Customer Reviews

JVC SR-MV40US DVD-R & S-VHS/VHS Dual Playback Recorder

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

 

 

I was looking for a standalone DVD recorder with a Firewire input connection. I looked at numerous different makes and models before settling on this one. While I hadn't originally been looking for a "two in one" editing deck, it made sense to get one for direct VHS to DVD archiving. Also, when I realized I couldn't record content protected HBO and Starz movies to DVD on my Windows Media Center Edition PC, this was precisely the answer. I have to admit, I'm a bit partial to JVC products (they invented the VHS tape format) and I've generally had good luck with their stuff. I own another professional quality S-VHS/Mini-DV deck of theirs as well.

This deck is part of their Professional Series. It's a little darker grey in color, has a back fan to blow excess heat out of it, numerous inputs/outputs and connectivity, and is built very solidly (weighty).
I would be comfortable using this for entry-level small business video editing. It has that kind of quality.

Shortly after purchase, I had some major problems with the VHS side loading mechanism. I would pop a tape in there and it wouldn't feed or when I ejected it - it wouldn't unload all of the way. Luckily it was under warranty (within the first 90 days). I sent it to an authorized JVC Repair facility in New Jersey (FYI - YOU have to pay for shipping - read your warranty carefully). Upon return, the unit did the same thing within a few days (though they indicated parts had been changed). I sent it back a second time but demanded that a prepaid shipping label be sent to me this time. It took some doing (and several calls to JVC HQ in New Jersey), but they came through. It was an inconvenience being out the unit on two separate occasions though. Upon return from the second repair, the unit worked fine and has ever since. At least the repair was done at their authorized repair center - people who are trained in the specific repair of JVC products. I would have given it a "5" if not for the repair issue.

As much of a headache as that experience was, I would still buy another one today, I enjoy it that much. In fact, I may buy a second one. The picture and sound quality, features, and ease of use are just great. I've been very pleased with it. I have not had one single issue playing any DVD I've recorded on this unit once finalized. You can even title the DVD's, rearrange chapters, and so many more features that I haven't even gotten into yet. Hooking up a camcorder via Firewire to record mini-dv tapes to DVD is very straightforward as well. I've also played around with DVD-RAM media (recording AND Watching content at the same time) and being able to time-shift. Very cool stuff. I would recommend this deck as an excellent "prosumer" above average quality DVD recorder solution for under $400.00.

For myself, I decided to purchase the JVC Professional model SR-MV40US several weeks back. Great price from Amazon...but neither of the two units I've had work (the first one was the wrong model; apparently they sent me SOMEONE ELSE'S RETURN). The 2nd unit was brand new, unopened. ALL of these SR-MV40US decks have a COMMON problem that JVC KNOWS ABOUT due to DEFECTIVE DVD DRIVES which, if NOT failing NOW, WILL fail in the not-too-distant future. The dvd drives will NOT read any type of discs...no commercial movie dvd's, cd's, blank dvd's, NOTHING...they give a "disc error" message on the front panel, with a corresponding "unreadable disc" error on the screen. Mine did this right out of the box.

When I notified Amazon regarding the 2nd unit not working (as well as a cracked front panel due to cheap cost-cutting), I was told there was a known problem with these units and that I could NOT have a replacement...only a full refund. Other reviews on Amazon's site hint to this same problem...unreadable disc errors, replacement machines sent out, Amazon refusing to replace machines due to "known problems beyond their control" with the units. I can find no other mention of a known problem with the 40US ANYWHERE on the internet. But, it seems like there HAS to be a fault with these units.

The dvd drives are made by a company called PMD. The dvd drive looks and feels like a piece of utter crap. Super lightweight, flimsy,not encased, constructed of plastic...nothing like the drives in the older JVC decks.

The reason I bring this all up is that at the time I first received the non-working unit I was wondering if there was INDEED a known problem with the newer SR-MV40US dvd drives. I've had have the problem, as well as 1/3 of the Amazon customers who reviewed the unit. But, I find NO mention of any problems on this site, nor under a google search. I find it odd that I would get a brand new unit with a dvd drive that completely doesn't work, however. I called Amazon and got a clueless 'phone answerer" who had no CLUE what I was asking about...i.e., "What are the known problems with this unit and why do you still sell it if you KNOW there is a problem?" Needless to say, she couldn't answer the question...Amazon couldn't tell me WHAT the problem is, even though they deny a replacement BECAUSE of this problem...yet again, have no clue as to what the problem IS.

