Excellent quality picture, high-resolution, solid blacks and excellent fine tuning options. Simulated surround sound is cool if you don't want to turn your surround sound receiver on for normal TV Viewing. Incredible value and price for a high quality component.

Sound. Some here like the sound of the speakers. My 15-year old Sony had much better sound overall. Specifically, the JVC lacks bass. Mid-range and treble are good.

First of all, like many others here, I wanted the Sony Wega badly. Couldn't get past the price tag. I looked at other TV's between $750-$900 and was prejudiced against the JVC because my experience has always been that you get what you paid for. I have gone for lesser expensive items in the past and have almost always regretted it (there are exceptions, but that has been the overwhelmingly general rule). Side by side comparison finally convinced me to purchase the JVC. Plus, leading consumer review magazines rate the JVC as one of the most reliable 32+" TV's out there.
Compared to Toshiba, Panasonic, and Phillips-Magnavox, the JVC has much better color reproduction and truer blacks. I feel that it compares favorably to Sony. Default colors will not work. You will need to fine tune them. Greens are too artificial looking and reds seem to float off the screen. After fine-tuning a bit the colors are dead on. Excellent component or composite video playback. My VCR and DVD look incredible on this TV.
Some have also complained about the glare on this TV as a weakness. I respectfully disagree. If you compare apples to apples (curved screen to curved screen) then the glare on this TV is no more noticeable than on other curved screens. If you try to compare this curved TV to a flat TV such as the Sony Wega, then there is definitely a difference but you are also comparing the JVC to a TV that is twice as expensive.
Overall, you CANNOT beat the value for the price. This is a high quality, high-resolution TV for an incredibly reasonable price. I would rate this a 6 or 7 for Value Rating but 5 is the highest that they allow. I gave it Overall Rating of 5 because the lack of bass is not a killer, especially in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Old Sony 20" Console TV. Compared to Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony, and Phillips-Magnavox 32" before purchasing this one.

Great picture

Curved tube, only "2" rear video inputs with Video 2 being shared between the composite and the component(luckily on these older models, you can select in the menu to use either the video or component input. The newer models, D302 and 230 use the Y jack of the component input jacks as the video/composite input when component jacks aren't being used.).

This is an update to my previous review. After many delivered defective televisions, I can only believe that they were all in the same shipment that must have been abused in some way. Besides geometry problems, I also experienced many additional failures in the varying sets. The experienced problems were also found in other brands that were also delivered as exchanges. Obviously, massively abused in shipment.

After extremely close auditions, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony, and JVC proved to be the best. The JVC besting all of comparable priced sets and above. The JVC produced a picture that equalled the Sony Wega lower end models which sell for "HUNDREDS" more. The JVC actually was much better than the S series Sonys, Toshibas, and Panasonics.

The Sony's blacks weren't as black and didn't quite offer the picture detail of the JVCs.

The Panasonics had a great picture but with one major problem, the pictures are NOT horizontal, they tilt very noticably.

The Toshibas had a couple of quality problems. First, the scan lines were very obvious, drawing attention to themselves. Very annoying IMO. The second was that the picture lacked detail and because of this, had the worse picture out of the JVC, Sony, and Panasonic. The picture was a lot softer or fuzzier than the others. Not a quality problem, but there is no way to turn the speakers off. While I didn't notice a lot of hiss with the volume down completely, I did hear some with my ear inches away. It's hard to tell if this would be bothersome in a very quiet HT setting. Others reviewing the Toshibas complained about this hiss. I didn't find any moire problems that many have complained about either.

From my auditions, the JVCs proved to offer the best overall picture quality.

The JVCs did exhibit some less than perfect results. Since the tube is quite curved, the geometry was slightly bowed at the edges and corners. The Toshiba's one shining star was that it bowed less than the JVC but it's downfalls over shadowed this one shining quality. The JVC also showed a rather weird vertical band of comb like horizontal lines on the left and right sides. This may have to do with making the scan lines look less obvious, since all other models display the scan lines in a more obvious way. This set's scan lines are less apparent and one of the great benefits.

Earier I mentioned each maker as plural. There are several JVCs models that offer near identical picture quality while offering only slightly different feature sets. The models being the 36D501, 36D201, 36D502, 36120, and the 36230(all also being compared in 32" versions also). All being very similar but with options being PIP, BBE sound, and 2 or 3 line comb filters.

