JVC DRMV5S DVD Recorder/VCR Combo
Great DVD recording quality; user interface is bad
After almost 3 months with this product, I'm afraid I must reduce it to 2 stars (if Amazon will let me).    The original strength of the machine for me was in its great dubbing quality from VHS to DVD.  Alas, after just this short time, I've noticed serious deterioration in this quality.  It seems like the connection between the VHS and the DVD parts of the machine is wearing out.  If I play a videotape and switch over to the DVD, I notice a change in tint.  The DVD recordings now, even in short-play modes around 2-hours, show some pixelation and blocking that were not noticeable when the machine was new.    I should mention one other aspect of this machine that baffles me:  When you record a DVD, there's an extensive \\"Navigation\\" menu that shows an *animated* thumbnail of the titles recorded on the disk, along with full information about date, time, and length of recording.  You can program in a name for your titles and you can even select different thumbnails for your titles.      Well, guess what.  After you \\"finalize\\" the disk, as you're supposed to do, the thumbnail you've so meticulously programmed disappears!  The only thing that shows when you load the finalized disk is a plain blue screen with the name of the title(s) and the date it was recorded.  You don't even have the length of the titles.    However, other information about the title, plus all other titles you've ever recorded, (though still not the thumbnail) remain on the *machine* in something called the \\"library.\\"  So now, I guess, you must sort through the library to find info about the disk you just popped in.  If you play the disk on another machine, you're out of luck.    Why doesn't information about a disk stay with the disk?  I've seen other machines maintain disk information and thumbnails after finalizing, so it couldn't have been some technological limitation.  It makes no sense to have the machine retain info about all your previous recordings when that's not the logical place someone would look to get info about the disk they're playing *at the moment.*    Without the superior dubbing quality, the bad outweighs the good with this machine.      ------------  (Original Nov. 28, 2005 review)    Buy this machine if what you need is excellent recording quality for transferring VHS tapes to DVD's.  (I'm not sure who else would buy these combo machines.)  After trying 3 different brands, I found the DVD's produced by the JVC machine to be so good, it's almost scary.  This appears to be the result of superior playback from the VCR deck and superior recording on the DVD burner.  On the VCR side, there are manual tracking control (good for crotchety old tapes) and picture and editing enhancement circuits that make my old tapes look better than they have in years.  On the DVD side, of particular usefulness is the flexible recording format.  If you have 2-1/2 hours of tape to transfer, you no longer have to choose between chopping 1/2 hours from your tape to fit in the 2-hour SP format or jumping to the 4-hour LP format.  You can set the machine to record at the 2-1/2 hour level.  I have burned DVDs at various recording rates and found the quality to be superb - that is, indistinguishable from the VHS output - at up to the 4-hour format.  This is great if, like me, you want to burn more than one movie on a DVD to save space.    Unfortunately, it's not easy to get to these great features or recording quality.  For a machine inherently designed for dubbing, there's no 1-step dubbing.  It's more like 6 steps:  1. switch set to \\"VHS\\"; 2. PLAY tape you want to dub; 3. PAUSE at starting point for transferring; 3. switch set to \\"DVD\\"; 4. start DVD recording, which is done by simultaneously pushing TWO buttons on the remote or one button on the unit; 5. immediately press PAUSE; 6. press the DUBBING button, which is ONLY ON THE UNIT, which means you cannot do this with your remote!    Wow, could JVC have designed something more clumsy?  And when you STOP the recordingon the DVD, as the manual helpfully announces, that DOES NOT STOP the VHS tape, which means that if you want to resume DVD burning (as a new title on the disc), not only do you have to repeat the 6-step ordeal above, you must now also jockey the tape to find where you left off before.      Also, for all the great features JVC included in the VCR, including progressive scan, there is no on-screen display of the deck's status.  The only way you can tell what channel the VCR is set to or whether it's rewinding, fast forwarding, or simply dormant is to squint across the room at the tiny display on the unit, while you're blinded by the decorative blue light on the panel.  (Which light can in theory be turned off or dimmed.  But try to figure out how.)  The manual tracking feature is also operable only on the unit.  JVC seems to think we will be sitting 6 inches from this machine.     The DVD side does have on-screen status display (you guess which button on the remote does this:  \\"MENU,\\" \\"DISPLAY,\\" or \\"ON SCREEN\\"?) which allows for fairly advanced controls, e.g., jumping to a specific time-mark on the disc, but instead of displaying real language, what you get are cryptic icons.    It is sad that this product's great technical ability has to be saddled with such numb-skulled product design and user interface.   All this means that you must keep the manual handy and well-flagged.  And of course, the manual is as poorly written and organized as you think.