Jesse Skeen
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 1999
- Messages
- 5,038
Posting this here since there isn't a general "High Definition" section anymore: Last year I got a JVC HM-DH30000U and a few D-Theater tapes from an Ebay seller, that machine works great but cannot output the DTS audio tracks that are on some tapes, so I kept looking for another machine that did. Later I got a 40000 model, which does output DTS but has a strange problem with the picture that makes it jagged-looking. I'll put up an explanation later- I ended up keeping that machine but kept looking and just got a Marantz (the only non-JVC D-Theater deck I know of.) It's actually a clone of the 40000, and when I got it a couple days ago it would not play any D-VHS tapes at all, the screen would stay black at 480i with no sound output. After running it for a couple hours anyway, it now works but has the SAME picture problem as the 40000. I'll try to illustrate it as follows- suppose the dashes represent lines that make up the picture, here is how a section of the picture would look normally: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notice that they're lined up perfectly here. Now, here is how the same part of the picture looks on these 2 machines: (Ignore the underlines I put in front of the 3rd line, just putting spaces there caused it to not be shifted when posted) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - __- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Every few lines, in a uniform pattern, are shifted slightly to the side, making letters and anything else perfectly vertical in the picture look jagged. My TV also is set for no overscan and many movies are transferred with a bit of black space at one or both sides, it's apparent there too. The 30000 player doesn't do this, its picture is beautiful and is quite amazing they were able to do this with VHS tape. (I'm a geek who collects dead/obsolete formats, so this was a must-have.) Has anyone else had the same problem? (It seems there was a lot of talk about D-Theater when it was new, but now that it's gone and Blu-Ray's established nobody acknowledges it existed.) This couldn't possibly be an inherent problem with this model sold under TWO different brands and those who bought them at an original cost of over $1000 didn't notice? I will have to send the Marantz back to the seller while I still can if there's no fix for this, and if this is a problem with most or all of these players I'll just have to forget about getting DTS. I'm using the component video output on the players as the only other option is iLink and nothing I have supports that.
