Customer Reviews

JVC DRMV5S DVD Recorder/VCR Combo

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I spent several months researching DVD recorders before deciding to go with the JVC DRMV5S. It is a good thing that I did not completely trust some of the negative reviews or I would have missed out on a great unit. For example, one review complained about the bright blue light. I agree, it is annoying, but it can also be easily turned on and off via an on-screen menu pick. Another review said there was no one-button dubbing. This is not true. To dub a VHS tape to DVD just press and hold the button for 3 seconds. The JVC DRMV5S will automatically calculate the length of the VHS tape and then start recording it to DVD using the optimal settings. Oh, did I mention that you can adjust the total recording time of the DVD in 5 minute increments to maximize the quality of the recording. And yes, the quality of the recordings is outstanding.

I've made numerous DVDs from old VHS tapes without a hitch. I've also used the JVC DRMV5S to save and index shows from my satellite receiver. After finalizing the DVDs they all play perfectly in my other DVD players. In addition, the JVC DRMV5S does a great job of playing all of my commercial DVDs and VHS tapes. I've even found that I can configure the unit to play VHS tapes through the S-video connector which allows me to continue to use my receiver to switch S-video sources.

Bottom line, this is a great unit at a great price. Even so, I suggest that you do your homework before buying any unit. They all have different pluses and minuses. In my case the JVC DRMV5S completely met my needs and I am very satisfied with the purchase. Good luck on your purchase.

After almost 3 months with this product, I'm afraid I must reduce it to 2 stars (if Amazon will let me).

The original strength of the machine for me was in its great dubbing quality from VHS to DVD. Alas, after just this short time, I've noticed serious deterioration in this quality. It seems like the connection between the VHS and the DVD parts of the machine is wearing out. If I play a videotape and switch over to the DVD, I notice a change in tint. The DVD recordings now, even in short-play modes around 2-hours, show some pixelation and blocking that were not noticeable when the machine was new.

I should mention one other aspect of this machine that baffles me: When you record a DVD, there's an extensive "Navigation" menu that shows an *animated* thumbnail of the titles recorded on the disk, along with full information about date, time, and length of recording. You can program in a name for your titles and you can even select different thumbnails for your titles.

Well, guess what. After you "finalize" the disk, as you're supposed to do, the thumbnail you've so meticulously programmed disappears! The only thing that shows when you load the finalized disk is a plain blue screen with the name of the title(s) and the date it was recorded. You don't even have the length of the titles.

However, other information about the title, plus all other titles you've ever recorded, (though still not the thumbnail) remain on the *machine* in something called the "library." So now, I guess, you must sort through the library to find info about the disk you just popped in. If you play the disk on another machine, you're out of luck.

Why doesn't information about a disk stay with the disk? I've seen other machines maintain disk information and thumbnails after finalizing, so it couldn't have been some technological limitation. It makes no sense to have the machine retain info about all your previous recordings when that's not the logical place someone would look to get info about the disk they're playing *at the moment.*

Without the superior dubbing quality, the bad outweighs the good with this machine.

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(Original Nov. 28, 2005 review)

Buy this machine if what you need is excellent recording quality for transferring VHS tapes to DVD's. (I'm not sure who else would buy these combo machines.) After trying 3 different brands, I found the DVD's produced by the JVC machine to be so good, it's almost scary. This appears to be the result of superior playback from the VCR deck and superior recording on the DVD burner. On the VCR side, there are manual tracking control (good for crotchety old tapes) and picture and editing enhancement circuits that make my old tapes look better than they have in years. On the DVD side, of particular usefulness is the flexible recording format. If you have 2-1/2 hours of tape to transfer, you no longer have to choose between chopping 1/2 hours from your tape to fit in the 2-hour SP format or jumping to the 4-hour LP format. You can set the machine to record at the 2-1/2 hour level. I have burned DVDs at various recording rates and found the quality to be superb - that is, indistinguishable from the VHS output - at up to the 4-hour format. This is great if, like me, you want to burn more than one movie on a DVD to save space.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to get to these great features or recording quality. For a machine inherently designed for dubbing, there's no 1-step dubbing. It's more like 6 steps: 1. switch set to "VHS"; 2. PLAY tape you want to dub; 3. PAUSE at starting point for transferring; 3. switch set to "DVD"; 4. start DVD recording, which is done by simultaneously pushing TWO buttons on the remote or one button on the unit; 5. immediately press PAUSE; 6. press the DUBBING button, which is ONLY ON THE UNIT, which means you cannot do this with your remote!

Wow, could JVC have designed something more clumsy? And when you STOP the recording on the DVD, as the manual helpfully announces, that DOES NOT STOP the VHS tape, which means that if you want to resume DVD burning (as a new title on the disc), not only do you have to repeat the 6-step ordeal above, you must now also jockey the tape to find where you left off before.

Also, for all the great features JVC included in the VCR, including progressive scan, there is no on-screen display of the deck's status. The only way you can tell what channel the VCR is set to or whether it's rewinding, fast forwarding, or simply dormant is to squint across the room at the tiny display on the unit, while you're blinded by the decorative blue light on the panel. (Which light can in theory be turned off or dimmed. But try to figure out how.) The manual tracking feature is also operable only on the unit. JVC seems to think we will be sitting 6 inches from this machine.

