Everything about it ~

None that I have found

After doing exhausting research on what receiver I wanted to by to co-exist with my Toshiba DVD player (with no decoders installed), I came upon this JVC. I bought it for $339 at ecost 3 months ago, and it is still there at that great price.
I was able to hook up my Satellite system, 6 head VCR, DVD player, Carousel CD player, Hitachi Ultravision Big Screen TV, and tape player to this receiver with no problems what-so-ever. I did have to buy the Monster cable Digital coax to connect my DVD to the receiver (that cost $40 at Amazon.com).
Friends and family want to move in as the movie experience is BETTER than any theater ~ no heads in front of you, no baby's crying, just pure entertainment ~ with a pause option for a potty break! The sound is AWESOME; even the very beginning of DTS movies where you select DTS sound and the demo plays is awesome! I have this set up with 2 large Sony speakers up front, and a KLH speaker system for the rear, center and subwoofer. Subwoofer is not connected to sub-out on the receiver; that will be my next purchase!
Truly a receiver worth the small investment....you won't be disappointed!

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N/A

Ease of set up, multiple S video inputs, design

rear speakers are a little low while listening to certain things

This is my first legitimate receiver and I find it to be terrific. I researched for a month or so on a couple of receivers. I heard nothing but bad things about the SONY, and I like the JVC better than the Pioneer 635. I got the piece for $345 at Circuit city. I didn't buy spectacular speakers (3 way Yamaha fronts, Pioneer rear and center) but the sound quality is still great. All those people who complain about a hiss must be talking about the ringing in their ears from blasting the receiver on 85. Get a clue, and some real speakers. Great buy. Great product. Especially for a starter. I would recommend Monster cables as well, the sound and picture quality shows marked improvement.

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SONY DB-835

Great sound in stereo mode

Hiss, hiss, hiss in my rear speakers

This is a great receiver for stereo output. With an optical cable, the sound the very crisp and clear.

The problem only started when I play Dolby Digital DVD's. My rear speakers started to hiss loudly even though my volume level is only at 60-65. At first I thought it was my poor quality rear speakers but after changing my rear speakers, the problem still persist. I wonder if I have a defective unit.

If anyone of you know what's the problem or if the JVC needs to be set in a specific way to get rid of the hiss, please let me know. I only connect a DVD player and my TV to the receiver.

Amount of features for the low price, DTS & Dolby Digital

Remote Control - should control non-JVC DVD

This is an excellent receiver. I do hear a hiss above about 60 db, but I rarely have it that high unless I'm having a party ( and no one cares then). Nonetheless, a friend just purchased the new RX-8000 - guess what...no hiss, identical features. Apparently JVC is listening to us. I love this receiver, and I did not have to pay a arm-and-a-leg for technology that will be old in 3 years. It's a worth short-time investment. Buy the RX-8000 though...for the perfect experience.

rear volume control, center pitch, center volume control, Many choices for inputs. Ease of hookup, banana plug terminals.

Can not Handle S=video in to composite out, or Vice Versa. Rear Speakers Are matched to front, yet I seem to need to crank up the rears to match the audio. Sungle Sub Out, and no pre amp outs. When manually turning digital volume, it sometime just spins around 3 numbers, not actually going down in volume.

I buy for quality, not Name brand. I own a 19" Panasonic from 1992, a Toshiba TN50X81 Projection, a Toshiba SD3109 DVD Player, and thr JVC 888 AV receiver. I wish the center channel and rear was factory set 2 levels higher, then it would be a perfect match for 80% of the DVD's released. I would change a few things, but I am satisfied with the model.

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I researched the yamaha, onkyo, sony, pioneer similar models. Yamaha seemed to lack in price, The Onkyo was more expensive, The Sony Audio sucked, and I would have had to get a Pioneer Elite model to Match Quality. I still have my Pioneer VSX 4800, and this is my first JVC PRoduct.

Rich feature set. Sounds fairly good in 2CH Stereo.

Poor sound quality in DD and DTS (Very high distorsion)

I bought this receiver as an entry level receiver. Equipment used together with it:
Pioneer DV-525 DVD Player (toslink connected)
Pioneer P-1009 CD-Jukebox (toslink connected)
Avance Speakers (http://www.avance-international.com/products_sigma_690_frameset.html)
= 2 Front, 1 center and 2 Rear speakers.

I have had the JVC-888 for ~6 months and has done quite a lot of troubleshooting with the unit. What surpises me most is the grungy sound in Dolby Suround, DD 5.1 and DTS. The distorsion level in any suround mode seems very high and after reading other reviews this seems to be a design flaw ? The unit also seems to cut of high frequency sounds as well. This can to some extent be compensated by the internal equalizer or loudness.

