Acme

Question for everyone...

What is JVC doing about all the bum players they've put on the market? I bought a second-hand 501 from a guy on a newsgroup for $40 and some old Mac parts. I've played probably 20 movies in it so far and all have been flawless. Except tonight we rented "Arlington Road". No problems on the playing -- watched it all the way through. But I my 501 locked up when I tried to watch the alternate ending.

Anyway, I keep reading people talking about sending them back to JVC for service. Some people are paying money for this service, and others are getting it free. Still others are getting JVC to give them a new player in exchange. What's the difference here? Are some people just better at yelling and screaming, or what's the trick to getting a replacement?

Thanks!!

bjhess

Hi,

I've heard this Arlington Road thing is just a chip replacement. After all the service that my 501 has undergone, I hope that is fixed. However, I had a different problem that I haven't heard much about. My 501 ejects 2001 and Heat. It plays Three Kings and Rushmore: Criterion, but it is choppy and pixelated. I've had several other problems with this system, also.

I took it into an authorized dealer and even got JVC to extend my labor warranty. They probably did $200 worth of work on it over 1 1/2 months. Still no fix. JVC wanted me to send it in. At that point, I decided to cut my loses, watch the movies that still work, and replace the player in the future.

The service center deals in all kinds of brands. They told me that they hadn't seen many JVC's come through at all. I think I may have gotten a bum deal. As I said, the Arlington Road fix is supposedly quick and painless.

BTW, if you don't have the reset method, here it is:

1-Power on
2-Hold down both [ON SCREEN] and [TITLE] buttons on the player itself
3-Still holding the buttons, pull the plug
4-Still holding the buttons plug the unit back in
5-Release the [ON SCREEN] and [TITLE] buttons
6-Press [ENTER]
7-Turn unit off and wait a few seconds
8-Turn unit on
9-Previously working discs should now play

From what I understand, after a major problem occurs, the player won't let you play other discs that previously worked either. This should at least fix that problem for you.

I'm renting Arlington Road via Netflix.com ... we'll see how that turns out.

Barry

------------------
http://www.dvdtracker.com/~bjhess

[This message has been edited by bjhess (edited May 09, 2000).]

SXT45

I have a JVC 701BK and the video gets out of sync at about the 1hour 4min mark, audio remains fine. Doesnt happen on all DVD's but is very disturbing when it does. Being close to end of warranty (3mo), I am going to bring it in for service BUT does the reset take care of this problem??

Havok-

For what it's worth, I've read about all the problems people have had with the JVC 501; I, however, have had none of them! Granted, I've never rented Arlington Road, but every other DVD I've rented or owned has played beautifully -- other than the Matrix, which has menu problems on this and a number of other DVD players. Just suggesting that these problems may not be as widespread as some believe -- for me, the player was a truly great deal for the price (too bad I'll have to upgrade to a progressive scanning player soon).

There is a quick at-home fix for the problems you're describing on the JVC website btw.

patrckpiteo

The JVC 701 has had problems locking up on some dvd's. Check the history here in the forum on them JVC will not even admit to it.Idle hands is another dvd.

Acme

Since I started this thread I've been told that Arlington Road and Cruel Intentions are known to have problems with JVC's. I've also heard that the studios put out updated versions of the DVDs for those movies to work correctly with the JVC players.

What I *haven't* heard, though, is how to identify the updated versions. I would love to order Arlington Road, but want to make sure it's not the one that will crap out my player again. Any ideas how to find out which ones will work?

Thanks...