( 2 reviews )
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Posted: 01-11-2008
The VM8012 is a car DVD player with built in LCD made to fit the standard radio slot in most cars, the "DIN" size or ISO 7736. Jensen's model is so similar in size and function to other lesser brand players [e.g. Boss, Pyle, and more], that its likely a Jensen name on a device made by a third party factory, likely from China. If one is looking to run in your car, a DVD plus R / RW and CD-R / RW disks to play CD-DA, MP3, WMA, VCD, SVCD, AVI, MPEG1 / 2, XviD, DivX and Kodak picture CD (JPEG) on a player, the 8012 fills the bill well. Audio playback quality is good, with frequency response and stereo separation equal to my stock Delco CD player. Bass is a touch weaker than my Delco. It supports bass, treble and balance controls, but no per frequency equalization. It has preset equalization, but no visual feedback as to what exactly that does. AM and FM reception is better than my factory head unit. The LCD image is sharp, clear, with balanced colors. The LCD is in a fixed location and washes out if hit by direct sunlight. The USB and aux jacks are hard wired cables that must be snaked out into the passenger area, and a suitable spot found for mounting. I tried a test suite of multimedia files played via the aux jack, CD, DVD, USB and SD card, and they all played flawlessly. The 8012 has a detachable faceplate, that is well made of thick but cheap feeling plastic. Controls follow a traditional radio layout making it intuitive to operate, but the buttons are small. It has no dimmer, so in dark surrounding its very bright, but flipping down the faceplate cuts off power. Video playback shines, if it plays. There are no problems with commercial DVDs. Video formats have various codecs despite the same extension, so not all files say, labeled AVI actually play. MP3 suffer similarly, there is a mix of sampling and playback bit-per-sec that are minimum, and described in the manual. The user interface is functional to mediocre. There is a full screen mode that is ideal in cars, but typically shows tracks, remaining time, preset equalization, loudness, and the radio station playing. In most modes, the interface was clearly designed for much larger screen, so the menu items appears as 8 point font or less, older folks may find it unreadable. What can be seen allows operation as described by the manual: selecting and running media files. Files are extracted at USB 1.x speed, so high resolution images decode slowly. JPG decoding has coarse resolution at best. There are limited image adjusting controls which help little. To see images full screen, one has to hit 'enter' on the remote, it cannot be controlled by the dash unit. 8012 is packed with all required installation hardware complete. Attention to detail in the package, to me, increases the chance that this product will perform reliably for some time. We shall see. If the Jensen lasts, it does the core of what a $350 JVC unit does for ~50% less. The Jensen's shortcoming are more than offset by its price and technical advantages. Jensen has a reputation for budget priced devices with good technical performance in core areas [ sound, video, etc.], mixed reliability, and often suffers ergonomics or aesthetics. Nevertheless, enough complaints are registered at epinions to make one leery about Jensen or its parent, Audiovox to warrant a buyer beware. But, with its closest competitors charging $350-1000 for similar functionality, there is much gain, with far less pain.
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Posted: 01-11-2008
The VM8012 is a car DVD player with built in LCD made to fit the standard radio slot in most cars, the "DIN" size or ISO 7736. Jensen's model is so similar in size and function to other lesser brand players [e.g. Boss, Pyle, and more], that its likely a Jensen name on a device made by a third party factory, likely from China. If one is looking to run in your car, a DVD plus R / RW and CD-R / RW disks to play CD-DA, MP3, WMA, VCD, SVCD, AVI, MPEG1 / 2, XviD, DivX and Kodak picture CD (JPEG) on a player, the 8012 fills the bill well. Audio playback quality is good, with frequency response and stereo separation equal to my stock Delco CD player. Bass is a touch weaker than my Delco. It supports bass, treble and balance controls, but no per frequency equalization. It has preset equalization, but no visual feedback as to what exactly that does. AM and FM reception is better than my factory head unit. The LCD image is sharp, clear, with balanced colors. The LCD is in a fixed location and washes out if hit by direct sunlight. The USB and aux jacks are hard wired cables that must be snaked out into the passenger area, and a suitable spot found for mounting. I tried a test suite of multimedia files played via the aux jack, CD, DVD, USB and SD card, and they all played flawlessly. The 8012 has a detachable faceplate, that is well made of thick but cheap feeling plastic. Controls follow a traditional radio layout making it intuitive to operate, but the buttons are small. It has no dimmer, so in dark surrounding its very bright, but flipping down the faceplate cuts off its power while playing media at its last settings. Video playback shines, if it plays. There are no problems with commercial DVDs. Video formats have various codecs despite the same extension, so not all files say, labeled AVI actually play. MP3 suffer similarly, there is a mix of sampling and playback bit-per-sec that are minimum, and described in the manual. The user interface is functional to mediocre. There is a full screen mode that is ideal in cars, but typically shows tracks, remaining time, preset equalization, loudness, and the radio station playing. In most modes, the interface was clearly designed for much larger screen, so the menu items appears as 8 point font or less, older folks may find it unreadable. What can be seen allows operation as described by the manual: selecting and running media files. Files are extracted at USB 1.x speed, so high resolution images decode slowly. JPG decoding has coarse resolution at best. There are limited image adjusting controls which help little. To see images full screen, one has to hit 'enter' on the remote, it cannot be controlled by the dash unit. The clock keeps inaccurate time, noticed after a week of usage. 8012 is packed with all required installation hardware complete. Attention to detail in the package, to me, increases the chance that this product will perform reliably for some time. We shall see. If the Jensen lasts, it does the core of what a $350 JVC unit does for ~50% less. The Jensen's shortcoming are more than offset by its price and technical advantages. Jensen has a reputation for budget priced devices with good technical performance in core areas [ sound, video, etc.], mixed reliability, and often suffers ergonomics or aesthetics. Nevertheless, enough complaints are registered at epinions to make one leery about Jensen or its parent, Audiovox to warrant a buyer beware. But, with its closest competitors charging $350-1000 for similar functionality, there is much gain, with far less pain.
