New Jensen in the Cutlass vert - brief review w/pics

[GnatGoSplat]

I picked up a Jensen VM9512 to put in the convertible. Since the wife got a job, we can't meet for lunch very often because her work is so far away from mine, so I got her this Jensen w/flip out screen so she can watch DVDs of TV shows during her lunch break. It's really a very nice deck so far. Time will tell whether it's reliable, but so far she loves it. It was relatively cheap, $285 shipped brand new from an eBay seller (although I'm seeing open box ones on eBay sold for as low as $120, d'oh!). It has a full motorized 7" flip out LCD, iPod control, USB, SD, plays DVDs, MP3s, Bluetooth, RDS, etc. It was a huge PITA to install due to the depth. After struggling for hours trying to cram all the wiring in behind the deck, I gave up and ended up removing the upper dash pad to get all the RCA's and power filter tucked behind the cluster, and had to tape some of the connections on top of the unit itself to keep them from falling behind the deck and preventing it from going in all the way. Steering wheel controls are fully functional and are hard-wired despite the Jensen not having a remote input jack. I was brave and dismantled the Jensen and a PAC SWI-X, modifying them both for hard-wiring so no need to worry about that pesky IR LED.

 

Here it is with the screen closed, looks like an el cheapo CD player. I like that it has an external LCD, but unfortunately, if you have it display the clock, it doesn't remember this setting after shutting off the ignition.

 

It does stick out really far, but I think this is typical of flip-outs. The wife really likes the "disc in" indicator, it lights up red if a disc is in the drive, blue if not.

 

With the screen open, there is only about a 1/4" to spare between the screen and dash overhang.

 

The UI is ugly, mostly blue, white, and yellow. Yuck. The iPod interface is slow to update the screen, but browsing is fast because you can jump around by touching on the scrollbar.

 

Screen can be angled towards the driver or passenger. This is done manually by pulling on one side of the screen.

 

I didn't show the Bluetooth functionality, but it's pretty cool, you can make and receive calls from the HU via a Bluetooth cell phone. It works fine with the iPhone and when someone calls, the HU rings and shows the Caller ID info on the screen.

 

It's not as refined as Pioneer for instance, in fact, some things about it are rather crude. There are reminders this is a cheap Chinese deck: File/folder handling of MP3 sources via USB is rather odd and cumbersome. The iPod is much simpler. Random play via CD/MP3/USB/SD is only accessible from the remote, and is NOT remembered after turning off the ignition. Random play IS remembered on the iPod, however, but that's probably because it's handled by the iPod itself. When watching a non-widescreen video and putting the screen into pillarboxed mode, the entire button UI shrinks to fit the 4:3 window... however, their touchscreen locations don't physically change, so to use the onscreen buttons in pillarboxed mode, you have to touch where they were located in widescreen mode. DiVX video playback is supported, but only from disc media, NOT USB or SD! Video playback from 5G iPod is supported, but needs to be controlled from the iPod itself. HU can only control iPod audio.

 

Overall, it's a great value. It only cost about $30 more than what I paid for the Pioneer Premier DEH-P680MP+CD-IB100 iPod interface that the Jensen replaced.

 

[GP1138]

Ugh... thanks for reminding me why I don't buy Jensen. No offense, but I can't stand cheap ripoff decks. They drive me insane because I'm used to Pioneer.

[slick]

I just hope you have better luck with them than the many that we sold and installed in my bay. They have an excellent bang for the buck factor, but quality and durability is definately lacking.

 

Otherwise, looks pretty good in there!

[GnatGoSplat]

It does have some nice features not found on Pioneer... for example, on DVD menus, you can touch the menu items. On the Pioneer AVIC-Z2 in my truck, you need to use onscreen arrow keys to highlight menu options, much like using an IR remote on a home DVD player.

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about long-term reliability. One thing that might help, I have it set to manual open. My wife only opens it to watch a video on her lunch break and leaves it closed the rest of the time. That should be less wear & tear, plus she felt really geeky driving around with it open, lol!

 

Chris, what kind of problems did they have? Were the problems with this exact same model?

 

I'll be happy if it can last around 2-years, that's about my turnaround time on HU's.

 

[slick]

Not necessarily that model in general, but the Jensen din DVD players:

 

- Screen mechanism failing.

- Will not load or eject disks.

- No audio output through internal amplifer or RCA outputs.

- Overheats.

- Power is fed to the unit, but nothing happens. Only the little light that indicates that there is power is on.

[Garrett Powered]

does it have an aux input for audio/ video? like rca style?

 

If it does then you CAN have ipod video. then I want one. thats cheap and they are all cheap chinese garbage, so the cheaper the better.

[Psych0matt]

I've always had good luck with Jensen's more high end stuff ( @ high end Jensen). I've had an HU or two, and some pretty good 6x9s back in the day

[GnatGoSplat]

does it have an aux input for audio/ video? like rca style?

