Need advice on JVC VCRs
cch...@mips.com
JVC VCRs because they give poor sound quality and the tape transport mechanism can easily malfunction.
He said he got this information from the net. Unfortunately, he had just deleted those messages. So if you
have any advice on this VCR or happen to have saved these messages, would you please give me a email
of them?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers.
Leslie.
Jaye Mathisen
I was a die-hard JVC fan, until I bought a Mitsubishi.
I had an HRS8000U JVC, thought it was great.
I just popped for a U82 from Mits, it's incredible. Absolutely no-noise
scans, jog-shuttle that works flawlessly. More inputs and outputs that
you can shake a stick at. Excellent sound. Great editing.
Get a Mits, don't even waste time on JVC.
--
Jaye Mathisen, COE Systems Manager (406) 994-4780
410 Roberts Hall,Dept. of Computer Science
Montana State University,Bozeman MT 59717 os...@cs.montana.edu
Steve Hammond
I bought a JVC model HR-D601U, and I will never buy a JVC product again.
after 1 year and 2 weeks, the tuner died. It was 2 weeks out of warranty
so JVC would not pay the $200 repair. I didnt either, just stopped taping
off from tv. Then 2 years later, it started eating tape, so I got the
heads cleaned, it was still eating tapes so I took it in for repair.
they replaced the pinch roller assembly, which cut down the tape eating
to about 10% of what it was, still eats tapes. I am giving up, using my
roommates RCA to play what tapes I have and buying a laserdisc player from
a "real" company, Pioneer
--
Steve Hammond ham...@umich.edu
No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food.
Carey Kinoshita
I suggest you buy another brand of VCR because JVC doesn't have a
good reputation on the net and with high-end Video Magazines
around the world. Videophiles, Pros, and most experienced Salespeople
know that JVC VCRs are simple not made very well and have a high break down
rate and high cost of repair. Salespeople and JVC reps will probably deny
this and no-brain magazines like Video and Video Review will not find
any problems, but VideoPhile magazines like Perfect Vision know of the
problems and are trying to inform the public as much as they can.
The main problem with JVC VCRs are in it's construction. JVC uses
a cheap method of manufacturing which uses a lot of plastic and
which doesn't weld parts onto the chasis (JVC screws or snaps metal parts
onto plastic mounts!!). True JVC VCRs look good on the outside and has
tons of features compared for a cheaper price compared to other brands,
but in actuality you get what you pay for. And many of these features
are hardly used, does something in the cheapest way possible, misleads
the buyer into thinking the VCR does something it actually doesn't.
Many people are decieved into buying a JVC VCR because they figure that
they can create a pretty good SVHS editing system for the money.
But in actuality the editing system that JVC provides in very
inaccurate and inconsistent to be of much use. The reason for this is
because JVC's editing system uses the VCRs remote control to control
both VCRs when editing. The generally accepted method is to
connect cables in the back of both video cassete recorders & let
the recorder control the player. Using this method, most VCRs will
do a preroll and you get a very accurate+consistent edit. Many salespeople
will tell you that JVC VCRs use editing cables because
all JVC VCRs have remote pause jacks in the back,
but they are only partly right. The only JVC VCR that uses these
jacks is JVC's two thousand dollar HR-S10,000. The highly respected
magazine "Perfect Vision" has reviewed the HR-S10,000 and they
don't recommend anybody to buy this VCR because they find the VCR
to be just an ordinary $800 SVHS VCR with wooden side panels &
editing features tacked on. Also, two different HR-S10,000s
enountered number problems and eventaully both HR-S10,000s broke
down after only 20 hours of use during Perfect Vision's testing.
If you are looking for a good editing VCR, I would suggest either the
HS-U35 (non-hifi, VHS), HS-U55 (hifi, VHS), HS-U65 (hifi, SVHS) or the
awesome HS-U82. The Mitsubishi uses editing cables, does prerolls,
and uses dual flying-erase head which furthur assures consistency in
creating perfect edits.
