incredible picture quality and definition,even in et mode,color rendition of copy verses live image exellent,et ep recordings better than most vcrs in sp at standard resolution.very quiet smooth transport.

sound level at audio jacks doesnt have as much punch or drive level as previous vcrs ,this may be in part the cable broadcast level in this area,otherwise good drive when viewing tapes.as far as picture quality none.

this is my first s-vhs vcr.always was curious how much better they were but price and the need to use s-vhs tape was a deturrent to ever trying one.i know these vcrs are a trailing edge technology due to dvd,but having used dvd seeing good its pic gets,i will tell you that the jvc will record an image in s-vhs et sp or straight s-vhs sp that would make you wonder which is which?the only limitation to how good the recording is, is how good is the source material? people complaining of unimpressive results would do well to make sure signal strength from cable or satallite is strong,use an amplifier 10db prior to cable install ino vcr.this made tremendous difference in my case. initially some off cable recordings were grainy especially insvhs ep et mode.using signal booster made huge improvement,remember vcr can only rec as good an image as you feed it!ido almost all my rec in ep mode and wanted a vcr that could rec with a resolution in svhs ep that would equal or exceed a standard vcr in sp mode. the jvc easily exceeds the best recordings i have seen any non svhs vcr do at sp while giving you 6hrs rec time.i saw vitually no differance in rec quality using svhs tape vrs say maxell gold or tdk.either in ep or sp results simillar to svhs without et mode activated.you have to use a really poor tape in ep et mode with poor quality source to get bad results.what you notice with bad tape is graininess and white streaks visible only when in pause,and in svhs et ep. hope this info helps anyone considering or owning this machine.overall wanted a vcr which could reproduce an image almost indistinguishable from source,this vcr delivers! reliability is unknown only 2 months since purchase. feel free to email pkfurrer@hotmail.com

Similar Products Used:

mitsubishi hsu-59 cost 550 in 94,still have it awesome quality vcr best picture ever saw till the jvc! also panasonic 9455s fantastic value and pic and sound considering how cheap these retail for.

SVHS technology at the lowest price possible.

Real POS here! SVHS ET recording has proven to be useless. Poor editing feature quality even on SVHS tapes using SP mode. Weak, unreliable tape loading mechanism and inner tape transport mechanics.

The SVHS ET recording feature not worth using because the recording fades over time/plays. If it even looked good to begin with, after several plays and over time, it magically turns to crap!
After owning this unit a little over year (just in time for the warranty to run out) it has started to eat tapes left and right! Even one of my JVC SVHS tapes on one occasion. I should have gotten rid of it to begin with, because when using TDK Hi-Fi videocassettes the loading mechanism would not fully load the tape, thus leaving the tape flush with the front face of the machine. Occasionally it would eject back out, however most of the time I would have to take a butterknife to it to sort of fish it out, not a pretty sight I might add. It seemed to only do it with TDK tapes, however I later found that any kind of tape would also appear to load fully into the machine, but then would not do anything, such as play/rewind/ff/record, it would make the sounds but nothing would happen until I reloaded the tape a few times.
On high quality JVC SVHS video tapes in the SP mode (best recording mode), even the simple task of editing commercials out of a program was a flop, every time it resumed recording, the video would be distorted and there would be a few red wavy lines for a about 5 seconds after resuming.
A video cleaning tape had no effect on any of the problems, and I didn't feel it could be repair to my satisfaction, so I pawned it this past weekend. There's 200+ down the drain! I pity the person who ends up with it!
My second VCR listed above has proven to me that a SVHS recording is virtually free of audio and video distortion, even on ff/rewind/still frame. It's not even possible to compare the quality in this machine to that of my Sony.
The only use I could see for this machine would be to record on SVHS tape in SP mode, without editing and without ever ejecting the tape!
If your wondering, I don't excessively use my equipment and I take EXCELLENT care of it too, it is all in a home theater stand to minimize the already low dust levels in my home. And a Sony VCR I had in the past lasted me 5+ years!! I only got rid of it to upgrade to SVHS technology.
I am about to get the top of the line SVHS from JVC only because of the price, the Sony is well over a grand where the JVC is only $600, the HR-S9600U. I imagine I will experience 10 times the quality I did in the entry level 3500 machine, but just to be careful this time I purchased a 3yr. maintenance agreement with Sears so I won't have to worry about the repairs that it will probably eventually need given the experience I have now had with JVC's VCRs.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SVHS model SLV-R1000

