Customer Reviews

JVC Deck with Built-In HD Radio Tuner

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I went shopping around and compared the JVC to the Kenwood and the Alpine radios with builtin hd tuners. The Kenwood radios biggest problem is you have to activate the satellite radio to use the radio. The Alpine radio was the cost. For the money the JVC KD-HDR1 provides all the features and versatility to make it the best radio for the price and for the capabilities it offers. Once you listen to High Definition radio you will not enjoy regular FM broadcasts again. Alot of stations are going to High Definition radio. I am very happy with this product and would recommend it to anyone who wants a good sounding radio without paying for satellite to get it. The surround sound it offers is even a better enticement and the EQ settings will make it worthwile even on a stock system without a amplifier.

Over the past month or so I started to listen to podcasts while driving to work. The trouble is on a audio cd format your limited to 80-90 minutes. It was a pain if it was say cut to four tracks of twenty minutes and if ones just a hair above it wouldn't fit. Then I also heard of hd radio...I live more in a rural area...FM is good but has some static...some AM comes in well at night.

This was a perfect fit. A large chunk of FM near me is in HD...and I can get about a dozen or so HD 2 stations I wouldn't normally get. There's a few AM ones as well but due to highpower at night (nightwave) it's on during the day. If you get out of range on a HD1 station it reverts back to analog...if your on a HD2 it cuts off since there is no analog stream of it.

On FM you can somewhat hear the difference...it's definatly clearer...AM is VASTLY improved. It should also be noted that it would help to manually go though the stations to see if they are hd because not everything that iBiquity lists is complete..I receive about three stations from RI that aren't even listed yet...for a small amount of time it tried to get a HD Am stream from NYC! Range varies on the stations.

For the mp3's they play very well..giving some of the text ID information (hd radio stations can (but not always) give track and artist information as well as some station information...one tries to give some weather but it's still a work in progress).

Also this piece of equipment is pretty technical...the surround sound can be manually adjusted and the steps for it can be set for USA or s.central america or EU..to note if you adjust it to EU it won't work right with Am tuning since it's in steps of 9khz vs 10 khz..

It also leaves open if you want to a kit to add sirus or xm...

All in all I think it's excellent...

The unit is great. About a month ago, I upgraded to it from the stock stereo in my Grand Cherokee (all other components are stock) and even the difference in the sound quality of a CD is amazing. Once you turn the HD feature on, the difference is impossible to miss. It isn't quite CD quality sound, but it is certainly a noticable improvement. Everyone who has ridden in the car has been impressed with it.

All that being said, the multi-cast ability of HD radio is my favorite part of it. I don't like listening to morning shows, so the multi-cast is nice as I can flip over to the "hidden" (HD2) station and listen to just music. The HD2 stations also seem to have fewer commercials, though I haven't exactly counted them to check that statement.

The price is the best I found as well. I looked around the internet for several days before I choose this unit. Most of the other HD radios I found were "HD ready"; aka you have to buy an additional tuner to be able to use the HD function. This one comes with the tuner built-in and is well under 1/2 the cost of any other "built-in" player.

The installation was no more difficult than a normal radio installation. If you can do it yourself, I recommend it to save a couple bucks.

I only have 2 "issues" and they are certainly not enough to take the product rating down at all.

1) The unit gets HOT. You can feel the heat radiating from behind the dash after it has been turned on for 30 minutes or so. That being said, it has not affected the performance in anyway...yet.

2) The display isn't the best I've seen. I would have given the unit the ability to display the time simultaneously with other scrolling text. You have to keep switching the display based on what you want to know. Switching is easy though, one button cycles through the options.

I was having trouble with reception on a couple of my favorite stations in the Los Angeles area and being too cheap to spring for Satellite service, I read the previous reviews of the JVC KD-HDR1 and thought it might be what I needed. I got the impression that the less crowded HD frequencies could help my reception issues so I gave in and bought one. I am glad I did. The reception on those trouble stations is now great. Sports talk on AM stations sound like good FM and my favorite-but weak-FM station sounds like I'm listening to CD's. It comes in and out of HD a little in some parts of town but then again, I am on the outside edge of this station's range. Of course this is just in my humble opinion-since I don't claim to be any kind of audiophile. I also liked the fact that this unit and the i-Pod adapter cost less than $200 delivered. Again, I am cheap and wasn't going to spring for the Alpine HD unit that is well over a thousand bucks even though I am an Alpine fan. Back when I was young, single, and into spending money on car stereo equipment, I used to think that JVC wasn't cool enough for my ride. I definitely don't think that now.

