Home > Consumer Reviews > JVC HM-DH30000L D-VHS HDTV Digital Recorder, Silver

The first thing to understand about this device is that it is pretty bleeding-edge technology. By this, it should be understood that it will do what it is supposed to do, but just barely.

Because of this, if you are not the sort of person accustomed to getting the newest electronics devices, and dealing with all the teething problems the newest stuff always has, you shouldn't even be thinking about buying this VCR - you would in all likelihood just find it extremely frustrating and end up returning it.

If, however, you are the kind of person who likes to get the newest stuff and working through its issues, then this VCR might be for you. The purpose of the rest of this review is to help you decide.

What this VCR will do is:

(1) play back pre-recorded D-VHS tapes.
(2) record HDTV from a FireWire / IEEE-1394 / iLink equipped receiver.
(3) do what a traditional S-VHS VCR will do.

Here are the pluses and minuses from my own experience, in no particular order:

+ HDTV recording quality. When recording HDTV, the digital signal is transferred directly to tape so that it can be played back as changed. Unless there is damage to the tape, the quality of playback should be equal to the original signal fed into it.

- no internal receiver. The HDTV record capability depends on an external HDTV receiver (whether satellite, over-the-air, or cable) to capture the signal, which is then fed to the VCR over a FireWire connection (IEEE-1394 and iLink are the same technology as FireWire, just with a different name). While recording, the receiver is tied up - if you want to be able to watch one program while recording another, plan on getting a second HDTV receiver.

+ support for HAVi, which enables the VCR operations to be controlled over FireWire. This allows the HDTV tuner to control timed recordings by turning on the VCR, starting recording, and ending recording.

- very limited HDTV receiver support for HAVi. While this is not strictly speaking a problem with the VCR, it greatly restricts its usefulness. As of the time of this writing, I am aware of only one HDTV receiver that supports it - the Samsung SIR-T165. I have that receiver, and can report that the combo does indeed work. Other HAVi equipped HDTV receivers are supposed to come out soon, but you should be very careful about making compatibility assumptions here. If a particular receiver does not explicitly claim that it is compatible with this VCR, you should assume that it isn't.

- limited HDTV programming availability. Only a fraction of the programming currently aired is available in HDTV, and not all of that is available in all areas. Check your local area over-the-air, cable, and satellite availability before buying. This is getting better, but we are a very long way from being able to assume that any show aired is available in HDTV.

- the manual is pretty poorly written; it is quite difficult to understand what the VCR can and cannot do. Much of the important text is in the form of footnotes (!). It also contains at least one important error - it says that the power-saver mode must be enabled for FireWire recordings to work, but the reverse is true; the power-saver mode must be DIS-abled, not EN-abled for this.

+ 3 1/2 hour maximum HDTV recording length. This is enough for most sporting events and almost all movies. Note that for this length you should buy "7-hour" tapes; there are shorter tapes that can only record 2 hours of HDTV; the availability of the (cheaper) length tapes is fine, but know the difference.

- black out period during playback speed changes. When changing from fast forward or rewind to play or back, the screen goes black for several seconds, which complicates skipping commercials.

- no automatic re-wind when going from fast-forward to play. Many VCRs will rewind a little during such a change; this one does not. When skipping commercials during playback, this makes it all but impossible to go back to play without going past several seconds of the program. Rewinding slightly is complicated by the "black-out" problem mentioned above.

- very limited number of pre-recorded D-VHS tapes. Such tapes are being sold under the "D-Theater" label. At the time of this writing, I only know of about three dozen such tapes. More tapes are being released, but the rate is a trickle, not a torrent.

+ Component video out and optical digital audio out. This isn't particularly useful with recorded tapes, since those can be played back over the same FireWire connection used to record them, but it is useful with pre-recorded tapes. Component video and optical digital audio are much more widely supported that FireWire.

+ VHS and S-VHS compatibility. You won't need a second VCR for older tapes. The JVC is perfectly capable (though not exceptional) in handling this sort of material.

+ limited competition. I am aware of only two other products in this category , both by Mitsubishi - the HS-HD1100U and the HS-HD2000U. I haven't used either, but am not aware of any particularly interesting reasons to choose either of them over this one (or vice-versa for that matter).

This VCR may follow the laserdisk in being something that only serious video enthusiasts use but that never catches on in the general population, this time because of DVD, whereas VHS was the nail in the laserdisk's coffin. While DVD provides higher resolution than traditional VHS, (as Laserdisk did over VHS) the convenience, durability, and availability of DVD have almost sounded the death knell to anything VHS, even VHS in High Def. Even though D-VHS provides higher resolution than DVD, due to the perception in peoples' minds formed by enduring years of low quality VHS tapes, it is likely this format will not catch on.

