JVC XV-S65GD Reviews/Opinions/Test Results? (1 Viewer)

[Rob Robinson]

"If all this even helps one person, that's cool."
well, i just ordered one, so pat yourself on the back Ron!
I'm half tempted to paypal you $5 to buy yourself a pint on me

 

[Dalton]

Ron,
Good reviews. I also have tested these three players. Actually the JVC I have is the xv-fa95 which is just a seven disc changer version w/dvd-a of the unit you have. They both have the same "guts" so to speak. Anyway, I respectfully disagree with your assesment about it putting out a better picture than the rp-56(which I also own BTW). It could just be my set though(Panasonic WXF95 56" 16X9). I found that after calibrating both players on my set that the rp56 put out a better picture for me. I do like the jvc but it just didn't give me a picture that looked better than the rp56. I am keeping both though because I love the non-anamorphic scaling on the JVC. This unit shines on non-anamorphic discs. IMHO it does a better job on non-anamorphic discs than the rp91(which i also owned for 3 weeks). Overall I think(again IMHO) that the jvc and rp56 put a better picture on my set than the rp91. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to bash the 91 it was a good unit and has many happy owners, it just didn't suit me. So now i keep the jvc for dvd-a and non-anamorphic discs and the rp56 for anamorphic movies. Sorry for the long reply but but i just wanted to post my $.02. Thanks again for posting your impressions of these players here Ron, i'm sure it will help steer some people in the right direction for a PS player in the $300 range. I have found alot of help deciding purchases just by joining this forum! It's good to talk to fellow HT enthusiasts!
Dalton

 

[Ron-P]

Rob, I hope you are as pleased with it as I am. Let me know how you like it once you get it all set-up and calibrated.
BTW, always give in to you temptations

Peace Out~

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http://home.earthlink.net/~peregrinefalcon

 

[Ron-P]

Thanks for sharing Dalton. I do not expect everyone to get the same results as myself. When I returned my Sony today at BB, the dvd sales guy said another customer just returned the JVC because the Sony put out a better picture.
There are so many other factors that go into the image quality other than just the DVD player. I'm glad you like your RP56, it is a good player.
For myself, I could not get decently bright colors, everyting seemed washed out. I also could not get as sharp an clean an image as the JVC gives me. Then there is that Flicker Bug, once I caught that, I always found myself looking for it. It was in my head and there to stay.
But yes, the non-anamorphic scaling on the JVC is excellent. When I put in A Nightmare Before Christmas I was amazed.
Peace Out~

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http://home.earthlink.net/~peregrinefalcon

 

[andy_brehm]

Well, with all this talk about the JVC I really want to try it out. Anyone interested in my RP56?

 

[PaulKH]

Ron, about the 'flicker bug' on the RP56 - I never saw it on anything other than Toy Story 1 & 2, did you? And I think the red in those scenes is more saturated than ANYTHING you'll see in non-animated films so I think the flicker bug would be VERY rarely seen.
If the RP56 hadn't looked so dark or bright and the color was richer I'd have kept it.

 

[Rik P]

Well I got my S65 yesterday and all i can say is............... Thanks Ron good work!
Man I love the rich colors and picture tweakablitiy i was missing the 56.
I feel more confortable with my picture now with the JVC than i did with the 56 and i think im finally happy for now....
I belive this well last me until i can save up for a Kenwood 5700 or what evers top of the line in next years CES (or is the show later this year?).
Thanks, Guys

 

[Ron-P]

Paul, I did not test any other material. The only other Flicker I found was in Gladiator. Not sure if it is related to the bug or not, but it only occurred with the RP56 in progressive mode. At the end of the final fight between Maximus and Commodus when Commodus is lying dead at Maximus's feet, there is a shot from a far. I noticed Commoudus body flickering. Strange, as it is not related to over saturated colors. I did test this same scene on my old S530D, the NS700p and the JVC S60. So far it only occurred with the RP56 in progressive mode. Another member here also reported seeing the Flicker Bug in Enemy at the Gates
Like you Paul, it was more than just the Flicker Bug that I did not like about this player.
Rik, glad you like the player.
I was able to really get in and tweak mine with AVIA and it really looks good. This player, IMO, has an excellent progressive picture and the upscaling is also excellent.
Another possible down side to this player is the layer change. Last night, I sat back and enjoyed The Patriot, excellent use of colors in this movie, when the layer change occurred, it was very long. I mean a good 2-3 seconds. I was a little surprised. Maybe I am just accustomed to the lightning speed of the Sonys layer change and this is average. I did not test other movies as I could not locate any other layer changes and it was getting late.
So, can anyone else comment on the layer change of the JVC S60D. Could it just be my machine, or maybe this movie or is it just a slow layer change altogether.
Peace Out~

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http://home.earthlink.net/~peregrinefalcon
[Edited last by Ron-P on October 23, 2001 at 09:41 AM]

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Ron,
Where is the layer change in The Patriot? My test for this is Elizabeth, as it's been very slow on some of my players. Tried it the other night on the JVC, and it was totally unnoticeable. I do remember one kinda slow layer change but don't remember which disc it was. When I backed up and went through it again, it went quickly.
In my experience with various players, it's common for the layer change on any given disc to sometimes be kinda slow and other times almost instantaneous.
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Steve S.
I prefer not to push the subwoofers until they're properly run in.

