Customer Reviews

JVC XV-S65GD Progressive-Scan DVD Player, Gold

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't have time to write a long review. Just few points:
- excellent picture quality
- all the features u need incl. zoom
- best sound (!)
- excellent MP3 playback with on-screen full menu (can browse directories, about 25 char. name length)
- progressive built in
- million dollar looks
Downside: no DVD-Audio compatibility (no disks avail. also)
Remote: all companies should go back to their remotes from mid 90's, most of them are ugly, "placticky", simply cheap.
JVC's remote is not that bad, quite functional although again the design needs improvement (material, colors etc.). Can't even compare with my 10 year old Sony "sliding" remote (eh, what a beauty...)
Overall best player at this price range, period.

If you have a TV or monitor which will play progessive scan than you want to have a progressive scan DVD player. I knew that switching to progressive scan would make a difference, but just had no idea how big a difference.

How can you tell if your TV will play progessive scan? It will be billed as HDTV or HDTV ready and it will have a component video input consisting of 3 RCA jacks; one blue, one green and one red.

Shop around, you should be able to get this DVD player for $200 or less. Some places are still selling it for over $200. Don't waste your money.

Oh, don't let the dealer sell you a set of component video cables either. The salesman at the place I bought mine tried real hard - I already had a set from the machine this one was replacing. Then I got home and opened the box to find that JVC includes a set. A real nice (and rare) extra.

This is one of the best deal DVD on market nowadays.
With CD-R. CD-RW, MP3 compatibility and Progessive Scan, it has the same level with Panasonic RP-56 and Sony DVPNS700P.
But it also has one more extra cool ability "ZOOM".
That's the extra star is for.
I just hate the remote.
With its color (pale grey) it looks so cheap.
It does not match the "cool" view of the player itself.
It does matter to me, as the remote is the only part of the DVD that will always be near me whenever I watch the movie.

I recently recieved this item and thought others would like to know it easily lives up to it's advertised quality. Without going into all the electronic stuff, all you really need to know is that the options, ease of use and (most importantly) picture quality are all excellent. Cables are included (wow!), setup is straightforward and the manual can actually be understood. Get this!

I'd heard a great deal of buzz about JVC's new XV-S60BK DVD player - much of it revolving around the low ... list price and the anticipation that it would deliver artifact-free progressive-scan images. Buzz aside, the player looked unassuming enough when I removed it from its box. The sleek front panel has only the most essential control buttons, plus an indicator that lights when the player is set to its progressive-scan mode.

The back panel is equally streamlined but has all the usual outputs. The component-video jack is switched to progressive mode by pressing the Progressive Scan button on the remote and holding it for a few seconds. In a new and very welcome trend that saves you quite a few bucks, JVC packages a set of component-video cables with the player.

The JVC's remote control felt substantial, with large buttons I could easily locate by touch in the dark. The controls you'll use most often are on the lower half. Directly above them are buttons for less used functions like picture zoom and shrink, Digest (displays a grid of images from each chapter on a DVD), and picture-quality presets. The remote can also be configured to control your TV.

Pressing the On Screen button near the bottom of the remote during playback shrinks the movie to a quarter-screen window and fills the rest of the screen with a control panel. Several functions can be accessed from this panel, including repeat modes, time and chapter search, and selection of soundtrack and subtitle language or camera angle. It also includes bar graphs indicating elapsed time and the disc's data-transfer rate. When you're playing a CD, a similar onscreen control window is available to set up repeat modes or program track order - if you don't mind turning on the TV.

The JVC's 2x fast-scan mode delivered smooth, fluid playback. Another neat feature is aspect ratio control, activated by selecting the 16:9 Normal setting in the setup menu. This will prove useful if you have a widescreen HDTV that locks into a 16:9 or "full" display mode when it receives a progressive-scan signal (a number of them do). Set to its 16:9 Normal mode, the JVC player formats standard 4:3 images so they'll appear on widescreen displays with correct geometry instead of being stretched out to fill the screen.

Like the Marantz changer, the JVC effortlessly sailed through my progressive-scan torture tests. Scenes with fine horizontal lines combined with moving cam erawork all came through without any artifacts. Colors, too, looked solid, with no combing visible in either the bright reds of Yellow Submarine or the catcher's orange chest protector in For the Love of the Game.

