(Credit:
CNET)
When we last saw JVC's El Kameleon car audio receiver, we awarded it our Editors' Choice award for its innovative interface and expandability. However, we wished that the unit featured a touch screen instead of a touch pad.
With the new El Kameleon KD-AVX77, we get our wish. The new El Kameleon features a superwide touch screen that fills up its entire single-DIN faceplate. But is a bigger screen always better?
I like my wide-screen movies as much as the next guy, but the new El Kameleon's super Cinemascope screen means that most movies will be stretched wide but will only be about as tall as a business card, making it less than ideal for prolonged DVD viewing.
We'd need to see a much bigger screen before we could recommended the new El Kameleon as a standalone multimedia solution. However, the El Kameleon's plethora of inputs and outputs, as well as its customizable interface make it a great starting point for controlling more complex multimedia systems with rear seat entertainment and external amplifiers.
Justin Yu returns to the show from his sojourn to Boston, but he comes back with some monster grandma glasses from the '60s and a $40 check from Airborne. The 404 makes history by finally making it onto Urban Dictionary, with a word we still cannot write officially on CNET.
Really. Those glasses man?
(Credit: Wilson G. Tang/CNET)While listening to NPR, Wilson rediscovered the good ole days of car stereos. Not the fancy built-in ones that come with your shiny new Toyota Camry, but the $400 dollar stereos that you put into your '88 Chevy Nova with the flip-down faceplate. Remember when you couldn't turn on your car with your stereo on at the same time without burning out your batteries? Well, apparently, the theft of car stereos has gone way down thanks to built-in iPod connectors and proprietary dashboards.
Also on today's show, we chime in on Facebook's new redesign of their redesign. It's not really that bad. One of the Jonas Brothers makes a racial slur that all of Hollywood seems to be embracing. It's not funny, y'all! We wonder how many trees had to die for you to get a phone book that you'll never use. It's called Google, people. Finally, leaving your computer on at work apparently costs companies $2.8 BILLION dollars a year, but damn, we hate waiting 10 minutes for our computers to restart. Not to mention the time it wastes to turn off the 20 spyware programs and relaunch your IM clients, browsers, iTunes, and Microsoft Office just to get started on the work day.
All that and more on today's show. Plus, an obligatory poop joke. We need callbacks! Leave a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET (2638).
EPISODE 306
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Read the full JVC KW-NX7000 review.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)The JVC KW-NX7000 isn't cleverly named like its sibling, the El Kameleon, but it is just as cleverly designed. With its smart features, such as the proximity-based interface or the flash-memory-based navigation data, we found the KW-NX7000 extremely easy to use. We didn't like the sluggish iPod navigation or the omission of Bluetooth technology. However, the solid performance and fun little touches, like the custom greeting messages, ultimately made us fall in love with this receiver.
(Credit:
CNET Networks, Inc.)
The simple, blank faceplate of the JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44 belies a plethora of features, including in-dash DVD/DivX playback, Bluetooth connectivity, and USB digital-audio playback, and that's just the beginning of this receiver's abilities.
(Credit:
CNET Networks/Corrine Schulze)
For a price of about $250, the DEH-P6000UB is a good-value single-DIN stereo. We like its snazzy design, its as-standard iPod control including its advanced features for navigating iPod libraries, and its many audio tweaking and customization features.
(Credit:
RetroBelt)
Whether it's an acknowledgement of mortality or a desire to relive a misspent youth, many of us have acquired a greater appreciation of classic cars, or at least parts of them. And a few are even lucky enough to celebrate their midlife crises by purchasing one. But that's where a problem often arises: What do you do about those ancient radios?
On one hand, it seems disrespectful to replace the original equipment with a new stereo that looks completely inappropriate; on the other, an AM radio just doesn't do justice to a long drive in the countryside. That's where RetroBelt's "Retro Sound" line comes in: It tries to blend the best of both worlds with a vintage look and modern technology, according to Dvice, including CD changers, mini-USB ports, and auxiliary inputs that can pipe in tunes from a digital media player.