The Panasonic AG-1960 also does great edits and can take a lot of heavy use,
but doesn't have many of the convenience features that consumer VCRs have
and it is harder to use compared to consumer VCRs. Sony VHS & Hi-8 VCRs also
are pretty accurate at editing, but their SVHS VCR has some bugs that
need to be ironed out & has a very flimsy flip-down control panel &
the controls are very non-responsive. The expensive, do-it-all
Toshiba SV-991 does use editing cables, but the accuracy is terrible.
When comparing transports, JVC has the worst because JVC uses a
half loading tape transport system which has been reprogrammed to
make it look like a full-loading tape transport. Most other
VCR companies use a true full-loading tape transport and it really
makes me wonder why JVC didn't take the time and money to redesign
their tape transport. The reason could be because Sony originally
invented the full-loading tape transport and JVC is either cheap
or is so stubborn that they don't want to use any technology
not invented in JVC. It is also well known in Japan that
Matsushita group (includes JVC and Panasonic) has a very intense
rivalry with Sony group. Well, the difference in transports is
not really apparent when a customer just hit play on the VCR
because JVC & Panasonic's half-loading tape transport has been
reprogrammed not to retract the videotape when the VCR has been
stopped which previos half-loading tape transports used to do.
P.S. this is what audio/video salespeople often do to show a
customer how fast a VCR's tape transport is.
The real test is to hit the stop button when the VCR is playing
a video tape and then hit the rewind button. JVC VCRs takes the
longest amount of time and goes though this irritating
rewind-pause-fast rewind interval which really makes you
impatient. Panasonic VCRs also use a reprogrammed half-loading
transport but atleast it doens't have this pause when rewinding
going into rewind or fast forward mode.
Another real test is to hit stop when the VCR is playing a video
tape, press fast forward or rewind, and now press play.
Generally, Mitsubishi VCRs have the fastest and best tape transports.
This also adds to Mitsubishi VCR's accuracy in editing.
If you miss the quickness of Sony Betamax VCRs, you will love
Mitsubishi VCRs because the tape transport is even faster. Toshiba
and Sony VCRs also use a full-loading tape transport. Oh, I also
have to mention that full-loading VCRs have a great feature which
is enabled when the vcr is rewinding or fast forwarding a videotape.
If you press the rewind or fast forward button again, the VCR will
play the tape while still in rewind or fast forward mode. There is
no need to hit stop-play-stop-fastforward anymore to find out what
part of the tape you are on when fast fowarding a video tape. With
Mitsubishi and Sony VCRs just let go of the button and the VCR will
continue to rewind or fast foward the tape. With Toshibas just press
the button again. Also, Mitsubishi VCRs have an added feature of displaying
a gauge on the television screen (just like some electronic car fuel gauges)
which shows you about what portion of the video tape you are at when
rewinding or fast forwarding a VCR. These convenience features that
Mitsubishi VCRs have really make using their VCRs a pleasure to use.
Now I will inform you of a problem that JVC VCRs are known to have.
This problem is known as the JVC hifi switching or sound drop-out
problem. The problem usually shows up on a JVC VCR after about
three months of use. JVC even has admitted that their VCRs have
this problem, but they say the fixed the problem by putting a
faster digital tracking system into their VCRs. It turns out
that this fix doens't solve the problem, it just enables JVC VCR
to compensate for the problem a little better. The problem
seems to be an design defect in JVCs reprogrammed half-loading
tape transport in which tape slack or tape tension builds up
when playing a video tape and causes the tape transport to pickup this
tape slack or tape tension at regular intervals of time. This results
in the audio dropping out for a second or two and an on-screen
message will display on the screen saying "normal" and then
"hi-fi". This is very annoying especially when you are using
your stereo system to output the sound coming from your VCR.
Sometimes these audio dropouts/hifi-normal switching occurs
every 30 minutes and later every 15 minutes. These audio
dropouts/hifi-normal switching occurs when playing back video
tapes recorded by the JVC VCR, rental tapes, you name it.
