JVC DR-M10S vs DR-M100S ?

[justinluck]

Many people on this forum recommend the JVC DR-M10S recorder for capturing VHS tapes.

But I notice on JVC's website that the JVC DR-M100S looks like it has the same features but is cheaper. Is the DR-M100S the successor to the DR-M10S? Or is the quality different?

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?productId=PRD2000002&pathId=115

[lordsmurf]

It's basically the same unit.

[trhouse]

If all is equal, the M100S is available for as low as $199 with free shipping. M10S's can be had for less, about $150 to $200 but they are usually refurb's.

http://www2.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?ref=pricegrabber&sku=JVCDRM100S

[quickpick]

If you guys went out today to buy it, which one would you get?

Also, if this is a newer replacement model, is there any chance the "loading" error has been corrected?

[gshelley61]

I would buy the new one to check it out. That way you can always return it if you don't like it.

On the other hand, you can get a great bargain on pre-owned or refurb DR-M10's... just know that if you get a used one you're on your own. Refurbs come with a 90 day JVC warranty, but no return policy.

[trhouse]

If they are equal, I would go with the M100S for the following reasons,

JVC is fairly aggressive in introducing new models. According to their web site the M10S was introduced Jan. 9, 2004 and the new M100S on Jan. 6, 2005.

The M100S may have a few enhancements. They do not mention this in the specifications for the M100S ( actually they do not mention on their web site how long a recording can be made with either ) but the announcement on Jan/05 says this about the M100.

"The DR-M100S DVD recorder allows up to 16 hours of recording time (when using a dual sided disc)"

I do not believe the M10S can do that if it is of any importance given the cost of those disks.

I would not worry about the "loading" problem. I have been trying to help people with that and a "green lines" issue on another thread.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=255081

The "loading" message seems to cover a multitude of sins. The fatal "loading" error, I believe to be caused by two power resistors in the power supply section which are used to reduce -29V to -12V. I suspect that is what JVC repairs for free but it has not been confirmed. No one has reported the problem with a 2005 manufactured unit, but it has been difficult to get solid information about that. Most people report when they bought it but not the manufacture date which could be significantly different.

The nonfatal "loading" message seems to occur when the recorder has a problem with the media but it recovers. The green lines issue may be a mechanical fault we identified in both an M10S and MV1. That is a thermal pad which should bring the media processor in close thermal contact with a metal housing cover is undersize. This may be allowing the processor temperature to become too high. The two units in question are still in evaluation so we may not know the results for awhile.

[KeepItSimple]

Hello, does anyone know more about the differences between these 2 machines now? I'm thinking the picture quality will be about the same, but what about M10s features that aren't on the M100s or vice versa? When "new and improved" less expensive models come out they often are, but cool features might get nicked away (or added) and I'm wondering what those are in this case. Thanks!

[lordsmurf]

From reports that I have gotten, which are reliable, the 10 and 100 have no performance differences. If anything, the 100 may have a better build quality, which was a complaint of the 10, which led to the minority of "loading" problems.

[Yngwie38]

I own a drm10 and my friend here in the Netherlands has a 100. The setupmenu is almost the same, only the childrenlock is different.

100:
- The volumeknob on the remotecontrol is only working on a jvc tv. (the drm10 remote volumeknob is programmable)
+ The drive opens wider

[DGinnetty]

I have both models. I like the M100 more for 3 reasons so far:

1) the DVD tray is deeper, so it is less likely to slide around when loading a DVD.

2) DVD finalizing does NOT take 5 minutes on the 100. Maybe half that.

3) More sturdily built. If I bumped my M10 even slightly, it would shutdown on me. The 100 does not suffer that fate.

Haven't had the 100 for too long, so I will see if there are any drawbacks to it. None so far.

Dan Ginnetty

[KeepItSimple]

Well I was going to go for an M100 but meantime a brand new sealed M10 came up on Ebay -- I was able to get it for $105 plus shipping so I guess it'll be the M10 instead! I know it's been mentioned here before but can someone please state once again the manufacture dates of the units with loading errors?

I love my Panasonics!
I have 2 Panasonic DVD Recorders (E50,ES10, also had an E60 that went poof during a thunderstorm/power outage) and have been pleased as punch with the picture quality. That PQ that I think is so fabulous is not so fab according to some pretty sharp people here, so I'm taking a stab at JVC.
Lordsmurf, GShelley or anybody else: Any ideas on what I could record on both machines and what speeds etc. to use for comparisons that show how great the JVC is compared to the Panasonic? I like to use all the speeds depending on what I'm recording (6hr for music only). I'm really liking the LP recordings on the ES10 that I'm getting off of Cable TV, so I'm way curious about the JVC 4-hour that LS says is better. No, LP is not as good as SP but's it very decent!
Thanks!

[bbanderic]

Can anyone who owns a JVC - M100 tell me if they support DVD+R PLAYBACK? According to their website it doesn't but sometimes they do, it's just not mentioned. I don't understand why any NEW DVD recorder/player wouldn't support both +/- R playback.

