JVC HRS5902U 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, Black

• S-VHS and VHS recording and playback; Super VHS ET Recording gives you S-VHS quality with standard VHS tapes
• Gold-plated front AV inputs accommodate a camcorder or gaming console
• 1-year, 8-event express programming; VCR Plus+ with cable-box control
• Includes full-function multibrand TV/cable/DBS-compatible remote control with glowing keys
• Active Video Calibration automatically judges head condition and tape quality to maximize recording potential

Okay! I admit I was a bit condescending on my previous comment, but it's only because the review I was critiquing was illogical and the rating unfair. I'll be good this time and try to be less of a smart aleck.

The original review to which I posted a rebuttal was flawed. He bought an excellent, high-end VCR for the wrong reasons. Then he complained when it did not perform better than technologically-possible in his system and gave it a one-star rating. He has now compounded the error in his logic by trying to throw PRICE into the equation. Did I realize that this machine costs 3 times as much as the cost of a standard VCR? Yep, I just purchased an el-cheapo machine for about fifty bucks two weeks ago. But I didn't need the capabilities of this sweet device.

First, a quick technology overview: There are a number of factors that make up how clear and detailed a video image is going to look, but resolution appears to have the most effect so I'll concentrate on that.

The US television standard is called NTSC. NTSC stands for National Television System Committee, or as those of us in the industry call it: Never Twice the Same Color. (NTSC stinks, but this is not the place for that discussion.) Of the 525 NTSC scan lines, only 485 lines are used in the image.

Standard VHS VCRs can record and display only about 220 lines of resolution less than half what your TV is capable of displaying. Your standard TV broadcast (either off the air or cable) will get up to 330 lines on a good day. A DVD player can output 540 lines.

The S-VHS VCRs can record and playback about 400 lines of resolution, or nearly twice what a standard VHS machine can display. But there is problem: it can only display as much data as was originally recorded. If you're playing back an old VHS recording with 220 lines of resolution, that's all you're going to see. If one records programs off the air ON THIS MACHINE, they will look a bit better when played back on this machine -as good as your TV broadcast signal happens to be that day (up to 330 lines) -but still not as good as a DVD.

So why would someone pay the big bucks and buy an S-VHS VCR? Because if you have an S-VHS camcorder, this puppy is going to SHINE. You can record and playback the full 400 lines of resolution even on a standard NTSC TV set. Also, the S-VHS technology allows for much better tape dubbing. Ever try to copy a standard VHS tape? The result appears to have about 100 lines of resolution and the colors bloom so badly it is unbearable to watch. S-VHS machines do not have this problem. Plus, this particular machine has a flying-erase head, which allows you to make beautiful edits. You can take the six hours of video recorded at your family reunion and produce a one-hour tape of the highlights with seamless edits, then add your own narration with the audio over-dubbing capability of the JVC. After that, you can make near-perfect copies to give to all your family members. You CANNOT do that with a standard el-cheapo VHS VCR. No way! No how!

So... If I owned an S-VHS camcorder, would I be willing to pay 3-times as much for this lovely VCR? You betcha!!!

To give my own analogy, the previous writer said that there is no reason to buy a Porsche Carrera because it rides just as poorly as his Chevy pickup truck down the rut-filled dirt road he lives on yet costs three times as much as the Chevy and isn't as fast as a Lear Jet. Substitute the JVC S-VHS VCR for the Porsche Carrera, a standard VCR for the Chevy pickup truck, an old VHS tape recorded off the air for the rut-filled dirt road, and a DVD player for the Lear Jet and you'll see my point. He's comparing apples-to-oranges-to-pears.

And why, you ask, would I waste my time responding to this these ill-conceived reviews? (It's quite obvious from the feedback so far that most people found my critiques much more "helpful" than his criticisms.) It's because I use the reviews and ratings here quite often to determine which item I am going to purchase. If I can help him (or others who read this) to THINK about what they write (state how well the item really operates, etc.) and then give fair reviews, we all profit and this customer review system becomes more valuable.

Thanks for reading this far.