price, incredible picture, recording quality

none

I bought this at circut city a while back for $200. It was a display model that had never even been plugged in. I have owned 2 4 head vcrs, and this by far out performs either of them. The picture quality of movies is almost as good as a dvd, and when I record something straight from my satelite reciever, it loses no picture quality whatsoever, and thats on regular vhs tapes. I cant understand what some of the other reviewers are talking about when they say the picture quality of their recordings is horrible, because my recordings are outstanding. The vcr even includes a "cable box eye" which is a sensor that is placed in front of your cable box or satelite that lets you program the vcr to record programs on specific channels. It automatically turns on the cable or satelite and turns it to the desired channel. In my opinion, this vcr is top of the line.

Similar Products Used:

rca 4 head hi-fi, westinghouse 4 head hi-fi, jvc dvd player

Price, SVHS-ET

Lacking front S-input, lacking flying erase head, scan
features.

The picture quality is satisfactory. SVHS-ET is a real
advantage. When I bought this model I didn't think I would
need the editing features of the more expensive models. I
didn't realize that I would miss some of those same features
in everyday recording/time-shifting activities. The
load/eject and shuttle features feel more like a less
expensive model (which it is). I feel that I got what I
paid for, but I should have purchased one of JVC's better
models.

Similar Products Used:

HRS-5800

Cheap, reasonable picture quality, S-video connectors

Noisy, slow rewind/"fast" forward, no jog on remote, flimsy transport, exceptionally unreliable

This purchase originally stemmed from a broken TV, which I replaced with a (lovely) "extra inch wide" Samsung. Since it has S-video connectors, and my old VCR didn't, I decided to get a new VCR with S-video to replace my close-to-retirement unit.

This was the only model I could find under US$700 that came with S-video connectors, so I decided to give it a shot.

My initial impression was favourable, since it was able to control my StarChoice DSS box, and the picture quality from the DSS routed through the VCR using S-video was exceptional (playback of VHS and SVHS tapes, though, was and is only average quality, even when recorded from digital sources).

I very quickly discovered some of the problems I listed in the "Weaknesses" entry above, such as its noisiness, slowness, lack of jog, and flimsy transport (which requires some force to be exerted before it will accept a tape, and makes the kind of "I'm about to break" noises that do nothing to inspire confidence in the quality of manufacturing).

The first real problem occurred after about a month of use. It would accept a tape and begin playback, but any attempt to rewind, fast forward, pause, etc., would result in the tape being ejected. The remote simply did not function at all, and the power button on the front did nothing.

I took the machine back to the store and exchanged it for an identical model, which functioned for about six months, at which point it began exhibiting behaviour noted by one of the other reviewers - namely that every other tape would be accepted only halfway into the transport where it would stick, leaving the back end of the tape flash with the front of the VCR. The VCR would then turn itself off.

On this occasion I opened up the machine myself to take a look, and found that a catch in the transport mechanism had become stuck. Upon freeing the catch the VCR functioned as properly as it ever had for around another five months - just long enough for the warranty to expire.

Two weeks ago the first problem I experienced - playback fine but anything else causing an eject - reoccurred. This time I decided to unplug the machine for some time, as is recommended these days when anything out of the ordinary happens to electronic equipment.

When I plugged it back in after a few hours, the machine did absolutely nothing, giving all appearances of being completely dead. I took it to a technician who ripped it apart and reset the CPU, which fixed the problem. The technician told me he services more JVCs than any other manufacturer.

By this point I was fairly disillusioned with the thing, but thought it would give me at least another few months of use, at which point I would video myself in the garden smashing it with a hammer and send the tape to JVC along with a note describing my experiences, and then buy a new VCR.

Lo and behold, this very morning, the problem has recurred yet again. It will play inserted tapes, but will not do anything else - identical to what happened two weeks ago, and what happened a few months after I bought it.

I now know that a trip to the technician and CDN$25 will fix the problem in an hour, but for how long?

To sum up, this has to be one of the worst pieces of electronics I've ever had the misfortune of buying, and was certainly not worth even the low sum that I paid for it. I've owned JVC equipment once in the past - a British VCR that functioned for a year and a half before giving up the ghost - but will never again buy anything else they've had their hands on.

