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JVC KD-HDR20 Car CD/ MP3 Player
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Manufacturer Part: KD-HDR20
Brand: JVC
Model: KD-HDR20
Controlled Devices: CD Changer, HD Ready, Sirius Ready, iPod
Built-In Amplifier Power: 4 x 50 Watt
Product ID: EPID74073869
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JVC KD-HDR50 user problems and workaroundsReview created: 11/01/09
by:
) 
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
A previous poster listed the following annoying items that caused him to return the radio. I was annoyed but kept the radio, and here's what I discovered after a few weeks:
1. Complaint: after setting my 18 pre-set stations, I realized how difficult navigation is. To jump from one pre-set to the next, you have to click MENU, then turn the Volume wheel to scroll through the 18 pre-sets.
My workaround: if you can find and keep handy the remote control (pretty small device and easily misplaced), you press the up and down arrows to cycle through your presets.
2. Complaint: your pre-set stations are not presented in number (94.5) but are displayed by call letters (KTBZ-FM). There is no option to change this to display the frequency number instead of the call letters.
My solution: yes there is. The Display pushbutton (lower left of the Volume control) cycles through display settings. One of those shows frequency instead of callsign.
1. Complaint: after setting my 18 pre-set stations, I realized how difficult navigation is. To jump from one pre-set to the next, you have to click MENU, then turn the Volume wheel to scroll through the 18 pre-sets.
My workaround: if you can find and keep handy the remote control (pretty small device and easily misplaced), you press the up and down arrows to cycle through your presets.
2. Complaint: your pre-set stations are not presented in number (94.5) but are displayed by call letters (KTBZ-FM). There is no option to change this to display the frequency number instead of the call letters.
My solution: yes there is. The Display pushbutton (lower left of the Volume control) cycles through display settings. One of those shows frequency instead of callsign.
Review ID: 10000000014030751
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My new JVC HDR20 is insensitive and hence a mixed bagReview created: 12/19/09
by:
I agree with previous reviewers that tuning (and setting push buttons) is awkward on JVC HD tuners, but I really wanted HD. I paid $199 for the JVC HDR20 through a local installation shop. That included removal of an old Pioneer radio and installation of the new JVC.
The new JVC HDR20 radio lacks acceptable sensitivity. Beckley's one HD signal, WVPR, goes in and out, one time, driving slowly at a shopping center, 5x in 500 feet! I tested this with the identical JVC radio of a friend (and engineer at WQED-FM) in Pittsburgh. His HD signal on QED lasted 5 miles further up the road in Pittsburgh's North Hills than did mine. With previous installations (an aftermarket Becker with RDS and a Pioneer) I received acceptable analog signals in Lewisburg WV, 50 miles to the east from both WVPR in Beckley and WVTF in Roanoke. Now neither is audible.
Apparently I am the first listener in Beckley WV to have an aftermarket HD radio. The installer has offered to replace the current radio with another, but I want to try out several ideas to see what I can do to help other future listeners.
All whom I have contacted have had different ideas about what to do to correct the problem. A Customer Service person at JVC said get a FM booster and/or replace the radio with another. The dealer has offered to the latter, for he has no other suggestion to make. Indeed, these installers seem generally to have no knowldge of how to repair te products they sell. Another man at JVC Customer Service told me to reset (boot) the radio. That did nothing but wipe out all my previous settings. A helpful man at Crutchfield Sales in Charlottesville suggested the type of car might be the problem, but other radios had worked fine in my car. He also said that heavy metal cars do beter than light cars. My car is a a very heavy Mercedes Benz 300D. The engineer at WV Public Radio could offer no suggestions to boost sensitivity, but said part of the problem might be that the HD transmitter is not at the Beckley Airport (as I had thought), but more than 10 air miles north on a mountain top in Fayette County, and more than that, its signal is only 150 watts--almost LPFM!
Here are several ideas to maximize HD sensitivity. 1) On the radio itself, make an adjstment in the IF section on the headunit from AUTO to WIDE bandwidth. The HD signal was decidedly better and more stable after that change. 2) Have the installer identify the radio's ground, making certain contact is made with bare metal. If there is corrosion or paint on the metal, remove it, and cover the bare metal connection with grease or sillicone. 3) Make certain that antenna and coax cable leads do not touch any metal. 4) Consider installation of a Godar DXR-1000C high powered antenna ($108 from the factory on ebay).
I'll keep this site posted on this sensitivity problem and its solutions as I unearth them.
George Exoo
Beckley WV
The new JVC HDR20 radio lacks acceptable sensitivity. Beckley's one HD signal, WVPR, goes in and out, one time, driving slowly at a shopping center, 5x in 500 feet! I tested this with the identical JVC radio of a friend (and engineer at WQED-FM) in Pittsburgh. His HD signal on QED lasted 5 miles further up the road in Pittsburgh's North Hills than did mine. With previous installations (an aftermarket Becker with RDS and a Pioneer) I received acceptable analog signals in Lewisburg WV, 50 miles to the east from both WVPR in Beckley and WVTF in Roanoke. Now neither is audible.
Apparently I am the first listener in Beckley WV to have an aftermarket HD radio. The installer has offered to replace the current radio with another, but I want to try out several ideas to see what I can do to help other future listeners.
All whom I have contacted have had different ideas about what to do to correct the problem. A Customer Service person at JVC said get a FM booster and/or replace the radio with another. The dealer has offered to the latter, for he has no other suggestion to make. Indeed, these installers seem generally to have no knowldge of how to repair te products they sell. Another man at JVC Customer Service told me to reset (boot) the radio. That did nothing but wipe out all my previous settings. A helpful man at Crutchfield Sales in Charlottesville suggested the type of car might be the problem, but other radios had worked fine in my car. He also said that heavy metal cars do beter than light cars. My car is a a very heavy Mercedes Benz 300D. The engineer at WV Public Radio could offer no suggestions to boost sensitivity, but said part of the problem might be that the HD transmitter is not at the Beckley Airport (as I had thought), but more than 10 air miles north on a mountain top in Fayette County, and more than that, its signal is only 150 watts--almost LPFM!
Here are several ideas to maximize HD sensitivity. 1) On the radio itself, make an adjstment in the IF section on the headunit from AUTO to WIDE bandwidth. The HD signal was decidedly better and more stable after that change. 2) Have the installer identify the radio's ground, making certain contact is made with bare metal. If there is corrosion or paint on the metal, remove it, and cover the bare metal connection with grease or sillicone. 3) Make certain that antenna and coax cable leads do not touch any metal. 4) Consider installation of a Godar DXR-1000C high powered antenna ($108 from the factory on ebay).
I'll keep this site posted on this sensitivity problem and its solutions as I unearth them.
George Exoo
Beckley WV
Review ID: 10000000014727328
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