JVC DR-M10S "loading" message

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 14, 2004 18:46

Alright, I've finally seen it. Four times:

The morning Chris Reeves died, I decided to record CNN for 15-25 hours to catch all the news coverage. A friend is a big fan. For the first time, I hooked a cable coax directly into it. Went through 4 discs that day.

1) The fourth disc refuses to finalize. At about 25% it goes into "loading". I bet it's the disc, but this disc has been used over and over again. it'll play the full 4:15 just fine!

2) After trying to finalize the 4th, I tried the 3rd. No luck, loading as soon as disc inserted. I turned it off. Tried again, finalized fine.

3) Next day recording a tv show. When I hit stop (about 2 hours in 4-hour mode), went to loading. Recording fine, finalized fine later one.

4) Last night, while recording, again, CNN. Pres debates III. Hit stop, went to loading. Turned off, went back on. Then finalized disc fine.

Well, that's it.
All of them right in a row.

Doing more again today, will see how it goes.

I had the unit in the default POWER SAVE mode (off?), and for the first time, change it after the 4th "loading" message. It now turns off (no clock, nothing), and has to go into "wake up" mode when turned on. Maybe there is some glitch in the power setting when turned on? Don't know, will research more. Hopefully, this is an isolated fluke, repairable by changing the power mode.

This was the unit I bought in May, a Japan unit, and it's been used almost daily since the box was first opened. Sometimes for up to 12 hours in a day. The 20-hour day was a first. Did it overheat? Did I kill it? Unknown so far.
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gshelley61 · Frequent Flyer Joined: 19 May 2004 Location: USA

The only time I've seen it on mine so far is when I unplug it and plug it back in. I still have it in the regular power mode, too.

Maybe this is related... I have a Bravo D1 upscaling DVD player that many people have loading trouble with. When I shut my system down, power is completely disconnected from it. When it start back up, it is forced to recycle each time, rather than staying in a standby mode. I don't have any problems with this machine after more than 18 months of daily use, and I think it is because of the frequent re-starting.

I wonder if the JVC recorder would benefit from complete power disconnection and re-connection each time it is started up? I know that's a pain in the butt as far as the clock goes, though...

samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

I don't think it overheated, unless the laser itself overheated. Mine stays alot cooler when it's on than when it's off. That's a long time of steady use, I always give mine a break after 2 or 3 hours. Past the warranty, bad news.

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 14, 2004 21:12

Just did a 3-hour recording, no problems. I'm betting the power issue is very, very related.
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ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

This is exactly what happened to me. I'm hoping it works out well, please let us know what happens. I'm curious and I still have a slight sick feeling when it comes to the JVC M10's durability.
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

You're not the only one on that.

pluche · Member Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Location: antwerp - belgium

normally when I stop recording, I disconnect the system from power; so when re-starting, I get this "loading" message fro a while and that's it ;
when recording, even for hours it does not get warm or hot; but a few times I forgot to disconnect after recording and left it in stand by - then the JVC gets warm - maybe this continuous "heat" during stand by periods causes some accelerated aging of the electronics ...

xiaNaix · Member Joined: 04 Apr 2002

I have the VHS/Recorder combo unit and, while I've never experienced this problem (knock on wood), it quite frequently refuses to load a VHS tape. I have to turn it off, disconnect the power and reboot it in order for the automatic motor to take in the tape. This may support a power issue theory.

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 15, 2004 09:00

xiaNaix, no, the VHS VCR in the combo units is just crap. The regular JVC VHS VCRs act this way too, as do the ultra-cheap S-VHS units. It's a cheap-ass assembly problem.
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

Mine went into the dreaded loading twice today. It keeps mysteriously switching from line 1 to line 2 by itself, I use a universal remote that has no buttons for channels, the recorder just does it by itself.

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 16, 2004 09:40

Another two days of recordings went just fine.
Maybe the unit just gets pissed off being left on too long?
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

Been recording most of the day, OK so far. I think I hit a button on the universal remote it didn't like that made it lock up and go into loading.

ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

Lordsmurf, I was wondering if your JVC M10 is working ok. I'm sure you have been using it steadily.

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stressbuster · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2004

I have had the deaded "loading" message off and on since I bought my unit in July. It has become progresively worse to the point where I can't use it all now. It would flash the loading message for days until I pulled the plug again. I might get one recording done before it would start flashing again. It was a few weeks out of warranty, so I called JVC and they agreed to give me a one-time accomodation to fix it for free. Has anyone had their unit repaired for this problem and has it worked right afterwords. Thanks.

Jay

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 21, 2004 10:05

ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

I'm not too convinced of the quality either, but it's the picture that keeps me from recommending it. Those lines in the background on every recording, no matter how good the input signal is suck. I think I liked the E-20 better myself, those lines are so distracting I can hardly even watch the movies sometimes. The only real advantage is 5 min increment record settings, and using all of an R disc. I don't think that makes up for those lines myself though, very distracting to me, reminds me of cable days a decade ago.