You can turn the on-screen display off so that you don't get
those "normal" and "hi-fi" lettering displayed on the TV or
recorded onto your tape, but the audio still go out.
These problems first appeared with the introduction of the first
reprogrammed half-loading tape transport which was incorporated
into the first SVHS VCR, the JVC HR-S7000. The next model, the JVC
HR-S8000 was introduced and it was the most expensive consumer VCR
at the time, had the most features of any VCR at the time,
got very hot on the top of the VCR most of the time, had the most
quirks of any VCR, and had the most audio dropouts of all time.
This was suppose to be the best of the best and many people
thought that it was the best because it was manufacturered by
the company that invented VHS and SVHS. Many videophiles,
rich people, and yuppies were disuaded by JVC because of their
experiences with the HR-S8000. At the JVC Authorized Store
which I used to work at, there would always be one of these
models in repair at a given time and sometimes we had six of
these VCRs in for repair. I used to own a HR-S8000 and I turned
in my VCR in for repair many times. The repair technician
would either blame my video tape or say they have readjusted it
and after a month, the problem would reappear.
The problem with the HR-S8000u is related to JVC incorporating
a half-loading design into their standard tape transport.
The next generation of JVC VCRs and models thereafter have
inherited this design flaw. But because of the rising exchange
rates and JVC's new goal of focusing on low cost and high
manufacturing output, JVC has created a new manufacturing
method and is using this manufacturing method to mass-produce
large numbers of VCRs and audio equptment at a very low cost.
But this manufacturing method does have a major downfall.
The following will explain the manufacturing method that JVC
has created and it's shortcomings.
JVC is using a manufacturing shortcut to eliminate the need to
weld parts onto the VCR chasis probably to cut manufacturing
costs or speed up the manufacturing process. After all, JVC is
part of Matsushita who is the largest manufacturer in the world.
Instead JVC either screws or snaps the parts onto plastic mounts
which are molded onto the metal chasis. P.S. the metal JVC uses
is not die cast steel but some other alloy. If something breaks
off the plastic mount, the whole chasis has to be replace because
every mount is molded to the underside of the metal chasis and cannot
be replaced without replacing the entire chasis. Looks like when
one of these VCRs break, they break for good.
A key part in the VCR mechanism which
takes a lot of wear and tear is mounted to the chasis in this way.
This part is the metal rod which stands vertically on the chasis
and on which the tape ejection mechanism rides to lift or lower
the tape onto and off of the tape transport mechanism. So far
every JVC VCR after the one thousand series (HRS-7000, 5000,
8000, 10000) have been manufactured using this non-welding
manufacturing process.
After a span of time which will vary according to how often you
use your VCR, model of the VCR, how hard you insert your videotapes
into the VCR, etc this shaft will loose it's original orientation
and the will probably result in the JVC VCR jamming when loading or
ejecting video tapes. When you have your JVC VCR repaired, the
repair technicians will probably take a plier and bend the shaft
so that the VCR doesn't jam anymore. As you can see, this is only
a temporarly solution and the problem will likely reoccur in the
near future. A permanent fix would be to replace the shaft and
the mount. But unfortunately because the mount is part of the
plastic sheet which was pasted to the underside of the metal chasis
at the time of assembly, the mount cannot be replaced without
replacing the entire chasis. A repair like this would entail moving
all the parts off the old chasis (video head drums, rollers,
capstans, etc) and putting them on a new chasis. The cost of such
a repair would often excede the price of a comparable new VCR.
Even if a person would be willing to pay for the repair, most
JVC authorized repair centers will decline to repair the VCR by
saying that the VCR was irrepairable because of the considerable
time, effort, risk, and money needed by the repair center to be
able to finish such a repair.
