I have a JVC HM-DH40000U and a 30000U. Both have had mechanical meltdowns. The 30000 had an internal burnout of some kind, and the 40000 is prone to constant headclogs to the point of ridiculous. It's also having problems with its power supply, as the machine can't lock-up a picture for the first five minutes after being powered on. I suspect it will die shortly.

Has anyone used a different D-VHS vcr that they would recommend?
I love the format - but when JVC charges $250 just to open up the machine, I want something that's more reliable than needing service every 100 hours.
Also, HDMI audio/video would be a treat.

thanks

I had both the 30k & 40k, problems with both, sold both, now have this and could not be happier...

http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027314&pathId=50&page=3&archive=true

I had both the 30k & 40k, problems with both, sold both, now have this and could not be happier...

http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027314&pathId=50&page=3&archive=true

what problems did you have with the 30k and 40k, and have you had any problems with the 5U?

Playback issues with the 30 & 40. No issues with the 5U.

Playback issues with the 30 & 40. No issues with the 5U.

Thanks - I've had lots of head clog problems with easily less than 100 hours use on both, a power supply problem and a couple of transistors/resistors/capacitors that fried. It's too bad, cause' the pictures are unreal. If I can find one like yours I'll try and bag it.

I believe the Mitsubishi DVHS decks were much more mechanically reliable than the JVCs, esp the 30k/40k models. I have a Mits 1100u that I don't use much, but it's only used for DVHS recording/playback and never regular tapes, I have another plain workhorse JVC for those. The Mits 1100 works great.

I also picked up a JVC 30k for cheap since it's playback mechanism is shot. I haven't even bothered to fix/play with it. I use it as a firewire/TS to component converter box, so I could record copy protected HD content off tapes played back on the Mits over firewire to the JVC 30k, and out it's component ports and into the Hauppauge HDPVR. While it's impossible to get HD off some of my tapes digitally, via this analog hole it was possible and the quality loss isn't much going from digital to analog, and acceptable for being able to get a restriction free copy in close to original PQ.

Another plus of the 5U is outputing over HDMI.

I have the Mitsubishi 1100 combined with the MIT MDR-200 to record and playback OTA HD. Don't use it much since I got my DVR. Actually the MIT MDR-200 has trouble coping wit the lack of analog transmissions. I have to set my VCR to output channel 3 analog to get the MIT MDR-200 to scan. It then scans for analog and digital stations.

The analog VHD part of the 1100 is excellent also. I use it for VHS tapes when I have the need and it has the best possible VHS picture.

Rick R

I recently picked up a JVC HM-DH5u back in February and for the most part I love it. For the first few months I did numerous DVD and Xbox Live download recordings via s-video onto SVHS with the 5u and never had a single issue. Seemed to do a much better job than my JVC HR-S5902 SVHS machine. Over the summer after probably 100 hours or so of recordings I got my first instance of a clogged head. I manually cleaned it and it worked fine for another couple of hours only to once again get clogged heads. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to it any longer. I don't rent or borrow tape, only use quality tape to record and my entire collection of VHS and SVHS is relatively clean. I've had to do two manual cleanings and even used a brand new tape cleaner once in the past six weeks just to get the machine playing. Again, this is just for viewing. I haven't even attempted any recordings of any kind since the original instance this past summer.

Outside of me having to clean the machine every other week I love it, heh. The HDMI output to my Sony 50" 720p RP-LCD HDTV is very nice indeed. Watching VHS anime I purchased like 17 years ago via this machine is great and I'm very glad I decided to keep all my pre-recorded widescreen VHS movies back when DVD was first hitting. The 5u really has breathed new life into my old backlog of VHS :)