Nice layer change, great picture, component out, digital audio out

Laser pickup died after 1 1/2 years

Search on "Stephen Wood" on this page to read of my travails.

I bought an Onkyo to replace my JVC-501. I chose Onkyo due to its high reliability ratings on this site, but after a week it was garbling and locking up on The Patriot and Mallrats. I suspected over-heating, but returned it within the 30-day money-back guarantee from Cambridge Soundworks.

I took the 501 to an authorised JVC repair place. They replaced the laser pickup, which was "worn-out" for $200. The JVC is working again... my fingers are crossed.

I went for a repair after pricing out more DVD players. I would want to spend $300-350 for a nice, new, reliable player, but after the Onkyo crapped out on me, I decided to drop $200 to get my old player back. I hope it lasts longer than the last pickup, but I have the feeling that DVD players in general "wear out" quicker than VCRs or TVs.

I'll keep everyone posted on the success of this new pickup.

-Steve

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DVD

None

too many to list

Well where to start. I purchased this unit om Aug 1999 from
Best Buy. It worked without problems for about 4 months. And here is where the nightmare begins. Almost all of my purchased DVD's won't play. I get to the middle of the movie and I see digital distortion. Even worse, sometimes the unit locks up and doesn't respond to any commands. I literally have to unplug the damn thing. I took it back to best buy who sent it to JVC (of couse after the 3 month labor warranty had expired). When I picked up the unit $80.00 later, the same problem existed. JVC was kind enought to send me a piece of paper letting me know how to reset the unit. After an unanswered e-mail to JVC I was resinged to the fact that I will need to buy a new one. The customer service is non-existent. The e-mail I sent, which I cc'd Best Buy was answered by Best Buy in 2 days. But I have never heard from JVC. Needless to say, I will never purchase a JVC product again. I feel a little better reading all the scathing reveiws from other unhappy buyers. At least I am not alone. JVC you need to focus on quality and customer service !!!!! But its too late for me as I will never purchase another product again due to this $300.00 paperweight. If anyone is considering purchasing this machine - DON'T ITS JUNK.

Compulink integration with other JVC components

Shaky performance

Bought this unit when it was $350 at Christmas 1998. Worked as it should, but would lock up on occasion (just like a computer would do) and nothing except unplugging the unit from the wall would reset things.

After about 11 months, the unit locked up completely on a DVD (Arlington Road) and would not play. Would play audio CD's, but no DVD's of any kind.

I was lucky enough to have an authorized JVC dealer nearby in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I dropped it off to get it fixed. To make a long story short, it took them over three months to fix it, and they charged me $100. Parts were still under warranty, not labor.

Has worked fine since, except every now and then, I start up a disc and get a green hue on the screen. I stop and replay, and the green goes away.

I have owned numerous JVC products for the last ten years, from TVs to SVHS VCRs and everything in between, and I have to say this is the first piece of equipment that has not worked as it should.

I have an APEX 600A (was lucky to get one of the "special" versions) and this player is terrible. It makes me appreciate the flawed, but usable JVC 501-BK a little more than it might deserve, I guess.

Similar Products Used:

APEX 600-A

Great picture quality and features for the price of this unit!

No digital coaxial output!

I have had this DVD player for approx 5 months now. I have over 45 DVD's in my collection and have rented quite a few besides this and have yet to run into any problems? I don't know why this player gets so many bad ratings. The only conclusion i can come too is there are probably certain cases where the unit was in-fact defected. Other then this, all i can blame it on it operator error? Everyone keeps bringing up the "Cruel Intentions" problem etc. Well, since then they have re-released this film and all is now ok!
And by the way, the "Cruel Intentions" problem was DVD Disc related and not a problem with the JVC 501BK! I copy/pasted this from DVDEXPRESS.COM - "Columbia/Tristar discovered an authoring problem with the Cruel Intentions title. The problem lies with the parental lock feature, in that some DVD players may not be able to play the disc even with parental lock turned off. Reports to us have shown this is a problem with the JVC model 501 and 701 DVD players. Columbia/Tristar has corrected the problem and have sent us the remastered version". So, all you people who keep giving this unit a bad rep better start reading up and doing a little more research before you start bad-mouthing a good product! When you start to read about the problems other DVD players are having then you'll see that the JVC XV-501BK is not such a terrible machine after all!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic A-120
Toshiba SD 2008 & 2109 Models

None

Freezes up, No Coax etc.