The worst case scenario would be if the
shaft breaks off the chasis altogether. If this occurs, the JVC
authorized repair technician will probably tell you to buy a new VCR
because the repair would cost more than a new VCR. If your VCR is
still under warranty, the repair technician will probably tell you
that he is unable to fix your VCR. In this event, you can demand
that JVC adibe by their warranty and replace your broken VCR with
a new one, but the JVC authorized dealer will probably tell you that
"It is obvious to us and to JVC that you caused the VCR to
break by inserting the videotape into the VCR with excessive force
and that is not covered by the warranty!" Now you can either call
the local "consumer action line" or the consumer protection agency
and see what a single person can do against a giant company like
Matsushita. This course of action leads to varying results.
If you purchased your VCR from a local JVC authorized dealer,
you have more chance of getting your way compared to if you
purchased your VCR from mail order or from an unauthorized JVC
dealer. Most people don't go through the trouble of raising hell
and they land up keeping their broken JVC VCRs as expensive remote
controlled tuners.
When my JVC HR-S6600 was repaired, I traded it for a piece of computer
hardware. Since the store I worked at sold every brand of
Japanese VCRs imaginable, I searched for the best brand. I also
evaluated how well the editing worked when two VCRs of the same
brand were connected together. I found Mitsubishi to be the
best as far as accuracy of editing, recording, playback, convenience
features, and build. Talking of build, Mitsubishi VCRs are heavy in weight.
I remember when I first lifted my HR-S6600, I said boy this VCR is
so light. Well, JVC and Panasonic (which are both part of
Matsushita corporation) make VCRs which are extremely light in weight.
Try lift a JVC VCR and then a Mitsubishi or a Toshiba. There is
big difference. Mitsubishi uses a die cast steel chasis, heavy
duty motors & power supplies, and welds their parts onto the
chasis. The general saying is that the heavier a component weighs,
the better it is built; the better it performs; the longer it lasts.
The only exception to this rule is the JVC HR-S10,000.
I have continued to work at the JVC dealership and was appauled
when I found out the new JVC line of VCRs were again having
problems with audio dropouts/hifi-normal switching problems.
These VCRs included the HR-S1000 and the HR-S5800. The current
line which includes the HR-S6700 which incorporates a faster digital
tracking system, but some HR-S6700 exhibit the problem after
ten months but to a lesser extent. I highly don't recommend buying
any JVC product because of their manufacturing practices, their
practices in acquiring market share in the Unisted States, and
their deception in advertised features & stats.
Mitsubishi is a much more reputable company and sells a very good
line of VCRs which includes the very user friendly HS-U65.
Mitsubishi seems to have listened to their customers and catered
to their customer's needs when they created this VCR.
Mark O. Chadwick
Hmmm...I've had my JVC HR-630 for what, 5 years now, and I think over that
time it's eaten 3 tapes. I've not really had any trouble with it that
couldn't be attributed to the incoming cable signals (mine are lousy,
but that's another topic). Only now am I starting to pick up possible
trouble, which I may have inadvertantly caused by using the wrong bottle
of cleaning fluid when I cleaned the heads--when I'm playing in either
slow speed (it's a digital field store) or in reverse, I pick up a nasty
noise bar which is dutifully digitized and shoved on the screen. I have
since recleaned the heads with some positive effect, but the troubles
aren't quite over. Anyone have any ideas? Should I just clean the heads
once more, or wait for the trouble to go away? Or is it even a head
cleaning problem? HELP! :-)
-Mark
--
---
Mark "Emerson" Chadwick -- ncc...@acm.rpi.edu chadw...@space.laafb.af.mil
hon-chi.yu
>In article <l7e75g...@spim.mips.com> cch...@mips.com writes:
>>I am considering purchasing the JVC HR4700 S-VHS VCR. One netter
>>suggests me NOT to buy the
-----very long text of negative comments about JVC VCRs deleted-------------
Well, I would like to provide another piece of information about the
reliability history of all brands of VCRs. A while back Consumer Reports
published their latest poll results of trouble history of all VCRs. THE
RESULTS WERE BASED ON RESPONSES FROM THE OWNERS OF SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSANDS
OF VCRS PURCHASED IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS. I think it's one of the 1991
issue of CR. According to the results, JVC VCRs were rated very reliable,
only below Panasonics and some other brands provided by Matsushita. FYI,
JVC was rated HIGHER than Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Sony (Beta only, CR said the
# of results of Sony VHS was not sufficient for statistics). True, the results
does not differentiate high end or low end VCRs, but all these JVC-bashings
seem to suggest that all JVC VCRs' transports are junks and unreliable,
then how can one explains the poll results? If someone wants the CR issue
month info I can go back and check. Personally, I had a very, very bad
experience with the transport system in a Sony Beta VCR that I owned. :-)
Standard disclaimer applied. This is only my personal opinion and has
nothing to do with my co's.