 

If it does then you CAN have ipod video. then I want one. thats cheap and they are all cheap chinese garbage, so the cheaper the better.

 

Yes, it has two full sets of RCA A/V inputs, one set is intended to be plugged into the "media box" which is also the iPod/USB interface. The media box is supposed to be mounted somewhere you can get to it. You don't need to use an A/V input for an iPod Video 5G or 5.5G. You can play video directly on the HU with it plugged into the iPod interface. It's not controlled by the HU in video mode though, only in audio mode.

 

iPod Classic (6G) and iPhones don't work to play video since they need the chip, so you would need to use RCA inputs in that case. I'd just get a 5G, I don't think there's any benefit of a 6G over a 5G.

 

[GP1138]

I don't think there's any benefit of a 6G over a 5G.

 

Actually, on my Pioneer, the 6G was much faster at displaying album and track titles.

 

The 5G's software also isn't as polished, compared with the 6G's it feels like a beta. That's using the iPod itself though.

[GnatGoSplat]

Which Pioneer do you have? I'm surprised a 6G iPod would be any faster, I was always under the impression the serial bus is the bottleneck.

 

[Addicted2bass]

We install those at my work from time to time. Wal Mart across the street sells them. Ive seen several that the internal amp goes bad and a few other problems. I personally wouldnt buy one, but for that price its hard to beat.

[GP1138]

Which Pioneer do you have? I'm surprised a 6G iPod would be any faster, I was always under the impression the serial bus is the bottleneck.

 

 

I had a Premier 4something IB and I used both a 5G and 6G on it, and the 6G always displayed faster.

 

I now have a Pioneer 5000UB. I notice that with my wife's Nano (flash based) and my iPhone, it displays MUCH faster than the 5G I have now. I chalk that up to them being flash based.

[GnatGoSplat]

UPDATE: D'oh! You guys are right, Jensen is crap.

 

My wife said it started to get glitchy on a DVD she tried to watch on her lunch break. Then the next day, this DVD won't play at all. She said she tried ejecting it several times, powering the HU on and off, it just would not play the next day. It's a fairly new DVD movie with hardly any scratches on it whatsoever. When she tried to show me later at home, it did play, but would be glitchy every few seconds. I popped it in the Pioneer AVIC-Z2 in the truck and it had zero problems with the disc. She also told me on the way home, out of the blue it just shut completely off while playing the iPod. Maybe it was caused by overheating, but it was actually a fairly cool day.

 

Dammit! My attempt to save big $$$ by buying a brand I've never tried is looking like a massive fail.

I wish this damn car were double-DIN, I happen to have a spare AVIC-Z1 I picked up relatively cheap from a guy who thought there was something wrong with the p-brake input (but it works just fine for me).

 

[GP1138]

Damn! That was quick.

 

I won't say I told you so, because there could have been a problem with the unit that the last guy noticed and didn't bother telling you about.

[GnatGoSplat]

It was brand spanking new! It was an eBay seller though so probably the warranty is no good.

 

I guess you guys did tell me so, but too bad not before I bought it! I should always ask for advice before buying something I'm not familiar with.

 

 

[slick]

Yep, that was about the lifespan I was expecting.

[Addicted2bass]

Jensen = Teh epic FAIL!

[GnatGoSplat]

Another week later, and oddly enough, it works perfectly fine with other DVDs, just not that one. It's a picky POS! Well, it will play a DVD-R that my Pioneer AVIC won't read so I guess they're all picky in their own way, although I expected issues with DVD-Rs, I didn't expect issues with store-bought retail discs. I have another week left to warranty it with the seller, but I don't know if it's worthwhile... it doesn't sound like I'd get one back that works much better, and they want the wire harness back as well which means I'd have to redo the harness adapter - which I took the time to solder & heat shrink every wire.

No more problems with the iPod... I erased the iPod and zeroed the drive on my hackintosh, the iPod has never worked better (it was skipping and refusing to play tracks, but it was doing that even before installing the Jensen).

My wife said the outside LCD has failed to turn on twice when she starts the car. Sounds like a firmware bug.

I was also annoyed to see there's a VM9512HD that replaced the VM9512. Had I known it was going to be replaced so soon, I wouldn't have bothered with an old model. Oh well, there are only two HD radio stations in town anyway, and my wife doesn't listen to either.

 

I guess as long as it'll play 90% of DVDs and it never gets worse than status quo, it'll be plenty good enough.

 

[GP1138]

Hackintosh! Specs! I love my Hackintosh!

[GnatGoSplat]

It's just a Jetway Mini-ITX board with a Celeron M 520 1.4GHz and 2GB of RAM. Nothing too exciting, but it seems snappy and fast enough for me. Right now it's just a pile of parts on a desk, but I have plans for it. It's running Leopard 10.5.4.