Fantastic picture, better build than most VCRs today

Weak transport system.

Similar to some earlier posts, I purchased the GoVideo SDV-650 from ubid, which is identical to the JVC HR-S9800U except it is black in color (goes better with my system!). I have had three other JVC Super VHS machines over the years, and I must say this machine is a mixed blessing. It has some nice "gee whiz" features such as multiple speeds that include audio (1.5x, 2.0x, forward and reverse scan and pause all include either audio snippets or compressed audio), time-based correction, a navigation system that identifies what is recorded on the tape (date, time, channel source, program title if you type it in). The transport system is also very fast. While that is a good thing when it comes to fast foward and rewind, when you are trying to stop on a specific spot on the tape, it can be a major pain. Unlike my JVC HR-S7100, which stops on a dime as soon as I hit play or stop, on this machine, it will overshoot my mark by anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of taping time. I then have to go through a series of back-and-forth actions to finally get to the spot I am looking for. The blank search works well when rewinding, but is essentially unusable if you want to search forward as there is no button dedicated to than on the remote. The transport is noisier on this machine than any I've used before. The on-screen programming is very easy to use, but the 4 dedicated button on the remote for programming means that most universal remotes won't be able to program this machine. Overall, this is probably the best consumer Super-VHS VCR you can buy today, but is not as good as top-of-the-line machines 5 or 10 years ago.

Similar Products Used:

JVC HR-S7100, JVC HR-S5200U

None

It doesn't work

I followed the lead of the guy below. GoVideo650 from ubid for $140+$23!!shipping. Thought it sounded a little to good to be true. It was. Unit arrived DOA with no aparrent damage to the box. ubid has not responded to any of 3 customer requests/emails for RA number or service or some response at all. You can't call them. They don't have a customer service department for defective deliveries. They say you must contact them within a week to report DOA merchandise. My week is over and they have not responded to any contact. I assume they will claim I didn't report it within a week(if I ever do hear from them) and tell me I'm responsible for shipping/restocking blah blah. You get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsu 560. Still works after nearly 10 years

An addenda here. The record quality of this deck is very finicky with the tapes it uses. The S-VHS ET feature is pretty much useless with cheap tapes and even with good ones like Maxell HGX-Gold and Sony V tapes. With those I got a grainy picture with white speckles all over. Some have had luck with this feature, but I find it useless without having to buy tapes almost as expensive as S-VHS ones themselves.

The playback quality with pre recorded tapes like IMAX features is unbelievable for VHS. I have not been able to get it to record this good, but close. So the recording quality of the deck compared to playback is a question mark. But in S-VHS its pretty much as expected from that format. Good.

Great picture quality even in EP. No noise when using scan feature. Digipure filtering helps improve quality.

Typical cheap construction and longevity is unknown. No amorphous heads for top of the line machine.

Well my Hitachi S-VHS vcr is finally getting old, so I bought the JVC as a new machine. JVC is the only company able to squeeze the best possible picture out of VHS and S-VHS tapes in a consumer format vcr. The Digipure system does help improve the picture quality, but subtle enough not to draw attention to itself in doing so. When using the scanning feature there is no noise in the picture which is pretty impressive. I have noticed picture jitter when playing a few tapes, but it doesn't last long enough to become bothersome. I don't recall any other machine ever really having jitter before. The rewind and fast forward are noisy as mentioned elsewhere. I do like the feature of when in ff/ rewind the machine slows the tape gradually as to not stretch it from a sudden stop. Some may find this bothersome if accurate tape stopping is needed. I have played old tapes and new on this machine and they look great. I bought the machine with an extended 3 year warranty to cover my butt as I have heard this machine is prone to all of a sudden stop working. I paid an extra $100 Canadian for this. The machine came to $688 Canadian on a special price- which is $444 American. I did try to setup the remote for my 1987 model 20 inch Toshiba and could not get the remote to work the tv. I have yet to try recording on this machine. From what I hear its best to leave the ET feature off and stick with S-VHS tapes. Also start recording on a dime is not possible due to tape calibration first. I have heard from one the record quality is not on par with the playback quality. The vcr is not as clunky as I expected it to be. My old Hitachi was noisier when going into play mode or when doing searching. Even the loading of tapes is smooth and slow. I'm not a fan of the VU meters on this machine as my Hitachi had easier to read ones plus more segments. Also not being able to set the VU audio volume with a knob is bothersome. I have not yet tested the accuracy of recording from pause or going into playback to search the end point, but I hear its a problem. The lack of amorphous heads in such a top of the line machine is also bothersome as I know the heads won't last as long as they did in my Hitachi. Also amorphous heads would improve the picture quality even more. Its too bad they couldn't figure out a way to incorporate a firewire output port or even component output into the machine since digital is taking over anyway.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi VTS-751 S-VHS vcr