William Kucharski
car...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Carey Kinoshita) said the following:
>...Sony VHS & Hi-8 VCRs also
>are pretty accurate at editing, but their SVHS VCR has some bugs that
>need to be ironed out & has a very flimsy flip-down control panel &
>the controls are very non-responsive.
I guess I'm not sure why the reviewer (or Carey) came to these conclusions.
I worried a bit about the flip down panel at first but haven't found it to
be flimsy at all. I'm not really sure what the bugs are (I know of one or
two) but they're all complete nits and no big deal.
As far as "very non-responsive" I have absolutely no clue whatsoever, since
I've found the SLV-R5UC to be very responsive and has provided me with just
about everything I could possibly want in an editing VCR (or at least one
for $1000...)
--
| William Kucharski, Solbourne Computer, Inc. | Opinions expressed above
| Internet: kuch...@solbourne.com Ham: N0OKQ | are MINE alone, not those
| Snail Mail: 1900 Pike Road, Longmont, CO 80501 | of Solbourne Computer, Inc.
| President, "Just the Ten of Us" Fan Club | "Dittos from Longmont, CO"
Jeff Killeen
> Well, I would like to provide another piece of information about the
> reliability history of all brands of VCRs. A while back Consumer Reports
> published their latest poll results of trouble history of all VCRs. THE
> RESULTS WERE BASED ON RESPONSES FROM THE OWNERS OF SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSANDS
> OF VCRS PURCHASED IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS. I think it's one of the 1991
> issue of CR. According to the results, JVC VCRs were rated very reliable,
> only below Panasonics and some other brands provided by Matsushita. FYI,
> JVC was rated HIGHER than Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Sony (Beta only, CR said the
> # of results of Sony VHS was not sufficient for statistics). True, the results
> does not differentiate high end or low end VCRs, but all these JVC-bashings
> seem to suggest that all JVC VCRs' transports are junks and unreliable,
> then how can one explains the poll results? If someone wants the CR issue
> month info I can go back and check. Personally, I had a very, very bad
> experience with the transport system in a Sony Beta VCR that I owned. :-)
From the August 1992 issue of "Video Magazine" - Page 21 re: a audio dropout
problem...
"In the case of your client's JVC, it probably was a HiFi deck. The
auto-selection feature on JVC hifi decks has been known to have some detection
problems, switching erratically from HiFi to the normal track."
Carey Kinoshita
The report from Consumer Reports is based on data which pertains to
video cassette recorders purchased around the later 1980s. Back then,
JVC was putting emphassis on quality and catering to high-end users.