This machine is garbage! I did not experience problems with Cruel Intentions but I did with nearly every other movie I watched. I recently returned the machine to The Good Guys, who I might add are not so good. I was able to swap it out with a Sony product which has similar problems and was grossly over priced. I paid $500 for a machine that should have cost me $400 and the bastards wont let me return the player for a cash refund.

Similar Products Used:

Sony d550s

Being new to the world of DVD, choosing the right player can be an incredible task. It's easy to get educated on the subject, but when it comes to players, there's always something wrong with this model, some glitches with that model, etc. If it's not a problem with layer switching, it's a lipsynch problem on some titles.
Before putting my hands on the JVC XV-501BK, I tried the Sharp DV-550. Oh what an awful and evil machine!!! I returned it and deciced to shed a bit more $$ for the JVC.

The machine is a heavy one. A sign of a sturdy model made of solid parts. Unlike other players, everything you do with the remote you can also do with the buttons in front of the player. It's futuristic look and display make it a very good looking player. I also think that it's got one of the best remote control of all the players I looked at. I love the joystick on the remote although I always get a strange feeling that I'm gonna break it when I press on it (to activate the menu choice).

The GUI setup of the player is very nice. Just make sure you have the manual with you to understand the many options offered. Some are quite cryptic. Speaking of that setup menu, once the movie has started, it is not accessible unless you stop the movie. Not that it really bothers me. Once I got it setup, I don't touch those settings anyways.

There's also a neat GUI setup screen while the movie is player. From that screen, you can switch audio track, angle, sub-title, move to specific capters or time index, etc. There is also a bandwidth metre and a progress bar showing how far in the movie you are. All that with the movie still playing in a window.

The player allows you also to modify sharpness, noise level reduction and some audio tweaking during playback.

There's also a lot more stuff about that player, but I want to keep this review short. :-)

In short, I have yet to view one movie causing problems on the JVC player. The video and sound quality is high up there with the Toshibas, Pioneer and Sonys. Just a wonderful player with wonderful features and does the job wonderfully. I do not regret one cent of my purchase.

I'm giving the JVC a 5 stars. Everywhere, you hear about Toshiba, Pioneer and Sony. Little do we hear about the JVC and it deserves a lot more exposure. This is a real gem of a player!!!

I purchased this unit as my first "real" entrance into decent a/v equipment. Using it with a Denon AVR-1700 receiver, it sounds very nice, with great picture quality. My receiver seems to have some problems finding the digital toslink audio output sometimes though. You have to turn the unit off and back on a time or two to get it to pick up the signal. Does anyone else have a problem with this?Many operations are very simple, but the menu and disc scan speeds could be faster. It seems to take forever to scan a CD or DVD disc, compared to my old Technics CD player. Takes about 10-15 seconds to figure out what type of disc it is and scan all the tracks. It took about 3 on my old player.
The digital output seems to have a very nice sound, with the analog output having just a touch of noise. The noise could be from my handmade cables though. Only when between tracks or at silent parts of a movie is it even noitceable at all. The D/A converters in my receiver and this player are both 24bit, very similar so that shouldn't be cause of the difference. The analog output seems a little "warmer" for music though. I use the digital output when I'm watching movies or listening to rock or pop. For jazz, classical, old rock, etc. I use the analog output since I like the warmth on that type of music.
The remote is very useful, but could have a little better feel to it. The way the joystick pops and clicks just feels cheap. Useage is simple enough, but the setup menus can't be accessed unless the disc is stopped. Makes for some interesting learning curves on the operation.
Overall, it sounds good with good picture quality. That's what matters most, right?! take off one star for the slightly slow operation and the "cheap" remote.

discontinued by JVC

life expectancy...

For those of you who think your problems are over becuase you have discovered a way to reset this player's EEPROM,
guess what, it's only a matter of time before you will become frustrated with this procedure. As movie studios
become more adept at taking advantage of all that this
spectacular format has to offer, you will see more and
more "special features" on the DVDs they offer. Those of
us who have owned this player long enough, know that
"special features" are an invitation for the 501 to commit
a 187 on your home theater experience. If you purchase
one of these units just make sure you find an electrical
outlet that is HIGHLY accessible. You will be unpluging it quite often. My personal experience with this, involved
pulling my Toshiba TN50X81 big screen TV away from the wall to access the outlet strip I was using. On the issue of
value, is eight months of use enough to call "under $300.00"
a great price for a DVD player? On Tuesday, when Western
Waste Management makes their weekly trash retrieval in my
neighborhood, the truck operators will discover that "free"
is a much more fitting price for this unit.

