JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44 Video
JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44 Video Transcript
>> Hi folks, Brian Cooley here with the JVC El Kameleon car stereo. It's our top pick in the car tech category for this year's CNET holiday gift guide. ^m00:00:11 [ music ] ^m00:00:18 The Kameleon is really innovative and can do just about everything in a single den sized unit; not one of those huge things that require the lucky gift recipient to re-engineer their dashboard. This heavily screen based interface lets you know we're in cutting edge territory. First of all check it out - there's a proximity sensor so when your hand gets near it, it'll change the display, wake up certain functions, and change what's being shown. It has this sort of touch screen compass navigation device here and there are 4 physical buttons around the faceplate on the far corners. Now I must say that screen based design does make navigating the unit kind of sluggish sometimes. There are times when nothing is better than a good ole fashioned button right? Try lowering the volume in a big hurry and you'll see what I mean. The Kameleon can play MP3, AAC, WMA files - all of those from either an iPod or any other MP3 player, also can play from USB drives or streaming Blue Tooth phones and it can play DVD and DivX Video from a disk; though you wouldn't necessarily want to watch a feature film on that little screen. There is also Blue Tooth hands free and a built in mic for your everyday phone calls. It has a lot of useful connections here on the back to integrate with your existing gear, and you can add JVC modules to enable satellite radio, HD radio, even the image from a separate back up camera. 50 watts come out of each of 4 channels and it has a 5 dot 1 output as well, if you want to do surround sound to buy your own amps and speakers. The Kameleon is a bargain at under 400 dollars street price. And it's our top pick in the car tech category for this year's CNET holiday gift guide. [ music ]
Related Videos
Featuring DVD playback with 5.1 surround sound, iPod/MP3 player playback over USB, and innovative proximity-based controls, the JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44 packs many of the features that we've come to expect in a double DIN multimedia receiver into a space-saving single DIN package.
The JVC KD-AVX77 El Kameleon is a great receiver for system builders, but the touch-screen interface isn't as easy to use as some of the competition's physical control schemes.
The affordable Kameleon 6 Hybrid will handle light home-theater duties, but advanced users will want to spend more to get more.
The One For All Kameleon 8 RF can accommodate virtually any standard home-theater setup, but it's not fully customizable.
Tom Merritt and Kent German talk about cell phones (not on them) and give you some good ideas about when a cell phone makes a good gift. Kent makes his picks for the hottest cell phones of the season.
Although the 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed Mazda3 looks good and seems like a lot of fun at first, a few problems start to reveal themselves. While we never tire of good handling, a good stereo would also be nice.
The Mavizen MyBlu is a great multitasking accessory that can act as an iPod remote control and an FM radio receiver, plus it's a Bluetooth headset for your cell phone.
Although on the pricey side, the 2008 Volvo XC70 is a good-looking practical wagon that feels as if it can go anywhere. Its safety tech is incredibly innovative, but Volvo needs a more integrated strategy for cell phones and digital music players.
Sony DR-BT160AS Active Style Wireless Stereo Headset
The Sony DR-BT160 Active Style Wireless Stereo Headset allows for wireless audio streaming and music playback control with a compatible Bluetooth device. Sound quality is good.
The Sony Ericsson W760a is the best Walkman phone we've ever seen, with a stylish design and excellent performance that helped it win an Editors' Choice award, and makes it our top cell phone pick for this year's Holiday Gift Guide.