Is this a good VCR? You bet. Despite a fairly confusing manual (see others' comments below for elaboration on errors in the manual), the set has a good build quality, is fairly easy to use, and records and produces stunning images in High Def. I have also used its normal VHS recording ability and it is an excellent recorder and player there as well (you can record and play standard VHS tapes but the machine will not normally allow you to tape HD content onto VHS or S-VHS tapes). Finally, the built in tuner (for watching either analog or the digital signals) is also excellent, producing a picture with even better contrasts than the tuner built into my HDTV (A Samsung DLP).

Some things to note:

It has only one way to receive High Def signals: IEEEE1394 or Firewire (also called i-Link). Firewire is cheap and seems to get around some of the copy protection built into DVI, so this is a good thing. Currently, there is only one set-top box--the Samsung SIR-TS165 that can pulls in the free over-the-air (OTA) HD signals that all of us are not getting and can output them to Firewire. Other boxes, both Satellite and OTA are sure to follow. My advice: buy yours now before the major studios pressure manufacturers not to output to Firewire. This VCR can also function as a regular VCR with standard AV inputs from your TV or a cable antenna.

Why should you buy this VCR? Because this machine is the FIRST to allow you to record in High Definition, and given the speed of decision-making regarding formats, it will be a while before High Def DVD (HDDVD) arrives, and recordable high def DVD without all the legal hamstrings of copy protection may never happen. So, while the major corporations argue over a single standard for HDDVD, you can tape all the OTA high def content you want, and on nothing pricer than a good VHS tape.

*Which brings me to the title of my review. Yes, you can easily modify a good S-VHS or VHS tape (use only high quality broadcast-grade tapes--a bad tape means data dropouts and can damage or wear the tape heads) instead of the very pricey D-VHS tapes that JVC and others sell. Optinally, you can also modify the machine to accept all tapes as D-VHS tapes. Am I going to tell you here how to do it? No. But if you look hard, you can find out for yourself. There's no earthly reason to spend three times as much on a D-VHS tape that is materially no different from a good S-VHS tape except for minor differences in their cases. Best of luck. . .

While JVC seems to offer the only real choice right now in DVHS recording (the Mitsubishi DVHS VCRs are not compatible with DTheater tapes), this is definitely on the "bleeding edge".

HDTV recording can only be performed from an incoming iLink (FireWire/1394) connection. There is a single HDTV component output, but no HDTV component input.

On the plus side, JVC includes DV->MPEG2 transcoder circuitry, allowing you to connect a DV camcorder and record on MPEG2 (although I'm still not sure why you wouldn't leave it in its native, smaller tape DV).

In my case, the JVC properly registered on my Mitsubishi HDTV (with HomeLink), but NOT as a recordable device. So, no way to record - only playback.

As a regular SVHS VCR, you can find much better for a fraction of the cost. Cable box control only goes up to channel 199, so not much use in the digital cable markets. There is no ability to control input audio level.

Unless you absolutely need DTheater playback, or you know this will work with your HDTV, then save your money and wait for the technology to solidify.

I have one of these units (I've had a D-VHS since 1998, although not capable of recording HD). I have to say that the amazing quality of the D-VHS format is wonderful. The argument that HD-DVDs are coming soon is a powerful one: despite what one review here says, D-VHS tapes *DO* degrade over time, like any other tape format. The bad thing with digital is that once the oxides flake off the tape, the picture is unwatchable, not just fuzzy like analog. That said, it will be a long time before HD-DVD can record off air like this VCR does; it's unlikely that today's HD programming will be available soon on DVD, so recording off the air is the only option for preserving these first HD programs. And the fact that you can tape dozens of hours of programming on one tape is wonderful for those of us who travel - a great alternative to the PVR with no extra monthly fees.

I asked myself this question before I purchased this machine. However, I concluded that the new reduced price made this a necessary purchase especially since I needed to replace my old VCR. The main reason I wanted this device was to be able to timer record over the air Hdtv signals. This product has worked perfectly at this task. Be aware that you will need a set-top box or HDTV with built in firewire to be able to record in high def. I have a Hitachi 57XWX and this product was identified by the TV when I hooked it up. I have purchased U571 on DVHS and it looks and sounds awesome. The picture is much, much better than DVD which I also love. The VCR is capable of playing back DD5.1 through the firewire or through the optical out on the back of the machine. I am unable to record DD5.1 at this time because no one in my area is televising with a DD data stream. So I am not positive that this feature works. However, I would guess that it would because it is able to play back tapes in DD with the firewire.