Rating: 
Summary: THIRD STRAIGHT REVIEWER TO HAVE A PROBLEM...........
Review: I'm the third straight reviewer to have a problem with this unit. Mine lasted about 9 months too - then the DVD player conked out! Now I get only a deep, very dark, almost b&w picture, which no amount of tweaking will restore. A lousy 90 day labor warranty too. Spend more $$$ for a quality unit.
Rating: 
Summary: High Quality Combo
Review: I'm very satisfied with this combo. As others have said, the picture quality of both DVD and VCR is excellent. On the VCR/TV side of things, most units offer SVideo out but not input. This is one of the few that offers this (in addition to composite and RF). So, I have my digital cable TV box connected via SVideo, then SVideo out on the JVC unit connects to my HD-ready TV. Then, component out to the TV as well. With progressive scan turned off, I can watch DVD, VCR, or cable TV on SVideo, and just DVD on component. With PS turned on, DVD can only be watched on component and SVideo is only used for VCR or TV viewing. The only drawback using the SVideo input from cable TV is that the unit needs to be turned on in order to view cable TV. It doesn't pass through the signals if it is turned off. A small price to pay for best quality viewing.
Rating:
Summary: this is the one to buy
Review: it's the latest model of any combo that amazon offers and operates without a hitch..I tried and returned a toshiba model(picture froze) and the jvc is a much more solid and technologically advanced unit...for example, the vcr has five times as many programming options than the toshiba..the dvd drawer is not nearly as flimsy and the picture quality is clearer and deeper...my understanding is that jvc manufactures this combo themselves and it is a second generation model...
Rating: 
Summary: Only Good on Paper...
Review: On Paper, this appeared to be the deck to buy. It seemed to be the only unit that offers S-video output for both the DVD and VCR, as opposed to the usual crummy coaxial "RF" output that so many combination units offer for the VCR section. However, this unit was terrible out of the box, at least for the VCR. There is a hideous track line that appears on virtually all VHS tapes, whether taped off-broadcast or pre-recorded VHS movies. Tracking manually does not remove it, and JVC's "customer support" is practically non-existent. Though advertised as "open till 10 pm", there is a message that the office is closed when I called at 6pm, & the website offers scant help. This is either a lemon, or very poorly engineered. Sadly I had to return it immediately.
Rating:
Summary: Only Good on Paper...
Review: On Paper, this appeared to be the deck to buy. It seemed to be the only unit that offers S-video output for both the DVD and VCR, as opposed to the usual crummy coaxial "RF" output that so many combination units offer for the VCR section. However, this unit was terrible out of the box, at least for the VCR. There is a hideous track line that appears on virtually all VHS tapes, whether taped off-broadcast or pre-recorded VHS movies. Tracking manually does not remove it, and JVC's "customer support" is practically non-existent. Though advertised as "open till 10 pm", there is a message that the office is closed when I called at 6pm, & the website offers scant help. This is either a lemon, or very poorly engineered. Sadly I had to return it immediately.
Rating: 
Summary: Good SVHS DVD Combo
Review: On the surface this unit seems like a good idea. After trying several other DVD/VCR combos and being very disappointed with the VHS quality this seemed like the answer. The good news is that for the most part it is. The VHS picture quality is good and of course the DVD quality is DVD quality (no surprise there!).After several weeks of use I feel comfortable recommending this unit to those looking to replace aging VCRs and save some cabinet space in the process. I can't give this unit five stars because of the remote and the way JVC has implemented VCR programming. I could give it five stars for image quality. Remotes and the programming interface (how you set the unit to record) are my pet peeve with VCRs. No one has done it well and JVC seems to have gone out of their way to over simplify it. They have decided to take up half of the remote with single purpose buttons to do the VCR programming. I guess their engineers never heard of the 'less is more' approach to user interfaces. The result is an unusable remote in the dark. To recap the pros: the VHS picture using SVHS ET on standard tapes is excellent (slightly better than my old Sharp HQ VCR), the DVD quality and operation is exellent, you can record non-commercial DVDs to tape on this unit (it is not a single step process like GoVideo; you must start record on the VCR, then press play on the DVD), and like most of the other combo units you can use this unit to play DVDs on older TVs (not sure why anyone would, but it is an interesting benefit of these units). The cons: pricey compared to two seperate units and the remote is difficult to use.
Rating:
Summary: VCR drive died after one year
Review: This box was pretty nice on arrival, although the picture on tape playback was not as good as on my ten-year-old Sony VCR. However, the tape unit has given out after one year. I've tried cleaning it and manually adjusting the tracking, to no avail. (It's the recording that fails; playback of old tapes works OK.)
I've heard that all the major labels now buy their VCR drive units from cheapo makers in Taiwan, as part of an aggressive campaign to move everone to DVD. This is unfortunate. My advice: if you have an old VCR, keep it. You may use a DVR for recording, but you may need something to play those ancient VHS tapes, and the new units just won't do it. In other words, these VCR/DVD machines are a stopgap measure.
Rating:
Summary: High Quality Combo
Review: This combo unit performed as advertised for about 9 months. Unfortunately the video output for the DVD player just died. I can hear my DVDs, but not see them through either standard or S-Video output. So I'm back on Amazon looking for the next unit. Not going to go the combo route this time. I'm hoping the durability will be better with a 'dedicated' DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: Durability is questionable
Review: This combo unit performed as advertised for about 9 months. Unfortunately the video output for the DVD player just died. I can hear my DVDs, but not see them through either standard or S-Video output. So I'm back on Amazon looking for the next unit. Not going to go the combo route this time. I'm hoping the durability will be better with a 'dedicated' DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: Quality combo
Review: This has it all for my specific purposes. Saves space because I've got to have something to play the kid's many VHS tapes and I wanted to be able to start watching DVDs. I have a 4:3 aspect ratio tv, and I don't like the letterbox format and this unit lets you adjust so that the full screen is full of picture. I can deal with the lost portion of the actual film. It is progressive scan for when I upgrade the tv. The s-vhs is great. Playback of vhs tapes compared to a vhs only vcr is much better. It has two s-video input connections, one on the front and one on the back. One s-video output is on the back. Programmed recording from my satelite receiver is supposed to be easy, haven't tried it yet. ALL basic controls can be made from the unit. Feels solid and well built. DVD replay is remarkable. Lots of bells and whistles for the money.
The remote is not of the best design for me. It can only be programed to control a tv in addition to the unit.
The instruction manual is very, very poor, probably written by an engineer, lol.
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