Price Paid:  $419.00 from BrandsMart

Summary:
This unit worked fine out of the box for a couple months. Then I noticed that I had to unplug the unit for about 10 minutes, because the logic would get screwed up if you hit the play, then rewind, then play in a fast sequence, which is typical if you are using this deck for editing. More bad news. The TBC went out. OK, I'll run it without it. BANG ! OK, now the thing has to be unplugged if there is a power failure, because it would go directly into the play mode, and could not be turned off. The first JVC I ever bought, an SVHS HR-S7000U, sits on a shelf in the corner of the basement. It lasted almost 2 years before the plastic flex printed circuit going to the fold-down front panel became intermittent. That was followed by a JVC SVHS HR-S6900U, which after a year, would only work in the LP mode. I've learned my lesson with JVC, and refuse to touch anything with JVC on it again. PS: I still have an RCA 3 speed docking portable that still works to this day. It was purchased in the early eighties. JVC = 2 years average life!

Strengths:
Looks good and works fine in the store. Lots of bells and whistles.

Weaknesses:
Don't plug it in - bells and whistles start dropping like flies! You start the count-down timer for its doom. Also, this unit has no ground, so be prepared for getting zapped when you hook up audio and video leads. Best to keep it unplugged while making external connections. The ET mode only works with the highest quality VHS tapes, so you may as well spend a few cents more and just buy SVHS tapes. The ET mode tends to have a low signal-to-noise ratio (pix is grainy), and is useless at slow speeds.

Price Paid:  $419.00 from BrandsMart

Summary:
This unit worked fine out of the box for a couple months. Then I noticed that I had to unplug the unit for about 10 minutes, because the logic would get screwed up if you hit the play, then rewind, then play in a fast sequence, which is typical if you are using this deck for editing. More bad news. The TBC went out. OK, I'll run it without it. BANG ! OK, now the thing has to be unplugged if there is a power failure, because it would go directly into the play mode, and could not be turned off. The first JVC I ever bought, an SVHS HR-S7000U, sits on a shelf in the corner of the basement. It lasted almost 2 years before the plastic flex printed circuit going to the fold-down front panel became intermittent. That was followed by a JVC SVHS HR-S6900U, which after a year, would only work in the LP mode. I've learned my lesson with JVC, and refuse to touch anything with JVC on it again. PS: I still have an RCA 3 speed docking portable that still works to this day. It was purchased in the early eighties. JVC = 2 years average life!

Strengths:
Looks good and works fine in the store. Lots of bells and whistles.

Weaknesses:
Don't plug it in - bells and whistles start dropping like flies! You start the count-down timer for its doom. Also, this unit has no ground, so be prepared for getting zapped when you hook up audio and video leads. Best to keep it unplugged while making external connections. The ET mode only works with the highest quality VHS tapes, so you may as well spend a few cents more and just buy SVHS tapes. The ET mode tends to have a low signal-to-noise ratio (pix is grainy), and is useless at slow speeds.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from uBid

Summary:
Similar to some earlier posts, I purchased the GoVideo SDV-650 from ubid, which is identical to the JVC HR-S9800U except it is black in color (goes better with my system!). I have had three other JVC Super VHS machines over the years, and I must say this machine is a mixed blessing. It has some nice "gee whiz" features such as multiple speeds that include audio (1.5x, 2.0x, forward and reverse scan and pause all include either audio snippets or compressed audio), time-based correction, a navigation system that identifies what is recorded on the tape (date, time, channel source, program title if you type it in). The transport system is also very fast. While that is a good thing when it comes to fast foward and rewind, when you are trying to stop on a specific spot on the tape, it can be a major pain. Unlike my JVC HR-S7100, which stops on a dime as soon as I hit play or stop, on this machine, it will overshoot my mark by anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of taping time. I then have to go through a series of back-and-forth actions to finally get to the spot I am looking for. The blank search works well when rewinding, but is essentially unusable if you want to search forward as there is no button dedicated to than on the remote. The transport is noisier on this machine than any I've used before. The on-screen programming is very easy to use, but the 4 dedicated button on the remote for programming means that most universal remotes won't be able to program this machine. Overall, this is probably the best consumer Super-VHS VCR you can buy today, but is not as good as top-of-the-line machines 5 or 10 years ago.

Strengths:
Fantastic picture, better build than most VCRs today

Weaknesses:
Weak transport system.

Similar Products Used:
JVC HR-S7100, JVC HR-S5200U

Price Paid:  $369.00 from MAGNOLIA HIFI

Summary:
ONE THING I DONT GET ABOUT OTHER REVIEWERS ON HERE IS THIS:
IF YOU BUY A PRODUCT FROM A NON-AUTHORIZED RETAILER OR E-TAILER, DONT EXPECT MUCH. FOR STARTERS THE WARRANTY IS INVALIDATED, YOU CANT REALLY RELY ON THE SELLER AND NEVER BUY ANYTHING WITHOUT BUYING AN EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT.
MOST PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT A BAD UNIT OR A UNIT THAT CRAPS AFTER 3 MONTHS OF USE, IF THIS BE THE CASE...ITS YOUR FAULT!! -END OF RANT-

NOW FOR THE REVIEW

BOTTOM LINE, THIS UNIT KICKS MAJOR BUTT

PICTURE QUALITY ON MY OLDER S-VHS TAPES WAS DAMN NEAR FLAWLESS, THE TBC WORKS WONDERS AS WELL AS THE VIDEO CALIBRATION. THIS UNIT RECORDS GREAT TOO. THE BIGGEST PLUS FOR THIS UNIT IS THE GHOST REDUCTION TUNER, I DONT HAVE DIGITAL CABLE OR A DISH, SO I AM STILL STUCK WITH NORMAL CABLE, BUT THIS WORKS WONDERS, MY TV PICTURE IS PERFECT, NO GHOSTS OR ANY OTHER FLAWS ASSOCIATED WITH "BASIC" CABLE, I HAVE THE CABLE GOING IN TO MY VCR AND OUT TO TV AND I ALSO HAVE IT HOOKED UP VIA S-VIDEO, AND WHEN I SWITCH BETWEEN BROADCAST AND "VIDEO 1" YOU CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

I BOUGHT THIS UNIT FROM AN AUTHORIZED SELLER AND A EXTENDED SERVICE CONTRACT AS WELL, I MAY HAVE PAID MORE, BUT FOR THE SERVICE I GET, IT WAS WORTH IT, UNTIL I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS UNIT, I WOULD HAVE TO SAY ITS THE BEST I HAVE TRIED. AND IF I DO HAVE A PROBLEM WITHIN...SAY 4 YEARS, IM COVERED.

Strengths:
LOTS OF FEATURES, PLAYBACK QUALITY, REMOTE

Weaknesses:
MANUAL TAKES SOME GETTING USED TO.

Similar Products Used:
PANASONIC MOSTLY, ONE OTHER JVC

Price Paid:  $163.00 from ubid

Summary:
I had a VCR tech take a look and he fixed it and only charged me $50. He said it was an alignment issue?? Ubid did finally come through with a commitment to refund my money and pay for all shipping. Took 2 weeks though. Guess they are real busy. Anyway it's working now and in the end I only paid $213 for what seem to be a top notch VCR. I do like it. Lotta stress though. I'm giving 5 stars now to make up for the bad rating before.

Strengths:
Works now.

Weaknesses:
SVHS ES mode is not to hot.

Similar Products Used:
Mitsu