The JVC XV-S50BK is a triple-tray 3-disc DVD/CD changer. It plays both CD-R and CD-RW discs in addition to regular DVD-Video, Video CD and CD-Audio. The Style
The S50BK looks solid and has three separate trays on its front panel. It also features buttons for basic functions, three buttons for disc selection and three separate eject buttons.
Inputs
The rear panel has both optical and coaxial digital audio outs in addition to analog stereo jacks. It also has an S-Video and component video outs in addition to composite video out.
Both S-Video and component video out provide better picture quality than composite connection, since S-Video allows you to transfer chrominance (color information) and luminance (brightness information) separately and bypassing the TV's comb filter - the device that is responsible for the separation of the composite video signal into chrominance and luminance.
Using S-Video or component out, you bypass the comb filter and eliminate the possibility of your TV mistaking chrominance for luminance and causing so-called cross-luminance artifacts and rainbow-like Moire patterns.
The 50BK also has 2 AV CompuLink jacks for connection to JVC AV CompuLink-equipped components. There is also a AC power jack of standard configuration.
CD-R/W, VCD, etc
Although this model doesn't play MP3 files, it accepts CD-R and CD-RW discs. It also plays Video CD in addition to CD-Audio and DVD-Video. Video CD features 352x240 resolution at 23.97 or 29.97 frames per second.
Picture and Sound
The picture quality of DVD playback is excellent and far superior to VCD, VHS, Super VHS, 8mm or Hi8. The horizontal resolution reaches 500 lines and the images are solid and film-like.
The sound quality, when the player is connected using one of its digital audio outs, depends solely on the receiver it is connected to. The sound from analog jacks is excellent and virtually noise-free.
Features
The triple-tray design allows you to replace two discs while the third one is playing. However, the mechanism that changes discs is a little slow and noisy.
The player has a zoom function, that enlarges the image to two-times normal size. It also has multi-angle capability and a "digest" and "strobe" functions, which allows you to grab a still frame from the start of each chapter for display on a nine-image screen pages (you can use it at any point of the movie).
The S50BK has a rich set of features: "Strobe" combines nine consecutive still frames on the screen. The player has six different speeds of slow motion in forward play (1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2) and five in reverse (1/16, 1/12, 1/8, 1/4, 1/3). The fast search can be conducted at five speeds in both directions (2x, 5x, 10x, 20x and 60x).
The player can display menus in English, Spanish and French. It also has other features like angle select, soundtrack/language select, subtitle select, A-B repeat, random play, program play and parental control.
There are four levels of "Theater Position" feature: Off, 1, 2 and 3, which allow you to select progressively darker picture. The "compression" level allows you to adjust "sound compression" - dynamic range of the soundtrack. The player has a screen saver and resume function.
If you don't have a good Dolby Pro Logic or Dolby Digital sound system, a 3D Phonic virtual surround-sound mode will give you better sound effects using just two speakers. It broadens the apparent sound field at the expense of clarity.
Remote
The remote control looks good and has intuitive button layout. The 2 AA-size batteries are included. The remote can control some functions on TVs of several manufacturers (Sony, Panasonic, RCA, Sharp, Toshiba ...), including some you probably never heard of (like Gradiente, Beijing/Noblex, etc.)
Bottom Line
The S50BK is a very good deal if you want a 3-disc DVD/CD changer with triple-tray design. At $... it is also a good value. It plays CD-R, CD-RW and VCD, but not the MP3-encoded files. If MP3 playback is important to you, check out the alternatives.