[lordsmurf]

It's not "officially" supported.
DVD+R machines don't officially support DVD-R.
DVD-R machines don't officially support DVD+R.

But it should work unless the disc sucks, bad burn.

[trhouse]

KeepItSimple,

For direct comparisons of ES-10 and M10 captures, check out gshelly61's posts towards the end of this thread,

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263530

That is a good price for the M10. In this thread,

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263530

the only manufacture dates confirmed for the traditional "loading" problem have been April, May, and September 2004. The M10 might also give a "loading" message if it runs into bad media. It is also normal for it to give a "loading" message" when it is first plugged in.

It was found in the above thread that there is the potential for an overheat problem in the media processor due to a thermal pad not making adequate contact between the chip and its metal can.

[KTH]

I just purchased the DR-M100 recently and haven't had a chance to try everything yet, but I did try playing a DVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) recorded on a Sony RDR-GX300 and the disc played perfectly fine on the M100. The M100 does have a few bugs like the M10. One problem is that sometimes when you press the play & record buttons to start a recording the display flashes "RESET" and won't start the recording for at least a minute to a minute half. The type of media used does not seem to matter either. It seems to do this on DVD-R, DVD-RW, & DVD-RAM. I don't think that cheap media is the problem either because it does this on TY (TYG01) as well as Maxell (RG03) media. I've also had the "RESET" problem on Prodisc, Ritek, & Panasonic media as well. I'd like to say that I do agree with Lord Smurf's assessment of the M10 that like the M10 the M100's LP recording mode is very good for an LP recording. In fact it's the best that I've ever seen. Artifact's are still visible in the LP mode, but it still has the best picture that I've seen from any stand alone DVD Recorder in LP (4hr.) mode. One more thing to note is that I think the recording's on this unit look a little washed out. I believe that I read somewhere that someone also nothiced this. To correct this problem I run video through my Panasonic DMR-E55 with the output set to darker and this seems to correct the problem. I wish that more companies would be like Sony and build in brightness, contrast, saturation & Noise Reduction adjustment's into their stand alone DVD Recorders. I know that some of you maybe thinking that these controls are just for playback, but no these settings do affect the recording itself. I will do my own complete review of the M100 after I have had more time to do more testing.

[mazinz]

i own the 100s but i never had that reset issue mentioned above. I have been using the machine quite extensively and have had no problems of anykind (knock on wood). Im using my old panny drm-hs2 deck for its "tbc thingy" as a pass through before it goes into the jvc.

The only thing i have noticed is if i use the remote to record, sometimes it would give the no signal detected message. However if i rewound the tape and then used the record button on the actual machine, it worked fine.

all in all i am very happy with this deck

[trhouse]

KTH,

The problem you are reporting is not the one described in the older units. It was said in those units that bad media could cause a loading message during the recording session and the recording would fail. No one to my knowledge has reported it to be consistently at the beginning of a recording.

You may have a drive related issue. I would talk to JVC about it.

[bbanderic]

I'm seriousy considering purchasing the JVC - DR-M100S, can anyone tell me is the US machines playback PAL formatted DVD's. I've searched everywhere and can't find any info on this. I think I remember the M10's being able to play PAL discs.

Thanks

[gshelley61]

The US/Canada spec JVC DR-M10 plays back PAL DVD's exceptionally well (and converts to NTSC output), as long as the disc region code is 0. I've made a few region free backups of Region 2 PAL DVD's with DVD Shrink, and they play just fine on the JVC (much better than a hacked Lite-On, for example). It's an excellent "on the fly" PAL to NTSC converter. The DR-M100 is apparently identical to the DR-M10, except for some styling changes and a design upgrade that eliminated the"loading" issue that plagued some DR-M10's.

[mazinz]

The US/Canada spec JVC DR-M10 plays back PAL DVD's exceptionally well (and converts to NTSC output), as long as the disc region code is 0.

I had no idea the machine could do that. I have the 100s and im in the US so i will post if it works at all

[mazinz]

BINGO! the 100s will play an all region PAL and convert it to the ntsc output as well.

Although i wll still continue to use my cyberhome for viewing such things as the jvc is strictly for recording.

[bbanderic]

Thanks for the info gshelley61, and thanks mazinz for testing the PAL playback and conversion capabilities of the JVC - DR-M100S. JVC it is!

[bbanderic]

I picked up the JVC - DR-M100S and it works very nicely indeed. Excellent quality in both XP and SP mode when recording from TV and VHS transfers, haven't tried LP yet. This unit plays just about everything, including DVD-R/RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R/RW, JPEG, DVD+R (with or without DVD-ROM booktype) and DVD+R DL (with DVD-ROM booktype ONLY). If you try to play a DVD+R DL disc without DVD-ROM booktype it comes up as "disc error". No RESET or LOADING issues.

This unit is well worth the money and definitely outperforms the Panasonic ES-10 recorder that I had previously. Plus, the M100S has more features including firewire input, PAL format playback and JPEG playback. My only complaint is the menu screen, it doesn't have picture thumbnails, but hey, you can't have everything.