Panasonics being D31 and D11. Sony's being S42 and S66. Toshibas being A50 and A60. All being compared in 32" and 36"(35" for Sony)versions.

I'm going to post this review 3 times at 5 stars. Add the total of 15 to the previous 1 star rating, and the total average is 4 stars. That being said, after my auditions, I feel this JVC should be 5 stars, without considering reliability. If reliability becomes an issue, I'll repost at a later date.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Panasonic, RCA, Philips, Samsung, and Toshiba

great picture and sound, plenty of inputs, fairly easy setup

size...it's a little larger than other brands at 32"

Picture is amazing during dvd playback. Regular cable reception took a little getting used to after viewing a 27" for the past 5 years. It has really good sound also for casual viewing. Overall you can't beat this tv at it's price, Even higher priced models.

Similar Products Used:

none...been using a panasonic 27" for 5 years

Wonderful Picture, BBE Sound, Superb Clarity and Resolution,
Two S-Video Inputs, Two Audio/Video Inputs, Component Input,
Excellent Bigh Remote, Auto Tuner Setup, etc.

Cannot fit in the 32" Regular Sized Entertainment Center.
But can fit in 36" Entertainment Center.

A great TV for a Small Price. JVC has put in heart and soul
on this TV and it shows. A Gold Standard For 32-Inch TVs.
Neither Sony nor Toshiba of this price range cannot come close to it.

I connected TV output Audio to my AIWA 160-watt system
with Separate Sub-Woofer. I was suprised how much superb
sound I got. I do not have to connect the AIWA system
via a Sound Monitor with Amplifier. This the TRUE quality
of a receiver. Amazing. The whole room rocked.

I connected the great Panasonic RV-30 DVD via Component In Input. What a difference it makes over a standard connection ! I recommend connecting (no S-Video)
VCR via RF input to the TV. For some reason, RCA Input connection did not provide better output. The S-Video connection provided better output than RCA connection.

Overall, this simply a GREAT TV. Nothing comes close to
it for the price. What a TV !!! 5 STARS ALL THE WAY.
GO FOR IT.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo, etc.

Great colors. Outstanding Black and White. Nice sound from a TV. Component video connect.

None given the price range JVC lets this set reside in.

just a great TV. Buy with absolute confidence that you could not have gotten a better 32" for <$650. I looked through stores and researched this purchase for a few months. Almost bought a Toshiba then a JVC 32120, but I was stalling for this one on an open box. It finally showed up for me and I snapped it up. $649 reg price/$549 open box/$50 gift card upon purchase.

Final note: I just COULDN'T shell out 1k for the WEGA. If price were no option I would have.

Similar Products Used:

RCA 27" .. ugh

Great Picture, clear powerful sound, lots of menu options
Handy remote, for VCR too, not too deep in the back

None

Great TV for the price, looks and operates like a higher end TV

Similar Products Used:

RCA 36 inch

Picture quality with DVD component inputs

Minimal inputs (why does Input 1 have to be either S-Video or composite and Input 2 have to be either component or composite?)

This review is for the 36D201.

Like many here, I read and re-read all the reviews for large televisions for the past several months: Sony, Toshiba, JVC, etc. I finally settled on the JVC since it sounded like it would provide the best value for my dollar.

Bought it the Good Guys. It was an open box, slashed from $999 to $799, which was slashed further to $639 since I told the salesperson that I wanted to get an extended home warranty for it. Plus, I guess JVC is coming out with the new D-series models soon, so there were none in stock.

Anyway, the TV is great. At first, I thought that it wasn't as clear as it should have been (text "seemed" a little fuzzy around some edges). But I used the Avia DVD to calibrate the video and now the picture looks awesome, especially DVD through the component inputs. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 look incredible.

I am disappointed that our digital cable does not have S-Video out and I think that either the signal is poor or our in-house coax cabling is poor.

Overall, I am very pleased with the set. PS2 games look so good on this TV through S-Video that I can't play Onimusha Warlords on any other TV in the house ;-).

