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The most helpful favorable review
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Car Stereo!
I got this stereo for my wife's Jeep Liberty, a Valentine's day Gift. I did research for a week and This stereo have everything you can ask and you can't beat the price on Amazon under 120 bucks.
Here are some features I like.
Built-in HD Radio(R) Tuner: Don't buy stereo without HD Radio. Like TV, all radio stations across US are converting to digital...
Published 18 months ago by A. Kulkarni
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Lots of features for the price -- made possible by cutting corners elsewhere
I was taken in by the combination of features (particularly an integrated HD tuner) and the price. It lasted six days before I sent it back. Here's why:
-- It hissed like a 1970s 8-track no matter what source was selected -- even with the volume turned all the way down;
-- The user interface is completely unintuitive;
-- It would not...
Published 9 months ago by Brian Patrick
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Car Stereo!, March 15, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I got this stereo for my wife's Jeep Liberty, a Valentine's day Gift. I did research for a week and This stereo have everything you can ask and you can't beat the price on Amazon under 120 bucks.
Here are some features I like.
Built-in HD Radio(R) Tuner: Don't buy stereo without HD Radio. Like TV, all radio stations across US are converting to digital FM. Digital transmission has better signal and it displays name of songs/bands/artists.
MP3/WMA Compatible: You can play mp3 CDs.
Front USB Port: You can directly plug flash drive into USB port and it plays mp3s from it. I no more have to burn CDs for few new songs. I just copy them in flash drive and play from it.
Front AUX-IN: I have Sansa Mp3 player and I connect to Aux-in sometimes. I can play all the music from my mp3 player to car stereo
Variable-Color Illumination: You can match the color of your car console to stereo display.
I like this stereo very much and would recommended it to anyone.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Great receiver, great deal with Amazon, March 27, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I'm really glad I bought this receiver - between the CD player, the auxiliary jack, and the USB port, I can listen to my music in the car using all the devices I use at home. CD's, iPod, flash drive, it doesn't matter, they all sound great. The HD stations sound like CD compared to normal FM stations, and most have few or no commercials. It will show you the name of the song and artist that is playing on HD stations, and you can tag a song you like to get it from iTunes later. The only thing I don't like is the radio presets function - it would be much easier if there were buttons on the face for presets, instead of having to use the control knob.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Lots of features for the price -- made possible by cutting corners elsewhere, December 5, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I was taken in by the combination of features (particularly an integrated HD tuner) and the price. It lasted six days before I sent it back. Here's why:
-- It hissed like a 1970s 8-track no matter what source was selected -- even with the volume turned all the way down;
-- The user interface is completely unintuitive;
-- It would not play audio files from a flash drive in alphabetical order, neither by id3 tag nor by file name; in fact I never did figure out how it selected the play order. Not a big deal if you use shuffle mode anyway, but not cool if you're trying to listen to audio books;
-- The matrix dots on the text readout that gives artist, song, album, etc. info would barely finish lighting up before each character would scroll to the next position, making the track data difficult to read while it was scrolling;
-- AM sound quality was horrendous in HD or analog;
-- Speaking of HD, if the tuner loses the HD signal, it reverts to the analog signal until it can pick up the HD signal again. If it's right on the edge of being able to pick up the HD signal, it will bounce back and forth between HD and analog, much to my annoyance. There's a setting where you can tell it to pick only HD or only analog -- but it resets itself to "bounce" mode as soon as you change the station.
I ended up exchanging it for a similarly priced Sony unit that didn't have quite as many features (for instance, HD radio is a separate add-on) but also didn't have any of the problems or quirks. If I were to rate this item independent of its price, I'd rate it two stars. It does have a lot of feature content given its price point, but this is a case of you get what you pay for.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Good deal on a top rate stereo, July 25, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
Excellent stereo for the money, I have had mine for about a week. Didn't do too much research, actually I came here for my research. I wanted a stereo with HD Radio, Bluetooth, and front mounted USB/iPod. I couldn't find any stereos out there with all 3, so I made a compromise, I rarely talk on the phone in the car anyways, so bluetooth wasn't a deal breaker, I plan to purchase a Parrot bluetooth speaker for my visor later on down the road.
HD Radio is awesome, you actually do here a difference, over here in Los Angeles most FM stations have it, and so far only 1 AM station, KNX 1070. It makes the AM station sound like stereo FM, and the difference between regular FM and HD radio is noticeable, but not as much as the AM.
I was debating whether to get the front mounted USB vs the rear mount, but they have to cut into the inside of the glovebox to mount your iPod inside it. Well I don't have an iPod, the glovebox isn't the best place for any electronics, and that is added expense.
You can get a 16gb USB drive for $20 and have a ton of songs on there, when you want to leave your car you can just put it in your pocket, and if someone steals it you are only out $20 or less compared to $200.
I do have an external 320GB usb drive with music but the radio couldn't read off it, I think it might have something to do with the formatting, as it is NTFS, I will try to make a partition with FAT32 and see if it makes a difference.
EDIT: I put the Bitlocker encryption on it, that is why I couldn't read it.