The DVD side does have on-screen status display (you guess which button on the remote does this: "MENU," "DISPLAY," or "ON SCREEN"?) which allows for fairly advanced controls, e.g., jumping to a specific time-mark on the disc, but instead of displaying real language, what you get are cryptic icons.

It is sad that this product's great technical ability has to be saddled with such numb-skulled product design and user interface.
All this means that you must keep the manual handy and well-flagged. And of course, the manual is as poorly written and organized as you think.

I purchased this item through QVC and sent it back. Have 2 DVD/VCR combos and was able to hook up and learn how to run them with out too much difficulty. The unit was properly hook up and would not connect. To say the manual is confusing is an understatement. I would not recommend this product to anyone.

My first DRMV5S worked okay for about a month, then I noticed when I recorded to DVD, the image would pixilate (I think that's the word) into little blocks of color within the image (this was July, 2005). I lived with the problem for about six months, as I could still record to VHS and it played DVDs fine, and I was busy. Since I had a warranty plan with Sears, I brought it in for repair after Christmas, it spent two weeks getting serviced, I brought it home, and the remote would no longer change the channel on the DVD recorder. It was stuck on channel 2 and wouldn't work, so I was given a new DRMV5S at the end of January. About a month into having the unit I decided to dub some of my old VHS tapes onto DVD. I was successfully doing this, going onto my second tape, when I touched the power button, and a charge of static electricity wiped out all audio and the display on the front panel. It's been in Chattanooga for repair for well over two weeks now. So let's see, in the past year or so, the unit worked properly for about 2 months, not an impressive record. JVC tech support wasn't much help, either.

Purchased this unit at Best Buy and had to return the unit after it died after two weeks. The manual also required a PhD in order to figure out how to use it. Curses!! I just figued out how everything works and then the unit died. Returned the unit with no problem and purchased an 80 gig TIVO

It took 3 days to get this set up and programed to work. It took 3 days to be able to talk to a person at JVC. They put you on hold for 20 minutes and then tell you call back the next day. My unit did not have audio on several channels even though my cable setup and TV setup were correct. I could have exchanged it for another unit, but the real problem was the complexity of use. I wanted to transfer VHS to DVD and it is incredibly difficut and frustrating to do! It takes so many steps expecially if you want to tape only certain parts of your VHS. You cannot pause the DVD and when you stop it it starts a new chapter and rewinds your VHS back to the beginning so you can't tape in the spot where you have just forwarded it to. The clock is incredibly small and hard to read. I couldn't read any of the lighted features just sitting on the couch. The blue light is tooooo bright but I did manage to get it turned off but then the screen was too dark to read anything. When you use the timer feature to tape future shows you cannot turn the unit on at all to watch a DVD or tape something else. You had to turn off your preset program just to use it! So much for making sure my soap taped everyday. I would have to recheck it each morning to make sure that the timer was turned back on. We took this unit back and it was a shame because the recording features are very clear and very good quality. Too bad JVC couldn't have created a quality product that a person with a normal IQ could operate. It was just to difficult for me!

I bought THREE of these things over the last two years ... at least two of them from Amazon. (The actual model number was different -- XVC20U in black -- but it's basically the same combo deck they've been selling for several years now. Now they've added progressive scan and DVD burner, other than that it looks like the exact same thing that I bought.)

They worked fine at first, but after a while, DVDs started freezing up on them. Oddly, I have absolutely NO trouble playing music CDs in the very same drives.

DVD freezing has has happened on all of them, but it is worse on the unit I have used most. It seems to do it less when the machine or the DVD has cooled down. It gets worse over time. Lens cleaning with a disc-brusher, lens cleaning via taking off the case for direct contact cleaning, and air-pressured dusting -- all do no good.

Anyway, thanks to JVC I have several hundred dollars worth of DVD players that don't play DVDs ... other reviews (under various model numbers) suggest there's not a chance JVC will make good on them.

I have had, in the past, good luck with JVC TVs and car stereo units, and I try to stay loyal to brands, suppliers and what not. But I seriously doubt I will be making any other JVC purchases due to these things. I suppose JVC doesn't place much value on their brand or image or they wouldn't have dumped this stuff into the marketplace.

It seems to be getting harder and harder to find companies that bother to make products that are actually worth what you pay for them. I suppose companies that rip-off customers and laugh their way to the bank must be part of the "new economy" I keep hearing about.

This is the set with most features & it is freindly operational. The set has front AV, S-Video and i-link connection in front panel. It has multi-formats palyback features which you have no problem with most of the disc in the market. The REmote control can be used with your TV which is easy to set up and operate. The only disadvantage I found is the DVD editting setup which is not so friendly usage.

The quality of recording is super. I love the feature of dubbing from VHS to DVD. I've tried several other brands but I ended up returning them. This one is here to stay :-)

I'll keep this brief: the JVC DRMV5S does NOT play the vast majority of DVDs. It is supposed to play NTSC Region 1 DVDs, but it doesn't. I put in a number of BRAND NEW Region 1 NTSC DVDs, and not only did it not play any of them, but it froze and nearly destroyed my special edition Criterion Collection Videodrome DVD.

What's worse is that the folks over at JVC's evil headquarters are aware of this problem [just read some of the other reviews and you will see that it is rather commonplace], have no solution, and have made no effort whatsoever to recall this model.

Buyer beware... the JVC DRMV5S is [...].