Buy JVC HRS5902U 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, Black Now

Ever since I bought my Samsung 50" DLP HDTV a few months ago I've been on a quest to upgrade my DVD player and now my VCR player as well. To be brief, if you have an HDTV, and you intend to still keep using VHS cassettes, then you must have this VCR.

Only recently I learned that an S-VHS (Super VHS) VCR gives you a resolution of 400 lines, as opposed to your standard VCR which gives you 230 lines of resolution. Obviously, for a standard TV you might not notice much difference. But for an HDTV, the difference is amazing! Here's a summary of my experience with this VCR:

Pros:

1) Super Video Quality. I tried recording a TV program on a standard VHS cassette (in fact the cassette is very old, recorded over many, many times). Remember, this VCR allows you to get the S-VHS quality even when recording on a standard VHS cassette you don't have to buy an expensive S-VHS cassette (although it should give a little better quality). When I played back the recorded program, it was unbelievable! The picture was clearer than what was broadcast on TV now that's impressive!

2) I mentioned it above, but it really is an additional bonus the fact that you can record S-VHS quality on a standard VHS cassette. You do have to change the default setup to enable this 'ET' mode (that's what JVC calls it).

3) The '24Hr Jog Dial' I really like this feature. With this you can setup to record a TV program within the next 24 hours. You don't have to turn on your TV. All you do is set the start time, the end time, and the channel using the jog dial on the VCR. Very neat feature.

Cons:

1) When playing a tape, the display on the VCR will NOT show the counter. In fact, the display NEVER shows a tape counter at all! If you want to see the tape counter, you have use the OSD (On Screen Display) and then you can see the counter on the TV that's annoying!

2) Auto clock doesn't work with cable They actually warn you about this when you try to set the Auto clock. When I first got the VCR, I left it in for a few hours before finally giving up. I had to set the time manually. By contrast, my Sony VCR can set the time in less than 5 minutes using its auto clock.

3) No memory backup if you have any programs scheduled to be recorded, even a 1 second power glitch will make you lose everything! For a VCR this expensive, they could have added a simple battery backup!

On a side note, I thought it important to mention that when playing tapes that are NOT recorded with S-VHS (like my older Disney movies), the output is not at 400 line resolution, it's at 230 lines. But the picture quality is as good as you'd get with any other high quality VCR. In other words, to avail of the S-VHS quality, you must have a tape (movie, etc.) already recorded in S-VHS to get the full benefit.

Side note no. 2 Also remember that when you record in S-VHS mode on a cassette with this VCR, you may not be able to display it on another VCR that does not support S-VHS. I have that problem with my other Sony VCR it cannot display S-VHS recordings (looks very fuzzy). But that's a fault of the Sony VCR of course, not this JVC one.

So, in summarizing, there definitely are some annoying facts about this VCR. But you may forgive and forget when you see the picture quality it's capable of producing near DVD quality! I would recommend buying this VCR but only if picture quality is absolutely essential.

Read Best Reviews of JVC HRS5902U 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, Black Here

Many TV newsrooms use super VHS, in their cameras, or for editing & dubbing in the studio... quickly, on the fly.

Flaw, bug, & software free, fool-proof analog video almost as good as DVD, with S-video & multiple inputs & outputs that would make any videophile drool. The more sophisticated a machine becomes, the more sophisticated a user will have to be happy with it. Great pic, great sound, & fantastic for quick editing on the fly... maybe to later be burned on a DVD.

The tuner gets a better pic, than my sony wega's tuner. If you get a bad channel 9, one of you're RF cords may be broken inside, at the end, or it not connected properly. Don't blame JVC. I own this & 3 other JVC s-vhs machines. The tuner is better than any equipment I'm seen... even on channel 9. But really, if you don't have a cable box or satellite, don't buy this machine, it's capable of much more than your system is capable of. If you don't know what a s-video connector is for & why you need it, these machines are too good for what you're capable of. AMF if you don't notice a startling difference in the picture quality compared to ordinary VHS, you're TV or how you got it hooked up isn't good enough.

