The first thing to understand about this device is that it is pretty bleeding-edge technology. By this, it should be understood that it will do what it is supposed to do, but just barely. Because of this, if you are not the sort of person accustomed to getting the newest electronics devices, and dealing with all the teething problems the newest stuff always has, you shouldn't even be thinking about buying this VCR - you would in all likelihood just find it extremely frustrating and end up returning it.
If, however, you are the kind of person who likes to get the newest stuff and working through its issues, then this VCR might be for you. The purpose of the rest of this review is to help you decide.
What this VCR will do is:
(1) play back pre-recorded D-VHS tapes.
(2) record HDTV from a FireWire / IEEE-1394 / iLink equipped receiver.
(3) do what a traditional S-VHS VCR will do.
Here are the pluses and minuses from my own experience, in no particular order:
+ HDTV recording quality. When recording HDTV, the digital signal is transferred directly to tape so that it can be played back as changed. Unless there is damage to the tape, the quality of playback should be equal to the original signal fed into it.
- no internal receiver. The HDTV record capability depends on an external HDTV receiver (whether satellite, over-the-air, or cable) to capture the signal, which is then fed to the VCR over a FireWire connection (IEEE-1394 and iLink are the same technology as FireWire, just with a different name). While recording, the receiver is tied up - if you want to be able to watch one program while recording another, plan on getting a second HDTV receiver.
+ support for HAVi, which enables the VCR operations to be controlled over FireWire. This allows the HDTV tuner to control timed recordings by turning on the VCR, starting recording, and ending recording.
- very limited HDTV receiver support for HAVi. While this is not strictly speaking a problem with the VCR, it greatly restricts its usefulness. As of the time of this writing, I am aware of only one HDTV receiver that supports it - the Samsung SIR-T165. I have that receiver, and can report that the combo does indeed work. Other HAVi equipped HDTV receivers are supposed to come out soon, but you should be very careful about making compatibility assumptions here. If a particular receiver does not explicitly claim that it is compatible with this VCR, you should assume that it isn't.
- limited HDTV programming availability. Only a fraction of the programming currently aired is available in HDTV, and not all of that is available in all areas. Check your local area over-the-air, cable, and satellite availability before buying. This is getting better, but we are a very long way from being able to assume that any show aired is available in HDTV.
- the manual is pretty poorly written; it is quite difficult to understand what the VCR can and cannot do. Much of the important text is in the form of footnotes (!). It also contains at least one important error - it says that the power-saver mode must be enabled for FireWire recordings to work, but the reverse is true; the power-saver mode must be DIS-abled, not EN-abled for this.
+ 3 1/2 hour maximum HDTV recording length. This is enough for most sporting events and almost all movies. Note that for this length you should buy "7-hour" tapes; there are shorter tapes that can only record 2 hours of HDTV; the availability of the (cheaper) length tapes is fine, but know the difference.
- black out period during playback speed changes. When changing from fast forward or rewind to play or back, the screen goes black for several seconds, which complicates skipping commercials.
- no automatic re-wind when going from fast-forward to play. Many VCRs will rewind a little during such a change; this one does not. When skipping commercials during playback, this makes it all but impossible to go back to play without going past several seconds of the program. Rewinding slightly is complicated by the "black-out" problem mentioned above.
- very limited number of pre-recorded D-VHS tapes. Such tapes are being sold under the "D-Theater" label. At the time of this writing, I only know of about three dozen such tapes. More tapes are being released, but the rate is a trickle, not a torrent.
+ Component video out and optical digital audio out. This isn't particularly useful with recorded tapes, since those can be played back over the same FireWire connection used to record them, but it is useful with pre-recorded tapes. Component video and optical digital audio are much more widely supported that FireWire.
+ VHS and S-VHS compatibility. You won't need a second VCR for older tapes. The JVC is perfectly capable (though not exceptional) in handling this sort of material.
+ limited competition. I am aware of only two other products in this category , both by Mitsubishi - the HS-HD1100U and the HS-HD2000U. I haven't used either, but am not aware of any particularly interesting reasons to choose either of them over this one (or vice-versa for that matter).