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 21, 2004 13:43

ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

I'm curious about the line as well, I haven't seen any lines or major problems with the video quality. Please elaborate further maybe the problem might be with the source device.
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

It has dark lines that sometimes move up and sometimes move down in the picture, they are most visable on dark scenes. I have the signal from the same satellite run over 40 feet to a back room and it's picture perfect. I've tried different cables, moving stuff around, nothing works. I can see it in recordings that were made on the prior machine too, so it's not just this unit. I never saw anything in the Panasonic picture, so I'm sure it's the recorder. I also use a Panamax surge protector. I can see them just running the signal through the recorder.

gshelley61 · Frequent Flyer Joined: 19 May 2004 Location: USA

If I look real hard, sometimes I can see faint horizontal bands that travel or "roll" slowly up the monitor screen. Perhaps it is a bit of processing output noise. I have not seen this occur in actual recordings, though. When I play back the finished DVD's, the rolling bands are not there.

samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

That is them, sometimes they roll up, sometimes down. They are in every recording I make. I just went and hooked up an entirely different satellite receiver, the one I usually use is a 4DTV digital, the one I just tried is c-band, still there. I tried different cables and a different input on the recorder and different output on the satellites, still there. This completely ruins it for me. Anyone got an E20 they want to trade for this thing?

ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

It sounds like an interference problem to me or some type of power issue dealing with your electrical current. I've experienced that during the summer time when my air conditioner was on.

I do agree that some of these issues did not show up on my Panasonic. Even though the JVC is known for a better picture I wasn't happy with it because of the softening filter that made my videos lose the sharpness that was in the original tape. My eyes sometimes would water because of the blurriness.

I've just recently found a video enhancer "Vidicraft Vidimate" that made a difference in the picture. I was able to make the video darker with contrast and sharper without adding noise. If it wasn't for the Vidimate I think I would of sold the JVC and looked for another machine.

I did like the sharpness and contrast of the Panasonic, but it lacked quality when it came to older video tapes, the JVC did a better job. I know you must be really fustrated, I've been there.

If I ever need to buy another dvd recorder it will not be a JVC.

Try one more thing, if you could move the recorder to another room and attempt to record again. See if it makes a difference. It seems like interference to me. Let us know what happens.
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

I can't really move the recorder because the incoming satellite cables are where the recorder is. I can't take it in the bedroom where the satelluite signal is run to either because although it has a perfect picture on the TV, if I try to run it through a recorder it gets white bands in the picture. I do have some DVDs that were recorded on the Panasonic and copied on the JVC because I couldn't get them to copy on the computer. Those were copied in another room, so I'll have to check them and see if I can see anything in them or not.

lordsmurf · Posted: Oct 21, 2004 20:11

The coax satellite cables are picking up FM signals, most likely. Every new piece of gear adds to the problem. I deal with this. Sometimes herringbone even bleeds into the tv (but not the recorder or even VCR).

Filter, filter, filter. And pretty much never expect 100% perfection. Try to grab that 99% as best as you can.
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samijubal · Member Joined: 25 Jul 2004

I've never had problems with anything but this machine. I've used an E10, E20, E50 and numerous VCRs in the same place and never seen anything in the picture. The satellite cables aren't even very close to the machine.

gshelley61 · Frequent Flyer Joined: 19 May 2004 Location: USA

Well, all I know is I am extremely picky about the image quality and have not been disappointed with any recording made on my JVC so far. I was not completely happy with the Panasonic I had because of macroblocking primarily, and the inability to record in DVD-Video format using RW's.

If I was in any way unhappy with my JVC, I would sell it on eBay right away and get something else. It is a popular unit and will fetch a decent price used. Then I would be able to stop complaining...

Jraf · Member Joined: 09 Mar 2004

Bought my DR-M10S on june 2004, Germany made, used every day 2-3 hours. Power saving always activated, DR-M10s needs to "wake up".

Seen "loading" message only one time during a recording. The "loading" message disappeared without doing anything, but the recording was lost. The machine was not hot, I did use it just as long as every day. No scratches or fingerprints on the TDK-RW 2* that I'm still using now without any problems. No explanation !

Other problems :

- a thick black vertical line goes from left to right, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, very visible on very dark scenes. Not visible on source, only when monitoring DR-M10s.

- clear sources are washed out, sometimes to the point we can only see a white screen and even synchronisation is lost and picture is brocken from the upper left side.

But I'm still happy. I don't use my DVB PCI card anymore. Picture sharpness is better with the DVB PCI card, but often the streams don't match the DVD recommendations and I have to much problems to author them. I hope I won't suffer this "loading" message again.

ejai · member Joined: 13 Jun 2001 Location: New York USA

Slavamon · Member Joined: 21 May 2004 Location: Michigan, USA

Where does one find this said "Vidicraft Vidimate"? Is it available in the US? How expensive?
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