Price Paid:  $179.00 from Media markt

Summary:
The JVC XV521BK is a great player for its price!. I bought this player to watch movies and concerts, and i like the look of this unit.For this use it is an top player, but there are futures on this player that i think no one will use!?. I own a high-end cd player, but this machine does a good job beating it!. The sound quality is verry good with lots of details. So i use the JVC as an audio cd player as wel, and it wouldent dissapoint me whit his soundstage!!. I'm thingking of selling my high-end Marantz cd player and use only this JVC DVD/CD player for all my audio cd's.Sometimes the sound of drums are harder then played on the Marantz cd player, but then the JVC has an more open and cleaner treble and midrange soundstage and that is what i like. Overal an good and verry neat piece of equipment from JVC of China. I think thats why the price is so scharp!, from Japan would be more expensive. Friendly greatings , Michél

Strengths:
Great picture quality, great sound, great build, plenty of outputs, also a verry fine cd player!.Reads perfectly scratct dvd's an cd's!!

Weaknesses:
Indeed verry slow loading time with audio cd's!!. With some DVD's and CD's you hear a lot of "wow and flutter" noisse comming out of the player as if the disc isnt playing in center?.

Similar Products Used:
None myself, but my friend has an Philips DVD and this one has a problem with reading scratcht dvd's an cd's!.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Future Shop

Summary:
This was my first DVD player and was very satisfied with its features and quality. I just won a Sony DVD player and the picture looks better on the JVC. The sound is crisper as well. AS for the remote control, the placement of some of the buttons is not logical. However, a great DVD player all around.

Strengths:
Great picture and sound. Easy to use.

Weaknesses:
Remote Control, a little slower loading times but nothing drastic.

Similar Products Used:
Sony DVP-S360

Price Paid:  $275.00

Summary:
JVC is great...

This product has great load times..(Quick)
Was compatible with all my audio equipment (Jvc and non Jvc)
Was great and easy to use and get started...

The remote and its features shined through..
I was very pleased with its multi functions...
Definetly worth checking out if your in the market...
Very compatilbe price wise as well...

So Check it out..

Would I recommend it to a friend?
Definetly....!!!

Strengths:
Quick loading times...
Easy to use multifuction remote..
Great compatability... for sound and video..
Hey Its JVC ... Need I say more...

Weaknesses:
single disc...
Plain screen saver..

Price Paid:  $290.00 from 2001 Audio Video

Summary:
I bought this entry level JVC player for several reasons, one no less being cost. It has all the features I was looking for, such as optical digital out and component video, for when I end up buying my home entertainment system, so I didn't want to spend extra cash getting one with a built-in decoder.

As most reviewers have complained, there is enough of a lag time to get annoyed with the player when loading CD's, although I have to offset this by saying that I'm very impressed with the sound quality... good sharp and clear sound across the lows to mids to highs. As for the dual layer DVD's, such as Saving Ryan's Privates, there is maybe a one second delay between layer changing, and I'm wondering if that occurs on other products aside from this JVC player.

The one damned thing I can't figure out for the life of me is why it won't allow me to record my DVD's onto tape? I tried this with several DVD's and my 2 vcr's with NO luck. Then I figured, copyright... BTW, this only occurs with the image, not the sound...

I've played TONS of DVD's and CD's so far without any skipping at all (knock on wood), basically it's been working flawlessly, and that's all I gotta say about that!

Features such as zoom, 3D phonic and "theater position" I very rarely use, but I do have them if I ever want to...

Strengths:
impressive sound/picture quality, output features, CD-R/RW compatibility

Weaknesses:
lag time w/ loading CD's & DVD's, remote is flimsy

Similar Products Used:
none, but tried out the Sony DVP 360, Pioneer DV 333 & 434

Summary:
I will not go into all the pluses and minus of this product as others have summed it up well.
However, I do believe there is a quality problem with these that has been referenced by a few people.
After two months, my unit started skipping and pausing during certain parts of DVDs. After some investigation, I discovered that the unit had problems with the inner part of disks. Depending on the layout of a DVD and whether it is dual layered or not, the problem cccurs repeatedly on certain chapters.
After sending it back to JVC for 3 weeks, it came back exactly the same, so the store I bought it from allowed me to select another DVD player. Given that I wanted CD-R capability, I had no choice but the JVC723GD, which is the same thing in gold. This one seems to work fine, so it is not a design defect but a manufacturing problem. Time will tell, but I suspect if your unit is ok it will stay that way.
Now that I can compare with the new player, I see that the problem is not skipping, but that the time index is screwed up. On the bad player, the problem occurred at 43 minutes into Tarzan. On the new player, 43 minutes was a completely different scene! The bad scene was actuall at 39 minutes, but played flawlessly on the new player. It is no wonder the other one got confused and kept trying to track, it was ready the index wrong!

Anyway, be aware that if you machine is acting up like this, take it back right away and do not let JVC do "pickup adjustments". Get a replacement unit!

Strengths:
Overal Picture Quality, Reads CD-R, Features

Weaknesses:
Remote, Not all of them work!

Similar Products Used:
JVC523GD