Disappointed by long pauses with DVD-R with floormodel JVC s

[Matt_]

I'm very happy with the JVC M10 DVD recorder, but unfortunately the Cyberhome 500 dvd player won't play DVD-Rs.
So what I am looking for is a reliable player around $100 that will play any & all DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs. I don't care about sound & mp3 features.
As for region-free and PAL-->NTSC capabilities, I don't know how much priority to give that since the Cyberhome has those capabilities.
What *is* important is a well-laid out remote.

I brought a MXLGR02 DVD-R and a TY DVD-R into an Ultimate Electronics and played them on a Pioneer DV-275, a Sony DVP-NS575P, a JVC XV-NP1, and a JVC XV-N412 (the JVC XV-N310B was not hooked up to a monitor).
Considering that the DVD-Rs were made by a JVC brand recorder, I was expecting excellent performance by the two JVC players. Instead, each time I pressed the chapter skip button on the front of the units, there was a long pause of two to three seconds.
The Pioneer and Sony models, on the other hand, played the DVDs flawlessly.
I'm confused about what I can expect out of a JVC brand player if I were to purchase one. I read the comments in the DVD player section on this forum, and the comments were mixed. While some were pleased with the playback of the JVC players, others were disappointed by it and also expressed disappointment with the quality of the unit itself.
When I did a search on this forum for JVC discussions, I was hoping to find a lot but didn't turn up much except for a comment "it also has a direct drive spindle motor not a cheap DC brush motor like most have." I don't know much about DVD players, so I don't what brand has what motor.

[samijubal]

I have the XV-N410B, I like the quality and the picture adjustments. The most important part is the direct drive spindle motor. Direct drive motors have a far longer lifespan than a DC motor, about 10 times as long. It's fine on chapters, it's titles that are slow accessing. The drawbacks are that though it has a button to access titles, I have yet to see it work on DVD-R or factory discs, which can make getting to different titles without a menu a slow process. Also there is no way of knowing what audio track it's on, not on the units display or the on screen display. You can pick the different languages, but if there are 2 English languages, there is no way to tell which is 5.1 and which is 2.0.

[Matt_]

Thank you for your help. Since you are reporting no pausing like I encountered, I'll try the JVC players at another Ulimate Electronics -- perhaps what I encountered was just an anomaly.
Also, I noticed that JVC is offering a firmware fix that presumably would fix the pausing.
Frys sells a JVC XV-N410B and XV-N412S, but I was assuming the difference is just in color.
If I experienced the same pausing on the XV-NP1 and XV-N412, I wonder what I can expect from the XV-N310B and XV-NP10S(L).

I hear what you're saying about the motor -- that's a huge plus.
But I'll have to think over what you brought up about trying to navigate to different titles. I'm figuring that most of what I burn will be done by the JVC M10, but (assuming that things come through for buying a computer DVD writer) for those times when I burn a DVD by computer it sounds like a potential hassle/inconvenience.
What has been your solution for moving around to different titles on DVD-Rs without menus ?

[samijubal]

I think that firmware fix is only for the model I have. I went ahead and installed it even though I wasn't having any problems, seems to work the same to me. For the title thing I usually get as close to the next title as I can with chapter access, which it will do, then use the skip button to get to the next title. As long as there are menus, it's no problem, only when there is no menu that it's a problem. I bought it from Sears Liquadition on e-bay for $39, so I'm not complaining if it's somewhat of a pain to access titles.

[louthewiz]

The panasonic s35 also plays everything and dvd-ram too and it goes for around $80.00.

[spectroelectro]

The Daewoo 5XXX (5700, 5800, etc.) model DVD players have done a great job playing DVD-Rs as well as SVCDs on CD-Rs and XVCDs. The only format a Daewoo players won't play is mini DVD, but then, that's an uncommon format for any player to support (full DVD with one small track on CD-R but otherwise normal DVD file structure).

The Daewoos cost < $50.

[Matt_]

The panasonic s35 also plays everything and dvd-ram too and it goes for around $80.00.

Thank you for the suggestion. There were a few things that made it hard for me to decide what to think about Panasonic dvd players. Ultimate Electronics is having a closeout price of $56.95 on the S35; but how widespread is the reported problem of motor problems with the S35 ? Was the problem limited to just units manufactured between certain months ? The only other single disc Panasonic player that I've seen is the S27. Between the S27 and S35, it's hard to tell what to expect for DVD-RW playback. What's your experience been ? What I currently have are made in Japan Sony DVD-RWs (and possibley some made in Japan JVC DVD-RWs down the road).
One last thing. What appeals to me about DVD-RAM is the DVR-like ability to record and simultaneously watch a program -- something that might be very handy for my family which watches a lot of network tv shows. But I can't predict how many DVD-RAM we'll ever end up using for that kind of tv viewing. What do you use your DVD-RAM for and how much do you wind up using your unit to watch DVD-RAM versus other DVD formats ?

The Daewoo 5XXX (5700, 5800, etc.) model DVD players have done a great job playing DVD-Rs as well as SVCDs on CD-Rs and XVCDs. The only format a Daewoo players won't play is mini DVD, but then, that's an uncommon format for any player to support (full DVD with one small track on CD-R but otherwise normal DVD file structure).

The Daewoos cost < $50

Thank you. I'll check into that. I've stopped at Best Buy, Compusa, Fry, Target, & Ult. Electronics, and so far the only Daewoo I've come across is the DVG-9200N at Target.

I think that firmware fix is only for the model I have. I went ahead and installed it even though I wasn't having any problems, seems to work the same to me. For the title thing I usually get as close to the next title as I can with chapter access, which it will do, then use the skip button to get to the next title. As long as there are menus, it's no problem, only when there is no menu that it's a problem. I bought it from Sears Liquadition on e-bay for $39, so I'm not complaining if it's somewhat of a pain to access titles.

Thank you. I didn't know about Sears and ebay. Is there a section somewhere now on ebay's site ? Or do I just have to do a search and have some luck in turning up a Sears'-related auction ?

[samijubal]

Panasonic spindle motors are trash, they do have a good picture and fast access though. Daewoo is Korean, not as good quality as Japenese brands. To find Sears on e-bay, do advanced search on the homepage, then click items by seller, type sears_liquidation_center then click visit sellers e-bay store. They sell Panasonic and Sony as well as JVC. Pretty good prices, I've bought 3 players from them.

[Matt_]

Thank you again for all your help.