Reid Caulfield wrote:

Does anybody know where I can have a JVC U-Matic digital master
transferred to CD-R, or at the very least have the audio material
extracted?

Good luck with that--as you no doubt know, JVC used a video encoding
that was completely different from Sony's, so your tape must be played
back on a JVC processor and no other.

Also, my experience with the Sony UMatic digital audio tapes was that even
under excellent storage conditions they started to develop severe errors
(ticks, gronches, dropouts) within 3 - 5 years. I would assume that by
now, most Sony UMatic digital audio tape masters are unplayable.

JVC's error concealment/correction system was in some ways better than
Sony's--JVC's system worked with industrial 1/2" formats, for example,
while Sony's did not--so you may still have a chance with this. But you
certainly are right to try retrieving the information now while you
possibly still can.

Would you do me (and perhaps others here) a favor, please, and let us
know how this works out for you?

--best regards