Okay, I got my JVC XV-501BK in and found out the manual says it cannot play CD-RW...which I was hoping it would do. Is this absolute? Would I waste my time trying to find a specific disc that it may be able to read or will I never get homemade video cds to play? It does play commercial VCDs though. Any help would be appreciated.

-- Richard Compton (rcompton@midco.net), October 12, 1999

Answers

Nothing is absolute. Anyone who has been called a moron for running into a door to open it can be told that. You can keep trying to find a CD-RW brand that works. Just be sure you have a lot of money and time.

-- The Lone ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999.

If you planned all along to play CD-Rs you should have gone out of your way armed with, say, a simple audio CD-R to test all the players you can lay your hands on to see what works. I turn the electronic departments of some stores/malls upside down this way when they get absolutely horrified to realize some of their set-tops play CD-Rs and some don't. Surely, they say, if it played properly on one and not at all on the other then the latter is defective and subject to bargain basement prices. At this point in time, all I can say is that people in those big companies (like JVC) who are responsible for still allowing their latest generation DVD/VCD set-tops to NOT be able to play CD-Rs/CD-RWs should all but be exterminated.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), October 12, 1999.

If you really want to play home made vcds (CD-R based), buy Pioneer series like 414 or 525. I have made extensive study (in USA market) and found that Pioneer is the best (in both audio and video quality) and can play CD-R discs of any color (did I forget to mention, it will also play CD-RWs ?).

Good luck.

-- VCDman (VCDman@a.com), October 12, 1999.