Price Paid:  $800.00

Summary:
Perfect video who delivers very good picture from old tapes. I have had a lot of vcr´s trough the years. Brands like Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony, Fisher, Sharp, Toshiba, Philips, Akai and JVC. I must say that 9500 is the killer under $1000.

Strengths:
Picture & sound, recording of the tele-text, TBC.

Weaknesses:
Missing some in & outputs

Similar Products Used:
JVC HR-S5000EH

Summary:
Background: I bought a store demo at The Good Guys, a JVC 5400 S-VHS deck, and thought I was getting a terrific deal. But the motor was noisy.

I took it to the JVC Service Center in South San Francisco. They said nothing was wrong with it. I took it to The Good Guys and it came back from their repair facility with the circuit board cracked!

They let me exchange it. I traded up for a 9500. It was on sale, but it's a pricier model than I need for timeshifting and rental tapes. So I didn't get as good a deal as I once hoped.

I have a love-hate relationship with the 9500. When it works right, the performance is too good to be true. It's actually easy to program. The picture quality in S_VHS EP is at least as good as watching a cable broadcast directly. The sound is good. The remote has a powerful signal. It doesn't need to be "reminded." The freeze frame is jitter-free, which is important for reading the Vanity Cards on Dharma & Greg, which are the best things on TV. The motor is quiet.

Rewinding is slower than the previous year's models, including the 5400, because they keep finding ways to make them cheaper. But the rewinding is much faster than my old VCR, a Fisher 960.

BUT:

I've owned this VCR for a little more than a year. On half a dozen occasions, it failed to record properly. Malfunctions include:

• Recording the wrong channel.

• Failing to switch automatically to Standard time, even though it made the opposite move to Daylight Savings time flawlessly months earlier.

• Recording the sound OK, but instead of capturing the picture, merely degrading the previously-recorded image.

• Simply failing to record.

I've experienced occasional inexplicable intermittant problems with my old VCR, but not nearly as often. (I'm one of the few people who's had good luck with a Fisher VCR, bad luck with a Toyota auto.) Of course, repairmen are never able to find intermittent problems.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
This is the last time I buy a JVC product. I should have bought a less expensive Panasonic.

Strengths:
Performance

Weaknesses:
Dependibility

Similar Products Used:
Fisher FVH 960, JVC HR-S5400

Summary:
Well here we go again with a JVC VCR. My first JVC SVHS unit (HR-SC1000U) lasted about 3 years of fairly heavy use then died. The picture quality was quite good and build quality was also impressive. I then went with a Sony SLV-R1000U - picture quality not quite as great (but still excellent), and this one has some great features like the most comprehensive jack-pack around (3 A/V inputs complete with S-video jacks on each and 2 A/V outputs). This unit (the Sony) was repaired twice early on in its life, but has been quite solid for the last 3 years and is still in regular service.

I then decided to try JVC again with the HRS-9400U (after reading some glowing reviews). Sure enough, the picture quality was again excellent, for the few months it actually worked. Less than 6 months after purchasing it, the 9400 failed catastrophically (would not stay powered up). After being in the shop for over 3 months, and being back to JVC National Service three times (and after persistent complaints), I was able to convince JVC to send me a new unit to replace the 9400. This is how I came into possession of the 9500.

The 9500 is about equal in performance with the 9400 - that is to say the picture quality is excellent with SVHS tapes in SP mode, and is actually quite watchable with normal tapes in EP mode for weekly time-shifting. It has an active calibration feature which tests any new tape before recording on it and adjusts the recording for the specific tape for best results. It also features a defeatable Video Stabilizer which does quite well at improving the playability of older slightly worn tapes.

The one major new feature in the 9500 over the 9400 is the inclusion of SVHS ET mode - the ability to record in SVHS mode on standard VHS tapes. Although the quality of this mode is pretty good in SP mode, I have disabled it by default. In EP mode, standard VHS tapes just can't handle the bandwidth of an SVHS signal and you get pretty noticeable speckling, particularly in freeze frame and slow motion. Plus standard VHS tapes recorded in SVHS-ET mode will not play back on other SVHS that do not have the ET feature (which means you can't lend your tapes to your friends unless they happen to have JVC SVHS ET decks). My advice - use SVHS only on real SVHS tapes. Regular VHS mode is fine for everyday non-critical recording and watching.

