My first impression is this is a great bargain for the standard features it comes with. Upon reading the manual I noticed in very small print that this unit will not plat DTS encoded Cd's. A phone call to their tech line confirmed this. This unit is advertised with a DTS decoder but somebody dropped the ball.Can anybody comment on this. What is your understanding? Feel free to e-mail me as I am thinking of turning this one back in. Lack of stars denotes deceptive advertising.

Picked up this unit on sale at military exchange for $279.00. It has great features and decent sound. I am returning it though because of a very annoying hiss in rear channels in surround mode. Hiss will not go away in DD, DTS or ProLogic modes. I have read in other posts that this problem was also noted in the RX-884. Either I got a bad unit or the problem persists in the 888.

My RX-888VBK plays DTS CDs just fine, and I have no hissing in the rear speakers. Maybe the hiss others have mentioned is produced by the DVD player, and not by the receiver? (My DVD player is a JVC XV-D701BK.)
Based on my experience, this is an awesome receiver with performance features that are hard to beat!

If U use your DVD player 4 audio CD's with DTS it works trust me I have this unit and love it. Also it hisses at volume all the way up but who listens 2 a movie that loud damn U gotta be high 2 listen 2 a movie that loud

i'm from the Netherlands, Europe. I have noticed exactly the same thing with my JVC. I haven't got DVD yet, but i'm planning to buy it. I hooked the unit up to my computer and when playing games on it, the hiss is very annoying in the rear speakers. I also have to turn the volume up to even 70 to hear some decent sounds.
I played a game which supports dolby prologic, but the sound was terrible.
Especially a hiss in the rear channels, but also in my front speakers, because of the high (necessary) volume. I bought this JVC three weeks ago. First i was quite pleased with it, but now i'm having serious doubts about my choice.

I have been using my new 888 for a few days now. Dont know what folks are saying when they say is wont play DTS audio cd's - mine does. I have quite a selection (Wings, Boyz II Men, Moody Blues, and more) and they all are DTS and play fine. Also, I have no hiss even with the sound up full. I wonder, since some have the hiss in DVD mode, if your using a poor quality optical connection cable into the 888? You might check your DVD cables (both digital and RCA type) and try getting a different set...? All I know is mine sounds great - no hiss - and plays all my DTS cd's.

I have used the RX-888VBK and after reading several reviews stating that it doesn't work with DTS, I wanted to let people know that my unit does! I have used the "Gaucho" DTS CD and the "Boyz II Men" DTS CD with the JVC XL-MC334BK (200 Disk Changer with digital out), JVC 701 DVD player & Sony ?330 DVD Player. All work perfectly! It does require you to use a digital connection between the CD player and receiver (as do all brands and makes)for it to work. An analog connection will only produce noise like a computer modem makes (Digital data). The only problem I know of with JVC and DTS is the DVD 501 & 701 have problems with DTS movies (you do not get any sound until switching the 3D Phonic on & off). This unit is avaible for $350.00 + shipping at Wholesale Products and for the price is a steal. The THD on this unit in stereo is 0.02 NOT .2 as someone else wrote. In surround it is .8, but so are all the other units in this price range. If you want less THD the new sony STR-DB930 has .05 in Stereo and .09 in surround for about $446.00 (at one call). It also has DTS & DD, with less noise, more power, and just a little more cost. The sony is also a little harder to setup and figure out, and lacks some of the features JVC has. (on screen menu, etc)

I bought this receiver through mail order. I had a problem right away. After hooking up my Infinity Kappa speakers and playing a cd, the unit went into OVERLOAD. It would play music between 5 seconds to a minute before doing this. I mailed the unit back and was sent a new one the next day. This one has not gone into OVERLOAD yet but I have noticed hissing in the surround mode for all my speakers above 60. I feel like I have been ripped off. I hopefully can return this one also for this reason. I love all the features but I can't stand the hissing.

The Units I Saw Had A Problem, The People At JVC Told Me There Unit Humm's Just Like The Three I Heard. The People At JVC Stated That The UNIT WILL NOT DECODE DTS FROM AUDIO CD's. That note is on Page 21 of the JVC-888VBK Man. I have posted the facts and hope anyone looking at this unit will go to a dealer and test it out. The Units Hummed and Hissed with Both Coax And Optical, They hummed without the DVD Playing As Well. They Also Overloaded several times.

This Unit is awesome I don't have the problems others have with it DTS CD's work in mine. Awesome sound