Great picture quality, able to control DSS, S-VHS inputs & output front and the back

Crappy tape loader, cheap quality of the parts, Can't programmed-REC if DSS receiver is off (make sure it is on before leave home), makes LOTS of , LOTS OF noice and discomfort design of remote

Overall I was satisfied with the product. Its picture quality is very good even in EP mode, being able to control DSS, Pre-programmed-rec NAVIGATION, video calibration, efficient number of inputs and outputs in the front and the back, etc.... it has lots of features that you want to play with. In fact, you have more than enough of features that you'd most likely to use everyday. I have to admit that it generates AWESOME crystal crear pic and audio. But I, also, have to agree with other posts regarding the crappy tape loader, the constuction quality (cheap material, only the color of the box and the color display on board looks good), not illuminating remote, kind of discomfort to change DSS channel using the remote, etc..... on and on. The major concern that made me to return the product despite all the weaknesses (I did like the pic quality so I was going to keep it anyway for the first week) was that it makes a lot of hissing NOISE when I'm playing and recording. It drove me nuts and could not stand it. I had to intentionally pump up the vol just not to hear the noise. I don't know why other posts did not mention it. May be I'm too picky but I just could not stand the fact that I have paid $399 shipped to listen to the crap. I am going to send it back to crutchfield and get PANASONIC one. Besides it is cheaper and its got decent looking color too, although I still think that none beats JVC's gold color.

Similar Products Used:

none yet but will return this and get PANASONIC S-VHS one.

Great picture

lost picture and totally died in less than three months.

This VCR had a very nice picture and that is the main thing about it, but like I said it totally lost color picture and everything in less than three months. I never damaged it or used rental tapes in it. This is pretty ridiculous.

Lack of gain settings on front panel; lack of headphone jack.

Overall design: This unit has an attractive appearance with a nicely informative florescent display screen. The VCR doesn't have quite enough heft to it, certainly far less than my mid-80s JVC, and the rubber footpads are quite small. This leads the unit to shift easily depending on how taut your RF cables happen to be when feeding tapes to it. The tape entry slot doesn't fit perfectly around tapes leading to the ability to put tapes in somewhat crooked if you're not paying attention. The arrangement of play buttons on the front panel is unusual and takes some getting used to.

Display: Large enough time and channel readouts to be read from a distance. The counter is time based so any counter notations based upon previous JVC models no longer apply. I prefer the time based counter, but it will take me some time to convert my library files. The on-screen display works well and responds quickly.

Performance: Beautiful recordings, excellent screen clarity and audio. So the important items work as you would expect on this top-of-the-line model.

Remote: I like the funky color. It was easily programmed to work with my 1985 Sony TV and with my GI Digital Cable box. The cable box controller also works properly so I now have the ability to set up advance recordings either with the cable box controlling the VCR or with the VCR controlling the cable box. The remote itself is going to have a steep learning curve but seems fairly intuitive.

Manual: Excellent, particularly compared to the Sony SLVR1000's manual. Sure, it could use additional detail with some of the features, but overall it is well designed.

Comments:
1) Does it play LP tapes? The manual doesn't answer that question. I suppose I'll just have to wait to find one in my library and try playing it.

2) The display shows R & L volume but there are no physical volume controls to set recording level. That can be set using the remote, however. Nice, but I'd like actual knobs or sliders as my old JVC unit had.

3) Ditto for tracking control. My older JVC could display tracking strength on the front display, making it easy to set. Maybe I won't care...depends how well the automatic tracking control works...so far, so good. This VCR does have manual tracking override with the remote if desired.

4) There doesn't appear to be a way to turn off the video output for playback of HiFi audio-only tapes.

5) The manual doesn't tell you whether you have to leave your cable box turned off prior to setting it up for recording using the cable box controller. I suppose I'll have to experiment to find out.

