JVC HRXVS44U DVD/VCR Combo , Silver
By: JVC Average Rating: 2.5 Total Reviews: 10
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 On: 2005-11-18
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 its basically the same combo deck theyve been selling for several years now. Now theyve 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 happens on ALL THREE 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 dont play DVDs ... other reviews (under various model numbers) suggest theres 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 doesnt place much value on their brand or image or they wouldnt 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.
 On: 2005-01-31
Im the third straight reviewer to have a problem with this unit. Mine lasted about 9 months too - then the DVD player conked out! Now I get only a deep, very dark, almost b&w picture, which no amount of tweaking will restore. A lousy 90 day labor warranty too. Spend more $$$ for a quality unit.
On: 2004-10-19
This box was pretty nice on arrival, although the picture on tape playback was not as good as on my ten-year-old Sony VCR. However, the tape unit has given out after one year. Ive tried cleaning it and manually adjusting the tracking, to no avail. (Its the recording that fails; playback of old tapes works OK.)
Ive heard that all the major labels now buy their VCR drive units from cheapo makers in Taiwan, as part of an aggressive campaign to move everone to DVD. This is unfortunate. My advice: if you have an old VCR, keep it. You may use a DVR for recording, but you may need something to play those ancient VHS tapes, and the new units just wont do it. In other words, these VCR/DVD machines are a stopgap measure.
On: 2004-10-18
This box was pretty nice on arrival, although the picture on tape playback was not as good as on my ten-year-old Sony VCR. However, the tape unit has given out after one year. Ive tried cleaning it and manually adjusting the tracking, to no avail. (Its the recording that fails; playback of old tapes works OK.)
Ive heard that all the major labels now buy their VCR drive units from cheapo makers in Taiwan, as part of an aggressive campaign to move everone to DVD. This is unfortunate. My advice: if you have an old VCR, keep it. You may use a DVR for recording, but you may need something to play those ancient VHS tapes, and the new units just wont do it. In other words, these VCR/DVD machines are a stopgap measure.
On: 2004-09-09
We had this player for 11 months, and used it very lightly.
Suddenly it wouldnt eject a tape, and the authorized service center wanted $65 to fix it (only has a 90-day warranty on labor). Looks like well have a DVD-only player now.
My previous Panasonic VCR ran for over 10 years and one head replacement. This JVC combo product is a disappointment--Id give it zero stars if possible.
On: 2004-09-08
We had this player for 11 months, and used it very lightly.
Suddenly it wouldnt eject a tape, and the authorized service center wanted $65 to fix it (only has a 90-day warranty on labor). Looks like well have a DVD-only player now.
My previous Panasonic VCR ran for over 10 years and one head replacement. This JVC combo product is a disappointment--Id give it zero stars if possible.
 On: 2004-07-13
Im very satisfied with this combo. As others have said, the picture quality of both DVD and VCR is excellent. On the VCR/TV side of things, most units offer SVideo out but not input. This is one of the few that offers this (in addition to composite and RF). So, I have my digital cable TV box connected via SVideo, then SVideo out on the JVC unit connects to my HD-ready TV. Then, component out to the TV as well. With progressive scan turned off, I can watch DVD, VCR, or cable TV on SVideo, and just DVD on component. With PS turned on, DVD can only be watched on component and SVideo is only used for VCR or TV viewing. The only drawback using the SVideo input from cable TV is that the unit needs to be turned on in order to view cable TV. It doesnt pass through the signals if it is turned off. A small price to pay for best quality viewing.
On: 2004-05-04
This combo unit performed as advertised for about 9 months. Unfortunately the video output for the DVD player just died. I can hear my DVDs, but not see them through either standard or S-Video output.So Im back on Amazon looking for the next unit. Not going to go the combo route this time. Im hoping the durability will be better with a dedicated DVD player.
