Customer Reviews

JVC HR-XVC1U DVD-VCR Combo

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the newest and hottest new combination DVD/VCR combinations on the market today. Upon picking up my purchase of the HR-XVC1U I was impressed. The finish and construction of this product is first rate, and it provides just about every feature one could hope for in a combination unit. Although it does not provide progressive scan for the HD TV owner, for those of us who have a 2 to 3 year old large screen set of 32 - 36 or projection size, it performs admirably. It will play SVHS tapes, and record and play VHS with a clarity I have not seen even on my older SVHS unit. It will also record VHS and show a DVD at the same time. Hook ups and Outputs will impress even the most demanding. The DVD will play all DVD and CD formats. The Remote, it should be noted, is not Universal with the exception of other JVC products, and the Users manual was obviously written by someone with English as a second language. However, if you are able to look past these small limitations, you will not be disappointed. I highly reccomend this product.

I purchased this JVC VHS/DVD combo player after my old VCR pooped out and when I decided I needed a DVD player in my room in addition to the one in our family room. I bought this player when it first came out; VHS/DVD combo players were brand new and seemed much more sensible than separate players. However, I had reservations about this unit, wondering if the quality of the DVD and VHS portions would suffer since both were crammed into one box. My fears were unfounded-- this indeed is a fantastic player!

First, I really enjoy the chrome finish; it perfectly matches my silver 24" flat-screen TV. Second, I love the unit's included remote. All of the buttons are solidly formed, and the rew/play/ff/rec/stop/pause buttons glow in the dark for watching movies late at night. Third, the quality of VHS recording is wonderful. I don't know what other reviewers are talking about when they complain of poor quality tape recording; everything I've taped, even on the "EP" (extra-long play) setting, has come out wonderfully. Sometimes, programs taped on certain VCRs look fuzzy on other sets in the house (i.e. if I try to record downstairs with a different VCR and play it back in my room), but anything I tape with this JVC unit is crystal clear on each set in our house. Fourth, I love the different A/V options the JVC unit is capable of utilizing. The JVC unit allows RCA, composite, S-Video, and component cable connections, so use whatever connection works with your TV. I strongly recommend using the component cable hookup as it offers the highest-quality picture. Fifth, I love the functions of the DVD player. Not only does this JVC player offer standard DVD functions like subtitles and markers, it also offers cool functions like zooming. DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs, and VCDs are supported, but SVCDs are not. Sixth, this quality piece of equipment comes at a great price. JVC makes a great unit, and the price is affordable, so don't buy another brand in hopes of getting a better deal.

The JVC VHS/DVD player has several A/V options, provides high-quality recording, looks great, comes with a super remote, supports many popular disc formats, and does all of these things for an affordable price. If you're looking for a high-quality, yet modestly-priced piece of equipment to handle your VHS and DVD needs, look no further than this great JVC unit.

Trying to get two audio pieces into one box, offering decent quality, plenty of useful features & low cost may be impossible. I looked at many brands. I needed a unit that has "optical" output for DTS & 5.1 digital to go into my Marantz SR 8000 audio receiver. The cheapest units do not have this, so stay with the better name brands. At this price point I seriously doult that any brand will be very reliable. These units are not being made in Japan, which stood for excellent quality. Instead, China, Tawain, etc. are making them. Making two units into one may save on some costs, but the cost cutting may be the use of cheaper parts inside. So don't expect much from these units.

I wanted to replace my older DVD player with one that plays CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3. I purchased the JVC HRXVC1, based on good reviews. JVC is the inventor of VHS vcr, and I have known people to have good luck with their electronics. I also like Panasonic,which makes very reliable electronics. I have had 3 good vcrs with Panasonic, but the clerk said that they were having higher than normal returns on their combo players. Had it not been for that, I would stay with Panasonic.
This JVC HRXVC1 vcr/dvd combo has more than enough features needed to play tapes & discs. At this pricepoint it appears to be one of the best featured units I've seen. Hooking it up to my surround receiver was difficult, probably just my fault, although the book isn't clear on the hookup of the "optical" setup with the receiver connections with VCR, etc. Once hooked up, it was worth the effort. The setup was quick and easy. The cds sounded great. The dvd's are crystal clear. The vcr recorded tapes are playing good, and no problems....

The GOOD: 1).It works & sounds great. 2.) It looks great on the shelf as well. 3.) There are plenty of features for the money such as Skip Search, index serch, zero return, and three step zoom. 4.) There are front inputs for camcorder or mp3 player to record easy. 5.) This unit has "SQPB" S-VHS Quasi playback which will play S-VHS tapes, and makes for excellent looking viewing of standard tapes. 6.) It has 19um head, for better picture quality in EP mode. 7.) It includes "Spatializer N-2-2" surround for people whose sytems are not setup for surround sound yet. 8.) In use, the rewind & forward is very fast.

