JVC XV-511BK DVD Player

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Have Made A Better Buy
Review: After I got out of college, I had most of the basic electronic leisure appliances; TV, Stereo, Radio, others. Then I remembered DVDs. I had to get one of those, I thought. After looking around on the internet and in stores, I found that this would be the best buy. Boy was I right. I now have a growing DVD collection, and I watch them all on this amazing JVC single-disc player maybe three to four times a week. The only two other DVD players I've ever watched movies on were my uncle's and my friend's, and I'd say this one far surpasses those two. The sound is great and the picture seems much better than either of those. I am able to pause and play the movie well, and I have no complaints. Like I said, this is my first DVD player, but I think it's one of the best I've seen. And what a price! Under $300.00 for this masterpiece of a home entertainer. It's a great buy.

Rating:
Summary: An above-average player for this price range.
Review: After shopping around and doing some research on the Internet, I decided to go with this player. For its price range, the features are excellent and I am extremely pleased with its performance. The rest of my system components are JVC, and they continue to serve me well. The handy AV-Compulink feature of JVC products allows them to be interconnected for use with a single remote. Unfortunately, my JVC receiver is a pre-DVD model and does not have a DVD specific input, which this player requires to work with the Compulink. While the picture is as sharp and crisp as DVD's should be, the sound is the real winner. Not only does this player do an outstanding job with surround sound (it handles both Dolby Digital and DTS), it will make your audio CDs sound fantastic. I was very impressed by the fullness and expanded depth on many discs that I already thought sounded great to begin with. JVC's surround simulator, 3D-Phonic, does a decent job if you only have two speakers to play with. It also plays VCDs, but will not read CD-Rs or the graphics on CD-Gs. The convenient on-screen menu feature lets you switch audio, angle, and subtitle preferences during playback, while some players in this league require the movie to be stopped. The only major drawback I've encountered so far, is when trying to play Columbia Tristar's "Arlington Road" DVD. For some reason this disc does not jive with JVC's players. It just spun around without ever loading, and caused problems playing any Columbia Tristar titles afterwards. This is a known problem by JVC and I just did a manual reset on the player (instructions can be found on JVC's website under Customer FAQ) and it's worked fine ever since. I don't consider this a big deal since I rented the movie and don't plan on owning it. This player handles everything else just fine. I highly recommend this player if you are just getting into DVD and, unless you gotta have "Arlington Road," it will serve you well. It has all the key DVD features you need and the remote is easy to use (although it would have been nice if it was backlit). This model replaced JVC's former XV-501BK.

Rating:
Summary: An above-average player for this price range.
Review: After shopping around and doing some research on the Internet, I decided to go with this player. For its price range, the features are excellent and I am extremely pleased with its performance. The rest of my system components are JVC, and they continue to serve me well. The handy AV-Compulink feature of JVC products allows them to be interconnected for use with a single remote. Unfortunately, my JVC receiver is a pre-DVD model and does not have a DVD specific input, which this player requires to work with the Compulink. While the picture is as sharp and crisp as DVD's should be, the sound is the real winner. Not only does this player do an outstanding job with surround sound (it handles both Dolby Digital and DTS), it will make your audio CDs sound fantastic. I was very impressed by the fullness and expanded depth on many discs that I already thought sounded great to begin with. JVC's surround simulator, 3D-Phonic, does a decent job if you only have two speakers to play with. It also plays VCDs, but will not read CD-Rs or the graphics on CD-Gs. The convenient on-screen menu feature lets you switch audio, angle, and subtitle preferences during playback, while some players in this league require the movie to be stopped. The only major drawback I've encountered so far, is when trying to play Columbia Tristar's "Arlington Road" DVD. For some reason this disc does not jive with JVC's players. It just spun around without ever loading, and caused problems playing any Columbia Tristar titles afterwards. This is a known problem by JVC and I just did a manual reset on the player (instructions can be found on JVC's website under Customer FAQ) and it's worked fine ever since. I don't consider this a big deal since I rented the movie and don't plan on owning it. This player handles everything else just fine. I highly recommend this player if you are just getting into DVD and, unless you gotta have "Arlington Road," it will serve you well. It has all the key DVD features you need and the remote is easy to use (although it would have been nice if it was backlit). This model replaced JVC's former XV-501BK.

Rating:
Summary: Great picture.. poor layer switches
Review: I have had this player for a year and a half now and must say that i have been very pleased with the basic performance of the unit. The picture is more than acceptable, and the sound is above average for an entry-level unit. The problem with the unit is that it has a real problem with layer switching. Patton, Matrix, and Nightmare on elm street are three movies that have all given me problems. The service from JVC is also poor, and many of the problems that i have had do not exist according to them. The only other problem i had is the remote, which has a joystick the the enter key incorporated.. so pushing enter can be difficult and annoying. All in all.. it's a good entry unit. But if you want a more consistant player with better support, you can do better.

Rating:
Summary: Great picture.. poor layer switches
Review: I have had this player for a year and a half now and must say that i have been very pleased with the basic performance of the unit. The picture is more than acceptable, and the sound is above average for an entry-level unit. The problem with the unit is that it has a real problem with layer switching. Patton, Matrix, and Nightmare on elm street are three movies that have all given me problems. The service from JVC is also poor, and many of the problems that i have had do not exist according to them. The only other problem i had is the remote, which has a joystick the the enter key incorporated.. so pushing enter can be difficult and annoying. All in all.. it's a good entry unit. But if you want a more consistant player with better support, you can do better.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Buy
Review: I recently purchased this DVD player and am enjoying it immensely. The picture clarity is just outstanding, and I'm only using a composite signal. I wish my TV set had S-video capability. For the money, I doubt if you could find a better product. My one gripe is that it doesn't play CD-R disks. I put one in and all I got was a "NO DISC" error. To be fair, the manual says it won't play CD-R, but it would have been a nice feature to have, since I am using this for my music CD player as well as for DVDs. Other than that it's been just great.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Buy
Review: I recently purchased this DVD player and am enjoying it immensely. The picture clarity is just outstanding, and I'm only using a composite signal. I wish my TV set had S-video capability. For the money, I doubt if you could find a better product. My one gripe is that it doesn't play CD-R disks. I put one in and all I got was a "NO DISC" error. To be fair, the manual says it won't play CD-R, but it would have been a nice feature to have, since I am using this for my music CD player as well as for DVDs. Other than that it's been just great.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste your Money JVC 511BK
Review: I recently purchased this DVD player through an online auction and was naturally somewhat skeptical. However I discovered that this is a great buy. The picture quality is very sharp. It does a great job with audio CDs too. The best feature of this DVD player is definitely its connectivity. It has both analog stereo and digital(optical) outputs as well as an S-Video output. It was trivial to hook this up to my existing equipment. However if you have an older model TV you may need to purchase a modulator to convert the DVD signal. A common complaint is that this is only a single disc player but that hardly matters given the features and overall usefulness of this unit.

Rating:
Summary: a great buy
Review: I recently purchased this DVD player through an online auction and was naturally somewhat skeptical. However I discovered that this is a great buy. The picture quality is very sharp. It does a great job with audio CDs too. The best feature of this DVD player is definitely its connectivity. It has both analog stereo and digital(optical) outputs as well as an S-Video output. It was trivial to hook this up to my existing equipment. However if you have an older model TV you may need to purchase a modulator to convert the DVD signal. A common complaint is that this is only a single disc player but that hardly matters given the features and overall usefulness of this unit.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste your Money JVC 511BK
Review: I tested this out with the MATRIX it worked great so I bought it. Plays old movies but it is hit or miss with new releases. Mostly Miss. Will never buy a JVC product again.