Works good for the first week or so

100% Failure Rate

I saw the JVC XV-501 at Sam's Club at a close out price of $170, and I needed a third DVD player for the TV in the basement. I had read favorable reviews on JVC products such as their TV's and VCR's, and foolishly assumed the same standard of quality applied to their DVD players. I bought the unit without checking this website, much to my dismay. Like most of the other owners, my honeymoon with this unit was short. I have owned it for four months, and played maybe five discs in it. It has started refusing to read discs that played fine a couple of weeks ago. It will lock up, and refuse to eject a disk, or refuse to respond to any controls, including the power button. I have to disconnect the power, and reconnect it to get it to eject a disk. It is out of the 3 month labor warranty, and from what I have read on this web site, I don't think it is worth the trouble to have it repaired. I will replace it with a Toshiba unit, and chalk it up to bad experience. I used to think JVC was a premier electronics manufacturer, but their refusal to admit that this model is a lemon had lost them a customer.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Toshiba DVD Players

Collects dust! Bookend! A non-workin electronic piece.

Same ol song and dance!

Ok. I posted here like a year ago with JVC 501 DVD player and it has it probs so I went out to Wally World and bought a cheapie G.E. This player is still workin great...go figure! My JVC player is like a year and 6 months old but I was wondering should I get it fixed and resell it or just sell it on ebay as "as is "? I'm thinkin it will cost me around $100-$150 to fix thru JVC. I was wondering what have all of you have done with urs? Was there a JVC recall on this model? Did a class action suit go thru ? Any info I would greatly appreciate! Thanx alot! Greg

Similar Products Used:

G.E. Dvd player

??

I've owned this unit for about a year and half w/no problems..until now. I just recently retired a JVC VCR which finally died after being abused for over 15 years (two young kids and a wife who used to tape her soaps daily will do that to a VCR). From my experience with that unit I felt comfortable buying a JVC product. Most of the posts here paint a rather dismal picture of this unit; however, I have only seen one of those problems, it won't play the Dinasaur DVD, it just kicks it out after a couple of seconds trying to read it (my two year old was rather disappointed..he's rather fond of Dinasaurs these days).

It it due to the disk being a DTS version?? I don't know, it plays the DTS version of Gladiator no problem as well as other DTS titles. It is a hardware/ software incompatability issue like I've heard with Matrix and other titles? Don't know that either..were not some of those issues solved with later releases?

I've already tried two different Dinasaur disks and got the same result. Doesn't sound like I have too many options though..from what you people have said JVC won't be of much help. Guess I will have to buy the VHS version of Dinasaur or wait for later releases as well as hoping my unit gives me a few more good months before it dies like the rest of its brothers and sisters. I too will not buy another JVC product.

Features such as selectable zoom, strobe.
Remote.

Absence of multiple scene markers, smooth slow motion. Sometime the tray will not open up after a disk has been played.

I have used it for almost 2 years now. I have had better luck with this product ( knock on wood ) than the majority of the users on this review board. I have used JVC VCR's. and equalizers previously and had absolutely no problems for years. The only problem that I have had is that sometimes some DVD's. will get locked inside the tray. The solution is to pull the plug and then turn it on again. So far this trick has worked everytime.

Similar Products Used:

None. This is my first DVD player.

Solid performance DVD player, when performing!

Errors! Errors! Errors! Errors! Errors! Errors!

This product has given me headaches beyond number. To list what I have gathered through research of the problems with the XV-501BK:

The XV-501BK needs to be reset often (I agree.) JVC’s reset procedure is:

1. Make sure there is no Disc in the tray.
2. Shut off the unit and unplug it from the AC outlet.
3. Press and hold the "On Screen" and "Title" Keys, simultaneously.
4. While holding these keys, plug the AC cord back into the outlet. (TEST JC3 or JC2 will appear on the display)
5. Release these keys and then press the "Enter" key.
6. The "Resume" light will illuminate. (initialization is complete)
7. Press the "Power button" to turn the unit off.
8. Press the "Power button" to turn the unit back on. (your player should be functioning properly now.)

The XV-501BK is an aging machine (it is a first generation JVC product). It will not be able to decode technologies that it is not built for (e.g. the new generation of DTS on Gladiator).

The problems seem to arise because of several factors: *The playing of Dual Layer DVDs seems to cause a glitch in the system. DTS (not the new generation even) seems to cause a glitch in the system. *Doing quick navigation through the DVD menu seems to cause a glitch in the system. *If you leave the player paused for an extended period of time.

Resetting the system does not always seem to fix the problem. Sometimes it will seem to have fixed the problem and the problem will arise again shortly after reset.

The last problem that I have read about is that the XV-501BK is not properly cooled. This of course leads me to wonder. When a person over clocks a PC, the processor tends to heat up much quicker, to counteract this, additional cooling fans and larger heat sinks are added. If this is not done the processor does not function properly, and errors will occur. Could this all be do to improper ventilation of the system and the video processing unit overheating?

Similar Products Used:

Only DVD Player Owned.

Plays older dvd's. Hit or miss on the newer dvd's. Mostly misses! Read most of the reviews. To summarize--I'm scared it will quit to play the older Dvd's (before '99). Several things to note from other reviews: (1) do the reset procedure, (2) lots of class action suit talk-but no contacts ever listed, and (3) adjust laser screw (must take apart unit-but it sounds easy). With regards to (3), make sure you read the whole review on how to do it.
Running scared.

Worked fine for 20 months

Remote control is a little hard to get used to

This player worked fine for the first 20 months or so that I owned it but then it quickly decided not to play some DVDs, then rather quickly it stopped playing fewer and fewer.

This player was also used to play music CDs and it played most of them even when it wouldn't play a DVD, but it finally stopped playing them too!

The repair shop gave me an estimate for $252 to fix. Ha!
They said it needed a new laser assembly. I haven't got the
player back yet to try the reset procedure I discovered on JVC's web site, but I don't hold out much hope for that.

I find it rather irritating to spend $500+ for a piece of equipment that becomes unusable in less than two years!

I always thought JVC was one of the better consumer electronics brands, but I don't think I'll be purchasing another one of their DVD players!

BEAUTIFUL VIDEO & SOUND BETTER THAN MOST EXPENSIVE DVD PLAYERS LIKE DENON LOW END PLAYERS,LOVES ALL THE FEATURES & LOOKS HIGH END + EASY TO USE ALSO IT DECODED 5.1 & DTS PERFECT ON ALL DVD`S I PUT IN!

AS OF A WEEK AGO WILL NOT READ ANY DVDS & SOMETIMES WILL NOT READ ANY MUSIC CD`S.

THIS DVD PLAYED PERFECT WITH EVERY DVD THAT PUT IN WITH NO PROBLEMS EXCEPT THE OCCASSIONAL LOCK UP OR FREEZE WITH RENTED DVDS BUT OVERALL IT HAS VERY GOOD PICTURE & SOUND
BUT AFTER BEING IN PARADISE FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS THAN HELL CAME
& NOW IT WILL NOT READ ANY DVD`S UNLESS I RESET IT ABOUT 5 TO 6 TIMES EVEN THEN IT MAY PLAY FOR A FEW MINUTES OR NOT AT ALL & ON OCCASION WHILE PLAYING MUSIC CD IT WILL EJECT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK FOR NO REASON...OH WELL I GUESS I`LL HAVE DO MY RESEARCH ON A ANOTHER DVD PLAYER THAT LOOKS,SOUND & PERFORM WITH OUT A HIT IN THE WALLET.

PLEASE EMAIL ME IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS.

Similar Products Used:

N/A

All that was, is now standard.

Read errors

Well I guess its time for me to join the rest of you. My JVC DVD 501 played well until recently. Its only about eight months old and has started to skip and hesitate and drop audio and video sections and pixelate and blur and freeze. This seems to be such a widespread problem, I doubt that JVC will be around in a few years, so I'll be looking for a different manufacture when I upgrade my home theather system, as I do every few years. I haven't taken it in yet - should be a real fun experience from what I've gathered here.

I have had my 501 for about 4 months now. I read all the reviews I could find on this player, and had discovered that it does have it's own set of problems, much like all the other players on the market now. I bought the 501 and a JVC 888 receiver together, knowing that the 501 had DTS dropout problems. I checked this myself, and created a log of every glitch or sound problem that it had through Dante's Peak DTS DVD. No video problems but I recorded almost 40 bad audio drop outs. So I played the tech-support game with JVC for about 2 weeks, and finally they had me send it to their factory in SF. After a quick 2 day repair and a long 8 day return trip, I got my "updated" 501 back. JVC said they had replaced the "chipset" (3 ICs) and updated the firmware. Now it plays DTS DVD's perfectly. Don't let them brush this problem off, they are aware of it and have a fix. With this story in mind, I am still very pleased with the features, performance and value of the 501. I'm just wondering if electronics manufacturers should start beta testing their products....