I acquired the RX-844 from One Call. They were very good answering questions and there was no hint of any pressure to upgrade to any other unit. It was very easy to hook up and I had no problems. I connected a VCR, TV, DVD, Audio Cassett, turntable, & CD. The DVD is connected digitally, the rest analog. The DVD and TV use S-Video as well as our Video Recorder. The front pannel S-Video is a great idea. I have not seen any evidence of any problems or unwanted noise.
For the price, the investment was well worth it.

I bought the JVC RX-884VBK eventhough I already had the Kenwood 1080VR which I am pleased with. So why did I get this one. $292 on UBid for a product that cost $499 at local retail stores. So I love to spend money, but I don't like to buy junk. After reading the manual/specs and removed my Kenwood and plugged this bad boy in, I noticed a few things. This sucker is noticably heavier than my Kenwood. Also it is well vented (top/sides/bottom). Anyhow, I was more than pleased with my results. Currious about the mysterious back speaker hiss that people were talking about, I unplugged the fronts and listened really close at a level that was pretty high for listening conditions(round 55 - 60). However, I never heard the hiss. Plugged the fronts back in cranked it back to 55 and 60 and was pleased with the booming sound that was shaking my glass storm door.
Getting back a more technical side, I played with all the features, including the DSP, SEA Modes, and other features like Dolby Prologic (Normal/Theater/3D). I really never cared for DSP modes on any receiver. On DSP mode I did like was Dance Club or Live Club. Now sure they have somewhat of an echo, but *depending* on what you are listening to, I kinda enjoyed it on some titles. The SEA modes are great!!! I like being able to control the bands on the sound coming out. Again, depending on what types of things I am listening to I might not want low end (bass) or if I want that shake your sit sound a little more I can turn it up. Even though it is only a 3 band EQ it is still nice to give a little bit more control than other receivers give. Dolby Prologic modes (all of them I haven't had that many good things with). This is hopefully where someone can give me advice... While the fronts sound pretty good the rears sound weak -- unlike my Kenwood. I have turned up (+10Db) on both left and right rear, but the sounds that are suppose to come out of the rears is weak and I have a hard time moticing them. I can put my rear speakers in two different ways: two feet above my head or bout 5 feet back from where I am sitting and up two feet. I can hear sound from the rears but it just doesn't seem as loud as it should. I think I might check my connections again but I dunno.

I really have enjoyed this receiver greatly (despite the low sounding rears). Since I have two receivers it looks like I am going to sell my Kenwood 1080VR (anyone interested?) 8-)

*note* if you want to email, remove the 'anti-spam.' part from the beginning of it. I am trying to cut back on my 10 spams a day! 8-)

Warning, this is a long review:
After lots of research on a mid-price A/V receiver that supported
DD5.1 sound from DVD soundtracks, I decided on the JVC RX-884. I'm
just not the type of person to spend over $500 for a receiver, no
matter what bells and whistles it has on it. My jaw always hits the
floor when I see prices on receivers that range from $700-$2800. I'd
read some reviews of the early unit having intermittent problems with
hum, and clicking, but I guess JVC fixed the later batches of this
model. My serial number was in the neighborhood of 113X6000-ish.
Another reviewer told me that the newer batch of this unit has the early
problems fixed, so I'm just taking that tidbit on faith and reporting
that I also have no major complaints on the sound produced by this
receiver. Here's a list of pluses, neutrals and minuses that I have
encountered in first week of ownership:


The pluses:

1. I really, really, like the DD5.1 sound. I added a new powered
subwoofer hook up to the receiver via the sub-output. I also added a
new center channel and these additions make my modest home theatre sound
a lot better than my old crappy Dolby Surround setup. I like the lack
of hum since the AC-3 input is a digital signal. Note: I could never
eliminate the light hum I got from my audio input from my PC sound card
that came from the PC-DVD drive; with AC-3, no hum! When switching from
analog to digital sources, there is a slight click/delay, but that's to
tolerable/expected. You have to jog through the various combinations
of AC-3 inputs since there are 1 coax input and 2 fiber/TOSLink inputs
for the DVD AC-3 input to work, but when it's set up, it's a nice thing
to behold while watching DVDs. With the right combination of speakers,
the receiver does justice to DVD DD5.1 soundtracks.

2. I like the s-video/composite switching capabilities, though it
took me a while to get everything configured so that the output to the
TV would work (I found out you had to change the TV/DBS input to DBS
(aka DSS satellite) to get the monitor output to work). I'm using the
DBS input for my Laserdisc player input, and have hooked up my 2 VCRs
and my PC-DVD player. There are a total of 5 s-video/composite inputs,
4 on the backside and 1 on the front for something like a camcorder.
Of course, I'd probably have to use the front inputs if I ever did get
a DSS system (but that's a very remote possibility at best). Since I
use my LD as my CD player as well, I use the CD input as my TV input to
produce stereo sound when watching only the TV.