 

[David_R]

Does the JVC or DVD-A version play the following
Super VCD
DVD-R
?

 

[Ron-P]

Steve,
I'd have to check, not sure of the Ch. or time slot. I also tested the layer change on The 6th Day and Final Fantasy. The 6th Day was average, a short pause. With Final Fantasy, you'd swear there wasn't a layer change, extremely quick. It really does depend on the disk. My Sony flew thru all layer changes the same.
David, from what I remember (I'm not at home to check) I believe the S60 model only does Video and Audio CD. Not Super or DVD-R.
Peace Out~

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http://home.earthlink.net/~peregrinefalcon

 

[Don Munsil]

I hate to muddy the waters here, but I have to point out that differences in color saturation are a calibration issue. If one DVD player has brighter colors than another, it just means one has higher voltage levels on the chroma channel. This is not uncommon -- look at the charts on the individual player reviews on Secrets of Home Theater and Hi Fi. No two players output the same voltage levels. The JVC almost certainly has juiced up chroma output, perhaps so that it will look "brighter" than other players.
Once you calibrate properly, those color differences will disappear. Unfortunately, unless you have a TV with multiple memories, it's difficult to compare two DVD players because you need a calibration memory for each. The key is to ignore those issues and concentrate on others, or calibrate for one, watch it for a good long while, like a few days, then switch to the other one and recalibrate.
The same is true of black level and contrast. Once calibrated, they all look the same in this area.
As to the issue at hand, I do think the JVC has a better video output stage than the RP-56, but not by much. They're both good players with excellent video quality. I do not at all agree that the RP-56 has a "washed out" look; again, that's a calibration issue. I do think the JVC has a very clean, solid, artifact-free image (and said so in my writeup), but I couldn't stand the deinterlacing issues. If you aren't bothered by deinterlacing issues, I think the JVC is a real winner.
Best,
Don

 

[Takosan]

Although I intend to get a HDTV soon something always comes up that eat my fund ... anyways in case I'm stuck a bit longer with a interlaced TV how is this S60 performance as far as interlaced ouput goes?
TIA,
Takosan

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Takosan,
I used the JVC with an analog 4/3 rptv for a few weeks before I got my new HD-ready set. It's picture quality was at least as good as my Panasonic A-320, a very highly regarded interlaced player.
It's anamorphic downconversion was better than any of the 5 other dvd player's I've owned (2 Sonys, 2 Toshibas, and the Panny).
Oddly, the JVC derives it's interlaced output from the progressive output, so 3/2 pulldown makes a difference on interlaced as well as progressive output. Just set the pulldown to "smart" and you'll have no problem with combing.
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Steve S.
I prefer not to push the subwoofers until they're properly run in.

 

[PaulKH]

Don - what do you mean by 'deinterlacing issues' on the JVC?
Thanks.
Also, I'm sure you're right about calibrating for a specific DVD player. I guess I'd need to run VE or AVIA on any player to calibrate the TV input to the player. No problem there, my Pioneer Elite lets me have custom settings for each input.

 

[Lewis Besze]

If one DVD player has brighter colors than another, it just means one has higher voltage levels on the chroma channel

Very true!
Same goes to the horizontal luminance frequency response.Some manufacturers on some models boost the ferquency @4mhz to make it appear to look more "sharper"[Toshiba models],though it won't go without some ringing as some of you have noticed it.
Oh BTW the JVC model in question got some good reviews in the S&V mag a month or so ago,in a company of Sony, Yamaha, and Pioneer players.
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"You Hungarians always disagree"

 

[Patrick Sun]

Well, I went to Sears, used their 10% discount for customer appreciation day and picked up the JVC XV-S62SL (another clone of the 60 and 65) for $207 + tax. I haven't unpacked it yet, but I'll give it a whirl on Sunday. I was all set to go ahead with the Panny RP56, but once I learned the JVC would also deal with MP3s, CD-RWs, I decided to give the JVC a chance.
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PatCave; HT Pix; Gear; DIY Mains; DIY CC; Sunosub I + II + III; DVDs; Link Removed

 

[Takosan]

Thanx Steve.
Has anyone bought from hifi.com? I missed the Sears 10% thingy but hifi.com has free shipping & both the s60 & 56 are priced @ around $207. I thought I can bring this down further with the coupon I found @ techbargains.com but it didn't take the coupon. Still $206 seems to be a great price & was wondering about hifi.com's reputation.
Takosan

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Paul,
The JVC has picture adjustments for all the parameters (contrast, brightness, color, tint, sharpness, gamma, Y-delay), so even if your set did not have input-specific settings you could AVIA calibrate with the player's controls without disturbing the settings on your set.
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Steve S.
I prefer not to push the subwoofers until they're properly run in.

 

[DwightK]

Whoever it was up there who wanted to know about SVCD's and the JVC 65, It does play SVCD and xSVCD. Also it plays my xVCD's and xSVCD's in full progressive mode. That was the main reason I bought this and have retired my Pioneer DV-333. Progressive AND I get my caps.