JVC KWAVX820 DoubleDIN DVD/CD Multimedia Receiver with 7Inch

Good solid receiver, works with iPhone 3GS
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Installed 11/24/09, 2003 Ford E350 Passenger Van, Self Installed

First Off, this will not fit a late model Econoline van without major trimming to the dash. So I took it to a few stereo shops in town and no one would touch it because the dash had to be cut about 3/8 inch. It took me 2 days to muster the courage to cut it myself. You also have to cut off part of the mounts that hold the bottom of the AC controls behind the dash. I measured about 5 different times, and ways, and when I was done you can’t even tell.

The iPhone 3GS DOES WORK when using the KSU30 cable or Bluetooth with no cable. Also, I paired my phone with the JVC built in bluetooth and I can play my music on my phone without even plugging it in (didn’t know the iphone supported this#. You can also leave your phone in your pocket or purse and answer calls without getting your phone out. Also Once paired it show the antenna bar and battery on the JVC screen of your phone.

One wierd thing is that if I plug my iPhone into the JVC it will not play music unless I am in the ipod app on the phone, once I open the app the music starts playing #It also did this on my friends G1 iPhone#. Playing music from the iPhone to the unit happens very quickly, it just searches for about 3-5 seconds and then is ready to go. I have not tried using a USB drive with lots of music, no need. What I cannot get to work is my contacts on the JVC. That option is just greyed out under the phone app on the JVC.

Dialing and answering from the JVC works great, it includes a MIC that I have on my visor which seems to work fine while driving

Another great feature is that it it can display the video feed to an external monitor ONLY so you can play the radio while the rear passengers watch the monitor and use IR headphones if your monitor supports them. I was not aware it could do this and it made my wife very happy. Now we can give our 5 year old a set of IR headphones and listen to the radio, we could not do this in our 05 Tahoe. One thing to keep in mind, for some reason you cannot play music off a USB device including the iPhone when in this mode, it also states this in the manual. This unit also has audio out for the video feed unlike most of the single DIN units I looked at. Sending the audio to your remote monitor is critical if you want to use IR headphones.

Using the JVC touch panel is faster than the factory touch panel in our 05 tahoe, a welcome suprise. Menus are very easy to navigate and understand.

Very nice remote with lots of buttons, controls all aspects of the JVC as far as I can tell.

Face plate and underlying mechanism feel very solid.

Screen does not really show finger prints or smudges, another welcome suprise.

I also installed the JVC rear camera but have not found the reverse wire to tap into to kick it on when reversing. I will update when that is done.

The only negative things I have found so far are

1. you only get 5 backgrounds and can’t add your own #I knew this before I bought it#.

2. I can’t use the camera without the reverse wire hooked up and in reverse, so I can’t see behind me while driving.

3. can’t seem to get video from the iPhone 3GS to show on the screen, I get sound but no video #tried this with a G1 iPhone also no dice)

4. No contacts on the JVC, when A call comes in it just shows the number and says caller unknown.

5. There are only 3 up and 3 down dimmer settings. I have it setup to dim when the head lights go on but it still isn’t dim enough and you can only adjust down so far.

Overall I am very pleased with this model. I almost sent it back when I found out I was going to have to cut the dash but after looking at the single DIN DVD units I took the risk. None of the other units I looked at had all of the features I needed and had I gone with the single DIN unit when it was open it would have covered my AC/Heater controls.

Easy as any other stereo to install, I took me about 8 hours to install all the cabling, camera, remote monitor and speakers. Instructions are easy to follow.