My advice: Avoid JVC like the plague. As always, there's a reason they're so cheap.

Similar Products Used:

All kinds of VCRs, from basic home models to high-end professional editing models

None

I've purchased two JVC VCR's over the past several years
and I have had problems with both. It seems JVR's quality
assurance is extremely poor. I would look for other brands
if looking to purchase a VCR

None

I've purchased two JVC VCR's over the past several years
and I have had problems with both. It seems JVR's quality
assurance is extremely poor. I would look for other brands
if looking to purchase a VCR

Probably the cheapest S-VHS VCR you can buy on the market.

Lack of Flying Erase head creates a few intital seconds of video noise upon recording playback.

I have used this VCR for almost one year now without any problems. However, the Super VHS ET mode when used with a Maxell HGX Gold VHS tape at extended play creates quite a bit of video noise. However, at the SP mode, the Super VHS ET mode does quite a good job even with TV recording. Also, I find the image from the JVC tuner compared with the Toshiba or Panasonic (TV) tuner to be a little darker. If you do a lot of editing, I suggest that you obtain the model with a flying erase head. However, a casual user probably would be pleased with the increased video quality if you use a high grade tape in the Super VHS ET mode in the SP speed or a SVHS tape at even the EP speed.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba M-760 6 head VCR

Able to record DVDs with Macrovision decoder box, great picture, auto-calibrate for VHS cassettes, SVHS record on standard VHS tape.

Not too good looking, not made in Japan

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE 3600U! A NEW MODEL!

This is the only unit that I am able to record DVDs with. Even with a macrovision decoder box, the Panasonic and Mitsubihi VCRs that I tried still did not record DVDs without color shifts and/or poor picture quality. The Panasonic and Mitsubishi units evidently still "know" that the video source is eminatting from a DVD player and, thus, will NOT record the video correctly. A decoder box costs about $40 in mail order catalogues (try the internet, too).

Also, the JVC is the VCR that people should buy if they do not have a direct video input into their TV (I'm talking to those who have to set their TV to channel 3 in order to watch their VCR's video). The JVC does not engage the macrovision chip untill the record button is depressed, which allows the DVD video to be passed through the unit to a TV which is tuned to channel 3. If you tried this with other VCRs, the picture would be un-watchable.

Another great feature is the auto-calibrating feature, which tests each tape placed in the unit so that the video and audio can be optimized for each tape. It is also capable of recording SVHS on a standard VHS tape, although the picture quality isn't quite as good as a real SVHS tape.

Great picture, great price. I got it for $229 on sale.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic 9670 (SVHS) and Mitsubishi 575 (SVHS)

Tuner

Hi-Fi audio tracking, transport build quality, remote

I am actually reviewing the HR-S3600U.

This is the single worst home-electronics product that I have ever purchased. I actually returned the first one for a second, thinking that it must have somehow been damaged or defective. I have now returned the second, never to buy a JVC product ever again.

The unit had a problem that occured in BOTH units that I had, and were NOT FLUKES. The audio tracking on the units would not follow the hi-fi sound-track at all, and resulted in a fuzzy sound that popped up regardless of how the VCR was set up. This defect occured on several, but not all store-bought tapes (one was a Disney movie). I called the JVC customer service line, and talked with a very RUDE man, who said that the problem would have to be fixed by adjusting the tracking manually, a task that could NOT be performed from the remote. Ironically, when the tracking was adjusted to play back the hi-fi track correctly, it made the picture fuzzy!

This problem does not occur with the same exact tapes on my five year old Philips/Magnavox unit (as well as several of my friend's vcrs's)....it tracks the hi-fi soundtrack perfectly. Why couldn't the JVC?...because it is a piece of junk!

As well, the transports were VERY flimsy, and tapes could not be inserted without quite a bit of force, even though the owner's manual says that the user should push in tapes gently. The remotes had (as previously mentioned) no tracking buttons, as well as no eject button, and the remote's pseudo-shuttle was very hard to operate accurately.

I was planning on buying a JVC television before I experienced this VCR, and will definitely be buying one made by someone else!

NO ONE SHOULD BUY THIS UNIT!

I plan on buying a S-VHS Panasonic as soon as the 2000's come out.

Similar Products Used:

Older Panasonic, and Phillips/Magnavox Hi-Fi VCR's