On: 2004-03-25
This unit features S-Video inputs along with the usual composite inputs on both the front and back panel. The output also includes S-Video. There are component and digital outputs, but these only work with the DVD. The ability to play VHS on the S-Video output is an unusual feature, and was the reason I purchased this unit. So far I am delighted.Unlike a DVD, VHS video is a composite signal. To convert it to the separate signals required by S-Video requires an expensive "comb filter". Comb filters are generally omitted from VCRs and A/V receivers because of their cost, and because they are critical to picture quality. So I used to run both S-Video and composite video to my TV and switch channels on the TV. My new setup has S-Video from satellite TV to the JVC, and S-Video to the TV. I never touch the TV and dont need its remote because the JVC remote controls its power and volume. To play a DVD or VHS I just push "play". If I do neither, I get TV. Everything just works. I do have a slight complaint. When I plugged everything in, I got sound but no picture. It turns out that you must choose between composite or S-Video inputs via a menu selection. I feel this should have been explained on page 15 of the manual where it describes S-Video connections. If you have this problem, refer to page 79, and choose S-Video for the rear input. The feature set seems very extensive to me. In particular the unit displays JPEG images and plays WMA and MP3 audio from regular CD-Rs. But I find I seldom use fancy features. Sound and picture quality are excellent. In summary, this is the unit to buy if you have a TV with S-Video inputs, or an A/V receiver lacking a comb filter or fancy switching. If you are running composite video or (gasp) RF, the extra money for this unit will be wasted.
On: 2003-12-25
On Paper, this appeared to be the deck to buy. It seemed to be the only unit that offers S-video output for both the DVD and VCR, as opposed to the usual crummy coaxial "RF" output that so many combination units offer for the VCR section. However, this unit was terrible out of the box, at least for the VCR. There is a hideous track line that appears on virtually all VHS tapes, whether taped off-broadcast or pre-recorded VHS movies. Tracking manually does not remove it, and JVCs "customer support" is practically non-existent. Though advertised as "open till 10 pm", there is a message that the office is closed when I called at 6pm, & the website offers scant help. This is either a lemon, or very poorly engineered. Sadly I had to return it immediately.
On: 2003-12-15
This has it all for my specific purposes. Saves space because Ive got to have something to play the kids many VHS tapes and I wanted to be able to start watching DVDs. I have a 4:3 aspect ratio tv, and I dont like the letterbox format and this unit lets you adjust so that the full screen is full of picture. I can deal with the lost portion of the actual film. It is progressive scan for when I upgrade the tv. The s-vhs is great. Playback of vhs tapes compared to a vhs only vcr is much better. It has two s-video input connections, one on the front and one on the back. One s-video output is on the back. Programmed recording from my satelite receiver is supposed to be easy, havent tried it yet. ALL basic controls can be made from the unit. Feels solid and well built. DVD replay is remarkable. Lots of bells and whistles for the money.
The remote is not of the best design for me. It can only be programed to control a tv in addition to the unit.
The instruction manual is very, very poor, probably written by an engineer, lol.
 On: 2003-12-07
On the surface this unit seems like a good idea. After trying several other DVD/VCR combos and being very disappointed with the VHS quality this seemed like the answer. The good news is that for the most part it is. The VHS picture quality is good and of course the DVD quality is DVD quality (no surprise there!).After several weeks of use I feel comfortable recommending this unit to those looking to replace aging VCRs and save some cabinet space in the process. I cant give this unit five stars because of the remote and the way JVC has implemented VCR programming. I could give it five stars for image quality. Remotes and the programming interface (how you set the unit to record) are my pet peeve with VCRs. No one has done it well and JVC seems to have gone out of their way to over simplify it. They have decided to take up half of the remote with single purpose buttons to do the VCR programming. I guess their engineers never heard of the less is more approach to user interfaces. The result is an unusable remote in the dark. To recap the pros: the VHS picture using SVHS ET on standard tapes is excellent (slightly better than my old Sharp HQ VCR), the DVD quality and operation is exellent, you can record non-commercial DVDs to tape on this unit (it is not a single step process like GoVideo; you must start record on the VCR, then press play on the DVD), and like most of the other combo units you can use this unit to play DVDs on older TVs (not sure why anyone would, but it is an interesting benefit of these units). The cons: pricey compared to two seperate units and the remote is difficult to use.
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