Disappointing
Written: Aug 11 '01
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Pros: none
Cons: clock, one touch record, display
The Bottom Line: I wouldn't recommend it.
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| fanonc's Full Review: JVC HR-VP790 VHS VCR |
I had a Magnavox VCR that I liked a lot but it was worn out, time to get a new VCR. I bought a JVC 32" TV last winter so I thought I'd stick with that brand when looking for a new VCR. One reason I bought this model here is because I got a great deal on ebay. I paid $80 whereas the lowest price I found online was $119 before s/h.
It has what I need in a VCR, but there are some truly annoying features that make this machine more of a hassle than I had expected. I will outline each of them. This is just my opinion and will try to let you know why these things bug me in the hopes that if you are like me you will understand.
First of all, for those that don't know, when you see a JVC that says it's "plug and play" and that the clock will set itself, what they don't tell you is that it doesn't work with cable boxes!! That was the first surprise. If you have a cable box, as I do, you have to set the clock manually. So much for 21st century technology! Sticking with the clock theme, let me say that this fool thing will lose time if your power goes out, or even surges, for a nanosecond! My 5 year old Magnavox wasn't as bad as this brand new JVC. Honestly,I am shocked at how easy it is for this thing to lose time on the clock. I had a slight power surge this week and bam the clock went blank. It is unreal. Why in the world can't they make these things so they keep the time during a brief power outage? Other appliances will keep time with a battery or something so why not a JVC? Jeez, this is 2001. How hard can it be?
Another truly annoying feature of this VCR is the ITR. ITR is Instant Timer Record, also known as One Touch Recording. I love this feature and use it all the time. A typical scenario is for me to want to record one program while watching another. If I didn't have time to set the timer before hand or if the I just realized I wanted to do this, ITR comes in handy. With ITR you can record in 30 minute intervals up to 8 hours. If it's 8:59 and you just realized that you want to tape something (that's one hour long) at 9:00 while watching something else you hit ITR twice (once for each half hour). Now get this, for some reason, the engineers at JVC decided not to include this feature on the darn remote!!!!! It makes NO sense. You have to get up, walk to the VCR and find the tiny "REC" button. I can't even tell you how stupid this is. It's being reason.
Speaking of the remote and recording. If you want to record something on the fly, you can't just hit the REC button on the remote. Here is another silly idea from JVC. You have to hit the REC and the PLAY button together!! I have NEVER had a VCR like that. I guess they are afraid people will accidently REC stuff with just one REC button so they made it super idiot proof and totally unintuitive. This is just me. You may not mind. I do.
I do not like the display. It has two settings: the channel the tuner is set to and the time. All of my other VCRs have had a COUNTER. I like the counter. Not on the JVC. You have to hit a button on the remote to see the counter. Some of you may not mind this. I am not used to that but I can live with it. When you are recording it goes to the channel display (mine is always on ch. 3 because of my cable). There is a tiny little static red button. I personally think the display should blink REC or something to remind you that you are recording. That way if you do accidently record something there is a more noticable visual indication other than a tiny static red dot. If you set the display to the clock (I prefer the clock rather than the channel because the ch. always stays the same for me) when you are watching a tape, as soon as you hit STOP the display will go back to the channel. It's stupid.
The rest of the VCR is what you expect. You can program 8 events, etc. It has PAUSE, SHUTTLE JOG in REVERSE or FORWARD. All standard stuff. I am pleased with that although I think the picture quality is not that good. My 5 year old Magnavox recorded a better picture. The AUTO PICTURE is nothing more than tracking so don't be fooled into thinking it's anything other than that.
I am glad I only paid $80 for mine. If I had paid $120 + shipping I would be upset. My brother has a comparable Sony that is about 2 years old. I have to say it is a better VCR than the JVC.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 80
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Epinions.com ID:
fanonc
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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