System:
JVC AV36D201 Television
Sony STR-DE845 A/V reciever
JBL NSP1 speaker system
JBL PB10 powered subwoofer
Sony S360 DVD player

Similar Products Used:

None, first 36" TV

Great Color, Sharp Detail, User friendly remote.

None...

This is one the best 32" TV's in this price range. It really looks great with a detailed video source like a DVD player and clean video source like Digital Cable.

My favorite feature are the component video and the 16x9 auto setting which allows you to get more use of your screen with the picture and less of the black part of the letter box.(Instead having 3" of black on the top and bottom, it is reduced to 1 1/2") This feature will work if you have a DVD player with 16x9 auto on it also. I bought the 723 DVD player by JVC.

36" See below

36" See below

36"

After once again considering these D series, I found a PQ problem that I mentioned in the previous post, but thought it was a defect.

RE:"The JVC also showed a rather weird vertical band of comb like horizontal lines on the left and right sides. This may have to do with making the scan lines look less obvious, since all other models display the scan lines in a more obvious way."

Just found out this is called the "MOIRE EFFECT". This is a huge problem on Toshiba television and is well documented. On the Toshiba televisions, this moire effect is all over the screen, the JVC "D" series seems to only have them on the sides of the screen. Unfortunately, I seen this effect very badly on the newer 36D502. Really noticable on REDS, ORANGES, SMOKEY light colors, and grays. Really shows bad on vertical pans.

I mistakenly gave this set a high rating because I assumed this problem was a defect related to the other defects. I was wrong must adjust the rating. I gave Toshiba 1 star for this picture ruining effect. 2 stars here would be appropriate since it only occurs on the sides of the picture.

To see more descriptions of this know defect fault check out these reviews:

http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/TV_Large/product_70553.shtml

http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/TV_Large/product_9392.shtml

http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/TV_Large/product_12390.shtml

http://www.smr-archive.com/forum_6a/messages/1524.shtml

http://www.smr-archive.com/forum_6a/messages/1524.shtml

Similar Products Used:

36" See below

Excellent clarity, color balance and black levels. Component inputs. Good sound from internal speakers.

Very minimal geometry problem in upper left-hand corner. Screen image is rotated slightly clockwise.

The JVC AV-36D201 is a beautiful set with wonderful picture and sound. I don't know why anybody would spend more just to have that other well-known Japanese brand.

My humble home theater system consists of this JVC 36" direct view TV, digital cable TV, a Panasonic DVD player, a JVC S-VHS VCR and a Yamaha amp running a 5.1 system. My digital cable box has S-VHS outs and the picture from these jacks is excellent with outstanding sharpness, accurate colors and nice black gradations. I don't use the RF connection very much, but when I do it's very nice and only slightly less sharper and accurate in color levels.

Of course things don't really get interesting until the DVD player gets into play. The JVC's component inputs make a remarkable improvement to the already excellent images from the DVD. You can immediately see the difference between the standard composite and/or S-VHS inputs vs. the component inputs by toggling the JVC's menu item. The results are easy to see. Instantly you'll have much more detail in your black areas and much more accurate color rendition, it's beautiful.

I didn't experience any of the so called "moiré effects" or horizontal lines on my set, a set which label indicates it was manufactured in Nov. 2000. Nor do I experience any noticeable scan lines from DVDs, digital cable broadcasts or taped S-VHS/VHS programming.

The only noticeable problems are: a very slight geometry problem in the upper left hand corner which only manifests itself on very rare occasions, such as viewing the cable TV electronic cable guide; and a very slight misalignment of the rotation of the image which skews the image clockwise. However neither of these issues would cause me to return the set or seek a repair tech. In fact they're not even noticeable during regular viewing.

I would've been happy to pay the full retail price ($999) for this one because it's so nice. Luckily I caught the Good Guys flyer advertising it for $599 and the ability to use another $20 off coupon. I had to call five stores in my area before I found one that still had it in stock. I put a deposit down over the phone to hold it for me. (Because this was a limited number item, GG couldn't order one nor did they have any in their main warehouse at the time.) I assume that this model is a closeout since the newer model has been out for a while, but I have nothing to complain about. I love it. I would recommend the JVC AV-36D201 to anyone, whether they're looking for a bargain or whether they're a demanding home enthusiast.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 40", JVC 25"