names displayed on the radio. That's awesome - you can find your way among hundreds of songs if you burn a CD-R. But it could have been thousands on a DVD-R, and perhaps lossless too. Having said that, I managed to burn a DVD with multiple audio tracks (several CDs worth) in DVD audio track quality using Toast 7 Titanium on my Macbook Pro. It was actually pretty painless, but it felt like work. I got bored after adding 3 or so CDs to one DVD but I think I calculated the limit to be a bit higher. Toast even created a splash screen that displays on the dash screen when parking brake is on but it was cheesy and only partially functional. I had previously spent a dozen hours trying these things using free burning software I found on the web. Toast was absolutely worth the money, and they now have a later version that might be even better. I had also tried using some of my 5.1 DTS disks in the car and I thought they sounded like regular stereo. I needed a DTS 5.1 test disk. Fry's didn't have one that worked. I bought the Mannheim Steamroller disk that contained a "5.1 test" but it was inconclusive. But I can settle the dispute here, and sadly, you won't like it the message. I could not find a 5.1 channel test disk for DTS anywhere but I found a 5.1 source file from the Swedish National Radio on the web and I burned that to a CD-R using Toast. It played in 5.1 in my livingroom 5.1 stereo and all 6 channels were nicely 100% separated. Then I took it to the car and the back channels and base were mixed in with the fronts. Bah. Well, I thought, it says "DTS" right here on the player There must be 6 channels in there from the DVD reader at least. Perhaps they just added a mixer so that the rear seats would not lose the front channels. I bet I can remove that mixer if I get a look at the schematics for the stereo and can figure out where it is in the car. Best case I hoped to be able to cut a few resistors or remove a mixer widget from a cable. I had the opportunity.... I did make myself impopular at my Lexus dealer when I brought the car in for 5K mile service. I asked about the stereo and they didn't understand what I was talking about (big surprise there) but I escalated to the top service manager and he graciously set me down at a logged-in computer connected to their Intranet and showed me a browser for the schematics. Then he LEFT ME ALONE. I thought this was great service. In the next hour I had determined beyond any doubt: The most expensive Lexus models (LS, GS, ES) have true 5.1 sound, as advertised. The others don't. Specifically, the 2007 rx400h (my car) has "11 speaker stereo". The center channel mixes left and right, and the base is all over. But there are ONLY two amplifier channels. There is NO WAY to get the rx400h (at least 2007 model) to play true 5.1 (redistributed to 7.1 channels) music or video soundtrack without replacing the whole Mark Levinson unit. I read the schematics. Couldnt find a place to add an amp to get the missing channels - Could not see any indication for anything except left and right, all the way from the DVD player. If it doesn't say "7.1" or "5.1" in the specs, you get stereo. Getting the rear seat entertainment center makes no difference. I saw where it would be hooked in. The sound will still only be stereo. Notice the differences on the the Mark Levinson webpage. The top Lexi mentioned above have "Discrete 5.1 Surround Sound" whereas the others have something like "7 channels" and "Proprietary DSP technology". Sounds like "Stereo we messed around with" to me. Obviously I was disappointed - I paid almost 50K for the car and I had seen the "DTS" printed on the dash which had influenced my buying decision. Oh, one more thing I also asked if they could set the computer to display degrees Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Nope. Can't be done. I looked at the schematics for this also. And the in-dash clock cannot show 24 hr time either - it's most significant digit is a "1" at most, in hardware. It would likely have cost another dollar to get a segment display with 24-hr capability. Customization of my computers is a big deal to me. My Canon camera has more customization settings than my car. I believe that car companies still have a lot to learn about user's desires. - Monica