Gearfuse

Radio stinks. It’s boring and pretentious and they never play enough 1970s progressive rock bands. In a desperate attempt to get more listeners in on radio, Coby Electronics’ HD Radio launched with promises of higher audio quality for no additional fee.

The two new HD Radio receivers in town include the portable HDR-700 Radio System and the HDR-650 (pictured above) Component HD Radio Receiver. The latter is intended to be integrated into already existing household component systems. So if you don’t have one, you’re up shits creek without a paddle. The HDR-700 is priced at $149, leaving the lower-end HDR 650 at a price tag of $99. With no subscription fees, could this be a reason to give up your satellite radio subscription? Probably not and y’know why? Not enough NPR.

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When JVC was working on the KD-NX5000, they were thinking about how to get the bragging rights for best in-car receiver. Where do we begin? Well, it is a DVD/CD receiver with a 3.5 inch monitor, so when you’re in your car you can watch your favorite LOTR (when you’re parked of course). JVC couldn’t leave out a superb navigation system, with 16GB for navigation storage, easy destination search, map coverage of the US (all parts) and Canada, and a freaky voice that will lead you to your destination. Another cool feature that is related to navigation is the traffic tuner, which, when pressed, will give you up to date traffic information, so you don’t have to search your radio stations for 10 minutes only to catch the end of a traffic report. Of course JVC had to incorporate music into this receiver; 24GB of music storage, that is. Yes, that is 24GB of MP3, WMA, or WAV files just for your listening pleasure. Ok this is cool: there is an optional adapter which lets you connect compatible phones and mp3 players to the receiver, and it even lets you make calls with it. No word on pricing, but this looks to be pretty expensive. — Nick Rice

JVC KD-NX5000 Navigation DVD/CD Receiver with a Built-In 3.5-Inch Wide Monitor [NewLaunches]