Customer Reviews

JVC KD-AVX77 El Kameleon DVD/CD/USB Receiver with 5.4-Inch Monitor, Proximity Sensor, Touchscreen Controls, Built-in Bluetooth, iPod/iPhone USB 2.0

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like everyone else, I too love the receiver for all the reasons people described. I DID NOT read the lack of support with the IPHONE 3GS before I bought and installed it. I didn't even really realize the lack of support when I used them together until I read the reviews here. I installed mine yesterday with a powered sub and factory speakers for now. The installation was a breeze and everything works well, except for one thing. Here is a description of the features I setup and the success of their function.

- Bluetooth setup: I have an iPhone 3Gs and it paired just fine the first time. I was not able to get the "phone book", as JVC calls it, loaded to the receiver. It didn't recognize the iPhone as a device with a phone book. Not that big of a deal to me as I will always use my contacts in the phone for that. It DOES however, activate the voice feature in the iPhone which I didn't expect, and works perfectly on voice dialing for hands free use. (so why would you need the phone book downloaded to the receiver if the reason you wanted it there was so you could make hands-free voice calling) It also connects via Bluetooth audio to my iPhone for wireless iPod listening and sounds perfect, as if it were plugged in. To summarize, everything actually works the way it was designed except the phone book can not be downloaded in to this receiver.

- Wired features with the iPhone 3Gs: Everything works as it was described in the list of features from the JVC spec sheet. When plugged in to the USB port of the receiver using the standard interface cable that came with your iPhone, it will charge the iPhone, control the iPod via the "head unit" mode so you can listen to music through the receiver (kind of an attached hard drive idea) as well as use the phone to place calls. All of this also works the same when you have the receiver in "iPod" mode.(you can hold the iPhone and use it as you would normally but have the sound come through the receiver)

I do not use any of the options connected to the receiver, i.e. HD radio, Sirius Radio, so I can not comment on those but I will tell you that this is a pretty kick ass receiver and you will enjoy all the rich features it has to offer. Including what I am calling, support for the iPhone 3Gs.

Believe it or not I don't work for Apple or JVC. Just a guy that wants it right.

This receiver has many great features and I love it except for one major issue ...

it does NOT support the iPhone 3Gs.

I received the following from JVC support:

"Your unit model KD-AVX77 is only compatible with the IPods/I phones that were available when the product was manufactured. Unfortunately the iphone3gs is a new version with a different software and released after the JVC model was manufactured therefore they are not compatible. As of today, there are no firmware updates to make them compatible or any additional information."

I winded up buying this head unit hesitantly because of all the questions circulating about IPhone 3GS support, and found out first hand that it DOES support IPhone 3GS. Keep in mind that I bought a newer JVC Kameleon AV-77 so they must have upgraded their firmware. Anyways, both IPhone 3G and 3GS work, but as long as (and this is very important) they don't have OS 4.0 firmware on it. If you have OS 3.1.3 or less on your IPhone then it will work fine. It will even display the cover art!

My only issue is that I upgraded my IPhone to OS 4.0 recently, and there's no way to revert to an older OS because Apple no longer "signs" (in the crypto sense) older firmware. So to summarize, if you have an IPhone 3GS or 3G with OS 3.1.3 or older, then this JVC unit will support it (as long as you make sure you get a newer JVC unit).

The head unit is really easy to install, if you install it yourself or have someone else put it in I would really suggest putting all your attachments, (i.e. Ipod AV wires, Sub wires etc) so you don't have to pull the deck again.

Other than that it's a hell of a great deck for any car!

I wanted the best receiver that would fit in my single DIN space. Decided not to go with flip screen because of souped up engine and significant car vibration (Lotus Elise). Bought JVC kd-avx77 deck. Installed professionally. I like the touch screen, the features. Has been reliable and with good sound quality. Am using virtually all the optional accessories (HD radio, Sirius, rearview cam, ipod) without difficulty.

Dislikes: 1) No volume knob. Difficult to control tweaking the sound level fast accurately. 2) Screen is TOO SMALL. The screen is really wide but really needs more vertical space. Otherwise pictures like the DVD playback and rear view cam are smaller than a business card because height is only like 1.8" and width is proportional to height. 3) The buttons have small fonts on them that are difficult to read. Particularly if you have a screen saver on the background. They need larger symbols on the softkeys. 4) Difficult to read in the daytime, especially with top down. Forget about watching a movie until after dark. 5) Softkeys suck compared to real keys. 6) has locked up on me twice requiring reboot and reprogram (takes about 5 minutes, except for presets) 7) havent found a library of background images for this receiver, am making one, but where to post? 8) DESPIRATELY needs antiglare coating on screen. screen images are overlaped over reflection of car interior.

This kameleon deck is freakin sweet! I just installed it, and I must say, I was very nervous because I have never even SEEN one operated in person. I looked on YouTube, etc. but nothing! Needless to say, works flawlessly, and does EVERYTHING I was looking for. For the 1st time, I did not have to compromise! 6 5v Preamps! Oh-Yea! And, ordering this through amazon was a very pleasant experience. If you have any doubts, but this deck! You won't regret it!

The 'best of innovation' award refers to 2009 for sure. For 2011, I expect JVC to improve features on this player. Not to read .avi files is a shame. But...it reads my Sony walkman when others don't. Sound is just reasonable but the 'standard' features work perfectly: screen size is good, touch screen makes things easier, navigation is not a big deal and phone worked good using the bluetooth feature. Installed a rear camera that works also nice. The image is ok but you need to get familiar with it (real distance to be proportional). Delivering was on time and buying at Amazon very easy.

The receiver has great quality and sound. The only problem is the small capacity to play musics in usb drives.

It can play a maximum of 5000 files per device (still much more than sonys (2000 files) or Clarion (1500 files).

Kenwood and Pioneers receivers can play 65000+ files per device!

This unit can be a big problem for people with lots of mp3s in flash drives.

This headunit does everything but navagation, but then i knew that before i got this. What can i say, the sound is great, the picture is awsome from movies to music videos. There is so many features to this thing, that i'm still learning more as time goes by. I love the built-in bluetooth, no more digging for my phone while driving!! The touchscreen controls is pretty cool, i never had anything touchscreen before so it took me a little getting use to, but if anybody is looking for something like what this offers, i defently would recommend to anyone.

Ok, to start out I never write reviews, but given the colossal failure of this product to support Divx (avi) files, I had to let the potential buyers know. If you, like me, enjoy having multiple dvds ripped to avi files allowing you to place multiple DVDs on a single disc, then do not get this deck. I have the older JVC AVX44 in my other car and it plays Divx (avi) files. Why doesn't the newer model? The rest of the deck is ok. I prefer the AVX44 over this desk, even though the AVX44 is an older model. Needless to say, I will be returning this deck.