6) This unit, unlike my older JVC, does not have the ability to record audio from one set of inputs and video from another. That's too bad, but can be dealt with using a different wiring technique. It has three possible inputs: RF, back panel, or front panel. Both the back and front panel have S-Video and standard R,L,V jacks.

7) So you're watching a recorded TV show and you're fast-forwarding through commercials. When you see the station ID promo, you let go of the FF button to return to play and rather than immediately switching speeds to play mode, the unit gradually slows down to play mode. It's probably better for the tape, but of course you end up missing the first few seconds of the show. Potentially annoying (depends on the show).

Overall I'm very pleased with this VCR. I'd certainly like to have found more complete information about it prior to my purchase (perhaps a downloadable pdf of the manual from JVC's website) so that I could have compared it to the Sony which I bought and returned beforehand. Even if the Sony had worked properly, the JVC is better for my needs.

Four stars for value...the unit is significantly more expensive than other VCR's and while it has the necessary features, it isn't quite as solid as I'd like.

Four stars for overall rating. Five would be reserved for a unit with an improved manual, added physical switches on the front of the VCR, and at least no loss of features from a comparable 1980s model.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SLVR1000

Lovely playback quality. Half speed playback with normalized audio [useful for language studying, or just slowing down fast talkers], and 150% playback, useful for speeding up slow speakers etc.

No headphone jack [not on matching JVC TV either!].
Recording controls are unconventional and, i think, slower to use. Recording doesn't start after you push record, it starts about 10 seconds later, after the machine 'calibrates'. The video database built in to this years model [at the expense of the removed commercial skip, thank you very much!] has a built-in memory ceiling, after which you have to erase old entries to make room for the new. And they won't tell you how big the memory is. Finally, effectively destroying the databases usefulness, is the fact that the deck has no index mark creation or removal features! That's right folks- it makes an index mark ONLY when you start recording, period. A crippled feature overall. But i'm saving the worst for last. The ET recording feature offers no image improvement at all. And i've recorded the same source material with and without it, peering at the screen inches away. The noted Consumers Reports even claims that it adds video noise. I can't absolutely prove that because my problems could be due to another aspect of its operation, but i can say that mine is in the shop for very poor recording quality. I've gotten better recording quality with my 10 year old Toshiba VHS.

If unsurpassed playback quality is all you're interested in, you can use all the features and/or don't care about the high price, it's fine. The Toshiba W808 probably provides most of the image quality at a fraction of the price. I couldn't get it because it's not sold in Canada. If it had i would've bought it, because of the JVC's poorly implemented video database, the lousy recording quality, and the high price. PS: the built-in TBC works only on playback.

Similar Products Used:

A Mitsubishi SVHS deck, an RCA, and a Hitachi SVHS camcorder.

Lots of features; good picture quality; TimeScan pretty cool.

Nasty remote (usability and color!); slow to respond to button presses; no TimeScan on remote!?

Overall I was disappointed with several things. Most people would consider them minor, I'm sure, but I didn't want to pay almost $500 for a VCR that had things that bugged me! I ended up returning the VCR. Glad CameraWorld is not tough about that.

* Hate the remote... baby poop brown in color. Doesn't match the cool color of the VCR. Plus the button arrangement is not very usable, IMO.

* Lame on screen display pops up during lots of basic operations. You can turn off the display entirely but that's not what I wanted.

* What's up with the TimeScan feature only being accessible from the front of the deck? It's a cool feature that should work from the remote!

* I hate how the VCR switches from "TV mode" to "VCR mode" when you start playing a tape. This would be OK if didn't have it hooked up via s-video or composite, but it's quite annoying because I cannot switch back to watching TV unless I turn off the VCR or switch it back to "TV mode". Good VCRs will let you disable or enable the auto switching from TV mode to VCR mode.

Another annoyance is not really the fault of the VCR, but... It didn't "integrate" well with my Sony home theater setup. There's something to be said for having all the same brand; it integrates wonderfully! I am probably going to ditch the idea about getting an SVHS deck (because Sony's only consumer SVHS deck is $800!) and get a Sony SmartFile VCR. I can get a nice one for $250 and I won't have any of these nagging issues. I'm sure this VCR is great for many people, but it wasn't right for me.

Similar Products Used:

No other SVHS decks yet.