The JVC SR-MV40US decks as well as ANY OTHER DECKS with this same dvd drive are very much more than likely to fail given the history on this review site as well as my own experience with this unit. The part number on the dvd drive is PMD0120A.

As I stated, the problem has NOTHING to do with what brand of discs are being used. This problem has NOTHING to do with recording per se.

The unit will not recognize ANY disc...it doesn't recognize blank discs, recorded discs, store-bought movies, music cd's, NOTHING. Has NOTHING to do with recording. This isn't a problem that you even have to "learn how to use the machine." You turn it on, insert a disc, and are told, "Disc error."

The build quality is much worse than JVC consumer products of the recent past. This unit states "Professional" on the front panel but it seems nearly an utter joke regarding build quality. In comparison even to 2004's JVC "consumer" products (as opposed to its much touted "Professional Series") this unit has much flimsier plastic for the front panel; even the metal top panel is noticably more thin.

Regarding the "known problem" with these units, I did not expect Amazon to really know much...but honestly I did expect them to be able to tell me WHY they can't ship me a replacement.

The dvd drive in this unit is absolutely shocking in its cheapness. It doesn't even resemble a toy. You can literally bend the unit as a whole in your hand.

I spoke to JVC regarding this problem. After getting the runaround with their different departments (even though I called JVC's "Professional Line" telephone number), I finally talked to someone, who did verify that there IS a known problem with these units, but it has not been published ala the "loading" problems of previous units. I was told, "We got some bad drives."

HOWEVER...he could not tell me IF the problem has been corrected in the production. He could NOT tell me if the drive has been replaced. He could NOT tell me if this drive is the same that is used in ANY of the newer models (such as the SR-MV45US). He could NOT tell me if there was a new/improved drive available or made during the production run that addresses this problem. He could NOT tell me if there was any way to tell if a particular model or production run (say, above a certain serial number) had a WORKING or IMPROVED dvd drive. He could not tell me HOW to tell if a unit I would purchase would have a new/improved drive. He had NO IDEA if there was a new part number or updated part number/reference number that would indicate an improved/repaired replacement drive to address this problem.

I thought for sure that JVC, aware of the problem admittedly, would be able to tell me, "You need drive so and so, and all units manufactured before so and so serial number have the older bad drive." Alas, that didn't occur.

All I was told by JVC was that "we had a lot of bad drives." Nothing more, nothing less.

Speaking with someone with respect to JVC regarding this (unadmitted) widespread problem, I got the following response:

"Bit of a long story, but essentially all the PMD drives have some potential fault. The laser focusing system is not able to read the DVD`s. Some PMD drives can be rectified with a firmware update but only very few. Your drive was manufactured in December 2006 and is listed for replacement should a fault occur (it has!) I think JVC wanted to cut costs but have now realised it was false economy. Most of the newer JVC units use these PMD drives (MX10, MH300 etc), and the easiest fix for these is to replace the drives with the old but very robust LG/Hitachi units they used in all earlier models."


There is no guarantee that any of the new JVC Professional dvd recorders have drives that actually work or won't prematurely crap out a month or so after purchase. JVC directly could NOT even tell me if the problem has been corrected NOR could they tell me HOW I would know IF the problem WAS corrected in any particular model or production run. Basically, the buyer's choice is to buy the unit, and hope for the best. If the drive doesn't work, you can either return it for a replacement that may or may not work now (or later), or you can send it to JVC for replacement of the drive with one that JVC isn't quite sure if it is improved or not; and hope it is fixed...of course with the buyer paying shipping and risking physical damage to the unit from someone who doesn't really care if it gets scratched up or not.

Great.

This unit excels when it comes to copying old vcr tapes especially SVHS types. We had a tape that the edge of the magnetic tape had become stretched and wavy when closely examined. It actually was so bad that the tape would not play in the equipment that recorded it. This unit copied the tape perfectly with the exception that the audio was muffled, but that is where the audio is stored...on the tape edge. I was very impressed with its abilities. The only thing I wish JVC would have done, was to add the ability to create icons at the beginning of the DVD for different chapters on the disc. Other units do this. Otherwise I rate this unit excellent.

This vhs/dvd recorder is far more than most users need. It is packed with features that most folks won't use but if you do need them, you'll be impressed. The video quality playing normal vhs tapes is outstanding. I can't wait to put all my vhs tapes of my kids on dvd's. This is an excellent addition to anyone's home entertainment equipment. Amazon's price was also far better than any competitor.

