Home > Consumer Reviews > JVC KT-HDP1 Transportable HD Radio Tuner (Black)

I REALLY wanted this product to work well. HD Radio is much like XM or Sirius radio except it is free. All you need is an HD radio receiver. I looked around at all available options and the JVC seemed to be the most versatile (use same unit in different cars and at home) so I was excited to order it. However...this is what happened.

1. For the first 3 hours the unit worked great. Reception was strong, the JVC was pulling in signals better than my OEM car radio. Sound was clean. However I noticed the unit was very hot to the touch and the owners manual warned of leaving this on after the car was shut off and draining the battery.
2. Then all of a sudden the unit stopped working. Nothing. Hisssssss. Dissappointedly I let the unit sit overnight to see if cooling off would help. It didn't. The unit did come back to life but reception was weak. The stations that were coming in clear for the first 3 hours were now full of hiss and noise. After giving the unit 2 weeks to come back to life, I gave up and sent it back to Amazon. However, here is my evaluation of the unit when it was working correctly.

PROS:
1. When working, the JVC was pulling in signals better than my OEM Ford car radio.
2. When parked or at home, HD radio is great because there are less commercials than the standard broadcast radio station. It seemed like there were about 1/3 the number of commercials on the HD stations.
3. The user installed car kit is very versatile. Two inside antennas are supplied, one for HD reception and one for transmission to your car antenna so you can hear it. There are alot of wires with which to contend, but if you want to use this equipment in muliple cars, this is the best system I have found.

CONS:
1. The JVC unit got hot to the touch, then stopped working.
2. HD radio reception became worse than standard FM radio reception. Seemed like there were more dropouts as I drove around the city.
3. After the unit stopped working, then recovered after a one night cool down, the reception was noticeably weaker than my OEM car radio.
4. JVC FM transmitter. The JVC is connected to your car radio by transmitting a signal on an unused frequency. That is really tough in a major metropolitan area where the whole frequency spectrum is occupied by stations. As you drive around town, an unused frequency suddenly is occupied by a distant station and interferes with the JVC. The JVC has an auxillary plug but my car doesnt have aux inputs so I couldn't test that feature.
5. Most car radios can tune down to 87.9 MHz. I haven't found a station that tunes down there so it's usually clear. The lowest frequency of the JVC is 88.1 MHz. This is a terrible oversight by JVC.
6. Around Washington DC, there doesn't seem to be a lot of stations transmitting in HD radio. I was able to tune into 3 stations consistently, one country, one oldies rock, and one contemporary rock.

Overall recommendation: As much as I want to listen to HD radio, the number of HD stations and car equipment needs a lot more maturing before I will spend money for it. HD radio, even though it is free to receive, cannot compete with XM or Sirius at this time.

Unit connectors have intermittent connection. Unit gets very hot and then the display becomes impossible to read in daylight. Remote has very poor range and doesn't respond off axis. The HD Jump I have is bigger than the JVC, but the quality is so much better, both in quality and performance.

This unit gets so hot, that I can't believe the electronics and display will last very long.

I am returning the unit.

After several years as a satellite radio subscriber, I bought and installed the JVC transportable HD radio receiver in my car. Radio never sounded so good, and though my small city doesn't have HD stations, I live a short distance from Minneapolis an there are several excellent HD station there that I can listen to during frequent visits. Reminds me of FM in the 70s. We had the radios before there were stations to listen to.

AM sounds better, FM sounds great and when I am in the City, HD radio is a new experience in sound! The screen shows artist and song title and the FM transmitter on the JVC receiver is strong enough that I never have bleed-through from nearby FM stations.

My factory radio doesn't have an auxiliary ear phone jack or tri-color RCA plugs in the back. Most HD radio tuners require this. The JVC KT-HDP1 does not. I'm a dope when it comes to car audio, and if I can install the JVC receiver and car kit, anyone can.

I use the JVC KT-HDP1 Transportable HD Radio Tuner (Black) as an attachment for my home theater system. I live in the city in Boston and am about 3 miles away from the transmitting antenna for WROR 105.7. WROR broadcasts from the top of the Prudential building downtown. The KT-HDP1 has difficulty receiving the HD signal from WROR. It has difficulty receiving signals from other (but not all) radio stations. I am using the JVC home kit for the KT-HDP1 along with the supplied antenna. My only comment on the antenna supplied with the kit is that it is short (~18"). I don't believe that is the optimal length for an FM signal. This may be the issue.

Just to be sure that it is the unit and not the signal, I also have a competing portable HD unit in my car. It has no difficulty receiving WROR or other HD signals (in the car or my house).

So, I suggest that if you intend to purchase an KT-HDP1. You consider a strong signal source or an external antenna that is better than the one provided in the KT-HDP1 home kit.

Some people have complained about the KT-HDP1 temperature being hot after extended use. I use the KT-HDP1 home kit with the supplied metal stand. The stand seems to act like a heat sink. So even though the KT-HDP1 gets warm, it doesn't get too warm like in might in the sun in a car.

I would recomend that you not purchase this without access to a strong signal or a good FM antenna. Don't even think about purchasing the KT-HDP1 without the car or home kits.

My other HD tuner is able to show the music that is playing on both the HD1 and HD2 stations while listening to one or the other. The KT-HDP1 cannot (at least I haven't been able to make it do it.) It is a nice function if you are listening to a station and don't like it and want to know what is playing on the sister station without changing. Otherwise the KT-HDP1 is a good tuner with solid functionality and menu options.

I purchased this HD receiver with high hopes. I live around 20 miles from most radio stations and had zero reception at my house. Since I purchased both the car and home kits, I decided to try just the home stuff first. If I was successful, I'd move on to the installation of the car kit. Never got there. At my office, right in the center of the broadcasting area, I only received 2 out of 10-15 HD stations. No AM HD.
The FM receiver worked fine and when HD came in, the quality was excellent. I think it will be a usable receiver, but maybe the antenna was not ready for prime time. All in all, I was disappointed with the number of stations I could pick up in the area and returned the product. Quality of the product was just fine, however.