Black Boxes: EchoStar/Dish Network JVC HM-DSR100 D-VHS/DISH Network Receiver

by Jim Mikles
Winter 1998/Spring 1999

To keep up with the latest, you need a digital satellite receiver, a digital TV and a digital versatile disc player. But what about your good old VCR? Thank goodness D-VHS is here. While it might seem hard to justify the need for another VCR format, considering changes in broadcast technology it makes sense a digital format would emerge. D-VHS is a brand new standard with the distinction of being able to record and play a digital audio and video signal without any loss of quality. Not only can it record and play back the audio and video parts of a digital signal, but the entire digital “bit stream” as well.

People with digital broadcast satellite (DBS) know the clarity and resolution of MPEG-2 digital video. It's how video is sent to DSS and DISH receiver boxes, how it's stored on DVD discs, how it's sent in a High Definition Television (HDTV) broadcast, and how all high quality digital video will probably be compressed and sent well into the next century. The D-VHS VCR records the video and audio signals in this MPEG-2 state. This allows for no signal degradation in the recording process and, because the data is still compressed, a single D-VHS tape can store up to 7 hours digital programming.

The JVC HM-DSR100 is the first D-VHS VCR on the market and fans and followers of the DISH Network DBS service will love it. It was developed in partnership with EchoStar to work with the DISH Network system and the result is a tightly integrated unit that includes not only the VCR, but also a DISH receiver box. The box is sold either with or without a satellite dish.

The satellite receiver part of the unit has all the bells and whistles of a top end stand-alone box, including a versatile program guide, favorites list, themes menu, and parental controls. It also has a timer function that works exceptionally well because the VCR is integrated into the same unit. The slick result is one click recording with no clunky external infrared blasting.

From our experience with the unit, the quality of a D-VHS recording was equal to the original audio and video signal off the satellite. We recorded several movies and sporting events and the MPEG-2 video was crystal clear with no artifacts or pixelization. Later this year, when Dish Network is scheduled to provide Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio with select programming, the D-VHS will record and play that as well from a special AC- 3 audio jack.

Not only do you get digital video and audio, but all the other data sent with the signal is recorded too. All the information you can get by pressing the “info” button on the remote during a real-time broadcast, including program name, date and time, time remaining, channel number, channel name, channel list, rating and content codes, etc., is recorded on the tape and available with a press of the same button during playback.

The VCR also features high-end tape access functions, including index search, skip search, shuttle search, repeat playback, slow motion and still playback.

Our main complaint with this format and this unit is that they are extremely proprietary. A D-VHS tape recorded on the DSR-100 only plays on another DSR-100. Other D-VHS players, when they become available, will not necessarily be able to decode the Dish Network MPEG-2 signal. Nor is the unit able to record the compressed MPEG-2 from an HDTV signal, although that may change when those signals become more widely available, said a JVC company spokesperson. Luckily, the player will play and record in regular VHS format, so it is backwards compatible with an existing VHS library and with standard VHS tapes. If you are content with this, then the JVC DSR-100 is a savvy, well-designed solution for recording digital audio and video off the Dish Network satellite.

HM-DSR100
JVC
www.jvc.com
$799.95 (with dish)
$749.95 (box only)
$10.99 (JVC D-VHS tape)

--Jim Mikles is Smart TV's Associate Editor