Buying a HU from USA

kk28 · 3rd May 2011, 21:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by klassics45

I recently setup a 2din in my scorpio which i bought in USA. The size provided in scorpio was bigger than the HU so it had some patch work to fit properly. About Alto maybe alto owners can comment.

About cables, no worries. you can buy them here.

Hi Buddy,

I am planning to get a Pioneer Double Din HU from US. After going through this thread I am re thinking on my decision. Did you have any issues with tuning to the radio in India?

Appreciate your feedback.

kk28 · 3rd May 2011, 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevelle

Thanks mayank and invincible for clearing up. I guess i will take the plunge then.

Buddy,

Did your HU from US work? I am on the same boat as you now. I am planning to get a HU from US. I was all excited until i came across this thread.

Please advise.

chevelle · 4th May 2011, 03:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk28

Buddy,

Did your HU from US work? I am on the same boat as you now. I am planning to get a HU from US. I was all excited until i came across this thread.

Please advise.

Hi KK,

I am still looking for a good HU. I am weighing my option, whether to get BT enabled one or get a separate device for BT. As such the HU will be going to India in June. So i am in no hurry.

As per few members here, the odd frequencies are suppose to work, so you can check your local radio frequency and see if any of those comes up in odd numbers or not and then decide to buy or not. I have asked at my place and apparently there are some frequencies in odd numbers, so it shouldn't be a problem.

kk28 · 4th May 2011, 03:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevelle

Hi KK,

I am still looking for a good HU. I am weighing my option, whether to get BT enabled one or get a separate device for BT. As such the HU will be going to India in June. So i am in no hurry.

As per few members here, the odd frequencies are suppose to work, so you can check your local radio frequency and see if any of those comes up in odd numbers or not and then decide to buy or not. I have asked at my place and apparently there are some frequencies in odd numbers, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I did check too. There are some in odd and most of them even. The point is, is it really worth taking from US and end up not using it at all? I checked with couple of my friends back in India and they say that the grey market price matches with what we get here in US.

More over the DVD's are region dependent. I really liked the AVH-P3300BT but now I am re thinking

chevelle · 4th May 2011, 04:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk28

I did check too. There are some in odd and most of them even. The point is, is it really worth taking from US and end up not using it at all? I checked with couple of my friends back in India and they say that the grey market price matches with what we get here in US.

More over the DVD's are region dependent. I really liked the AVH-P3300BT but now I am re thinking

I also checked, for what i am getting, like basic stuff of usb, aux, cd and radio, a JBL x333 is available for less price with warranty in India. So i am also in double mind if i should buy it or not.

Because primarily we use usb, aux, radio most of the time. no longer we use cd. I don't want a DVD player since it won't be used ever. So, hopefully i will be able to decide in a week or so whether to go ahead and get one or just send bluetooth device for use.

mayankk · 4th May 2011, 07:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk28

I did check too. There are some in odd and most of them even. The point is, is it really worth taking from US and end up not using it at all? I checked with couple of my friends back in India and they say that the grey market price matches with what we get here in US.

More over the DVD's are region dependent. I really liked the AVH-P3300BT but now I am re thinking

what???
i got a 10 k savings over buying from amazon, compared to delhi's grey market!!

do check amazon and crutchfield.

and get a BT one only, unlike me, who has to get one for almost double of what i saved not getting a BT unit..

and region dependency, youll hardly notice when playing avis etc, eh.

klassics45 · 4th May 2011, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk28

Hi Buddy,

I am planning to get a Pioneer Double Din HU from US. After going through this thread I am re thinking on my decision. Did you have any issues with tuning to the radio in India?

Appreciate your feedback.

No i didnt, It worked perfectly. No issues!

kk28 · 19th July 2014, 21:37

Thought of updating this thread about my experience for the benefit of others.

I did carry a Pioneer AVH series double din from USA to India. Had it fixed to my car. Here are couple of issues I fad:
1. As discussed in this thread by fellow BHPians, only odd FM stations worked. Even ones did not work. I did not have a work around for this.
2.The steering mounted controls on my car initially did not work. Reason being, I had replaced the stock system. There was a workaround for this though. Got a interface from one of the car accessories dealer. It costed about 2K. Its a small device which would fit between the HU and the steering controls.
3. The video format was not appearing. This could be because of the PAL/NTSC issue. Whenever I had the CD (India) in, I could only hear the audio and no video at all. Blue screen used to appear. Finally got hold of a Reliance Auto dealer in Hyd who was aware of this issue and knew exactly what needs to be done to have this fixed. Pretty amazing guy. He plugged in a switch which would reverse the polarity I believe. After switching on the HU, we need to switch off on on the additional switch and voila the Video worked too.

Overall I am pretty happy with performance.

tjacob · 19th July 2014, 23:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk28

Overall I am pretty happy with performance.

Which AVH is this ?

Do original DVDs work ? Because the DVD player will be region 1 (US) locked, I guess.

What about Pandora ?

Have you tried AR Liberator from the Play Store ?

kk28 · 20th July 2014, 00:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjacob

Which AVH is this ?

Do original DVDs work ? Because the DVD player will be region 1 (US) locked, I guess.

Have you tried AR Liberator from the Play Store ?

The one I was using was Pioneer AVH-3200BT. I purchased this in 2011. Worked pretty well until now. Indian dvd's did not work initially. Thanks to Reliance Auto guy who had a work around (refer to my post above).

It did not have Pandora though.

For my new car, I was planning to get a AVIC-7000NEX. Will post the feedback once I have them installed.

19th July 2014, 21:37	#38
kk28 BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Mangalore Posts: 94 Thanked: 24 Times	Re: Buying a HU from USA Thought of updating this thread about my experience for the benefit of others. I did carry a Pioneer AVH series double din from USA to India. Had it fixed to my car. Here are couple of issues I fad: 1. As discussed in this thread by fellow BHPians, only odd FM stations worked. Even ones did not work. I did not have a work around for this. 2.The steering mounted controls on my car initially did not work. Reason being, I had replaced the stock system. There was a workaround for this though. Got a interface from one of the car accessories dealer. It costed about 2K. Its a small device which would fit between the HU and the steering controls. 3. The video format was not appearing. This could be because of the PAL/NTSC issue. Whenever I had the CD (India) in, I could only hear the audio and no video at all. Blue screen used to appear. Finally got hold of a Reliance Auto dealer in Hyd who was aware of this issue and knew exactly what needs to be done to have this fixed. Pretty amazing guy. He plugged in a switch which would reverse the polarity I believe. After switching on the HU, we need to switch off on on the additional switch and voila the Video worked too. Overall I am pretty happy with performance.
	() Thanks