Similar Products Used:

None...Yet
Looking for good price on a progressive scan unit

Finally, Class action suites are beginning to take form.

JVC will most certainly loose, as consumers like myself did
when we bought this piece of trash, but it will take a great
deal of time before any retribution/restitution is seen.

If you were suckered, take comfort in the the fact that JVC
will most certainly pay for it in the end...

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DVD525
Toshiba SD-2200
Both geat players

None

Product Life

I tried posting a review on this unit the other day and for some reason or another it never showed up!! Anyway, I too had all the problems after just 8 months of use, it wouldn't play a single disk...not even after getting the lens cleaned at Best Buy!! I've had this player under my bed for almost a year now because I had hoped there would be a recall sooner or later. My parents purchased a Hitachi HDTV this week and all they've talked about since is how all they need now is a DVD player. So I decided to get the JVC out and see if anyone had found a way to fix what was causing all these problems...of course all I found was hundreds more who went through what I did. Anyway, my whole reason for writing this post was because somehow or another I got the unit working again!!! For those who still have the unit, it wouldn't hurt to try this...
CAUTION-MAKE SURE THE UNIT IS NOT PLUGGED IN!! I know you all know this but I had to say it anyway...I couldn't live with myself if a 12 year old was to read this post and fried him/herself doing what I'm about to suggest!
Taking the unit apart is VERY easy. After removing the cover you will see a circuit board in the center. First remove the cables by pulling them straight up. Take note that the smallest cable that is closest to the front of the player, the writing on the cable faces the rear. Next remove the 3-4 screws holding the circuit board in place and then remove it. You should now see a protective cover that surrounds the drive. Again remove the 4 screws holding this plate in place and remove it. Now you should be to the bare drive. Next I removed the disk tray by using the release lever that is on the bottem of the dvd player. Once you get the tray out as far as it will go look on both sides on the remaining tray that is still in the player. You should see a clip on each side, use a screw driver or fingernail and push inward on the clips and pull the rest of the tray out. Now you should be able to remove the drive from the player. Ok, I did two things next and I'm not sure which solved the problem.. The first thing I did was cleaned the lens with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol. The next thing I did could possibly destroy your player forever..so do this at your own risk. First just let me say that I've worked on playstation lasers in the past. On the playstation laser unit there is a small(very very tiny) screw on the side of the laser assembly. When you turn the screw clockwise you increase the power to the laser, which really shouldn't be done unless you are having problems with the playstation reading the games(skipping..breaking up. This happens with many of the original playstations or any model when using backup copies of the games(CD-R). When turning this screw you really don't want to turn it very far, just a tiny tiny bit.
On your DVD unit you will also see a small screw on the side of the laser, I have no idea if this screw actually adjusts the power going to the laser(like on the playstation laser) but I just don't believe I fixed this by just (hand)cleaning the laser. This laser very hard to get to because of the gold colored cable. You will need to use a VERY TINY screwdriver to get in there, like the ones you have to use to tighten the screws on glasses. Once you find a screwdriver that fits, turn the screw clockwise a little. Again, when I say little...I mean just a little push..not even a 1/4 turn. Ok, after you do this go ahead and put the drive back in the player and insert the tray(it should go in without any force!). Next put the cover back over it and when doing this..make sure you get the screws all in even(look on the bottom and you can see how far they are out). It took me a few tries because for some reason the screws on the right side seemed to come out further than the left side. You need to make sure they are all the same length on the bottom. Next reinstall the circuit board, reinsert the cables you removed with BOTH HANDS so it goes in straight and then add the cover.
I did this to my unit 24 hours ago and believe me or not I have been feeding this unit DVD after another(on #11 right now "The Matrix") and not one DVD has pixelated or froze on me. Again, I'm not exactly sure which step above solved the problem I was having(probably just the lens cleaning by hand) but this unit is now working just as good as it was when I purchased it!!! I thought this unit was DEAD!
I wish you all the best of luck, if you have any questions don't hesitate to email me. I couldn't wait to get back on here any share this with you all...hopefully this will end up making you all happy people again :-) Lol
Peace!!