The TimeScan feature is interesting in that it plays audio at normal speed in while in FF scan mode (it slows down the audio from the normal audio track and plays excerpts), but having this feature on also repeats the last few seconds of audio when you place the VCR in pause mode over and over and over and over... which is *really* annoying. But it can be easily disabled so it's no big deal.

I have had mixed luck with the Commercial Advance feature (which is meant to mark the beginning and ending of commercial segments so you can automatically skip them on playback). In EP mode, it sometimes misses the mark and does not correctly skip the commercials. Plus it shows a blue screen during commercial advance (it would be nice if it would show TV channels or even just a visible scan of the commercials on the tape so you can verify its operation). I think the Commercial Advance feature is useful and I believe it works well in SP mode so it would be best to try it out and see for yourself whether the feature is worth using.

The one feature that I do miss, and is missing on many so-called 'editing' VCRs these days is the ability to go directly into Play/Pause mode from Record/Pause mode without hitting stop. This is useful when dubbing tapes when you overshoot your edit point a bit and need to back up a few frames. The older JVC (HR-SC1000U) could do it from the unit or even from the remote. The Sony can do it from the unit, but not from the remote. Neither the 9400 nor the 9500 can do it at all. When you hit stop then get back into Record/Pause, you end up recording an extraneous track mark at the edit point. Not a big deal, but it would be considerably more convenient to be able to back up and move forward a few frames while in RECORD/PAUSE mode.

Overall, despite these minor gripes, I am happy with the unit so far. It's nice having jog/shuttle right on the remote. The picture quality is excellent (as is the quality of the tuner) and the important features are all there. The ergonomics are pretty good with the caveats noted above. Assuming it holds up longer than the last one, I'm looking forward to using it for years to come.

Strengths:
Good remote with true jog/shuttle, Great picture quality, Good editing features, great tuner.

Weaknesses:
Cannot advance or reverse frames from RECORD/PAUSE mode, only two inputs (1 on front), TimeScan feature should not be default (annoying).

Similar Products Used:
Sony SLV-R1000U, JVC HR-S9400U, JVC HR-SC1000U

Summary:
I agree with what has been said in the other reviews, except you can change tracking from the remote while playing using the up down TV channel channel buttons, which is not clearly labled. Much of the cost of this unit is the editing features for copying home videos onto a new tape that I don't use or need. JVC should have all the picture quality features available without the editing at a lower price. That would be a best seller! It hasn't broken, so I can't say anything about long term reliability. The Sony has been fixed twice!

Strengths:
Incredible picture quality on regular tape with S VHS turned off. Get's better with ET turned on but you can't loan those tapes to other people without ER! Can't tell a copy from the original! The picture sets a new standard with S VHS on S VHS tape. Sets time itself when you leave the tuner set on PBS station - nice!

Weaknesses:
Lack of inputs/outputs- 2 in (but one is on the front) 1 output. Sony has 3 and 2. Remote is ugly beige, difficult to figure out, some buttons do double duty depending on where you are. Progamming is impossible by intuition, easy once you read the manual.

Similar Products Used:
Sony 1000, their best unit. Pricy, picture is softer than JVC. Requires expensive S VHS tape which is hard to find. Need to set clock manually after every power failure (frequent where I live). Better remote control though.

Summary:
THIS IS A SUPERB MACHINE, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU CHERISH YOUR VIDEO.

Strengths:
THIS VCR IS TOP NOTCH, I PICKED UP ONE THEN TWO MONTHS LATER I BOUGHT A SECOND ONE. I BOUGHT THEM BRAND NEW FOR $380.00 EACH.(EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT) THE VIDEO QUALITY AT S-VIDEO IS SUPERB!! RATHER THAN QUOTE ALL THE SPECS YOU ALL KNOW, LINES OF RESOLUTION AND AUDIO BANDWIDTH (400 LINES 20-20KHZ) I WILL TELL YOU THIS MACHINE IS TOP NOTCH. TBC & DNR FUNCTIONS ARE INCLUDED. THE COLOR IS A PLUS.THE REMOTE IS VERY FRIENDLY AND THE SLOW MOTION AND FAST PREVIEW MODE ARE SMOOTH AS CAN BE. IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY AND VIDEO QUALITY MEANS ALOT TO YOU THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT.

Weaknesses:
A LITTLE NOISY ON REWIND