Samsung DVD-HR720 DVD Recorder

by Samsung

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009VD0EI
• Item model number: DVD-HR720
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,331 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Samsung's DVD-HR720 incorporates a gigantic 120 GB hard drive as well as a DVD recorder that records in DVD-RAM and DVD-R/RW formats. This enables you to record programming onto the hard drive, then easily archive it onto DVDs--or vice versa. With up to 4x speed, two-way copying between hard drive and DVD, two hours of content can be transferred in just an hour. The DVD-HR720 also integrates the latest electronic program guide from TV Guide, making the recording of favorite programs onto the hard drive as simple as surfing and clicking.

Playback and recording for both DVDs and the built-in hard drive are completely independent. For example you can record a broadcast program to either a recordable DVD or the hard drive, while watching another recording you already made on the same DVD or on the hard drive. You can set your recorder to one of four different recording speeds, each varying in recording quality and length. EP (6 or 8 hour) mode yields the most recording time, LP and SP modes provide less recording time with higher quality recording (between 2 and 4 hours), and XP mode gives you the highest quality recording. If FR mode is selected, the video quality is adjusted automatically so that all video for the scheduled time can be recorded onto the free disc space.

In addition to playing DVD movies and recorded DVD-RAM and DVD-R/RW discs, the DVD-HR720 offers playback of CD audio and CD-R/RW discs with MP3, WMA, and JPEG digital content. You can also easily connect a digital video camcorder to the unit, via either the front panel composite AV connection or the Firewire (IEEE 1394) port--perfect for creating a disc directly from your video without first having to download to a PC.

The DVD-HR720 provides optical and coaxial digital audio outputs for Dolby Digital and DTS multi-channel surround sound, as well as a selectable progressive-scan mode for smoother video with HD-compatible TVs via the component video output. It also offers the following video connections:

• Composite AV (RCA) In: 2
• Composite AV (RCA) Out: 1
• S-Video In: 1
• S-Video Out: 1
• RF: input and output (tuner pass through only)

Note: This DVD player is designed to play "Region 1" pre-recorded DVDs only, and internal dubbing of copy-protected DVDs is not possible.

What's in the Box
DVD player/recorder, remote control (with batteries), power cable, AV cable, printed operating instructions

Product Description

The DVD-HR720 DVD recorder is convenient and easy to use. Find shows you want to watch with TV Guide's on Screen interactive program guide. You get up to 180 hrs. of storage with its 120GB hard drive.TV Guide On Screen Program GuideIts ease of use makes our DVD-HR720 stand out in a crowd. Saving your favorite TV shows is easy with its TV Guide's On Screen program guide.Find the shows you want to watch with TV Guide On Screen's interactive program guide. The on-screen menus make it as easy to capture a show with the touch of a button. Plenty of Recording SpaceThe DVD-HR720's 120GB DVR (Digital Video Recorder) gives you plenty of recording space. Once saved, you can watch and delete it or burn it to DVD for a more permanent copy. When it dectects a change in lighting or sound such as during a commercial break, it will create chapter markers. Front End Access.If want to record and store your home videos,this unit provides Front-Panel inputs for your analog or digital camcorder. You may also hook up your VCR and copy those precious home VHS video tapes to more durable DVDs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OVERALL, AN EXCELLENT RECORDER, March 7, 2006

By 

Quatermass (Hayward, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung DVD-HR720 DVD Recorder (Electronics)

I have owned this unit for about a month now, and am very satisfied with its overall performance.

As a basic DVD player, it is excellent. The only two minor gripes I have are that the time for loading a disc is a little long, and it does not show time remaining on a disc. Picture and sound quality are outstanding.

As a DVD recorder, I have used it both to record shows off of cable TV, and to transfer home movies from VHS videotape to DVD. It does both very well. The main gripe I have is that I cannot place chapter points where I want; the unit does that automatically. I first copy the videotape to the hard drive, and then burn a DVD of the entire tape at high speed (this takes about 25 minutes for a 2 hour tape). Then I go through the material on the hard drive and edit out as much of the boring stuff as possible. This usually reduces the 2 hours of material from one VHS videotape down to about 30 minutes. Editing is a straight forward, although very time consuming process. Every time a portion of a recording is edited out, the unit takes the user back to the beginning of the recording, and you have to scan forward to where you left off to do more editing. Once editing is done, I then combine the remaining materials into a "highlights" DVD. Please note that when combining edited materials like this, the only chapters placed on the disc are between the edited materials derived from each tape. Therefore, for me that means a highlights DVD only will have 4 chapters if the disc is recorded in SP (2 hour) format.

I also used the iLink/Firewire connector to transfer material directly from my Sony Digital 8 camcorder to DVD. Since a Digital 8 tape only holds 1 hour of extemely high-resolution material, I used the XP (1 hour) DVD format. The picture is incredible. In the future, I may record using SP if the picture is almost as good.

The last part of the unit is the hard disc, which uses TV Guide to record shows. I have read many horror stories on-line about this, and I did have problems the first couple of weeks. Sometimes the unit would not load new listings overnight like it was supposed to. And it did not record a show or two when I believed that it was going to. But once the TV Guide became fully populated with listings, it seemed to work as expected. Once I noticed that the unit added listing during the daytime, not overnight. And it will begin recording shows even if you are watching a DVD or another show on TV. Of course, I love watching a show at the same time that show is recording (chase play).

As I have read on-line reviews for most other units, the hard disc fan for my Samsung seems to run all the time. However, it is very quiet and not a problem at all.

Overall I am very satisfied with this unit, and I enjoy playing with it.