The top quality is picture quality. I like the fact I can record S-VHS quality on a VHS tape. I can barely tell I am watching a recording of TV.

I agree that the unit FEELs cheap.

Let's face it VCR's are on the way out. When we get a standard to record on DVD it is ove3r for VCR's That being said you'll still need a VCR for the next 10 years to play the videos of aunt eddith. This is the cheapest VCR that had S Video output. And I have found the VCR to be the best VCR I have ever owned

Similar Products Used:

Sony Panasonic

Great picture and sound.

Lousy dealer support and customer service from eCost.com.

Quality control leaves a lot to be desired! The first JVC unit I purchased was dead out of the box. The dealer, eCost.com in Memphis, refused to take it back. I had to take this brand new JVC S-VHS unit to an authorized JVC service center in 90 degree heat, wait a week, only to be told that the unit was dead out of the box. This was information that I already knew. Another walk in 90 degree heat to pick the dead unit up at the repair facility, then ship it back to eCost.com for replacement. The dealer, eCost.com, refused to refund my shipping charges. There is commitment to customer service there. I was furious. At least the new replacement JVC VCR works. Great picture and sound. Build quality is flimsy, but it cost all of 160.00, so they are not built like they used to be. I would like to thank eCost.com for all of the aggravation!

Similar Products Used:

RCA, Proscan, Sony, Mitsubishi VCRS.

Incredibly sharp picture - one of the best I've seen on a S-VHS VCR for this price, normal playback of sound at almost any speed/direction (timescan), NO scan lines in any mode, adjustable volume, video stabilizer and calibration work well, movie/commercial advance, very effective Digital R3 feature for cleaning up video tapes recorded on other VCRs, convenient S-VHS ET recording, attractive design

Only wish that access to the volume controls weren't in a menu system but on the actual unit and the editing features are not as user-friendly as Sony equipment.

I bought my JVC HR-S9500U after reading results posted on another website re: this unit. I have always been loyal to Sony except for one Toshiba VCR that was very highly rated.

Recording from a satellite dish was outstanding! You could hardly tell it was tape. I would rate the picture about a 9.5 out of 10. Other tapes recorded on older VCRs looked much better on the 9500U! With the Digital R3 on, the picture was noticeably cleaner. Super VHS ET is a bonus - you don't have to drill a small hole in the back of high grade tapes anymore to achieve the same effect.

The unit stands out with its sleek, champagne color and was a pleasant change from "black" (looks expensive).

Editing is not precise but good. Playing with the frame advance to find a cut-in point where the new footage actually begins or cuts in did the trick. Edited 18 hours of camcorder video from a holiday and the results were great! Only wish the volume could be adjusted by a manual front control along with visual VU meters on the unit. I found sony VCRs far more user-friendly than this machine. For example: While recording on a Sony, you can push pause, then play/pause and the unit automatically changes from record/pause to play so you can use the jog dial to back up to the next edit. With the JVC, you have to hit stop each time and cue up all over again. A bit of a pain when doing a lot of edits.

The remote is okay - stylish, almost matching the VCR. The multi-brand remote is a bonus. But a volume control on the remote would have been nicer. (I had some wind noise that needed to be "toned down" to an acceptable level every now and then.) A second set of S-VHS jacks on the unit would have been great - one directly for the TV and the other to another VCR or A/V receiver.

Timescan is incredible!! Truly. Being able to monitor sound at the normal forward speed even while the VCR is playing or scanning in reverse is beyond description! Bravo JVC!

Here's the bad side... The clock/date would go out of sync every now and then (also heard this complaint from another reviewer) and have to verify settings before using timer. not a big deal though. After 40 or 50 hours of use, the VCR broke. The normal forward speed was okay but anything faster or slower, even pause or reverse, saw the picture go into a "solarization" effect like that idiotic gimic some camcorders used to have. The whites and blacks would be reversed along with some of the colors. Picture was grainy and almost not viewable when scaning quickly.

I took the VCR into two "authorized" JVC repair shops and it's still broken. I've wasted a lot of good money for nothing. Yes, I'm mad! It's still malfunctioning. Emails to JVC yielded NO results. I even emailed them a while back regarding interest in commercial duplicators and they never responded. I find this highly unprofessional for a company that professes to be the "inventor" of VHS. (I always thought that Sony developed it first calling it "Alpha" but scrapped it when the "Beta" model was better. JVC then did some work on it and "perfected" it.) This dilemma has left such a "bad taste" in my mouth that I will never purchase a JVC product having experienced such a lack of service and support!

If you find one of these units at a good price and it does not break down, it really is a decent performer. I rated the 9500U as a very good product when working.

Similar Products Used:

(2) Sony SRV-R5's, Sony DHR-1000, Sony EV-S3000 and S5000, Sony ED-Beta 9500, Sony SLHF-1000, and other Sony VHS editing VCRs like the SLV-70HF and 920HF.

I concur with the previous reviewer regarding my temporary state of dyslexia. Realizing my error I decided to endeavor to rectify the problem by contacting this website. However, repeated emails explaining my error produced no results. It would appear that the people who produced this website are not interested in accuracy. While reviewing other articles I noted several mistakes in listings which I felt could be "tidied" up. A review for a Sony KV36XBR450 appeared to be two different models- yet Sony only offers one HiDef set.

My comments still stand on JVCs lack of customer support. I have yet to receive anything from JVC for this unit I have reviewed. It is still broken! Two JVC BR-7000U duplicators need repairing and JVC remains moot. "Word-of-mouth" is by far the best advertising!

I apologize for the previous incorrect entry for the 5900U review. Perhaps someone else could contact this website and offer suggestions to make improvements.

