Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-P421 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This DVD player has most of the features you would find in a $200+ player at a much lower cost. However, it doesn't take long to figure out why this player is so affordable. I, like other reviewers, experienced the "skipping" problems of this player. Audio CD's and MP3 CD's are handled well by this player. The problem exists with DVD movies, as this player sometimes randomly skips scenes while viewing the movie, and will also skip entire chapters when slowly searching through the movie. As I mentioned, this only occurs seldomly, but is still annoying when watching DVD movies. I wouldn't recommend this player to anyone unless there were no better options available at this price with this set of features.

I figured the Samsung DVD-P421 would be a good choice making the best of my current and future equipment. It matched up feature for feature with players costing much more.

It loaded DVDs fairly quickly, gave flawless video output, and put out excellent sound to my RCA 29 inch TV. The larger remote was a bit hard to handle, especially in the dark. The little remote made up for that, with easy to use glow-in-the-dark keys for basic needs -- starting and stopping play, and navigating DVD menus. Overall I was quite pleased with this player...

....until it was into Week Four after delivery, when it simply refused to load any more discs of any type whatsoever. It would _try_ to load them, and then just give me the "no disc" indicator. For 24 days it had played new DVDs fresh out of the wrapper, along with bashed and abused Netflix DVDs, all without a hint of trouble. It just couldn't handle Day 25. So back it went ... with a few days to spare.

Right now my little sixty buck no-feature Apex DVD player is looking really good in comparison to the DVD-P421, because it was playing my stuff months before I got the Samsung and it's still going strong.

All the features and value in the world don't matter much if the player just won't play.

I've only had this player for two weeks and I've not decided yet whether I'm going to return it or not but if it keeps performing the way it has been, I'll probably return it. You can play the same DVD more than once and at first it'll be fine and then it skips whole scenes at a whim. I've not played too many CD's on it so I can't vouch for that. I ordered this player because I have a Samsung burner/DVD combo player in my Dell computer and it works great. I cannot believe my computer DVD player outperforms a standalone player. I believe you used to be able to buy high quality electronic merchandise but it seems these companies just keep churning out crap and we keep buying it. What a shame.

The playback performance of this DVD player is outstanding. I have played many DVD-Rs on this unit and it never skips. Even ones that have many scratches.

While the Digest lable might be misleading, ( I like the word index)this preview feature of video and audio is excellent.

Not all current Samsung DVD models perform as well as this one.
Other models look simular but do not perform as well. I recorded a DVD-R, using the highest quality option that the Pioneer PRV9000 will record. Other Samsung DVD players would not play it back.

The only item I found this unit that was weak, is the round knob on the large remote control in the center, it is not always a positive action and somtimes you have to hit it 2 or 3 times to get the option wanted. That is the operation of the remote control and not a DVD player performance issue. I can overlook that minor issue.

A great product at a great price.

...We rented 4 DVD's in the last month, and 2 have not played properly. I finally took a DVD that skipped constantly in our player over to a friend's house, and it played perfectly. So I'm sending this DVD player back to Amazon...

Played the widest variety of formats, not as any other DVD player I could test, however it seemed responding slower than average when loading and during playing. Screen Fit button is probably unique at all for this DVD player and it is very useful.
I rated this product as four stars, because the remote controls were my the only disappointment with it, often they respond with delays or not at all from any distance/angle, also the joystick like button is bad, I wonder if a home theater master remote control will solve this problem, as I read in reviews many people feel like to switch to it, including me...

I recently bought this DVD player and have noticed that the remote controls do not work very well at all. I can be 5 feet from the box and practically smashing the buttons down and nothing happens. I'm going to return it, especially in light of all the complaints on here about skipping scenes. I would not suggest this player to anyone else.

At first glance, the P421 appears to be a well-made progressive scan DVD player at a very attractive price. But don't be seduced by its handsome front panel or sale prices that seem too good to be true. Believe me, this player is not a good buy at any price!

The picture and sound quality are fine, but the scan speed is awful! The unit only responds to the remote controls (two are provided) when it feels like it, so you are forced to push the same buttons over and over again before it finally wakes up. This problem is so frustrating that it quickly negates any positive qualities this player may have.

After watching just one DVD, I packed it up and returned it for a refund. Spare yourself the aggravation. You can do MUCH better than this for just a few dollars more!

Have had the Samsung P421 for about a year an a half. 10 months into ownership it began pausing occasionally and randomly in the middle of a DVD, then either skipping or stopping entirely with the "Disc will not play message." Initially I attributed this to to a disc that was dirty or damaged, but when cleaning a disc didn't help and it did it as well with clean DVDs that played satisfactorily on other players, I realized the player was at fault. As time has gone on it's gotten worse, and now it displays this problem on at least 70% of the DVDs played and refuses to play through about 15% of the DVDs. Much too unreliable or short-lived to recommend. Too bad, because a number of its features are excellent.

Truly an excellent value. Purchased this DVD player yesterday, we have tested every function of this player already. Versatility doesn't even begin to describe this one. I opted not to purchase the P721 with the memory stick capability. I figured the extra [cost] for something we wouldn't use much wasn't worth it. I copied some photos to CD and viewed them with this player, full screen on my TV, just as promised. The MP3 play is great to. Oh yeah, it's a progressive scan DVD player, the picture quality is awesome.

The owner's manual is a good one. It not only tells you what the player will do but what not to expect from the player also. I have yet to purchase a piece of audio/video equipment where the accompanying manual explains the detail of configurations you have as options like this one. With every option there is an explanation of what to expect from each configuration, good, better, best for video and audio. For some folks this really isn't needed but for people just getting into the market or novice users you can't go wrong here.

The remotes are user friendly and my universal remote will control this player to.