Great machine when it's fixed properly.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Full feature set. Good "look and feel".

Cons: Poor engineering/quality control?

The Bottom Line: 
I don't recommend anyone buy one of these at retail. But if you can tinker, or know someone who can, then these are great units at deep discounts.

Author's Review
I picked up one of these (not working) at a garage sale for $0 (nothing). Brought it home and popped the lid to find out what was wrong with it. It is very well laid out and constructed, but I noticed a residue on the bottom side of the lid under the power supply section. After further investigation I found 2 (of possibly 6) filter capacitors off the main bridge diodes had failed. I replaced them with the same voltage and capacity as original and the unit began to function as normal. After 10 minutes of operation I observed that the caps were very warm to the touch and, I assume, this is how the originals failed in the first place. After a trip to the local TV Hut I replaced the caps with a 35V rating rather than the 10V and 6.3V pieces knowing that the only way caps overheat is reverse polarity or over-voltage. It was a challenge because the 35V pieces were considerably larger than the originals. The overheat problem was solved.

The manual says the unit draws 39W power on and 19.3W power off!! The problem I see is that with power off, the cooling fan goes off and it remains warm inside. This is either a major engineering or quality control issue that the factory should address. Folks with not-working units and no warranty could have a local shop fix you up.


UPDATE:

Power supply board failed again! Called customer service and they said send it to the nearest JVC Service Center for free (out of warranty) repairs. Got it back it less than a week fully working at no charge. They have accepted responsibility for a factory problem and are to be commended.