But these machines also play back ordinary VHS tapes with better quality than ANY other machine. There are pic/filter settings to clean up extra crummy tapes too.

This particular machine I purchased as a back-up & extra. I was expecting it to be the quality of some of their cheapest s-vhs machines. To my surprise the machine works very well & the pic is excellent for s-vhs at this price range.

One minor problem noted. The oscillator that generates the voltage for the fluorecent display generates interference to my Akai DVD burner it's setting on, & my other JCV s-vhs machine I have stacked ontop of it (on top of that I have my Directv TVO box). So with 4 units stacked together some interference came from this machine's fluorecent circuits. I found if I slid it 1" back from the burner, & the other machine ontop of it 1" back, all the interference disappeared. But now they aren't flush with each other. Someday I'll try stacking them differently. Beside them I have a JVC DVD player, Terapin VCD/CD burner, & another JVC s-vhs deck stacked together. Between the 2 stacks is 2 5" LCD monitors (for dubbing/cueing).

Anywho, it's not unusual to have stacked machines interfere with each other. But it's the first time it ever happened with a JVC unit. Some TVs will even interfere with some machines set on top of them. It's not a defect but rather an occasional coincedence that one machine is emitting a certain frequency close to a frequency that another machine is particularly sensitive to. Moving the units a little or the wires behind them usually will clear it up.

Update: I've read S-VHS tapes are harder to come by in another review. These machines use ordinary VHS tapes, you don't need super-vhs tapes for them, but they should be good tapes. My best pix on the come from ordinary t-120 & t-160 memorex tapes I buy in 10-packs real cheap. DVD burners & blank DVDs are getting cheap but the lasers & drives wear out after your 100th to 500th disk. 10 years after your fifth DVD burner has bit the dust your super-vhs machine will still be going strong. I know from experience, I'm a tech, I work on stuff like this all the time. My first 10 year old super-vhs machine is still running like new after extremely heavy use & conditions. It's been banged around overstacked, & used in hot environments that would kill most electronic equipment. It's never been opened or repaired. The newer cheaper s-vhs models only had minor negligible problems, & are still many times better than any ordinary vhs machine.

BTW, I don't work for JVC.

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I've learned a few more things since I wrote my last review. The following are corrections to my previous review:

1) Memory backup Apparently there is some sort of memory backup, even though the manual clearly states there isn't. Quite by accident I unplugged the VCR and then plugged it back in. I was sure I'd have to re-program the timer to record my favorite programs, but I was pleasantly surprised the VCR remembered all my previous programs! In experimenting further, I disconnected power for almost 5 minutes and the programs still remained in memory afterwards! I didn't test further than that.

2) Auto clock I figured out why the auto clock won't work for cable. When the unit is without power for a while (I think the manual says 10 minutes), it defaults all the settings. The default settings for the tuner preset is 'air' not 'cable'. That's why they advise cable users to set the clock manually. However, the first thing you should do after a long power failure is to set the tuner to 'cable' and have it scan all channels. You should now be able to power off the VCR and auto clock should work (for me it took about 30 mins though, but it got it eventually!).

So this is good news. If there's a power failure for a short time (say 5 mins), the auto clock should eventually set the clock and your programs set for timer recordings should still be there!

I think the JVC now deserves a 4.5 star rating and so I'm giving this review a 5 (my other was a 4).

This high-end VCR has many advanced features,such as jog and shuttle on the remote, flying erase heads, S-VHS, etc. It produces a fine picture, and has very good tracking with old tapes.

The annoyances, particularly for editing:

(1) Unlike even simple VCR's that I have had in the past, this machine has no tape counter on the VCR's display. The counter is available only on screen, in "Play" mode only at regular speed, and in "Fast Forward" without picture.

(2) The speed controls are different from any other VCR's:

(i) Pushing the Pause button a second time does not put it back into Play, but into Frame Advance.

(ii) The shuttle feature is also nonstandard: it goes from Slow Forward directly to Slow Reverse, rather than through Pause.