Samsung DVD-R120 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder

by Samsung

Product Details

Data Sheet [77kb PDF]

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Supplementary Guide [3.13mb PDF]

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Product Manual [6.13mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 17 x 9.6 x 2.3 inches ; 6.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00092HNOA
• Item model number: DVD-R120
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,256 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #61 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > DVD Players & Recorders > DVD Recorders
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Samsung's two-tone silver/black DVD-R120 puts the power, quality, and convenience of digital video recording and playback at your fingertips. The stylish, slender component stands less than 3 inches tall but delivers everything from triple-format DVD recording (write-once DVD-R, rewritable DVD-RW, and random-access DVD-RAM) to progressive-scan video and playback of MP3 music and JPEG digital-photo files.

Front-panel audio/video inputs offer easy access for connecting external devices such as camcorders, DVRs, and VCRs, and the unit offers both analog and digital DV (FireWire IEEE 1394) inputs for high quality and great flexibility. Now you can edit and share your home-video archives with your family and friends.

Samsung uses its own multi-format technology that allows the DVD-R120 to support three digital recording formats: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD-R. DVD-RAM is the most versatile format available to DVDs and can adapt to DVD-RW status for playback on older machines. The recorder's non-contact optical pick-up ensures that each disc will be scratch-free for repeated use. The DVD-RAM format also allows for mixed storage of video, audio, and other types of data from both the PC and AV worlds. The format's non-linear characteristics enable unique features like time-shifting and time-warping. This means you can start watching a program from the beginning while the middle or end is still being recorded. Write-once DVD-R media is widely compatible with other DVD players and PCs.

One-touch and timer recording offers extra convenience (initiating playback at 30 minutes and adding 30 minutes with each additional press of the button, up to the available disc time or 240 minutes, whichever is sooner), while digital noise reduction actually improves upon the quality of incoming interlaced video signals.

During playback, you'll also enjoy live picture pause and replay. And whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DVD-R120 stands ready to deliver the full potential of your DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.

Connections include 2 each composite- and S-video inputs (1 front and 1 rear) with accompanying stereo analog audio inputs (left/right RCA), 1 each composite-, S-video, and component-video outputs, and the component outs are selectable for either 480i or progressive 480p, depending on your TV. A choice of coaxial or optical digital-audio output facilitates hookup with an audio/video surround receiver for exciting multichannel surround sound from Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks.

What's in the Box
DVD player/recorder, a remote control, remote batteries, an audio/video cable, an RF video cable, a user's manual, and warranty/registration information.

Product Description

DVD Recorders are rapidly replacing the VCR as part of a home-theater component system. Besides getting digital-quality performance, the Samsung DVDR120 is remarkably easy to use. One Touch Recording button on Samsung DVD Recorders makes recording easier than ever. By simply pressing the button, Samsung DVD Recorder automatically searches the available recording space on the disc and starts recording the selected program. Pressing the ":Recording" button once will record up to 30 minutes and pressing twice will record up to an hour. Each time you press the button, Samsung DVD Recorder automatically records an additional 30 minute length of the selected program. The recording time on a disc is a maximum of 240 minutes depending on the recording mode. Once the recording is completed, simply press the "PLAY" button. Now the program that you just recorded will play. This unit will also play virtually all DVD formats and CD, CDR and CDRW.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Price Performance, but Read the Manual, September 12, 2005

By 

Sansei Guy "Si Valley Dad" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung DVD-R120 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder (Electronics)

This is a great deck for the price I bought it at (Amazon $169 minus $30 for signing up and using Amazon Visa).

I like:

1. Slim form factor - fits well in my setup.

2. Front panel DV connection for camcorder - A "must" if you care copying your miniDV to DVD. In fact, I use this instead of my Mac (Computer) to get video because you can just start the recording to DVD and leave it until it is done. Then, you can much more rapidly find and edit portions on the computer later than if you tried to copy the large files directly. My way takes more time in total, but it takes LESS of my time in front of a machine since I can just start the DVD recording and leave. This is also the way we send this stuff to Grandma now.

