Rating: 
Summary: Do not buy this VCR!
Review: I purchased this VCR as a replacement of another JVC VCR which stopped working after the blackout last summer. This VCR only comes with a 90day labor/parts warranty - in the past VCRs came with one year for parts. I rarely use this VCR and yesterday it recorded sound but no picture. I took out the instruction sheet and it said to use a VCR head cleaner if this happens and so I did - the VCR still does not work. I have purchased many JVC products in the past but this is by far the worst product they have made in my opinion. The remote control is hard to get used to for programming recordings. I don't know what JVC was thinking when they manufactured this product - I guess they figured that no one was buying stand alone VCRs anymore so it didn't matter. I am now looking for another VCR after having thrown away $70. + tax on a piece of garbage.
Rating:
Summary: Everything Is Junk!
Review: I too purchased this VCR thinking that I was getting a good bargain. I guess the lousy 90 day warranty from JVC should have raised red flags right away, because from day 1, I had problems with this machine. The setup went OK, but every time I went to eject the tape, the machine would suck it back in and start the playback again. No major problem, I just had to hurry up and grab the tape as soon as it came out so it wouldn't get sucked back in... Obviously a design flaw somewhere in the cage mechanism. Anyway, jump ahead two months... With just one month to go until the warranty expires, the problems start. The On-Off button started to work sporadically. Sometimes the unit just wouldn't power on, other times it wouldn't stay shut off. I also noticed that the Hi-Fi sound started acting up. Thought it might be dirty heads, so I ran a cleaner through the machine which seemed to help somewhat, however that's when the unit started to eat my tapes! Then one day out of the blue, the unit just suddenly stopped in the middle of a movie, shut down and refused to power up again! (and my tape is still inside). This lemon of a machine couldn't even keep the right time on the clock! It's in the junk pile as I write this. I should also mention that this thing was a nightmare to program and the hard-to-follow remote control was ridiculously designed with a LITHIUM battery(?). I've totally given up on VCR's since they're all mostly junk now. I'm slowly phasing out my videotape collection anyway as the VHS format enters its twilight.
It doesn't really matter what make or model you buy anymore, it's all pretty much junk nowadays. whether it's made by Sony/Panasonic/Toshiba/JVC/Zenith/RCA, etc, almost all of these companies are designing substandard products with a short lifespan now. Just watch these items literally self-destruct once the warranty period is up. Call it planned obsolescence. The quality of most consumer electronics really went downhill after manufacturers started outsourcing to Mexico, China, Malaysia, etc... It's pure garbage. Basically, whoever can supply the parts for the cheapest, or build it for the cheapest gets the contract! Back when Panasonic still built their machines in Japan, they would last you over 10+ years, if not longer. Not anymore. Sony, JVC and Panasonic (among others) have lost the trust of many former customers. (just read the reviews on Panasonic DVD players-a whole other story) I've been through 3 VCR's in the past 5 years, and I've had it. We've become such a "throw-away" society. Getting the item fixed makes little sense because it will cost you more to repair than it would to just go out and buy a new one. (which is exactly what the manufacturer wants you to do). It's high time that these companies are held responsible for their actions by knowingly selling defective, shoddy merchandise to the unsuspecting public. Until we, as consumers, demand better quality products, we're just gonna keep on being a victim of this "throw-away" society that only we ourselves helped to create! I'm fed-up, disgusted and downright sick and tired of buying junk every 3-6 months from EVERYONE. I might as well stick with the Wal*Mart stuff!
Rating:
Summary: Lacks Essential Feature!
Review: I wanted to get a better than average VCR & was attracted by the Pro-cision 19u EP Heads, which are supposed to make EP recordings look better. I soon found it lacks the rewind to zero feature our old Panasonic has, allowing one to rewind to where the counter reads zero. The worst was yet to come, & I was lucky to find out before the 30-day deadline to return for a refund. Our electricity was interrupted for a split-second, & the JVC lost all the settings I had laboriously learned to make! Our old Panasonic remembers for about 5 minutes without power. I won't try another JVC VCR!