JVC has since changed their strategy by putting emphasis on
low-cost, mass-production, and mass-market.
careyk
Ralph DeMartino, CCAC-LAD
> (Carey Kinoshita) writes:
>>In article <l7e75g...@spim.mips.com> cch...@mips.com writes:
>>>I am considering purchasing the JVC HR4700 S-VHS VCR. One netter
>>>suggests me NOT to buy the
Hon-chi.yu responds:
>Well, I would like to provide another piece of information about the
>reliability history of all brands of VCRs. A while back Consumer Reports
>published their latest poll results of trouble history of all VCRs. THE
>issue of CR. According to the results, JVC VCRs were rated very reliable,
>only below Panasonics and some other brands provided by Matsushita. FYI,
>JVC was rated HIGHER than Mitsubishi, does not differentiate high end or low end VCRs, but all these JVC-bashings
>seem to suggest that all JVC VCRs' transports are junks and unreliable,
>then how can one explains the poll results? If someone wants the CR issue
>month info I can go back and check. Personally, I had a very, very bad
>experience with the transport system in a Sony Beta VCR that I owned. :-)
What I did last time I looked for a new car radio/cassette deck and a VCR,
was to bring a bright pen flash light and look into the tape doors. In
the cassette, I wanted a player mechanism that looked rugged and did not
move the tape head to flip sides. Wound up with a Alpine, and it was worth
the extra $$$. In the case of a VCR, I had a RCA which was built rugged,
but it has a lot of tape alignment/tension problems which cause picture
roll. So I remembered what I saw in the RCA, and went for a machine with
a different tape left reel release brake system. I wound up with a
Minolta which has none of the RCA hickups. I also made it a point to
look for a substantial metal chasis with minium plastic.
The sales droids said they never saw anyone do that before. Sad consumer
buying awareness in this country.
FYI In VCR's, there are only about 3 different tape transport systems. I
do not remember if I looked at any JVCs. But if their units showed a lot
of plastic I probably skipped over them.
Ted Wright
>From: kil...@spcvxb.spc.edu (Jeff Killeen)
>Subject: Re: Need advice on JVC VCRs
>Date: 5 Aug 92 21:47:27 GMT
> ...
>From the August 1992 issue of "Video Magazine" - Page 21 re: a audio dropout
>problem...
>"In the case of your client's JVC, it probably was a HiFi deck. The
>auto-selection feature on JVC hifi decks has been known to have some detection
>problems, switching erratically from HiFi to the normal track."
I have a Panasonic HiFi VCR that "switches erratically from HiFi to the
normal track". It only does it on tapes I have rented. Is the
"auto-selection feature" something that can be adjusted by opening the
case and turning a trim-pot? I have tried unsuccessfully to find the
service manual at the library.
It's pretty irritating to have to turn off the HiFi sound for movies.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Rob Finley
>HS-U35 (non-hifi, VHS), HS-U55 (hifi, VHS), HS-U65 (hifi, SVHS) or the
>awesome HS-U82. The Mitsubishi uses editing cables, does prerolls,
>and uses dual flying-erase head which furthur assures consistency in
>creating perfect edits.
The R5 uses LANC and Ctrl-L editing cables. The R5 does not require
dual monitors to scope the source and destination. (saved me some bucks)
It's unique PIP feature allows you to see both on one TV for editing.
>The Panasonic AG-1960 also does great edits and can take a lot of heavy use,
>but doesn't have many of the convenience features that consumer VCRs have
>and it is harder to use compared to consumer VCRs. Sony VHS & Hi-8 VCRs also
>are pretty accurate at editing, but their SVHS VCR has some bugs that
>need to be ironed out & has a very flimsy flip-down control panel &
>the controls are very non-responsive. The expensive, do-it-all
>Toshiba SV-991 does use editing cables, but the accuracy is terrible.
Only thing I would lable a misfeature is the R5 ignores the jog-shuttle
dial on the remote when in record-pause mode. But, then all I have to
do is move my overweight XXX over to the machine and give the front
panel dial a twirl. I do like the ability that I can go back and
forth between record and play without leaving pause.
I remember reading that the U82 had slightly better video specs. But,
it loses in features compared to the R5. Why do you think the R5 door
is flimsy? That is my secondary barrier against dust and
freaked-out ("wait. let me scope your vcr.") coworkers. Matter of fact,
it saved my beloved R5 from a beer too. Plus, I stil seem to
have a large bit of dust floating about that I don't seem to be able to
controll too well...
The remote lid can be labled flimsy. But, I would add 'complete' to it.