This unit produces some of the best video I've seen from a VCR. My main reason for getting two of these units was to transfer old home recorded VHS/SVHS tapes to DVD. Copying old VHS tapes to DVD-R's has produced excellent results, even from those tapes recorded in EP mode over 15 years ago. I did have a problem with one of the two units I own (on the DVD side), but Amazon took care of the issue. My main nitpick is just that the DVD recorder requires DVD-R/-RW discs, and is unable to use DVD+R discs.

JVC SR-MV40US DVD-R & S-VHS/VHS Dual Playback Recorder

The Potential
1. Great input/output options (svhs, rca,firewire . . .).
2. DVD recording from whatever source the unit can take.

The Let Down
1. Cumbersome procedures for VHS => DVD recordings.
2. Fussy firewire input.
4. Disk Error on most discs after 5 months of owning the unit.
5. HORRENDOUS customer service/support.

I WILL NOT BUY JVC AGAIN.
Update 7/12/2008 - Well, my unit finally experienced the infamous failure of the drive unit - sometime in April or May (I hadn't used the unit for a while) - but it was in May that I noticed it. No big deal, I thought. JVC has their 'Perfect Experience' program, so I began the process of investigating warranty repair/replacement.

Barrier#1 - Perfect Experience only qualifies under certain criteria, and my product (based on age, time of fault, etc) does not match a one. OK, fine, so I'll just contact their customer support center.

Barrier#2 - I've filled out the form on their Pro Support site 3 times now. The first time, I filled it in, sent it off, and a few days later got a very courteous response from their CONSUMER support team saying I'd misrouted my email. They graciously forwarded it on to the Pro Team, and I waited. I waited two weeks. Then I decided to resend the issue, this time using the link provided in the email from the consumer team (which, incidentally, took me back to the exact same page I'd used the first time) and resubmitted the issue. No dice. A week later I get yet another courteous response from someone in the CONSUMER support shop. So their Pro support forms don't route correctly (at least not all the time). Working in a business where we use landing pages from email all the time, I know how easy it is for it to happen; and how hard it is to convince the company that it is so (we actually have call-support staff with PCs on a DSL line outside our firewall for the express purpose of validating this anomalous events). They were completely baffled, apologetic, etc and offered to reroute again. This time I emailed the responding agent herself back and plead my plight, in hopes that she would escalate the matter according to JVC support protocol (I presume of course that there is one).

Barrier#3 - the 800 number. I tried it, only once, for about half a day on a Friday when I was at home. After the email snafus, I figured I'd go for the most direct route and quit shuffling around politely. Mean time, the clock on my warranty is slowly ticking. Well the day that I tried the number (800-JVC-JVC5, option 7 according to both Consumer Support staff who contacted), it would connect immediately to a message apologizing that they're having technical difficulties today, and please call back another time. Well guess what? I work a day job. It's not really convenient for me to call back another time.

I finally sent one last email (yes, a fourth email contact) to the same consumer rep insisting that if she did not escalate this in such a way that I receive help that I would begin looking for any existing class action cases to determine if I could 1) jump onto one that's open and/or 2) consider if it's worth me pursuing a new one. (Incidentally, both times I apologized to her specifically and said this wasn't a case of "shoot the messenger", that I knew she personally wasn't the root cause of my woes here; just needed her to help me navigate their busted up process.)

For a week after I again heard nothing, and finally got a phone call and email from a chap named Lorenzo. He too sounded baffled that I couldn't get through the appropriate channels of customer support, offered some pithy suggestions - all for not. My warranty has now expired. I've done a bit of research in the 7 weeks I've been attempting to get someone to respond to me. Learned that the part in question is the single most expensive replacement piece in the unit (at $266). Of course completely proprietary too, so any hope of a hack job is beyond my skill-set (though I suspect some have been successful based on a couple tech-blogs I found). With no warranty, that's half the cost of the unit (and almost equal to what I actually paid for it at the time). Invoking warranty would still have cost me at least $50 to ship the unit to their Cypress, CA center. My dime for their busted product, under warranty.