I bought the JVC-HDR1 to replace the factory unit in a Toyota Highlander. The improvement in FM reception is very noticeable. I listen to KCSM-FM which is an all-jazz community college station broadcasting from about 30 miles away. Without HD, static "happens". With HD the sound is clean, no static! Most of the stations I listen to offer HD. Sound quality using CDs is also good. The only things I miss about the factory unit are the larger faceplate and buttons and cleaner overall look. Installation of the JVC was not hard, basically the same as any other typical replacement head unit. It uses the existing vehicle antenna.

I purchased this stereo specifically for the radio features - strong conventional radio performance and the HD service. I got neither, really. I could not get the unit to play HD radio stations. I would tune to one, it would play the analog signal for a few seconds, then fade out. It would only play analog, and only after switching reception modes every time I changed stations or started the car. Major PITA. After talking to JVC tech support, we concluded that the HD signal in my area was not strong enough for reception. Even though one of the broadcast towers can be seen from my parking lot. A salesman at a local electronics store (which carries the same model) told me that it's a common complaint. Their store model wouldn't work either. We have 10 HD stations in town, and this stereo couldn't play one of the them. I'm not saying it won't work, but I'm saying it might not. I would demo a model in your area, and make sure it works for you. Unfortunately, you can't shut off the HD system, so it will always look for HD, and changing stations becomes a 3 or 4 button pushing adventure if it's not found. The CD player worked great, though.

If you are a talk radio person like myself this radio's AM reception stinks so bad it's ridiculous.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure where a person can find an honest review of car radio AM reception capabilities.

Another issue with this radio is that it is terribly underpowered. Even when tuned in on a strong HD radio station I cannot turn up the volume high enough to get the sound adequately up and over the noise of the vehicle.

Turn the volume up much beyond the 30 level (the digital level goes from 1 to 50) and the sound becomes so distorted you cannot understand it.

I have some really awesome car radios, e.g., I have a 10 year old Sony CDX-4160 which blows this radio away on the AM stations, sitting in the same driveway.

Avoid this radio if you want AM reception.

My husband installed this unit in his 98 Ford F150 in about an hour. It came with everything he needed, even the tools for pulling the old radio. The HD makes a difference, but sadly, when he's driving, his favorite station keeps bouncing from the HD to the AM signals and it can be quite annoying. The CD quality is amazing. One of our favorite road trip CD's is a Tom Waits, and on my MINI Cooper's factory stereo, it sounds OK. On the new JVC unit, I heard sounds and lyrics I've never heard. I swear at one point I heard a match strike and the long inhale of lighting a cigarette. Very film (radio?) noir.

[...]

Basically I like the product. However, if you are in the FM fringe area (i.e. 30 miles away from the FM transmitter), the automatic switching between analog and HD can become annoying. If you switch to HD-2, the music stops when the signal is too low and resumes when the signal comes back in stronger. I have ordered an antenna amplifier and will see if this problem goes away.

I purchased this radio so I could have my XM and iPod on the same unit without having a separate XM tuner and to allow me to replace my OEM CD/AM/FM with a way to control my iPod and play it back.

Out of the box, I learn that the product description here is not accurate. The tuner cannot control iPod AND satellite radio, rather you connect ONE to the ONE plug on the back.

I paid an additional $45.75 for the XM connector cord, $44.49 for the iPod connection cables, and $48.36 for the XM tuner that connects to this radio. A total of $138.71 in addition to this radio's cost only to find out on receipt that I can only use one of these items. I could have saved either between $50 - $95 if I had known this radio can only do one at a time.

The three star rating is solely for the lack of clarity in the description to allow consumers to save money when deciding to purchase accessories and not a reflection of the radio's performance itself.