If you have a USB stick it is better to either have a folder with all your music in it, or just make the stick music only because the stereo goes into all folders, whether it can read the files or not, so you don't have to do a lot of scrolling.
This radio has a function where you can "tag" music and later buy it on iTunes, great for people with an iPod. I think the button is too big, I hit it accidentally a few times.
Only gripe I have with this unit, and something I didn't notice until it was too late is there are no direct access channel memory buttons. JVC's solution is for you to push down on the volume button and scroll between our saved stations, something that takes practice to do while moving, even though you really shouldn't be.
Then there is the gimmick of color changing, don't really care too much, but it is nice to change the colors once in a while, seems everyone now is doing blue LED's on everything from computers to radios. Blue is a nice color but then they make it so bright, like my previous Sony radio. My colors are red and orange.
The coolest feature about the front mounted USB is it's ability to charge, you can charge your iPod and almost anything USB. My cigarette port on my car is broken, now I don't have to spend the $100+ to get it fixed, already purchased a Nokia USB charger, and I keep a generic cable in my car to charge the Garmin nuvi, those are the only 2 things I need to charge on the go. Only thing that sucks is the Nuvi recognizes the stereo as a computer so no charge and drive.
I need to change my speakers, the stereo outputs too much power for the stock speakers in my car, the stereo cuts off the volume at level 28.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
jvc hd50 radio, April 7, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
great product at a great price, barney's is a very good company to deal with. only problem with radio is no preset buttons on radio face, have to use up and down buttons to go throughout presets
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
finally have a use for my ipod, March 23, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
i have had this for a month now and i love it!! put the ipod on shuffle and its like your own radio station without the annoying commercials. dont have many hd radio stations in my area, but the few we have sound really good. easy to use and setup, changed the color to match my dash. great sound without a amp. remote is a little small but the only con i con think of. nice unit for the price.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
not for audiophiles or tweakers, but very nice for others, January 9, 2010
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
This is a very nice car stereo with a couple of very serious flaws that affect sound quality and 'tweakability'. If you wish to read no further, in summation I'd say it's an awesome upgrade from a factory stereo and well worth the $$$ if you're just going to yank a factory stereo and you want a cheap upgrade to regular Analog Broadcast radio. If, however, you're like me and have never kept a 'factory' stereo in a car in your life, and run separate amps for your subwoofers and such, you may wish to consider an alternative unit.
I'm a Systems Engineer and I like to play with things to maximize their potential. I bought this headunit to replace a JVC Arsenal KD-AR870 (from 2006) with Sirius SIR-JVC1 Sirius radio tuner. I wanted something that could receive streaming digital audio without the premium price and subscription fees associated with satellite radio. I also spend a minimum of 10 hours a week in my car, so I wanted something more than just typical FM radio (which I already had). Also, I liked this unit being a JVC because 1) I've had really good luck with JVC headunits and 2) I already have a JVC harness installed in my car so it would be a 10-minute super easy upgrade installation. When this unit went on sale and my Sirius subscription ran out, I was pushed over the edge and I took the plunge.
I have a '93 Honda Accord with all 4 factory speakers replaced with Alpine Type-S speakers, 2 MTX Thunder 3000 subs, and a 620-watt amp to drive them. When I installed this headunit I immediately noticed a decrease in the power of the 'punch' in the subs, no matter how I set the Subwoofer output level. A look at the specs of this model vs. my old model shows why - the preouts on this are only 2.5v, whereas my old unit had 5v preouts. This is how JVC differentiates between their premium 'Arsenal' line (the AR59) and their 'regular' line (this model) - by crippling the hardware. They do this just to encourage you to buy the 'upscale' line instead. I would have bought the AR59 but it was unavailable at the time I ordered it. Now I really wish I had waited for the 2010 line to come out and bought the new model with the 5v preout.
I knew that one going in, and I adjusted my sub amp accordingly, but the other thing about this unit that really sucks is that it is severely hampered in the equalization department. Even though the product picture clearly shows 'LOUDNESS' being ON, the feature doesn't exist. There's even a spot on the display for it, they just decided not to include it for some reason. This is extremely annoying. I've never had a receiver which didn't have a working 'loudness' control to boost the bass and treble. Also, on my old AR870, they had built-in a kind of graphical parametric equalizer, where you set the center frequencies you wanted to adjust and went from there. Not so in this unit; all there is are seven bands of non-adjustable equalization points which, combined with the lack of loudness control, make for a pretty lame unit sound shaping wise. No matter how much I play around with the EQ settings, I can't make it sound as good as my old headunit playing MP3's or CD's.
I own 2 MP3 players, a Sansa Connect and a Zune 30. I will never own an iPod or any other Apple product for that matter - they are simply overpriced for their 'chicness' and so I could do without all of the real estate taken up by the iPod integration into this unit. I don't fault JVC for it; it is just pretty much useless to me.
Now, for the good stuff. HD Radio is the bomb. It sounds like a 128KBps digital sound stream. Usually stations have an 'HD2' and sometimes even an 'HD3' alternative commercial-free channel upon which they play different programming. It's a beautiful thing. If I were rating HD Radio in and of itself, I'd easily give it 5 stars. As long as you're within range it's static-free and sounds great, similar to playing an MP3.