Rating:
Summary: This VCR lasted 4 months...120 days.
Review: I wanted to get a better than average VCR & was attracted by the Pro-cision 19u EP Heads, which are supposed to make EP recordings look better. I soon found it lacks the rewind to zero feature our old Panasonic has, allowing one to rewind to where the counter reads zero. The worst was yet to come, & I was lucky to find out before the 30-day deadline to return for a refund. Our electricity was interrupted for a split-second, & the JVC lost all the settings I had laboriously learned to make! Our old Panasonic remembers for about 5 minutes without power. I won't try another JVC VCR!
Rating:
Summary: Stopped working after 3 months
Review: I was perfectly pleased with this purchase for three months, but then the unit stopped working (wouldn't turn on). Nothing unusual happened - it just died. This may be an anomaly (I've never had any trouble with my other JVC electronics), but I thought it worth mentioning...
Rating: 
Summary: Huge and "dumber" than previous JVC models
Review: The video quality was very good. That said, there are plenty of reasons I returned this model. 1) This VCR is much bigger than it looks. I liked my previous JVC model so well that when it finally broke, I bought this one to replace it. However, when I unpacked it and went to put it in the entertainment shelf, it wouldn't fit!!! It is one of the widest VCR's I've seen. 2) You MUST use the remote to do scheduled recordings. Their is no menu button on this VCR. In fact, there are not even any channel buttons (though the channel functions are available as secondary functions of other unrelated buttons). Personally this was the deal breaker for me. We lose our remote so often, and record things by timer very frequently, so not being able to schedule a recording from the console is unacceptable. 3) The ITR record button does not display the incremental time.
My previous model would display 30, 1:00, 1:30, etc each time I pressed the record button to tell me how long it would record. This model you have to keep track of those times in your head as you repeatedly push the button, becuase it doesn't dipslay anything. 4) The FF/REW is slow. I did manage to get it to fast-forward in two speeds, but neither was impressive. On a positive note, this VCR does a great job of easing into and out of FF/REW modes for protection of your tapes. I could go on, but you get the idea. For some reason, JVC decided to "dumb down" this VCR. And, from what I can see, it is the most frequently seen JVC model being sold in stores these days. I do not recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: JVC should recall this VCR
Review: This is the absolute worst VCR that I have ever had. Extremely hard to program, no memory during a power outage and it didn't even last through 7 months of use. I thought it was the tapes at first. The picture and sound suddenly started going in and out, and I wound up watching a blue screen most of the time. The warranty may cover parts, but the labor is what costs. I can buy a brand new VCR for $40.00. Quite frankly, I will never buy another JVC product again and will encourage others not to either, unless they recall this VCR, fix the problems or refund everyone's money or give them a replacement VCR of better quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Good buy & quality.
Review: This is the second JVC VCR I have purchased in the last two years. I am extremely satisfied with the picture quality on playback for this particular model, even in EP mode. The only reaon I gave four stars instead of five is because there is some background noise that can be distracting. If you use the simple tracking method though, I found it could be corrrected in most cases. I have two DVD players which of course are wonderful, but I still have those VHS tapes & of course I like to be able to record programs. I can't quite afford a DVD recorder yet & if you can't either, for the price, I think this VCR is a good bargain--easy setup, remote easy to use, programmed recording easy to learn. It's a good deal. Whatever you do, stay away from Panasonic VCR's. They were great years ago but definitely not the same quality they once were. I had to return one after one week because it ate a brand new tape. Good Luck & happy shopping.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: This was a gift, and I didn't look at reviews before it was purchased. All the bad scores are right. The color keeps flashing on and off regardless of what kind of tape is being played. The display shows the channel whenever it is turned on, which is quite irritating when you have it hooked to a cable box. You see the "3" on one screen and the cable box channel on its screen. Give me back my old RCA!
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