The BAD: 1.) the remote [is not good]. 2.)the buttons on the box seem unorthodox in their layout. 3.) it's confusing getting around from vcr to dvd, as some buttons have dual use, and buttons are on both sides of the unit. Petty problems, but at least the unit works fine- so far. If it proves to be unreliable, I'll write back.

Usually anyone purchasing a combination DVD/VCR player has particular criteria they are meeting in order to get both forms of video into their television. Space, convenience, budget among other reasons comes to mind. That aside, looking at an actual unit the person is most likely more interested about the VCR. DVD reproduction at this level looks so good that it is almost a given fact that it will perform up to someone's expectations. The VCR is another matter. For my own needs I am concerned about the playback of pre-recorded tapes and playback of home VHS recordings that I made. How the DVD/VCR player records in VHS is also important but to a lesser degree. JVC brand VCRs are an interesting and confusing animal when it comes to playback of tapes. I own two JVC S-VHS recorders with flying erase heads. I also own several SONY and older RCA VCRs from the good old days. The problem with JVC is that they play certain tapes back beautifully and others dreadfully. I took several samples of video tape recordings and demonstrated playback on this unit just to see for myself. (I know salesmen at a local electronics store in the area and they always let me try out equipment. They just love low-end technology guys like me.) Pre-recorded movies looked acceptable and I really mean no better than acceptable. Recordings I made on my JVC units in SP and EP modes looked excellent on this unit. Recordings I made on my other SONY units in the SP mode look very good. RCA recordings in SP look average. Recordings I made on my other SONY units in the EP mode looked horrible. They looked like blurred images without any trace of definition. Recordings I made on my other RCA units in LP and EP modes again looked blurred without any trace of definition. However, I made an actual recording on this unit from a satellite broadcast and the playback looked excellent. The bottom line on this unit is that the DVD side looked very good and the VCR performed just about the same as my stand-alone units which I own. There were really no surprises. When I make recordings at home I indicate which VCR the recording was made on just for the very reasons I mentioned above. After many years I have found that a recording usually looks best when played back on the unit it was made from. The reality today is that VHS is an outdated but necessary technology because many of us have a monetary and/or sentimental investment in tape recordings. I think this JVC unit is good but I rate it based upon how I would be using it relative to my library of VHS recordings and how they are going to look.

Love this machine! Works great! Set up was easy, although I probably made it harder than it needed to be.
I spent some time trying to understand the manual. I finallly just went for it and found setting up the machine was easy.
I connected the cable to the dvd player, the color coded cords from the DVD player to the TV & TADA! I was done.

I was able to view a VHS tape immediately or switch to a DVD. What's nice about this machine is that I don't have to got through a lot of gyrations to view a DVD or VHS tape. The Sanyo I used to have required all kinds of set up just to view a DVD. (The moon had to be in Aquarious in the seven house and the planets had to be in alignment, just kidding). But seriously, I had to write down the steps for the Sanyo just to remember how to use it. Don't think you'll have that problem with this machine. A happy customer.

I have to say that this is a great DVD/VCR player. The vcr picture is clear and sharp. I wish that it had VCR+, but instead you have to program the tv shows you want to tape mannually. There should also be an eject button on the remote for the vcr. It's easy to set up, although the user manul is a little confusing, and when you are done setting up what you want to record you have to press the timmer button in order for it to record the shows you want, which is a little annoying. The DVD is great, it also had a clear and sharp picture and works great. I would reccommend buying this JVC combo, because it works great, easy to set up and very little trouble.

I got this machine primarily for the DVD with MP3 playback. It turns out, that most DVD players with MP3 capability don't allow you to select "random" playing of the tracks!??? I replaced my 12 year-old CD player and my sub-par VCR with this one machine. I'm very happy with it so far, although I wish it had another component input in the back. The DVD playback is awesome. The VCR playback seems fine as well, although since getting TiVo, I don't really use it that much. I recommend this to anyone who wants a versatile player of good quality.

This is a fine unit for DVD playback, and has a lot of great features. But my experience with the VCR side left a lot to be desired. The machine has been saddled with a sub-par tuner which makes for noisy, color smeared VHS recordings, and its playback of factory pre-records isn't all that great either (but I will say that EP recordings don't fall off very much quality wise from SP, although the frequency response at both speeds is pretty atrocious). JVC brags about how it's the inventor of VHS. . . shame they couldn't do better here.

I like this product because I can use all the VHS tapes I've accumulated and all the new DVD's there are out there now.
The only problem I have is the remote won't work with my RCA television and my tv remote won't work with the DVD/VCR.

I'm a JVC nut...I have 3 JVC televisions, one VCR, one bookshelf audio system and car audio system. So when it came time to move the VCR player to the boys room and get another one for the old man I knew what make it was going to be. I decided on the combo player because I don't think VHS is going to be around much longer. I like my combo player except for 2 things:(1)no cable box compatability on the remote control (2)no seperate audio video inputs only input for coax cable from my cable box so all of the cable programming is in mono...wife can't tell the difference in the sound so if she's happy then I'll just live with it. VCR and DVD look and sound GREAT!!!!!!!