Customer Reviews

JVC XV-FA95GD Progressive-Scan 7-Disc DVD Player, Gold

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

 

 

Although this player has slots for 7 CDs it only shuffles one at a time. The manual says it plays MP3s but although it attempted to play them, it really struggled. On some MP3 it would insert loud banging noises and on one other MP3 it just locked up.

I've had this player for quite some time now, here's my assessment:

Good
- 7 disc capacity, very nice. Some complain about noise during switching, mine's behind a glass door, I don't care.
- DVD-Audio, excellent sound quality. CD player specs are also excellent
- Very good bass management (unfortunately, not for discrete DVD-Audio output)
- Price/Value is excellent, you have to go to a very expensive player to get carousel and DVD-Audio

Bad
- MP3 functionality is extremely primitive, almost useless
- Lack of random playback across discs is a major deficiency
- Clunky control structure and UI make it a PITA to operate

It's a good player, but has some big problems. Price is the big attraction here. Still waiting for the perfect player, probably will ALWAYS be waiting....

Just to add a few more pros/cons to what others said:

PROs:

This multi-disc player handles more formats than any other comparable multi-disc player when I bought it: DVDs, CDs, MP3s, CD-Rs (even Black CD-Rs), VCDs, SVCDs, DVD-Audio.

The 7 disc capacity over the standard 5 disc of others is nice.

It's footprint is not quite as large as others would lead you to believe.

CONs:

This player has some very awkward and unacceptable UI quirks.

For example, there is no "Next Disc" function. This seems so obvious and simple, but is not available - and believe me, you will miss it. To advance to another disc, you have to press the "Disc" button plus a number button for whatever tray you want.

That wouldn't be so bad, except that the unit gives you no indication what disc tray you are on save a blinking orange light. This blinking orange light is of no use when you are sitting more than 3 feet from the player, and might even be annoying to some as it "blinks" throughtout playback. So, orange blinking light that serves no purpose other than to annoy. Ouch.

Another nasty omission is lack of time functions on DVD. You cannot, for example, show elapsed time for Chapter, or remaining time for Chapter, Disc, etc. There simply is no excuse for this. I like to know how much time is left remaining on a disc, and this unit cannot tell me. Ugh.

My particular unit turns itself on from Standby at random intervals for no reason - as if it were possessed by a ghost. I have no idea if this is a problem with the unit in general or not.

I needed a replacement player that was multidisc and could handle all the formats mentioned above. I bought this player because I couldn't wait a few months for the next batch of newer models that might have fit the bill...

You might want to wait.

The lack of true "random play" across all discs, while hardly an issue for DVD users, is a major deficiency for those used to loading up a bunch of your favorite CDs and getting several hours of randomly slected and therefore varied tunes. JVC should call what it offers "single disc random play" to better apprise internet buyers who can't test the machine in person.

similar to the problem described by another poster with video cutout during component playback. my player cuts out on s-video playback at nearly every new chapter and in scenes of visual or audio intensity. He said his did not cut out on s-video interlaced playback, while mine does. Mine does not cut out on composite playback. I do not have component inputs to test. Problem occured in two of four movies watched, both chinese language films with english subtitles. One was a brand new superbit version of crouching tiger hidden dragon, the other Farewell My Concubine. Two English language films were fine.

Playback of the two problematic films was fine when playedback from the dvd player on my laptop through the same s-video cable into the same s-video input on my TV. So it definately seems like the JVC player has the problem. I'm assuming its a defective machine and not a wide problem.

The JVC XV-FA95GD DVD Player plays dvd movies good, but it does not play back music cds very well. I've listened to music cds I've bought from the store and some of them skip on this particular player. I thought maybe their was something wrong with the cd but it played back normal on a standard cd player.
Also when I scan through songs on the dvd player sometimes the dvd player locks up and then I have to shut the dvd player off and turn it back on again for it to unlock. And this dvd player does'nt have an adjustable fader on the remote or on the unit itself to lower the output volume. If your going to buy this particular player for standard music cd playback don't because its garbage.

Bought this player because we wanted to be able to play one disk daily and then other disks occasionally without needing to insert and remove the daily exercise video. This player seemed to fit the bill.

HOWEVER- I suggest staying far away from this model, and in general ANY electronic device that doesn't come with an honest 1 year warranty (at least!). Watch out for SONY, too.

First, the trays jammed on us (luckily within the 90 days "labor" warranty). Got that repaired, and it worked okay for a few months, though never played CDs right. Then, the audio started fluttering in and out at random. Turned out to be a $140 dollar repair ("parts" were free, though "labor" was $140). Try asking for your warranteed replacement "parts" so you can fix it yourself, and you'll see how useless the warranty is: after 90 days you MUST use an authorized repair facility to get your warranteed replacement parts- so essentially after about 12 weeks of use you pay for all "repairs" (or defects).

Anyway, we paid the $140 to fix this 8 month old JVC player. 2 weeks later the audio problem has returned. I will take great pleasure in tossing this JVC garbage out of a second story window onto concrete, and will never buy another "90 day warranty" device again.

this player (as well as the F85) comes in three colors:

gold (FA95)

silver (FA92)

black (FA90)

some people complained that it didn't come in silver.

also, no dvd-audio player has a digital output. it's only 6.1 analog out.

as for the product, it is the best overall player in its price range. do your research before you pontificate.

After extensive research I feel this is by far the best value in this price range