Why is a JVC HR-S9600U S-Video high-Resolution VCR listed under "S" as a S9600U along with Samsung, Sharp and Sony? Somebody needs to do some emailing!!

well, it's SVHS

Tuner, flash menu program bugs, no REAL jog/shuttle, no edit controller capability, playback from tapes recorded on other vcrs is bad, SLP quality worse than most, difficult to use, difficult to service.

Where do I start? This product sucks if you are an editor.
Keep in mind, the product I am reviewing was BRAND NEW.

1) Audio always defaults to HiFi. Must be switched EVERY time you intend to audio dub or insert. This is a result of incompetant flash menu programming (that blue screen menu).
2) This could have been made less annoying by putting the audio monitor button on the front in place of the "REC LINK" button. In my opinion, a monitor button would have been far more useful. Who ever uses the REC LINK button? A person with a compatible JVC satellite receiver, maybe. But even then, who uses it often enough that it HAS to be on the front?!
3) Tuner reacts badly to the slightest grounding problem in your cable and amplifies it to anything else that is connected to it. It was hooked up to a Panasonic AG-1980 and the counter started rolling forward while in pause mode as a result! When disconnected from the JVC, the problem subsided.
4) Playback quality in the SLP/EP mode bites!
5) Video heads were poorly designed. Problems arise that cannot be fixed through tracking or calibration. Tapes recorded on the most expensive machines play back badly. For instance, a tape in SP recorded on a Panasonic AG-1980 ($1600) was fluttery, and in SLP/EP from the same machine was unviewable!
6) There's no real jog/shuttle dial on this beast! There is a little tea-cookie shaped thingy on the face that acts like a jog dial, but theres no finger notch in it, which makes it hard to use. And that outer ring around it is stationary...its decoration...it has no purpose whatsoever!
7) Oh, it won't hook up to an edit controller by the way.
8) Poor design makes it difficult to service, no intelligent method of disassembly.
9) Dimensioned badly. In other words, its fine from left to right, but its so shallow that if you wanted to put a small tv set or stack some other component on top, you can just forget it. It's dimensions are similar to a shoebox.
10) Plastic parts, too lightweight (if you push a button on the front panel it flys out the back of your entertainment center).

I think that if even one of these ten reasons applies to you, you shouldn't buy this unit!

questions? email me at editman21@hotmail.com

Similar Products Used:

JVC HR-DD840U Sony SLV-920HF Panasonic AG-1980P

Excellent video quality in standard, ET, and S-VHS modes. Very low noise, Video calibration is very effective. Excellent search speeds comparable to the search functions of a DVD player. Very easy and fast setup of the programmed timer. And on and on...

Have found none to date

Just read the below review and either that reviewer's sample was defective or there is user error.

Of course audio mode should default to HI FI, I'd be upset if it didn't!

Absolutely no problems with the tuner in my unit. Sounds as this reviewer below has created a ground loop(user error)that is causing his problems or simply has a defective unit(my first 5900 had a defective tuner out of the box, most likely poor shipping and handling).

Playback in EP/SLP mode is better than even my older Panasonic S-VHS PV-S9670. This Panasonic was absolutely the best performer I had seen by going through many exchanges of various brands. I recently figured I'd give JVC a try(wasn't a JVC VCR fan in the earlier 90's)and boy did this VCR perform. It had a much better picture in all speeds, using it's own recorded tapes or tapes recorded in other machines. It's simply the best and is why I was so enthusiastic over it's stellar performance for such a low price.

For the reviewer below, I don't distrust his review, I just find his problems unjust in my unit. I can only think that he has a serious ground loop involved in coaxial and A/V cabling, a defective unit, and a cheap $200 VCR that wasn't meant to be used as a professional editing VCR, just as a basic consumer level editing VCR that far surpasses any offering from other makers in the same price class and above!



I have tapes recorded in SP, LP, and SLP made by 4 other VCRs besides the newest 5900 and "ALL" play the best in this 5900 VCR! The auto calibration really works and brings out detail and rids grain better than even the original recording VCRs!

The 5900 is the best performing VCR I've ever seen and used. It's simply the best. I thought my previous Panasonic PV-S9670 was the best VCR but this 5900 has much lower noise, which creates a picture closer to that of the Dish Networks 400 line resolution PPV movies. Did I say, simply the best!

I tried the ET mode just for curiousity, I don't plan on ever using it since it's not a standard format that would be compatible with all S-VHS VCRs. It's much better than I thought. It truly is much better than standard VHS. I was using only standard quality Maxell tapes that have been repeatedly recorded over, and the higher quality of ET mode was great! ET mode offers higher resolution than VHS but still has more grain and noise than standard S-VHS mode.

As I said, the S-VHS mode is just awesome. Very, very low noise, no waving in the picture, very stable, very smooth and detailed picture. I simply think this is about the best that could be obtained at this price and above from competeing makers.

The editing modes for audio and video with the flying erase head makes this a VCR that could be used to make high quality dubs with editing.

The search capabilities with the jog dial and the shuttle plus on the remote are simply amazing. I have just as much search options as I do with my Panasonic DVD player, but the reverse playback is smooth!!

The 5900's tuner is very sensitive and boosts the raw signal quite a bit. I confirmed this using weak over the air signals. By comparison, my Panasonic VCRs don't have this much gain/sensitivity with the raw over the air signals!!

As I can say, simply the best I've seen and definitely deserves the highest rating available, especially for it's cheap price. The lower performing S-VHS Panasonic was $300, with no editing and searching features!!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic PV-S9670, Panasonic PV-9451, Broksonic, Maganavox/Philips, Sony, and on and on.....

Everything

Perhaps superimposed transport function displays, that are annoyingly placed and displayed.

Excellence stated very well in the review a couple of spots below.

Previous reviewer must have a problem with dyslexia, since his review of another VCR negatively affected THIS VCR rating.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi