I've had this player since April along with the JVC-888VBK, and am pleased with it overall. I have not had DTS problems on the one disc I have (Eagles-When Hell Freezes Over). However, "Enemy of the State" had some glitches 1/2 way through resulting in temporary picture loss, and "The Matrix" pretty much bit the shed 1/2 way through. Neither one locked up the player. And the remote button response for the enter key awful. But when it plays properly, the picture/sound quality is great. I know other players have as many or more playback problems, but I don't think that anything released for consumers with these kind of flaws should get a great rating!

JVC XV-501. I purchased the XV-501 after selling my Toshiba 2008 to a friend. I had an audio processor which was uncompatable to my old Toshiba.I was told that I needed a DVD player that had DTS built in. What a mistake.The Toshiba performed flawlessly. Unknowingly, I gave up reliable perfomance for the latest sound gimmick. The JVC processed DTS sound, but would not play Matrix. The audio dropped out intermittently during Mel Gibson's Payback. The screen pixelated, then froze up during Pleasentville. Who Needs this. I have owned this machine for eight days, and I am already tired of it's glitches.The buttons on the remote do not respond to input, until clicking them five or six times. Tomorrow, it will be returned to Best Buy Electronics.

High integration with other JVC components, easy to use, many features, sharp design

trouble with some DVDs

I bought this unit because I bought all JVC components for the compulink integration, except for the speakers (energy Take 5). I am extremely satisfied with all units (AV-27D500 TV, RX-778V Receiver, TD-W354 Cassette Deck, HR-VP676U VCR, and XV-501 DVD. And the speakers, too).

I hooked up the audio using optical and the video with s-video. Would component hookup be better?

Other than just a few seconds at the electronics shops, I have never seen another DVD player at work. So I have nothing to compare it to, other than VHS. With that said, I think both the video and audio are great.

I did get some artifcating on Contact. I sent it back for a replacement before I read about the reboot fix. So we'll see how that works when I get it back. I got some artificating and pausing and even a shutdown on Casino tonight (firt time I played it), so I tried the reboot thingy. It worked! Casino plays fine now. Well, there are a few pauses here and there. I got those on Hunt for Red October, too (Boy, does HFRO sound great with DD!). The sales man at the Good Guys says this artifacting and pausing problem (and it happens on other DVD players as well) is caused by the double layering and some codecs just handle it better than others.

All in all, I am very happy I made the purchase. And even though it has this playback problem, it seems to be the norm for all but the very best players, and they won't integrate with my other JVC components like this one does. If I had a chance to give it back and purchase another unit, I would get JVC's 3 disc version.

So, I give it a 5.

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none

Well I thought I made a good choice in purchasing this dvd but I didn't. It has nice features and all but if doesn't play the DVD movie whats the features matter. Heres the story, I bought it about a month ago and it started to act up by only playing 30% of the movies I tried. So I retured it for a another new one trying to give JVC a second chance, but I had the new one for a week and it started to the same thing. Well you could justed imagine how pissed off I was!!!Now I going to take it back and get the Hitachi DVD which I've heard good things about. Stay away from this model for sure if not the whole line of JVC DVD.

Ease of use and Features

No Built-in AC-3 Decoder

I have read the review by Ward and have no idea what he must have been attempting to do with his player. I have had one problem with my player that involved that involved an IC chip that was faulty. JVC replaced it free of charge and it has been working beautifully. I have yet to come across a DVD that did not work in my player. All of the special features work great. The picture quality of both DVD's and Video-CD's is flawless. I could not be more pleased with my player. At $300.00 in 1998, you can't beat this player.

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N/A

Works for 7 months

Stops working after 7 months

HH Gregg opened in Columbus and had this unit on sale as a door buster for 199.00. Because it it was a JVC product I thought it would be agreat deal. Boy was I ever wrong. After 7 months the player starting dropping out video about one hour into the movie also skipping pixelating etc. I then returned it to HH Gregg who attemped to repair it. Parts were covered but not labor. The cost to repair it was 105.00 dollars they replaced the whole laser pick up assembly total cost > 350.00. After 45 days the same problems started again. I took it back to HH Gregg and asked for my 105.00 back and thankfully they agreed. I came across this site looking for reviews for my next DVD and trying to avoid another lemon.

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JVC, Sony, Advent

Does what it's supposed to do. Great picture & sound (only used for DVD's)

"Enter" on remote requires you to hold you mouth just right, some "menu" glitches, front panel display has to many lights.

Had 501 for about 8 months. So far no problems. Watch about 2 movies a week. Have never found any movies that player can't play. RWD & FF work great. With some movies it's hard to navigate the "menu". Also, "enter" button on remote often requires several attempts to depress, and often goes off to other area (joystick type enter button).

Overall, I am happy with it.

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Sony DVD at friends house.

Plays 99% of my 150 DVD collection, hasn't broken yet.

Wont play the new Akira DVD

Well, I've owned this player for what seems like forever. I've never visited this site until tonight, it's been working fine for what seems like over 2 years. I can't belief I'm debating buying a new player simply because it wont play the remastered Akira DVD. After reading all of these reviews on it though, it's making it easier to justify buying a new one even though this one currently "works".

Seeing how I've been waiting for this DVD to come out FOREVER (Akira), it's something I'm going to have to do though. It's totally lame that it wont play it, but besides that the player has served me well. Time to sell the player cheap to my family and buy a new one I guess.

The local "Best Buy" stores are now selling the JVC XV-D501BK DVD player as of last week. I talked with the salesman and asked about the XV-D701BK that's newly released by JVC as they're new flagship model. The Best Buy salesman (along with 3 others) said they don't think they will carry the XV-D701BK model. =( But the research in talking with customers that bought the VX-D501BK DVD player LOVE IT. Price/Features/Quality of the Image 10bit & Sound. Some went as far and buying a second unit even after buying another brand only to return it for a second JVC 501. This I think say's alot for price/quality. Other note worthy DVD players in the XV-D501BK class include:
Panasonic A-110 & A-310; and

I give it a 4.25 rating out of a possible 5. =)
Pioneer DV606 & DV414.

Probably not too many after reading what is here

I just read these reviews of the unit I JUST got. I didn't pay too much for it brand new, so I am hoping that I can get a year out of it, if I do I will be very happy! If anyone has any advice please email me...I would appreciate it. I did however call the 2 local JVC repair centers and they indicated to me that they have seen very few of this model in for service...they aren't JVC corporate so I don't think they have a reason not to tell me what they know. I will let everyone know if it craps out on me anytime soon. Thanks Brian

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Sony