When I switched to another reference DVD, the Hitchcock classic North by Northwest, I thought at first that the JVC came up somewhat shy on picture detail. Checking the sharpness control in the player's Normal preset, however, I noted that it was a notch below maximum. Bumping it back up let me clearly see both the texture in Cary Grant's impeccably cut gray suit and the details in the intricate furnishings of James Mason's library. Setting sharpness to maximum added slight ringing artifacts to the lines in the resolution pattern of Ovation Software's Avia test DVD, but I didn't notice any with movies.

The JVC XV-S60BK is an all-around excellent progressive-scan player that's also very reasonably priced. Having finally gotten my hands on it, I can attest that it more than justifies the buzz.

Order yours today!

This is one great DVD player. But it is more than a DVD player. As its promotional literature notes, it plays audio CDs, VCDs, MP3 encoded audio disks, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs. But, contrary to what the manual states, it also plays DVD-Rs recording on Apple's iDVD software. (Gotta get a new iMac if you really are interested in making your own DVDs.) The picture is splendid, you get easy, full access to all the hot CD features, plus of bunch of other digital goodies. Indeed, the picture quality is superior to Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer. I purchased mine for just under $200, and consider an amazing bargain.

I had a Panasonic dvd-rp56. Being a huge Panasonic fan I was very pleased with it until I went to a buddies house and watched a movie on his XVS-65gd. I'm very impressed with the features, picture/sound quality, and value. I wish it had a backlit remote and could play VCD, but you can't have every thing. Being a feature nut I love the fact that I can change picture settings and the zoom feature is pretty cool sometimes also.
I do want to make a comment. Although the dvd player comes with component cables I noticed that they were no different than any regular composite video cable (the standard yellow,red,white cable) other than the different colors of plastic on the connectors. I went out and got some MONSTER CABLE video 2 component video cables. They made a big difference in the picture, and were well worth the extra money.
I highly recommend this player. With a properly set up monitor you will have a highend system at a moderate price.

(21 February 2002) This DVD was purchased on 17 October 2001, and it has yet to be made to operate in a satisfactory manner. The mistake I made was not sending it back after it was found not to work out of the box.

Apparently, only one of the two video outputs (composite and component) is active at a time with the proper video. And which one is active depends on whether or not the progressive mode is active. Coming from the inactive video port is a screen that says something about upgrading software or installing an upgrade.

Presumably, the component video output can only provide the proper video when the unit is in the progressive mode. I have been able to make this happen only once, and subsequent attempts of pushing the arcanely-labeled VFP button on the remote control unit have not been successful in placing the unit in the progressive mode. As late as 20 February 2002, the unit is now producing this weird upgrading or installing software screen on the composite video output while not in the progressive mode--exactly opposite to what the manual indicates will be the case.

A call to the JVC service center back in November 2001 with a description of this upgrading or installing software screen got the response that they had never heard of this before, and they had no idea what was happening. They advised going through a reset procedure that they provided. Once this was done, the unit behaved the same way as before.

Another annoying thing about this DVD is that once the tray open/close is selected and the disk is removed, the response to pushing the open/close button is one of two: either it does nothing and the tray stays open or the tray closes and then in a few seconds reopens!

The unit was taken in November 2001 to one so-called JVC factory authorized repair center, Lakewood Stereo in Lakewood, New Jersey, where they kept it until February 2002. It continues to malfunction.

The bottom line is this: If you buy this product, or apparently any JVC product, and your unit has a problem, you will be on your own. You will not be able to get any useful service support from the JVC web site, the JVC service telephone number, nor any useful factory-authorized service. Your money will simply be gone with no satisfaction from your purchase.

I was looking for a good DVD. I didn't expect a great DVD player! This DVD player was easy to hook up and the picture is fantastic. I've had no problems with my JVC.

I did quite a bit of research in preparation for buying a progressive scan DVD player. I don't currently own a HDTV but plan on upgrading in the future. About eight months ago, I bought the Toshiba SD-2700 (not a prog. scan unit) that I now use with my bedroom TV and Love it, so I decided on the Toshiba SD4700 Progressive Scan machine. It malfunctioned when given certain commands and the picture was not as good as my 2700 which cost about $100 less. I returned it and bought the JVC XV-S60BK Progressive-Scan DVD Player, a second choice based reviews I've read and other research.

This machine works better than I ever expected and was $55 less expensive than the Toshiba 4700. It seems more solid, responds quicker to commands and the remote can be programmed to control any brand of television.... Highly Recommended.