Price Paid:  $490.00 from us.buy.com

Summary:
I have just purchased this unit and will give more detail as time goes by.
Very impressed with clarity of picture using S-video output. Have noticed in previous post some complaints of being noisy and poorly written manual. I have no complaints there. I found manual to be very complete and easy to understand. I also found the drive to be very quiet (almost silent) in all operations.

Strengths:
Great picture and sound! Hifi sound. S-video input and outputs.

Weaknesses:
None found yet.

Summary:


I'm glad to have found this unit, I was going to give up and purchase a HR-S9800U or HR-S9900U. The HR-S9600U has
a "TRUE" JOG-CONTROL on the unit, unlike the 9800/9900 which now have a wierd flimsly 360 spin thingy thats imposible to control.

I LOVE the 9600s MOVIE ADVANCE FEATURE [not on the 9800/9900], which allows you to skip over those stupid movie previews with a touch of a button and end up at the start of the movie!!

I only wish the manual and JVC would have been more informative, I had to figure out on my own that the TV/CH buttons DO MANUAL TRACKING FROM THE REMOTE!

The PICTURE and SOUND that comes out of this unit is sure to please the most critical of movie-goers, "is it live, or it a 9600"!!

I did notice that the 9600 records super clean with the noise reduction set to off, another tip that the manual fails to mention.

I can't praise the 9600 enough for its ablities to perform. If you have the opertunity to buy one, don't hesitate, this is the best it gets for SVHS!

I HIGHLY RECOMEND IT!

Strengths:
PICTURE!...SOUND!...AWSOME!

Weaknesses:
POORLY WRITTEN OWNERS MANUAL!

Similar Products Used:
HR-S9800U

Price Paid:  $409.00

Summary:
I'll start this out as saying this vcr has a picture that rivals dvd with a standard y/c (svhs) conector with the same color bleed and comparable noise. Although one would be hard pressed to find something to compare the 2 differant formats with. It will also play old tapes better than anything I have seen. The fine tuning you can do with this vcr is massive if not a bit confusing and over done in my opinion, but hey, I'm a tweaker. The clear scan is great as well as having a time base corrector.
My problems with this vcr and others in the same line (ie. the 7000 series,ect.)is it's cheapo tape transport and how it takes in and ejects a tape. Iv'e had problems with previous models in this regard, as far as not taking a tape , not ejecting a tape or ejecting a tape that cocks to one side and ruining the tape. Only suggestion here if you get one that gives you no problem, be VERY carefull how you load a cassette.
My other quibble is the svhs et, which will allow you to tape a regular vhs tape in svhs (I have used nothing but quality tdk tapes and some fujis) the quality is less than if you would just tape in regular vhs. If you have any background in svhs, you know that all you have to do is make a small 3/8" hole in the bottom left hand corner (back side) in the chanell about 3/4" in from the left side to make vhs tape into a svhs tape. I susspect that svhs et is just a bypass on filling that hole. As results are about the same, better color with a lot more noise.
My only other point is one that puzzles me, when taping differant programs at differant times, the flying erase head works if the vcr is still "locked in" to record mode. If you stop and remove the tape and then re-insert for a latter record, COLOR BARS, no seamless in/outs.
With that said I still like this vcr and wuld reccomend it (if you roll the dice and get a good one) as it has a great picture and plenty of tweaking tools......
One last note: The time base corrector works great to stabilize and "lock" pictures while playing back but don't think that it works in record mode. NO WAY, at 400 bucks, NO WAY.....so if your thinking of getting those crystal clear, gen locked copies of your dvd's forget it.

Strengths:
Good picture quality at svhs as well as making some older well used tapes look better. Massive amount of options and picture control. Time base corrector.Clear pro scan (no bars or lines).Flying erase head?

Weaknesses:
Hit and miss workmanship. Tape transport mechanism.The svhs et. Flying erase head?

Similar Products Used:
panisonic 4600 series svhs. jvc 7000 series svhs.

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Crutchfield

Summary:
I surveyed a lot of satisfied users of this SVHS vcr before I bought it. Everyone agrees that the picture quality on SVHS tapes at the SP speed is simply wonderful. Tapes have very little noise. When I watch tv through the vcr, the vcr even manages to clean up the noisy cable signal. The audio is also very good.

My two complaints with this unit are: 1) When moving from either FF or Pause to Play, the picture jumps up and down 1-2 times. At first, I thought that this I had a defective unit. The Crutchfield people pulled out a new 9600 and tested it. Lo and behold, it does exactly the same thing. My less-expensive Panasonic moves smoothly from FF or Pause to Play. There is no jitter or jumping of the picture.

2) Commercial Advance is done incorrectly. Instead of being able to see what you are missing as the picture fast-forwards, the screen goes to blue for the duration of the commercial. Not smart.

I tested out the Panasonic 4820 at the same time that I was deciding whether to keep the 9600. I don't know whether I had a bad 4820 but the picture quality on my 53 inch tv was noticibly worse when I watched through the vcr. There was a lot of tuner interference and picture noise. The good news was that the 4820 seamlessly moved from FF to Play.

I finally decided to keep the 9600 strictly because of the picture quality. I figure that I can live with the annoyance caused by the jumping but I don't want to give up the picture quality.

I wish that JVC could figure out how to solve my 2 complaints. Then, this vcr would be perfect. I understand that the 9800, which is the current model, does not have commercial advance and an audio level recording visible on the front panel. I was also told that the 9800 was not quite as good as the 9600, which is why I opted for the 9600.

The remote on the 9600 is not backlit - which is not a problem for me because I use a universal remote. If I planned to use the remote which came with the 9600, it would be a definite drawback.

Strengths:
Terrific picture quality. This vcr even makes my cable look better when I watch tv through the vcr.

Weaknesses:
When moving from FF to Play, the picture jumps up and down 1-2 times.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic SVHS vcrs.

Price Paid:  $199.00 from massmerchandise.com

Summary:
no review, but i just wanted to tell everyone this unit is on sale for 199 at www.massmerchandise.com
sale ends nov. 18
no i don't work there, but this is an incredible price and i can't wait for mine.
review forthcoming.