Who knows? Maybe once people get tired of wiping the smudges off their touch screens, a backlash might bring back the knob.
(Credit:
Akihabara News)
Even in the face of monumental change in the automotive industry, it's amazing how conservative automakers can be sometimes. While they've focused increasingly on electronics and entertainment systems to differentiate their products, built-in stereo receivers still look pretty much the same as they have for the last decade.
Not the latest line from Clarion. The car electronics veteran is in some ways breaking its own mold with boxes that look more appropriate in the kitchen than the dashboard. Not only are they departing from the standard black and silver, as is made plain by the photos on Akihabara News, but one model is actually white with peach accents (gasp and double-gasp).
Some have suggested that the system even has an '80s look to it, which might make sense coming from Clarion. This is, after all, the same manufacturer that's peddling something of a retro CD player for a scooter.
(Credit:
Blaupunkt)
It was bound to happen eventually and, in fact, it's surprising that we haven't seen this sooner.
Blaupunkt's "Melbourne SD27" is the first car stereo that shuns CDs, according to SCI FI Tech, instead playing MP3 and WMA files with a front-loading SD card. To make things even easier, there's an optional adapter that can be used for an iPod, mobile phone or GPS device.
The writing was already on the wall for car stereos to go this route, but the kicker that could accelerate the trend even faster is this gadget's price of only $160. That's got to be one of the lowest entry prices for any major first-mover tech product we've seen in years.
(Credit:
eBay)
Crave would never intentionally create domestic problems for anyone, but if we did--theoretically speaking, of course--we would dare our readers to bid on this eBay item: a "Winntech Scorpion" car media display. You know those huge set-ups in car stereo showrooms where you see and hear equipment in action? This is one of them, in spades.
It's a four-seat display (though only two are shown here), which will "switch between six head units, four speakers, four subwoofers and two video overheads, one video head unit and two headrest monitors," according to the auction's description. With all four seats installed, it measures a full 16 feet long--which would be a welcome surprise to greet your spouse in the living room (in fact, it would likely become the living room).
How much, you ask? It's starting bid is listed at $5,900, but shipping is estimated at another $700 to $1,700. Even so, that's still a bargain compared with the retail price of $35,000. Wait a minute--retail? We somehow doubt that these are regularly stocked in the aisles at Circuit City.
(Credit:
CNET)
Fans of Sony products are often disappointed at the January Consumer Electronics Show to discover that the company doesn't have very much to say. Sure, there's a big Sony booth and a handful of token product announcements and press releases, but it's always small potatoes compared to the dozens of new items on display from competitors such as Samsung, Philips, and Panasonic. But that's entirely by design: rather than get lost in the CES maelstrom, Sony opts to launch its new line of products at its own Sony-only line show. We've got complete coverage of all the new crave-worthy devices, including everything from giant-screen HDTVs to digital cameras. Read on:
HDTVs
Sony breeds bevies of Bravias
Sony's SXRD HDTVs: Black ops again
Sony slims 1080p LCD rear-projection TVs
Sony issues $300 B.I.L.: more details on Bravia Internet Link
Photos: Sony Line Show 2007 TVs
Home theater and home audio
New Sony Blu-ray player--the full details
Sony bows trio of Bravia home theater systems
New Sony home theater systems for 2007
Sony RHT-G800: home-theater-in-a-TV-stand
Sony's 2007 line of A/V receivers
New Sony shelf systems with Bluetooth
Sony Muteki do-it-yourself DJ systems
Photos: Sony Line Show 2007 home theater gear
Digital cameras
New Sony superzooms
Sony Cyber-shot cameras: Now in high-def!
Photos: Sony line show 2007 digital cameras
Mobile
Sony releases MEX-BT2500 entry-level Bluetooth car stereo
