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Author Topic: I Hate JVC Products! Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-18-2005 10:53 PM                        Has anyone ever had a good experience with a JVC product? I have always had horrible experiences with their VCRs. They are all unreliable and have the longevity of a, well, I can't think of a funny comparison, but they don't last! I have long since stopped using my JVC Super VHS (HRS-9500) to record tapes because it really, truly does suck at that (only took it about a year to arrive at this point). What I did use it for was to watch TV since it was right next to my computer and also as a video input device to pass video to my DV converter. It was much more convenient because it had front inputs. It is usually OK for playing back tapes made on other machines, but it doesn't do that as well as the original machine which made the recording. Tonight I put in a videotape and rewound it. I started playing it back when the VCR decides to stop the tape and then power itself off. So I power it back up and seconds later it does the same thing again. I eject the tape and no matter what it still powers itself off after about 2 or 3 seconds for no reason whatsoever. It's still powered in standyby, and it displays the time without problem. But ask it to power up and it will have none of that. WTF? Not long before, the composite input on the front of the machine stopped working for no reason whatsoever, and I rarely even used it! JVCs are crap. According to what I read online there are tons of people who have problems with their DVHS decks as well (I was doing research since I wanted to buy one). Is this built-in obsolescence like Sony enjoys doing? Bottom line: JVCs are crap. Avoid them like the plague!  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-19-2005 03:31 AM                     Could this be diminished quality control with so many Japanese electronics companies exporting a great deal of manufacturing to China and elsewhere? I only ask this because I have generally had excellent luck with JVC products. However, all my JVC products are fairly old -and manufactured in Japan. I have a JVC boom box I bought in 1988, one of the first with those "hyper bass" subwoofers in it. The thing still runs fine after all these years. I have a JVC HiFi VCR that's over a decade old -a closeout "demo" unit I bought for a bargain from Sears. Obviously something has changed. Maybe it's "Detroit style" planned obsolescene. The corporation doesn't sell as much product if they sell a person a DVD player that can last 20 years. It seems better if the player can break after only 2 or 3 years (like my first DVD player, a Sony model). Make it too expensive an option to have it repaired. If it breaks, buy a new one.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 06-19-2005 03:46 AM                     Like me when I saw the first VHS VCR from JVC called the "Vidstar" back in 1978. What an excellent machine. Unit was only a single speed machine (SP mode) and the resolution was very good since it had the larger heads in the drums. But, as everything goes around these days...we've become a "throw-a-way" society to where "why spend money on making quality things when we can spend less since the public wants new all the time.." - so quality goes down as the quanity goes up. ..and let the Chinese builds these units, instead of the Japanese. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 06-19-2005 08:08 AM                     My 2 year old JVC hi-fi VCR ate my VHS copy of Fantasia when I hit eject yesterday. Pissed me off but good. Worst part: Its a bitch to get the VCR disconnected and out of the rack so that I can get a look at the problem. Thats MY fault. I thought it would last.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-19-2005 11:37 AM                     Actually have had pretty good lick with JVC overall, just never owned a JVC television though and never cared mush for them even in my TV repair days. I once owned a JVC S-VHS machine, gave many good years of service and when it went on the fritz once JVC promptly repaired it at their service center in less than a week. I also own a JVC BR-8600U VHS Editing deck which has also been flawless the entire time that I've owned it. The thing I never liked about JVC, Hitachi, and several other JAP electronics concerns was the parts arrangement in which you had to go through a local, sometimes really schmucky distributer unlike Panasonic and Sony in which you can buy directly from their parts departments..... Mark  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-19-2005 11:45 AM                        I got many years of good service from a JVC S-VHS deck - never a problem with it. Where I used to work, we had a JVC CD player plugged into the phone system to provide hold music. I bought that player because it was the cheapest one I could find at the time ($79) that had continuous play. It ran continuously (literally) for over 5 years, might still be running today if the company hadn't been shut down.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 06-19-2005 12:10 PM                        I have owned two JVC S-VHS editing machines, one with a built-in TBC, since 1999 or so. One of them I bought new; the one with the TBC I bought used from a Japanese video store that had used it as a dubbing machine. Very occasionally the used one has a mechanical tape path problem. When that happens I give both of them a very thorough cleaning and degaussing. Other than those one or two incidents in the last seven years, I've not had a lick of trouble with them, and they both see daily use as editing and dubbing machines, mostly for building trailer reels for my school's anime and asian film screenings.  |  IP: Logged Hillary Charles Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 748 From: York, PA, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-19-2005 12:19 PM                     About 11 years ago, I bought a JVC S-VHS deck because I needed an extra deck to do dissolves with my linear editing setup. From day one, it ALWAYS displayed dropouts, regardless the source deck, so I took it back to the dealer who cleaned it with marginal results. This happened a couple of times until the warranty was near expiration. At this point, it was sent to JVC who did "something" to it and sent it back with a bill. The problem remained, so we called the company and after much heated discussion, it was admitted there was a design flaw with some pad that supposedly keeps the video head drum clean. It was actually causing the problem. It was obvious the rep was trying to avoid telling us that they wanted us to pay for a problem they always knew was there. They "forgave" the repair fee. And the dropouts. Still there. I will NEVER buy JVC ever again. (but I will be getting a new avatar picture before too long)  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 06-21-2005 03:22 PM                        I bought a JVC HR-SC1000U SVHS VCR in 1990 and it's always been a rock-solid machine. However, what I thought was great picture quality back then doesn't look as good now because with DVDs, we're accustomed to looking at pictures without timebase errors and with much greater chrominance bandwidth. The problem with SVHS (and VHS, and U-matic, and all those related formats) is the color-under process which reduces the bandwidth of the color portion of the signal. It doesn't matter how high you crank up the chrominance bandwidth -- if you use the same cruddy color bandwidth, and have timebase error on playback, there will be a point where the improvement in luminance bandwidth will not be apparent. Also, in transferring material from SVHS, VHS, or LD to DVD, the timebase error doesn't go well with the digital compression method, creating extra compression artifacts in the DVD produced.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 06-21-2005 03:29 PM                        That's where a TBC (either built-in or an add-on) comes in handy. One of my S-VHS machines has a TBC. I use it as the playback machine in my editing/dubbing/digitizing set up.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 06-21-2005 04:58 PM                        I have a HR-S8700 (PAL) S-VHS VCR. It really doesn't get much use nowadays, as it's very rarely that I have to play a VHS or S-VHS tape. On the whole I don't have many complaints, and in particular it's very tolerant of older tapes. Its one major problem is that it will sometimes (in fact, more often than not) refuse to play the hi-fi track on a tape recorded by another machine.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-25-2005 09:05 PM                     Joe, your problem with the VCR stoping after about 2 sec. is a common problem. It is usually caused by the optical senser that tells the control system that the take-up reel table (and sometimes supply reel table as well) is turning. When the VCR goes into play, the control system looks at this sensor to make sure the take-up reel table is turning (if it isn't, you will have one heck of a mess). The control system will give it about 2 sec. before stoping the machine. Try replacing the sensor. The input problem may be that the connector has come lose from the board. The connectors are just soldered on to the board, and if any force is put on them, they can come lose. I too have had problems with JVC. I think they rush products to market, before they are ready, and have not been fully debuged.  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-02-2005 01:55 PM                        I have a JVC SVHS VCR that never has caused me any problems (I think it's an SV-3500 or something but am too lazy to check). I will admit that my primary reason for buying it was that I wanted to run my video system at the time all S-Video from the sat receiver through the VCR to the monitor, so I never really was worried about recording S-V. I have recorded a few S-V things over the years that I wanted to keep, and a bunch of regular stuff and have always been happy with the picture and performance. On the other hand, when I bought my first DVD player, right before Christmas one year I wanted something that was going to be high quality - none of that $179 crap for me. I jought a JVC player for $349 (which promptly became a $279 player right after price protection expired after Xmas) and the thing always was a piece of shit. Stuttering, dropouts, some discs wouldn't play, sometimes the menus would freeze up, etc. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I bought a $79 one for my Sister for Xmas on year and that would play back MP3s and JPGs and all kinds of other stuff - I couldn't even put "burned" disks in mine. Well since I entered the higher end video world and upgraded my home theater with a screen and (digial) projector I have since bought a scaling DVD player and threw the JVC on the shelf. I find great humor in the fact that I had recently donated it to the Civic Centre I live in to use for a continuously running window display. It lasted 2 weeks and was toast, and din't like the DVD in the first place because it was a burned original. So I went to Wally World and bought a little Maggotbox for $36 that's about the size of a large format paperback book. The damn thing's been running non-stop, 24/7 for 4 months without a glitch, and it even has continuous play on it... There's one for the apparent quality of high priced products!  |  IP: Logged

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