The best working mode is 2CH Stereo with the Pioneer CD- Jukebox. The FM-tuner is not very senstitive, no signal strength indicator for calibrating antenna and moderate FM-sound quality. I will replace this unit as soon as my budget allows me to.

Large # of inputs for the price (4 S-Video, 2 TOSLink, 1 Digital Coax), DTS and Dolby Digital. JVC A/V Compulink System. Bright, large display. Built-in 5-band programmble equalizer.

Major hiss in Dolby ProLogic. Have to have volume cranked in the upper 2/3rds range for decent listening. Surround effect from rear speakers not at good sound level (too low)

When I decided to upgrade to all S-Video, I shopped around locally and found that at the mid-level range ($400-$500)the JVC 888 had the most S-Video inputs for a DTSDolby Digital A/V receiver, which is what sold me. On my old Pioneer A/V receiver, I constanty used a simulated surround mode called STUDIO which sent standard stereo to the rear speakers (delayed) for a nice, ambient, "wrapped in sound" effect. The Studio mode also worked for Dolby ProLogic decoding to "enhance" it. Some purists may balk at using such an effect but I enjoyed it. The JVC product has several DSP modes (Theater, Music, Pavillion, etc..) but they all seem to use only the front speakers. Even in Dolby mode watching HBO on Digital Cable (standard analog audio out) the surround effects worked but were not as intense as on the old Pioneer system.

Another major problem is hiss from the rear speakers when in Dolby Pro Logic mode. In order to get a decent level of effect from my rear speakers (low-end JBL) I have the rear speaker level set to +10db. I need to have the JVC volume set to at least 50 (on a scale of 1-90) for a decent audio level (and I'm most often set at around 60 - on my old 100-watt rated Pioneer setting the volume knob past 25% would cause my ear-drums to bleed). At these levels there is noticable hiss from the rear speakers when Dolby ProLogic mode is switched on (when actual rear-speaker information comes across the hiss seems to disappear). Note that I do not have a sub-woofer. My old Fischer stereo speakers seem to produce adequate bass (I felt the room vibrate slightly on some explosions watching "Saving Private Ryan"). I plan on re-hooking up my old Pioneer for comparison on the sound. I will probably end up selling the JVC and going with something else (currently looking at Pioneer 608 - I will buy from Sears as they have a very lenient return policy - if the $400/$500 range stuff doesn't do it for me, I will bite the bullet and jump to the $800-ish level (perhaps Denon 333?). By the way, the built-in equalizer is nice but the room ambience (ie - "echo") effects sound cheap and tinny.

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Old Pioneer surround sound receiver (no S-Video, no digital)

See my previous post

see my previous post

I just wanted to add another comment. If you are lucky to have a DVD player which also decodes Dolby Digital - and has 5.1 analog outputs - you can run the analog outputs to the DVD multi-channel input on the JVC ( at least you can on the 8000 ). Guess what - since you bypass the DSP on the JVC - you have DVD Dolby Digital - with NO HISS. Now if you have more than 1 DD input - it's a problem. But for me - the only material I listen to at high level's is DVD and some CD - both of which are fine without the DSP. MY DBS input goes thru the DSP - but I never listen past 65-70 and that's just fine.

P.S. I talked to a guy at Circuit City who said he remembered that the JVC 884 was recalled for the HISS problem but was corrected on the 8000. Of course he never heard the 8000 hooked up.

INPUTS & OUTPUTS

SEE BELOW

Just wanted to post the difference between the "NEW" jvc 8000 & 888 for people who might be interested.

THE 8000 ADDS:

A "THEATER" DAP mode, 1 more optical input, an optical output, better FM tuner sensitivity, the VCR2 input can now read "VCR2" or "CD-R", a bass boost switch & a new display readout.

THE 8000 TAKES OFF compared to the 888:

Dolby Digital 3-D phonic mode, K2 interface, 1 bit P.E.M. D.D. converter, rear speaker tone settings and the loudness switch, which I've always found to be a lot better than bass boost switche which really only turns up the bass on the tone control which you can do yourself.

Out of the two receivers I think the 888 is a better receiver especially if you don't need an optical output & live within close range of FM stations. Both receivers can be had for around $300 on the web. I'll give the 8000 a 4 and the 888 4 1/2 stars because of feature and price.

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Technics & JVC

Ease of use, Features, Price, Warranty, Layout

None

I have used such classic equipment such as the Marantz 2270 and 2252b models. The 2270 went out so I researched and found the JVC RX-8000VBK, wow what a deal! I bought it at eCost.com for $310 best price anywhere. The features are vast and useful, with power to spare. The setup for what i used it on so far was very simple and the manual is very helpful. No real complaints yet, Buy ONE!!

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