3. I like the display, it gives good feedback to the user as to the
current configuration/settings of the receiver. When the receiver is
outputing DD5.1 sound, you'll see the display gloriously lit up as well.
When you see all 6 of DD5.1 speaker icons light up, it's time to pump up
the volume, baby!

4. I like the preset EQ modes for 5 or so different genres of music,
as they are pretty useful depending on the source material, but
there's only 3 EQ bands to play with, but that's fine for me.

5. Some music CD sound sources actually benefit from the DSP modes
and the modes are aptly named (Live club, Dance club, Hall, Pavilion,
Headphone). I like the Live club DSP mode for listening to music
CDs to get a new take on the material.

6. You can label the call letters for the radio stations per preset.

7. The 5-channel test mode is pretty nifty and gives you an idea as
to how much you should to raise or attenuate specific speaker output
levels if needed.

8. Owner's manual was good, and explained the constraints of being in
different modes of operations. It's a good idea to read the manual!

9. The remote allows for surround speaker sound control, and this
is useful when setting up the sound levels for all the speakers.

10. There's on-screen setup for the various speaker settings. Very
nifty feature. It's accessed by hooking up the video output to the
TV's composite or s-video link, tune the TV to the correct input mode
and using the remote control to navigate the setup on-screen.

11. The price was right, especially since it provides s-video
switching for 5 video sources. I got the unit for $375 delivered
via 2-day Fedex from Onecall.com, who double-boxed the unit for
shipment.


The neutrals:

1. The FM/AM tuner is adequate (it's better than my old Kenwood
that I replaced with this unit).

2. Volume ranges from 0 to 90 steps. I have yet to exceed 67 steps.

3. Selected composite video sources will be outputted to the
composite video output. S-video sources will be outputted to the
s-video output.

4. A powered subwoofer is a must to get the full effect of DD5.1 sound.
I don't want to hear any whining about the lack of bass, go get a powered
subwoofer! These new A/V receivers are a new beast, and they need to
off-load the bass to a powered subwoofer to fully complement the sound.

5. I wish I knew what the real power output for this receiver was
because they list an output 100W/channel for only for a 1KHz signal,
not from 20Hz-20kHz, but I guess it's probably in the 60W-80W range
for the whole audible spectrum. But I could be wrong.


The minuses (mostly minor stuff):

1. DSP modes: When video sound sources are used with the various
DSP modes, they sound anywhere ranging from goofy to horrendous.
Having to jog through all the sound modes or press the Surround Mode
button to get to the one you want can get tiresome.

2. The ProLogic mode sounds very weak (and most of the sound comes
from the center speaker only) unless the signal is really ProLogic
encoded, then it sounds okay (I happened to be watching a tape of "The
Craft" that was broadcasted last week on network TV (FOX) and the
ProLogic Surround sounded pretty good). So if source is not DPL-encoded,
it's better to try one of the 2-speaker 3D modes, or plain old stereo.

3. The remote was not the greatest in the world. It really needs a
jog wheel on it to mimic the control panel on the receiver. I was
successful in getting it to mimic my TV remote in very limited
functions (channel up/down, volume up/down, power on/off), and this held
true for one of my VCR remotes (play/ff/rev/stop/rec, power on/off, etc).
Also, an annoying omission: since it offered only VCR1 remote mimicking
having VCR2 remote mimicking would have been welcomed and useful. The
remote was not a learning remote, but at this price point, I didn't
expect one to come with this unit.

4. No 5.1 inputs for additional decoders (DTS), so don't plan on using
this receiver for DTS. Personally, I feel DTS is a solution to a
non-existent problem. So it's absence didn't make me not want to buy it.

5. No direct access tuning of FM/AM stations: you have to use the jog
control to tune in the stations. And once the presets are set up, it's
still a bit of a pain to get to the stations from the remote control
if you've set up more than 10 preset stations (and there's 40
preset-able stations.) because the presets are accessed through the
number pad. Since FM radio stations have odd numbers for the digit
after the decimal point, I thought it was strange that when using the
jog shuttle to go up and down the FM radio dial, it incremented each
tenth, and not each odd tenth, i.e. it went from 96.1 to 96.2 then to
96.3 instead of going from 96.1 to 96.3 when incrementing - a bit annoying.
But as I don't listen that much to the radio, it's not a big deal for me,
of course, YMMV.

6. And of course, as soon as I order this unit, a week later,
soundcity.com is selling it for $45 less than what I paid for it.
ARGH! Still, it was money well spent, and I don't know how long that
sale lasted.


