Rotel DVD players - in common with JVC?

[basementjack]

Are Rotel DVD players made /designed in conjunction with JVC?

I just got a new RC-1050 remote, which is supposed to have built in codes for Rotel Equipment only, and All the DVD commands work on my JVC 412 DVD player.

Probably just a co-incidence that they use the same codes, but it does have me wanting a side by side comparison :W

[IntegrateMe]

Certain older Rotel DVD players were in fact JVC DVD players. Perhaps the IR similarity remained?

[ds22030]

What!??! Is that really true or are you pulling my leg? Is my old JVC 501 a Rotel? I thought JVC was near the bottom of the consumer market brands?? I guess I will just keep my JVC then....

[ds22030]

well, a bit of research and I guess the RDV 985 was relabled JVC XV 511 with small mods. I pulled my XV 501 (predecessor to 511) manual and looked at the 985 manual on line. Rotel's manual is much shorter but pretty much the same with the same menus and display. Even some of the illustrations were identical....who knew. I guess I own two Rotel components...

[BlazeMaster]

So, Rotels shared the same factory as JVC or JVCs still have some kinda partnership programs going on with Rotel?

[Taito]

Rotel's current DVD players are not JVC's, but the 985 was, and I'm not too sure about the RDV-1080. I agree with IntegrateMe. What has likely happened, is that Rotel has continued to use the same remote codes that they used when their players were JVC's. It is likely that the mods that rotel made to the older players involved beefing up the power supply -Rotel loves their power supplies.

-Ben

[IntegrateMe]

Rotel simply took JVC players and rebadged them for their purposes. There was no big agreement or anything. This is common practice for higher end audio centric companies. Do you think the Lexicon RT-10 is a Lexicon player? Nooo..
Fortunately for us the players are no longer JVC designs.

But, don't badmouth JVC too much...VHS, S-VHS, D-Theater, D-ILA.......we have JVC to thank.

[eelco74]

It is pretty common to use some parts and designs from other manufacturers.

the rdv-985 was a rebadged JVC 515 as far as I know. I had one for quite a long time.

Older Rotel CD players like the 975 and 970 had Philips transports, displays, DAC's and even worked on the same remotes. The RC codes for the 970 were identical to the philips players.

So it is not very uncommon.

[Andrew Pratt]

Its very common for companies to purchase transports from other companies..in fact there's only a few available (Sony, Philips, Pioneer are the common ones) so most players are rebadeged to a certian degree. Denon which is considered one of the better brands for DVD players were for the longest time just panasonics in a new shell and a few minor tweaks etc.

[ds22030]

Yup, I am aware that many companys share components and technology....otherwise, sooo many things will be unaffordably $$$. Sherwood (Newcastle) claims that they make over 30% of all the receivers made...most being for brands better known than Sherwood.

I am just surprised that Rotel would join in with JVC? My impression is that JVC is low to midpack of manufacturers, no? I thought they would team up with say Nakamichi, Denon or even Yamaha....... Maybe JVC is considered pretty good?

[basementjack]

All I can say of JVC is that I was really really impressed with my $89 412 DVD player. The picture quality was noticibly better than our old Pioneer 414 (not that the Pioneer was a high end model, mind you)

I did some comparisons at Frys and purchased the JVC for it's features and specs as I couldn't see any visual differences on the crappy ED plasmas they had hooked up via composite video.

Features I really wanted:
Ability to switch player from full screen to wide screen, without stopping the movie - Most make you stop and enter a setup menu - the panasonics had a nice zoom feature, but it wasn't the same.
Other nice features:
- 12bit video dacs
- optical and coax digital out
- ability to switch from Interlaced to progressive scan via one button on remote (only used it to see the diff)
- ability to see the transfer rate of the video
- 2 user settings for customizing brightness, gamma, tint, sharpness

all in all the best upgrade for under $100 I've made!

[Kyle]

I too can vouch for JVC. I have owned many JVC products over the years (several tvs, several vcrs, a handful of receivers) and to this day still use a JVC Dvd player (one of the earlier models, the 701). Since I don't have a progressive/HD capable TV, its still in my rack!

Personally I think they are among the best of "entry level" consumer electronics, and as was said above, they have been pioneers in the industry for many years. S'not bad stuff if you don't have a lot to spend and aren't willing to pay the premium for some of the entry level stuff from pioneer, onkyo, <insert other circuit city stocked brands here>.

[Andrew Pratt]

I thought they would team up with say Nakamichi, Denon or even Yamaha.......

Of that list both Denon and Yamaha buy their players from Panasonic so even your "better" list are rebadged products. JVC makes some good parts at a reasonable cost. Pioneer's transports are often touted as some of the best but they're pricey in comparison

[ds22030]

Don't get uptight folks....I also have JVC dvd, vcr and a boom box that I am happy with..except for one zoom level on the dvd.....just that most people dont associate JVC with high-fi so just surprised to hear Rotel rebadged their product....

[Kyle]

I'm not uptight, just defending JVC