I found the R5 to be the easiest machine to program without mucking
about with VCR+. The timer knows how to select the internal tuner
or two sets of line-level inputs (even though one set is conveniently
located on the front of the unit). The remote is far more complete than
Mitsubishi's and is easier to hold than the JVC.
My hands aren't huge but I have found myself holding it comfortably
quite often.
The remote lid is replaceable at $25.00.
The entire VCR should be simple to work on. The R5 should set examples
for the rest of the industry. Take the top and the bottom off. The
entire front unplugs after removing a few screws. The entire thing
opens up like a lotus flower. The mechanism works quite well
and the only clicking noise comes from a system that moves the idler
wheel above the tape path and over to the capstan.
(I took it apart to see what was inside as a prelude to cleaning the
rollers after a rental tape pooped on it.)
Since I had to wait months to get this machine, millions of people can't
be too far off.
I would however trade it for a Panasonic AG-7750 if I had $6,500.
hon-chi.yu
>In article <1992Aug3.1...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> h...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (hon-chi.yu) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug1.0...@news.Hawaii.Edu> car...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Carey Kinoshita) writes:
>>>In article <l7e75g...@spim.mips.com> cch...@mips.com writes:
>>>>I am considering purchasing the JVC HR4700 S-VHS VCR. One netter
>>>>suggests me NOT to buy the
>>
>>-----very long text of negative comments about JVC VCRs deleted-------------
>>
>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>does not differentiate high end or low end VCRs, but all these JVC-bashings
>>seem to suggest that all JVC VCRs' transports are junks and unreliable,
>>then how can one explains the poll results? If someone wants the CR issue
>>month info I can go back and check. Personally, I had a very, very bad
>>experience with the transport system in a Sony Beta VCR that I owned. :-)
>>
>>
>>
>>Standard disclaimer applied. This is only my personal opinion and has
>>nothing to do with my co's.
>
>The report from Consumer Reports is based on data which pertains to
>video cassette recorders purchased around the later 1980s. Back then,
>JVC was putting emphassis on quality and catering to high-end users.
>JVC has since changed their strategy by putting emphasis on
>low-cost, mass-production, and mass-market.
>
> careyk
The CR report repair history data were gathered from owners of 288,000 VCRs
purchased from 1987-1991, in response to CR's 1991 annual questionnaire.
If I am interpreting you opinion correctly, you are saying that JVC changes
those parts from "metal" to "plastics" in their later models' transport system,
right? And one "intuitively" thinks that these plastic parts would
substantially lower the reliability of the VCRs?
I think we will have to look at some statistical result in the future to see
if this claim is true or not.
Oh, regarding the infamous Hi-Fi dropout problem of JVC VCRs, I am interested
to know if the newer models (like HRS-4700, 6700 etc.) still have that problem.
( I am interested in observations that have a little bit of statistical
significance.)
For one, my 1 yr old HRS-4700 does not have dropout problem ( yet. :-) ).
Hon Yu
ntmtv...@ames.arc.nasa.gov
(hon-chi.yu) writes:
>In article <1992Aug6.0...@news.Hawaii.Edu>
car...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Carey Kinoshita) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug3.1...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> h...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com
(hon-chi.yu) writes:
>>>In article <1992Aug1.0...@news.Hawaii.Edu>
car...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Carey Kinoshita) writes:
>>>>In article <l7e75g...@spim.mips.com> cch...@mips.com writes:
>>>>>I am considering purchasing the JVC HR4700 S-VHS VCR. One netter
>>>>>suggests me NOT to buy the
>>>
>>>-----very long text of negative comments about JVC VCRs deleted-------------
>>>
>I think we will have to look at some statistical result in the future to see
>if this claim is true or not.
>Oh, regarding the infamous Hi-Fi dropout problem of JVC VCRs, I am interested
>to know if the newer models (like HRS-4700, 6700 etc.) still have that
problem.
