Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-P341 DVD Player with Multicard Memory Slot

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've had this player for about a week. Since day one I had issues with it. It defaults to composite video out. It took about an hour of playing with it to get it changed to component video output. The directions don't work as stated. You have to change it to component on the DVD player while it is plugged in with composite video. Then power down your TV and DVD player, unplug your composite video, hook up the component cables and then power on. If this was in the manual, it'd have saved me an hour. I guess I assumed you could start with components or change without power down after changing it in the menu. You know what they say about assuming.

What else? The power button on the front of the display does not work. The fast-forward/rewind/play/stop button doesn't work. The open/close button has worked on only one day. I've searched online and the manual for resolutions but have found none.

I had problems getting it to open at all on one occasion, the tray would open and close in about one second, leaving me to use my lighting fast hands to retrieve my captive DVD.

This DVD player only plays the most pristine and brand new out of box DVD's. I got through my brand new Matrix DVD and the Godfather, which is older but has been kept in good shape. DVD"s I never had an issue with in my XBOX (Finding Nemo, T2, several others) all of a sudden won't play on this unit. The unit powers up and then powers down automatically as soon as it hits a snag.

The unit has also powered down for no reason without a disc in it, after being on for only about 20 seconds. It did this to me for about ten minutes straight before it stayed on.

When it did work, the picture was very nice, standard 480progressive. The 3:2 pulldown seems to do its job. The digitial coax wasn't as sharp as I've heard on other players, but it gets the job done as well.

Taken as a whole, the frustration I've gone through has not been worth the three or so movies I've managed to get through. This is going back to Circuit City tomorrow. This is more of a rant/vent then a review. Sorry, but find another player.

This player has many good features. They have been given by others so I won't repeat them. But it has some problems.

First, it won't load folders on mp3 CDs with names longer than 32 characters. It hangs on them with a "Loading" message and I have to eject the disc. My old cheap as you can buy player has no problems with these same discs, and the same folders play fine on two different brands of portable players.

I tried to get help from Samsung - the second problem. They strung me along for more than a month with lame excuses until it was too late to return the player. I even asked them to tell me if they didn't intend to help so I could quit wasting time. They responded with apologies, more excuses, and promises that a product specialist would contact me. One finally emailed me with simple suggestions after I threatened to write bad reviews when a month passed, but I had to find the folder naming problem myself.

Then I found another problem. The player would sometimes hang if I skipped from file-to-file and folder-to-folder. This problem isn't repeatable, so I emailed again to ask if the player had problems with variable bitrate mp3s or if I might have a bad unit. When there was no response after two weeks (more than six weeks after the initial request), I called Customer Service. They assured me that the player had no known problems with variable bitrate mp3s - the email tech had said they recommend constant bitrate files in the first response. That pretty much means to me that the unit is defective, but I was told they could only help me if I sent it in for service. Well I'm going to get rid of the player as a matter of principle rather than do that. I think they should send a new unit and issue a pickup order for the old one rather than subject me to more trouble and expense. If I did return it for service, they would probably only do limited testing, declare that the unit was fine and send it back anyway. I have wasted a lot of time and CDR discs already so I'll buy another brand.

So you can't expect product support from them for any problem they can't pretend to solve by just quoting some part of the manual. But you can expect them to try to keep you pacified until your product return window has passed. I have to wonder if the same attitude would apply to a warranty claims and service.

This is a very nice dvd player, and Im very happy with the quality, and features. The only problem with this DVD player is that it wont play VCD's or SACD's. Some people say that you have to use CD-RW and Not just CD-R disks for it to play VCD's but I have yet to try that. Just about every dvd player will play VCD (even a 2 yr old apex dvd player)except this one. Thats the only downside to this player. The memory card reader works superb and the menu is chocked full of options. And with progressive scan on and 5.1ch enabled it is awesome. I would definitely recommend this player to anyone who wants a extremely good DVD player with enough features to please almost everyone.

I should have checked for reviews before buying this player. I got it brand new and I still got ripped off. The picture was GREAT, and the EZ-view feature is perfect for my 16:9 TV. However, the player would often spin-down the DVD and claim it was un-readable or worse would lock the disc in the player until I manually opened the player to spin the disc with my finger and have it open. After the case was open, you could literly watch the DVD stop spinning for no reason and complain. Not a dust issue or overheating, just a piece of junk!

At first when I got this I just thought it was alright and then I got in the menu of the actual DVD player. The options are endless. I went into setup and change the format from 16:9 to the regular 4:3, and then I was amazed. The EZ view option is by far the coolest. It allows you to change the view of a widescreen DVD to fullscreen which is really freaking awesome. Also the memory card reader allows you to watch movies that you have recorded with your digital camera. Overall this is the best DVD player and I recommend it to anyone.

My player likes to just stop playing into a movie and then when you press play again it stops again and this time it resets, none of my front buttons work, the power button on the remote doesnt work this is a collosal piece of CRAP do not buy unless you like returning items to target.

I bought this player for its ability to play DVD-r's and the fact that it will take a memory card from my Digital Camera. I have had this player for a year now...and along with other reviews....it has major issues with any disc that is not absolutely perfect. The other players in my house...even the cheap ass walmart one for my kids doesnt even have this problem. Samsung as a whole usually has great products....this...is not one of them. BAD.....irratating....Annoying....and works better as a trash can liner.

Aside from the glowing and I'm sure not at all paid for by Samsung reviews below, I've been having chronic problems ejecting DVDs from this unit during the month I've had it; tonight proving to be the most entertaining of all with a DVD that is due back at the rental store tomorrow. It also tends to freeze after it's been running for a while; possibly a heat-related problem? The unit does become extremely hot to the touch after about 15 minutes of use. I'm hoping I can find the receipt for this product (it was a wedding gift) and invest in something more reliable, or at least get my money back to pay off the imminent fine at the video store. Avoid this product.

The player plays OK except it has hickups like most others and it gets stuck really easy on "bad" spots. The things that I really don't like are the remote contol has to be aimed exact at the unit and the button pressed hard to get the unit to respond. It only has one button for both skip and fast forward or reverse so you have to hold the FF down to get it to fast forward. When this works, without skipping instead, it only goes either 2x or 8x. This can get pretty maddening when trying to scan while pressing hard and aimming exact and without skipping to the next chapter and the button is so small. It would also be nice if you could adjust the centering so that subtitles were not partially off the bottom of the screen.

Fine while it lasted but that wasn't very long.