JVC XV-F80BK Progressive Scan 7-Disc DVD Player
Top-notch product, at a reasonable price.
When I picked up my F-80bk, I had some concerns. I had ordered the unit as a replacement for my JVC XV-501bk, which was an absolute disaster of a unit. However, I was soon to discover that my fears were all for naught; this model is one of the most sound investments I've made in electronics.<br />DISC MECHANISM: Thanks to the independent tray loading system JVC has developed, this player fits seven discs into the space of five...and allows you to open the drawer and change every disc except the one currently being played without interrupting playback. Tray opening/closing and disc selection are both a little slow, but the high capacity more than makes up for it.<br />LASER ASSEMBLY: Part of the reason I bought a JVC is because they just seem to have better laser setups. Playback--whether it be audio CD, DVD, MP3 disc, or a homemade VideoCD/Super VideoCD--is consistently flawless, with no stutters or glitches even when the disc has small smudge marks or blemishes.<br />AUDIO PLAYBACK: The audio is crisp and clean, which is very important to me as a musician/music teacher. Since my amp is older, I use the analog outputs. I have also tested the digital audio functions with a friend's equipment; the quality is perfect, with no static or signs of audio compression. True, you cannot hear MP3 playback over the digital stream, but that is due to copyright issues regarding the MP3 file format, and JVC had no control over that. Also, some complain that the randomized/\\"shuffle\\" playback only works on one disc at a time...but, given the way CD changers work, the pause between songs is excruciatingly long when the player has to switch discs after every track, so the exclusion of this feature is understandable.<br />VIDEO PLAYBACK: This player has the best image quality I have seen thus far on a DVD player. For those who have the proper equipment, this player is one of the few models that has a true, \\"digital-direct\\" progressive scan mode (which means that it reads the high framerate straight from the disc, rather than trying to reinterpret the extra frames back into a standard-quality scan). Even with the composite out, the picture is crisp and clean. This player also has a better-than-usual video filter, which results in a smoother image on large screens or with low-quality source material. (This is easily seen when you zoom in on the screen image, or when playing back a VideoCD).<br />REMOTE: The remote is lightweight and easy to use, and it doubles as a universal remote for whatever television you may have. The fact that the \\"key\\" playback controls glow in the dark is a nice feature; my only complaint is that it does not have any VCR functionality (I'm not a fan of juggling remotes).<br />EXTRA FEATURES: This player provides easy and high-quality playback of all major formats you might expect to use: DVDs, audio CDs, Video CDs, Super Video CDs, and MP3 discs. It will also read CD-R and even CD-RW discs without any problems. Also, the user-adjustable video filter is great for those who like to tinker with things in quest of the \\"ultimate\\" quality setting, and the ability to zoom in and out on the image is quite fun...and useful, if you're trying to find something specific in a scene. You can zoom in up to 1024x, and the image stays remarkably clean, and you can zoom out to 1/8x (although I have yet to find any reason for doing this).<br />PRICE: This is not an inexpensive unit. But there are several out there that are more expensive, and--in my opinion--no player currently on the market offers you a better movie experience. If you are looking for a high-end DVD player, or especially if you're looking for a device to serve as the heart of a home audio/video system, look no further.