JVC 7800 S-VHS Disappointment (1 Viewer)

[Don McCune]

I just received the 7800 from Crutchfield. My expectation was that I would have an improved picture when playing pre-recorded tapes vs. my Panasonic VHS machine. Well, I played one tape in both machines, and actually thought the JVC was worse! The picture jittered, with no improvement in color, resolution, etc... I tried adjusting the tracking but no help. The automatic calibration was on. Was my expectations too high? I plan on testing additional tapes to see if it is an aberration. Is there any additional adjustments I can make that would improve the picture?

While I understand the 7800 shines when recording in S-VHS, my primary interest was in playing pre-recorded tapes, not available on DVD, on my Mits 65809.

Also, as a non-techie, I have what may seem to be a dumb question. Does the S-Video connection not work with VHS tapes?

Thanks,

Don

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes, S-Video works fine

If you were expecting a quantum leap, yes you are right to be dissapointed. Does the 7800 have a Time Base Corrector? If so, turn it on, it helps

 

[Michael St. Clair]

My Toshiba W808 definitely looks better than a VHS deck when playing back pre-recorded tapes. It has a digital noise reduction circuit. If the 7800 does, see if it is engaged.

If the JVC looks worse than your regular deck, it could have problems.

 

[John Sully]

I would not expect any S-VHS deck to have a substantially better picture than a non-S deck on prerecorded tapes. If playback was jittery, you probably have a defective deck. Timebase correction will make a picture better, but it does this mostly by sure that each scan line starts at the same time in the scan. This eliminates fuzzy edges and improves the overall sharpness of the picture.

 

[Jay Blair]

Definitely turn on the timebase correction. This will also most importantly turn on noise reduction. The difference in noise level when noise reduction circuitry in on is very substantial. The easiest way to tell if it is on, besides the light that turns on at the front of the unit with the on/off button for timebase correction, is to scan forward at 7x speed a little ways into your tape, then hit play and you will at first see a very grainy picture until the player gains a footing and the improvements kick in. It will be most noticeable on dark scenes and takes a couple seconds to kick in on both my 7600 and 9500 JCV players. I haven't tried the 7800 personally, so could be giving you bad information, and I imagine someone will chime in to correct me if I'm wrong; I can only assume that from what I've read about the 7800 it has similar functions to my two units.

One other thing, read the manual. It will go through all the settings with you, such as when to use the video stabilizer setting and when not to. This setting does more more harm than good most of the time. Usually it should be off, and if turned on will automatically disengage the digital tbc/nr circuit. The digital R3 setting should be on in the menu. Video calibration usually best set to on. Picture control usually set to auto or sharp. Again, these are the settings for my 7600 model and may differ from what is available with the 7800.

 

[Bill Kane]

I got the JVC 7800 from Crutchfield this week and it works great for the function I wanted: to replace a Toshiba HiFi with S-Video as my tv tuner, since I already use S-Video switching with my DVD player. One less source mode switching on the tv.

Dumping the previous composite video CERTAINLY has resulted in much better color saturation on CATV broadcast, maybe by 50 percent. I left the supplied S-Video cable in the package and got an Ultralink Challenger (entry) cable from my B&M dealer.

Phase Two will be actual video tape function and I appreciate the last poster's tips.

 

[Chuck Kent]

I bought a 7800 from Crutchfield within the last couple of weeks or so. The picture on pre-recorded standard VHS is better on the 7800 than my other VCRs. Not night and day but still noticeably less grainy. (BTW, as mentioned above, generally the auto calibrate will be ok to leave on. But you probably shouldn't leave the auto stabilizer on.)

Maybe you have a bad 7800???

 

[Don McCune]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I turned on the TBC and it did the trick. I will try the other suggestions as well to see if I get further improvement.

Thanks again.

Don