Price Paid:  $150.00 from Online

Summary:
Let's face it VCR's are on the way out. When we get a standard to record on DVD it is ove3r for VCR's That being said you'll still need a VCR for the next 10 years to play the videos of aunt eddith. This is the cheapest VCR that had S Video output. And I have found the VCR to be the best VCR I have ever owned

Strengths:
The top quality is picture quality. I like the fact I can record S-VHS quality on a VHS tape. I can barely tell I am watching a recording of TV.

Weaknesses:
I agree that the unit FEELs cheap.

Similar Products Used:
Sony
Panasonic

Price Paid:  $160.00 from eCost.com, Memphis,

Summary:
Quality control leaves a lot to be desired! The first JVC unit I purchased was dead out of the box. The dealer, eCost.com in Memphis, refused to take it back.

I had to take this brand new JVC S-VHS unit to an authorized JVC service center in 90 degree heat, wait a week, only to be told that the unit was dead out of the box. This was information that I already knew.

Another walk in 90 degree heat to pick the dead unit up at the repair facility, then ship it back to eCost.com for replacement. The dealer, eCost.com, refused to refund my shipping charges.
There is commitment to customer service there. I was furious.

At least the new replacement JVC VCR works. Great picture and sound. Build quality is flimsy, but it cost all of 160.00, so they are not built like they used to be.

I would like to thank eCost.com for all of the aggravation!

Strengths:
Great picture and sound.

Weaknesses:
Lousy dealer support and customer service from eCost.com.

Similar Products Used:
RCA, Proscan, Sony, Mitsubishi VCRS.

Summary:
I concur with the previous reviewer regarding my temporary state of dyslexia. Realizing my error I decided to endeavor to rectify the problem by contacting this website. However, repeated emails explaining my error produced no results. It would appear that the people who produced this website are not interested in accuracy. While reviewing other articles I noted several mistakes in listings which I felt could be "tidied" up. A review for a Sony KV36XBR450 appeared to be two different models- yet Sony only offers one HiDef set.

My comments still stand on JVCs lack of customer support. I have yet to receive anything from JVC for this unit I have reviewed. It is still broken! Two JVC BR-7000U duplicators need repairing and JVC remains moot. "Word-of-mouth" is by far the best advertising!

I apologize for the previous incorrect entry for the 5900U review. Perhaps someone else could contact this website and offer suggestions to make improvements.

Why is a JVC HR-S9600U S-Video high-Resolution VCR listed under "S" as a S9600U along with Samsung, Sharp and Sony? Somebody needs to do some emailing!!

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Crutchfield

Summary:
Excellence stated very well in the review a couple of spots below.

Previous reviewer must have a problem with dyslexia, since his review of another VCR negatively affected THIS VCR rating.

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
Perhaps superimposed transport function displays, that are annoyingly placed and displayed.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi

Price Paid:  $450.00 from City Center TV, Victoria

Summary:
I bought my JVC HR-S9500U after reading results posted on another website re: this unit. I have always been loyal to Sony except for one Toshiba VCR that was very highly rated.

Recording from a satellite dish was outstanding! You could hardly tell it was tape. I would rate the picture about a 9.5 out of 10. Other tapes recorded on older VCRs looked much better on the 9500U! With the Digital R3 on, the picture was noticeably cleaner. Super VHS ET is a bonus - you don't have to drill a small hole in the back of high grade tapes anymore to achieve the same effect.

The unit stands out with its sleek, champagne color and was a pleasant change from "black" (looks expensive).

Editing is not precise but good. Playing with the frame advance to find a cut-in point where the new footage actually begins or cuts in did the trick. Edited 18 hours of camcorder video from a holiday and the results were great! Only wish the volume could be adjusted by a manual front control along with visual VU meters on the unit. I found sony VCRs far more user-friendly than this machine. For example: While recording on a Sony, you can push pause, then play/pause and the unit automatically changes from record/pause to play so you can use the jog dial to back up to the next edit. With the JVC, you have to hit stop each time and cue up all over again. A bit of a pain when doing a lot of edits.

The remote is okay - stylish, almost matching the VCR. The multi-brand remote is a bonus. But a volume control on the remote would have been nicer. (I had some wind noise that needed to be "toned down" to an acceptable level every now and then.) A second set of S-VHS jacks on the unit would have been great - one directly for the TV and the other to another VCR or A/V receiver.

Timescan is incredible!! Truly. Being able to monitor sound at the normal forward speed even while the VCR is playing or scanning in reverse is beyond description! Bravo JVC!

Here's the bad side... The clock/date would go out of sync every now and then (also heard this complaint from another reviewer) and have to verify settings before using timer. not a big deal though. After 40 or 50 hours of use, the VCR broke. The normal forward speed was okay but anything faster or slower, even pause or reverse, saw the picture go into a "solarization" effect like that idiotic gimic some camcorders used to have. The whites and blacks would be reversed along with some of the colors. Picture was grainy and almost not viewable when scaning quickly.

I took the VCR into two "authorized" JVC repair shops and it's still broken. I've wasted a lot of good money for nothing. Yes, I'm mad! It's still malfunctioning. Emails to JVC yielded NO results. I even emailed them a while back regarding interest in commercial duplicators and they never responded. I find this highly unprofessional for a company that professes to be the "inventor" of VHS. (I always thought that Sony developed it first calling it "Alpha" but scrapped it when the "Beta" model was better. JVC then did some work on it and "perfected" it.) This dilemma has left such a "bad taste" in my mouth that I will never purchase a JVC product having experienced such a lack of service and support!

If you find one of these units at a good price and it does not break down, it really is a decent performer. I rated the 9500U as a very good product when working.

Strengths:
Incredibly sharp picture - one of the best I've seen on a S-VHS VCR for this price, normal playback of sound at almost any speed/direction (timescan), NO scan lines in any mode, adjustable volume, video stabilizer and calibration work well, movie/commercial advance, very effective Digital R3 feature for cleaning up video tapes recorded on other VCRs, convenient S-VHS ET recording, attractive design

Weaknesses:
Only wish that access to the volume controls weren't in a menu system but on the actual unit and the editing features are not as user-friendly as Sony equipment.

Similar Products Used:
(2) Sony SRV-R5's, Sony DHR-1000, Sony EV-S3000 and S5000, Sony ED-Beta 9500, Sony SLHF-1000, and other Sony VHS editing VCRs like the SLV-70HF and 920HF.