Understand, I'm not criticizing the kind people that took these calls. Again, I too work for a company with a call center, and it's one of the toughest jobs we have, because you're working with people and technology - an explosive combination. What I'm hoping to underscore here is this: JVC has a broken process. Based on the responses I got, I'd say their Consumer Support is on the ball! Their Pro support on the other hand, I'm guessing pays much better attention to the true Professional segment of the market, i.e. those customers who spend tens of thousands of dollars on the technology and solutions - not the pro-sumer start-up guy who spent under $1000. Either the commitment isn't there, or the process is so hopelessly broken, that I find myself on the outside looking in. Too bad, too.

The S-VHS aspect continues to function very well, and I'm still very pleased here. If that element is what you're after, read on! If it's the VHS-to-DVD recording capabilities that are of interest, find yourself a better deck from Panasonic or Sony, or even look at a JVC unit from their consumer line. Don't give their Pro-sumer shop the time of day...

First off, let me say I love this product! Second, let me qualify why I purchased it, as it will put the capabilities in context.

I did not buy this for typical consumer use, and was only moderately interested in the VHS to DVD recording capabilities. I'm running a prosumer video conversion shop, so all my video editing and DVD mastering is done from a PC. My dilemma was analog transfer quality -- at my level, I couldn't justify spending thousands on the pro-level Panasonic decks, but neither could I get the business off the ground porting VHS tapes across a composite signal - regardless of the analog capture device and software used. I needed an S-VHS solution to get the absolute best transfer quality possible at a price that was in reach for a modest start-up. Many stand-alone S-VHS VCRs are still in the neighborhood of $250 up (probably due to lack of broad demand) but lack some of the pro-level features like TBC (below), and I wanted to get as close to pro quality as I could.

Coupled with ADS' API-550 Pyro A/V Link analog to DV capture device, and using Sony Vegas+DVD 6 (the $500 version, not the $100 Vegas Studio, although the latter is very feature-rich for consumer-level), I paired these with the JVC SR-MV40US -- WOW! Amazing results! Compared to any other device I've yet used, the image comes across like glass! I've even gone back and re-rendered older projects simply to take advantage of the clean transfer.

The unit includes Time Based Correction (TBC), so I've had zero problems with A/V synch (unlike some of my previous setups; although the API-550 also has TBC built in), saving me loads of time trying to correct the matter with software during the editing.

The footprint of the device is rather large compared to a typical consumer level machine; however in the context I'm using it, I've plenty of room to house it. Controls are fairly easy, with some discontinuity in which features can only be controlled from the remote vs. which features are only available on the deck (at least by my expectation - usually the remote is comprehensive, and the deck is redundant with only the most basic controls), but this is a minor inconvenience. The enclosure is sturdy and durable, given normal and appropriate usage (if you're hauling this around a college dorm, expect failure).

Given the use I intended, it seemed the VHS to DVD recording would be of value for customers looking for a simple transfer and willing to pay less, rather than having the effects-edited video and more elaborate DVD authoring. To date, however, I've not needed to use this feature, so I cannot comment on the ease of use or quality of this operation. Since I'm not using it in a high-volume consumer context either (i.e. watching lots of DVDs and burning lots of DVDs), I've also not experienced the 'failure' conditions that many other reviewers have mentioned here. I'm not discounting those complaints -- simply saying it hasn't happened to me yet. I've had my unit since July 2007 with absolutely no technical problems.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased with this product. It meets my need perfectly, and at a price you just can't beat (I snatched it on sale from Amazon for $289, originally stickering at $499 and up). If you're looking for a consumer product, this is probably a bit much. If you want a good video transfering solution without buying studio-level equipment, it's worth looking into this or comparable models.

NOTE: I do not own this deck, so please disregard the star rating:

It may not be fair or accurate for the "Buyer Beware" 1 star review to be comparing a consumer deck to this pro deck. The electronics are different between the two and are designed to be somewhat "hardier". The SR-MV50US is a fair comparison as well as the "30" and "20". Please consider in your evaluation.

Great reproduction capability...but it stopped making DVDs after about a month. Amazon is replacing it. Love the DVDs it made, but I am now worried about durability.

This unit has been in the shop 3 times, going on the fourth in a years time.
They supposedly upgraded the DVD drive but I just found out that they only changed out the dvd changing mechanism. Now the dvd has gone out again. This time warranty is out. When I bought the unit it was advertised with a 2 year warranty. Turns out there is only one year.
Pretty good recording though but very picky about the DVD's it plays.
The unit is also not a grounded UL approved unit. It has a grounded plug but inside the unit it is terminated on a dead pin on the power board.
Wiothout a local service center it cost me over $50 in shipping fees for the warranty repairs.