The display is very bright and clear. If they would have used RDS instead of having 'No Text' show up on analog broadcasts it would have been sweet. The clock auto-set feature is nice. Menus are actually easier and more intuitive to navigate than my old headunit's were, but still could be better (that's just JVC though). The adjustable illumination is a very nice feature. You can adjust Red, Green, and Blue levels to match your car's interior. The sensitivity of the FM tuner is very good - it pulls in far away analog broadcasts with ease. It also looks pretty classy.
I also would like to note that a 2.5" SFF 40GB HDD, formatted as FAT32, wouldn't be recognized by this stereo, which was a disappointment. One of the reasons I wanted to upgrade was because of a 4GB limitation on the USB device size on the AR870, this unit is supposed to not have that limitation and is supposed to be able to power an external drive up to 500mA current draw, which I question. I'll try a WD Passport the next time I get my hands on one, because I think it's a power issue, and they draw a little less power nowadays than they used to.
I know that soon they are releasing the 2010 models - the KD-HDR60 and KD-AHD69 - I wish I would have waited for the AHD69 just for the 5v preouts alone - I hope that they address the 2 issues listed above (EQ and loudness) and then they would have the trifecta. I also don't like the 'crippling' of a product just so you opt for the more expensive one. But that I can live with; I just didn't realize how big of an affect the preout voltage would have. If they at least make the new models have a 'loudness' control and you opt for a model with the 5v preout for driving subs, you should have a winner. As-is this is a great model for somebody who just wants to replace their factory radio with something a lot cooler and with much greater listening options.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Very good feature set for this price range., November 16, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I bought this unit for few reasons:
1. You CAN select Podcast chapters. If you listen/skip podcasts with chapter frequently, this is a must.
2. HD Radio. I was curious about it. Check [...] for details and station list in your area.
3. Pretty face. Color display (I played with a KD-S36 in a store and liked it)
4. Bluetooth capable with add-on.
5. Price - a bargain.
I liked the unit very much ...
1. HD radio is nice and clear, gives me multicast (2nd station) and scrolling information (some times).
2. TAG feature, allows you to buy songs you listen on the radio from iTunes (if station broadcasts the song name; not always)
3. Color display with different colors for day and night, small remote control, sub woofer RCA output.
4. USB only iPhone connection (no analog cable like on my old Kenwood).
but nothing is perfect ...
1. As noted by another buyer, changing preset stations is a cumbersome. (He gave it a 1 start and returned the unit). I'll keep my unit because I listen to Podcasts most of the time and just 1 or 2 radio stations.
EDIT (11/16/09): I found out that the Remote Control U/D keys allow you to change preset radio stations !!!
It's in the manual but not very easy to find. Look at the remote button guide.
This is the missing feature at the deck 4-way navigation button.
I think they should fix it via software upgrade ...
2. The remote control is IR (infrared) not RF (radio freq). You have to point it to the HU to use it. Other than that, it's a very good remote.
3. I just learned you can not skip podcasts units the 4-way navigation button. You can only skip chapters. This is the opposite of my Pioneer HU where I could only skip podcasts, not chapters...
4. He also noted the display does not have enough contrast and becomes UNREADABLE during the day, under sun light. There is also glare from the shiny plastic face. At night you can see all-pixels, even the ones that are off. The colors are nice and sharp but the overall display is not very good.
5. When the radio changes from analog to digital, the is an echo, i.e. the audio repeats for a second or so. Not bad but strange at first. This happens every time you change stations, turn on the radio, etc (if the station also broadcasts in HD).
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
JVC KD-HDR50 Rocks, April 25, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I replaced my aging Alpine stereo with this one. While the output power was lower than the Alpine with the amp I have there is plenty of power to drive awsome sound without distortion.
The main reason I got this is to use my iPhone/iPod features and to allow the stereo to charge my iPhone. With very little effort I was able to use the iPod functionality of my iPhone and the integration was excellent. My only complaint is that the only way to hook up and charge any of the newer iPod/iPhone units is through the USB port on the front. So there is no way to run a hidden cord to the glove box or some other secret location to allow me to leave my iPod connected but not visible. Overall that is a minor complaint since I know you are not supposed to store the iPod in the car in the heat/cold long term. But hey, I'm lazy what can I say.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
I love it!, April 23, 2009
This review is from: JVC KD-HDR50 30K Color-Illumination Single-DIN HD Radio CD Receiver with Remote Control USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone (Electronics)
I bought this stereo about two months ago, and my final conclusion about it is that I love it! It may seem a little shallow, but I love the adjustable color illumination--purple for normal, orange for when the headlights are one. Several people have been complaining about the lack of face buttons for the radio, but my personal main use for this has been the USB in. It's so easy to load up my flash drive with music and have that sort of freedom when I'm in the car. Note--there's a little break between tracks, so if you're listening to, say, Pink Floyd's The Wall, you will notice a small break between tracks when listening to a flash drive. Another note--my car had a retractable antenna, which would only be up if I was listening to the radio; with this radio, it's up all the time, whether I'm listening to the radio or not. The seven band equalizer really brings out a lot more depth to my music.
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