>( I am interested in observations that have a little bit of statistical
>significance.)
>For one, my 1 yr old HRS-4700 does not have dropout problem ( yet. :-) ).
>
HRS4700 > 1 year old no dropout problem yet...may be they fixed the defect
from earlier models??
Howard Chu
>to know if the newer models (like HRS-4700, 6700 etc.) still have that problem.
>( I am interested in observations that have a little bit of statistical
>significance.)
>For one, my 1 yr old HRS-4700 does not have dropout problem ( yet. :-) ).
My year-old HRD-980U doesn't seem to have this problem either. Of course, it
also has an explicit switch to select HiFi, Normal, or Mixed audio...
--
-- Howard Chu @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::To the owner of the blue Mazda, license 742-XLT, your headlights are on...::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Shantanu Ganguly
Newsgroups: rec.video
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From: h...@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov (Howard Chu)
Sender: ne...@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Usenet)
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References: <1992Aug3.1...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> <1992Aug6.0...@news.Hawaii.Edu> <1992Aug6.1...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com>
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Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 18:36:56 GMT
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In article <1992Aug6.1...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> h...@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (hon-chi.yu) writes:
>Oh, regarding the infamous Hi-Fi dropout problem of JVC VCRs, I am interested
>to know if the newer models (like HRS-4700, 6700 etc.) still have that problem.
>( I am interested in observations that have a little bit of statistical
>significance.)
>For one, my 1 yr old HRS-4700 does not have dropout problem ( yet. :-) ).
My year-old HRD-980U doesn't seem to have this problem either. Of course, it
also has an explicit switch to select HiFi, Normal, or Mixed audio...
--
-- Howard Chu @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
I've been playing around with a 6700 since last week, haven't had any
problem with hi-fi dropout so far. The audio track has switched
momentarily from hifi to norm and back (happened 4/5 times total on a
much-rented copy of Star Wars). With stuff I recorded, the audio track
was excellent. Audio tracking was very good on the few movies I have
watched so far, sounded great thru pro-logic.
Shantanu Ganguly
--
Shantanu Ganguly
Somerset (Motorola) - Power PC Project
phone : (512) 795-7146 Motorola Inc, Mail Drop OE 513
fax : (512) 795-7511 6501 William Cannon Drive W.
Austin TX 78735-8598
email : shantanu%ibmot...@oakhill.sps.mot.com
Texas is where you get BOTH kinds of music - country and western.
Il Hwan Oh
> I've been playing around with a 6700 since last week, haven't had any
> problem with hi-fi dropout so far. The audio track has switched
> momentarily from hifi to norm and back (happened 4/5 times total on a
> much-rented copy of Star Wars). With stuff I recorded, the audio track
> was excellent. Audio tracking was very good on the few movies I have
> watched so far, sounded great thru pro-logic.
That's precisely what the Hi-Fi dropout problem is. Mine started out
that way. After a couple of months, it happened occasionally on tapes
I recorded. I'd return it for a real VCR if I were you.
--
Il Hwan Oh | What is "Martinizing",
Computer Facilities Manager | and why does it
University of Washington, Tacoma | take one hour?
i...@cac.washington.edu |
Paul Benjamin
I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not it is doing what it is
supposed to. Mine does that too, but primarily on rental tapes and
on tapes that I record on frequently. Up until this discussion I
assumed that it was the tape's fault, that it was probably happening
on my old machine too but I didn't notice it. The JVC flashes NORM
or HIFI on the screen when it switches, which makes it more noticeable.
It only occurs for a split second. I haven't checked, but I'll bet
that the dropout occurs at the same spot on the frequently-recorded
tapes each time. Are you saying that a "real VCR" would somehow
compensate for this and not lose the HIFI track when it encounters
a bad spot on the tape?
-
Paul Benjamin Phone: (602) 862-4627
Bull HN Information Systems Fax: (602) 862-4535
Phoenix, Arizona E-mail: benj...@tuna.az05.bull.com