3. The menu system when setting up and doing other tasks is very clear.

4. The video quality (out put to TV) is good.

5. The component video output appears to be cleaned up so that recordings at SP speed are better than my S-VHS recorder. This only works when playing back on this unit.

What I don't like:

1. Control response (open, close, etc.) is much slower than what I am used to. I would say it takes three times as long for the Disc drawer to open and close and load vs. my Denon.

2. No DVI or other digital video output. It does have optical and coax digital for audio. Once again, the component out is great, and my primary video watching (as opposed to recording) unit is a Denon 5900, so this is for those of you who would use this as your machine for watching pre-recorded DVD.

3. This could be an issue with all DVD recorders, but I found that although I am a pretty techie sort of guy (for a 50 year old) that I HAD to read the manual to record DVDs. For example, if you don't go to the "DISC" menu after recording and execute a "finalize" operation, the disc won't run on another machine (this is with DVD-R). There are a few other things you should know, and I suggest you read the manual and get to know them before you proceed.

4. "No Signal Detected" message when using DV input. When recording from a camcorder per the instructions in the manual, the system will stop without recording if your camcorder doesn't start playing back an image soon enough. The recorder has some input detection scheme that will stop recording if there is insufficient video signal for a few seconds. Of course, if you are controlling your camcorder from the DVD, there won't be any signal until the camcorder spins its head up and starts cranking. I beat this by starting the camcorder in "Play" and then hitting the record control on the DVD as soon as an image appeared.

5. Variable Bit Rate feature. Don't use this if you plan on using the disks on other DVD players. What this does is to allow you to fit exactly the amount of programming you want on to a disk. For instance, use the entire surface to record 2.5 hours (the standard times are 1,2,4 and 6 hours). This caused all of my other players to skip badly. Of course, it works fine on the recording unit itself. To be safe, just pick the right length/format and call it a good.

So, despite spending more words on the low points, I would still highly recommend it. I would NOT buy anybody's combo VCR and DVD/R, but would say the next step up is to get one of the combo DVD/R with hard disk/TIVO machines. The hard disk allows for better editing capabilty w/o PC.

66 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Unit for the Price, September 22, 2005

By 

Aaron Vinck (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung DVD-R120 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder (Electronics)

I bought this unit, and used it for one day only. It is a great unit (especially for the price), but once I got it home and went through the manual, I realised it has two drawbacks.

First, even though it records to DVD-RAM discs, the unit does not take advantage of the the DVD-RAM format's ability to do a "time slip" or "chasing playback" (the ability to start watching the very same program from the beginning whiles it's still recording it).

And secondly, I had failed to notice when buying, that this machine doesn't PLAY +R and +RW formats -- it plays -R and -RW formats only. Since the DVD burner in my PC is a + format burner, it didn't make sense for me to own a DVD player that can't play that format.

If these are not issues and features important to you, then I'd have no problem recommending this unit.

So, I returned the machine, and instead I have purchased an essentially similar machine, that does everything the Samsung does, PLUS plays all formats and has the "time slip" feature. And that unit is the Panasonic DMR-ES20, which costs about $30 more than the Samsung. Note that the DMR-ES20 is a newer updated model to the DMR-ES10 unit (the newer model adds a firewire input). I didn't buy the Panasonic DMR-ES20 here on Amazon, because as of the date of this writing (9.22.05), that unit is not yet available on Amazon (only the older ES10 unit) -- I bought it at Best Buy for $199. That was full retail, not "on sale" or with any rebates.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Piece of garbage, August 10, 2006

By 

S. Stang - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung DVD-R120 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder (Electronics)

Machine didn't work out of the box and Samsung charged $40 to fix it b/c it was built before a certain date (?). Got it back and it still didn't work. No "fixes" have worked and Samsung's tech support has wasted countless hours of our time upgrading firmware, buying additional DVDs, shipping the unit back and forth twice. Do not waste your time with this POG.