JVC HM-DH30000U Problem
Dear Gary: I am a subscriber to your magazine and Web site. I also attended one of your D-Theater Movie Festivals. The presentation was VERY impressive. Actually, I recently purchased the JVC HM-DH30000U. The image quality is outstanding BUT there is a problem with the deck, not just MINE but I believe with ALL of them. The ONLY way to view 1080i is on a 16:9 HDTV. I have a 71-inch Toshiba HDTV with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen. There is a setting to change the display to 4:3 but it only displays the image, correctly, at 480i. Of course at 480i the picture looks worse than on LaserDisc (I use a Theta Data III player) and considerably worse than on DVD. JVC’s support is awful and I can’t get a straight answer from anyone there. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated!!!
Roger W. Best
Editor-In-Chief Gary Reber Comments:
You’ll have to deal directly with JVC but I can offer this observation. Your problem is probably due to your TV set. Either the Toshiba is not truly HDTV-ready, or there should be a setting on your TV which gives you a 16:9 display within the 4:3 screen area. Also you need to input to your TV via component video in order to get the 16:9 HD output from the D-VHS HM-DH30000U. Other manufacturers, including JVC, also are selling direct view 4:3 HDTV sets where the HD is displayed as 16:9 within the 4:3 screen with bars at the top and bottom. Therefore, one can view HDTV from D-VHS via a 4:3 set as long as it’s a real HDTV. I don’t recommend buying 4:3 aspect ratio HD sets, instead preferring true HDTV 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio sets as a far better choice.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com