Conclusion:

Overall, I like this unit because its extra features add value and I can
live with some of its setup quirkiness. So for the money, it was a
nice DD5.1 A/V receiver purchase since it succeeds in its primary goal:
to produce good sound for DVD DD5.1 playback while offering exceptional
s-video/composite switching capabilities, and also offers good music CD
playback, and enough video source inputs for most people. The only
thing that would make it a killer unit is built-in DTS capability, but
as I alluded to before, DTS would just be a novelty for me anyway.

I purchased and have been listening to this receiver for two weeks now. I've tried all DSP, Surround and Stereo modes. I've removed the front and rear speakers. I've listened loud, medium and soft from classical to Hip-Hop. I can not find the HISS. The receiver is very quiet and has made my DVD player come alive. Brought it from OneCall, and for the money, this particular range of A/V receiver can't be beat. I just wish it had DTS.

For $350, you can't go wrong. Stereo performance is very good and while I don't have rears hooked up yet, movies are pretty impressive with the front three. I'm not a huge fan of the remote or the front panel controls, but I'm not about to pay $300 - $400 more for a Denon/Yamaha/Onkyo because of a few quirks.

I was filled with anxiety when I decided to purchase this unit from Onecall. Many people had posted problems with the background hiss and over-heating problems, but the price made it worth a shot.
My anxiety ended once I hooked it up. To say the least, I was very impressed. The on-screen programming is a great feature, and absolutely necessary as it took almost an hour to configure. Hooking up my Toshiba SD2108 DVD player took only a few seconds, through a TOSLink cable. Apparently this receiver does not have the DD incompatibility problem with the 2108, as I have yet to hear a pop or audio drop-out when playing DVDs. All in all, I am very satisfied with this receiver.

It does get pretty hot, and while I'm sure it won't damage itself, I was a little worried about the other components close to it. So I went to Radio Shack and picked up a little 12v blower-style fan for about $10 and a 9v DC adaptor (lower voltage to make it more quiet). I set this on top of the unit, above the amps, and now it never gets more than warm, even when played at high levels for a long time.

I would recommend this receiver to anyone on a budget that wants to enter the Dolby Digital world.

Mirage

I just received my 884 on Friday and spent the weekend hooking up all of our a/v components. I LOVE this receiver. I mostly bought it because of all the S-Video hookups it has -- I have S-Video from the DSS, DVD and VCR. I also have the dolby digital hooked up from the DVD. The sound is incredible. Took me a while to actually get the DD working, but that was because of my DVD player. Didn't realize I had to set it to send DD bitstream. For $380, this receiver was the perfect choice for me, someone who is on a tight budget. I feel like I definitely got a lot more for my money. The only issue I have is that it DOES get fairly hot on the top/back of the receiver. I have the speaker setting on low since two of my speakers are 6 ohm.

I bought this reciever from ubid for 280, a great price for a $500 retail reciever. I agree that there is a hiss from the back channels, but it is only noticable when you get about an inch from the rears. The Prologic isnt that impressive and the dsp's aren't great. But, for playing music or watching DVD's in Dolby Digital, the system performs well. I have Boston Acoustics cr7's as my fronts and two Boston Acoustics HD5's (Never heard of the model but decent sound) as rears. Still dont have a center channel or sub, but in dolby digital the system sounds great. For this price, you can't get anything even close to as good. Not as good as much more expensive systems, but that's why those are more expensive. Overall I am very pleased.

I bought this receiver at Sears for $650 CDN. I was using the JVC RX-709 DPL receiver and it served it's purpose well. The JVC 884 was an excellent purchase. I was concerned at first after reading some of the reviews (hiss, low or NO bass, overheating). It leads me to believe maybe some should read the manual. The hookup was a snap - banana plugs all around. Everything was easy to find. The sub-woofer setup caught me at first, but after consulting the manual, I realized I had to tell the receiver that I had a sub-woofer. There are other settings for the sub as well. NO HISS from the rears! NO over heating - simply flip the switch at the back of the receiver to 6 ohms or 8-16 ohms. The sound was crisp and very clear - again for the dollar. I'm not comparing to Macintosh here. I use Paradigm Titans for the mains, Paradigm PS-120 12" passive sub powered by a Yamaha amp. The bass is definitely present and way punchier than the 709. Good 'ol Minimus for the rears. I do not have a DVD yet, however, the Dolby PL was satisfying. The rears were not as "loud" as I wanted, but I blame that on the Minimus speakers.
Overall, the unit looks good, the EQ works well, the remote is useful - not overbearing. I think JVC did a great job - a lot of bang for the (crappy) Canadian dollar.

I just bought this unit for my dad for Christmas and he is overjoyed. The specson this receiver is amazing and you can get it for nothing ($299). The Dolby
Digital and the power are sufficient and JVC's step-up receiver, the 1024 is
about $500 more and doesn't offer you that much more.

Dollar for dollar, this is an amazing receiver at an amazing price!