Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-VR325 DVD/VCR Recorder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I Decided to get this Combo player for two reasons initially. #1 the upconversion of both the DVD AND VCR and #2 It matches my Samsung LCD TV.

Performance of this ubit so far has been exceptional, Great upconversion through the DVI output. It showed significant inprovement over the TV's built in upconversion for the VDD and incredible improvement over my exixting 6 head toshiba VCR.

One thing that was nice that they don't mention in the literature is that the VCR is SVHS compatible so you can take advantage of the higher image quality. Basically this unit exceds my performance standards that I was looking for picture and sound wise.

Now for the issues:

#1 - You cant really stack anything on top of it or it fouls the loading mechanism of the VCR. I placed my LCD TV (23" Samsung 21lbs) on top of it and the top bowed enough so that the loading mechanism would get caught on the case. I fixed this myself with a little inginuity but it could cause others issue.

#2 - The Second issue which is a little more irritating is with the recorder. If you wish to record from VCR-DVD or visa-versa you MUST turn off the Progressive scanning. This is not an issue if you use the normal component video out however, if you use the DVI you cannot get a picture on your monitor (I had to connect a second line to my TV to get recording to work). The other issue is that no where n the directions do they tell you this, I had to figure it out on my own. The DVD recording quality is very good though once you get it figured out.

Other than that this unit is worth the money to me.. Though the manual could be much better and of course the stacking issue, but that is a minor thing.

It is a terrific player/recorder. The VCR's quality outmatches just about any VCR. The VCR to DVD works without a hitch and without heat buildup on the case. It's just terrific.

My one complaint is that it won't play VCD's or SVCD's. This is probably unimportant to most people but before there were DVD's there were VCD's and alot of my children's video's are on VCD.

Samsung has a convenient port on the front of the device to hook up an external device to record from. So I have to hook up my old DVD player (that supported VCD) and transfer everything over to DVD-R.

You'll not be dissappointed by either the functionality or the picture quality. It is worth it if you have DVD's and a high def TV or you need to tranfer your VCR tapes and old home movies to DVD.

I bought the VR325 because my old VCR was no longer working well, I wanted to copy some videocassettes to DVD, and I wanted a DVD player capable of playing CDs and displaying photo JPGs on my TV. This machine satisfies me on all counts, though not without some minor annoyance.

DVD movies look even better with this machine than they did with my old DVD player. I notice no difference between the HDMI interface and S-video; both produce gorgeous results for movies. There is a difference when I look at photo JPGs: When I used the HDMI interface, I had to adjust the aspect ratio on my TV to 4:3 so that the pictures wouldn't be cropped; with S-video they display properly at 4:3 or 16:9. Since photo quality is the same, I've opted to stick with S-video. The machine comes with an HDMI cable, and I'm sure I'll find a use for it someday.

It's very easy to record to DVD from VHS, though as a previous reviewer noted, you need to turn off the progressive scan feature and there's nothing in the manual about that. VHS output is excellent; our videocassettes look much better than they did on our old VCR.

What don't I like about this machine? First, it takes it several seconds to load a DVD; my Sony loaded DVDs almost immediately. It also takes it several seconds to load a CD. I assume part of the delay is due to the machine deciding what kind of disc is loaded, but it seems rather long anyway.

Second, the remote isn't very responsive (and I've used a couple of sets of new batteries to make sure it isn't due to low batteries). I have to hit the open/close button a couple of times to get the DVD tray to come out (it works right away when I hit the button on the machine), and I have to aim the remote much more accurately than I did with my old machine.

Third, the menus illustrated in the manual don't look much like the menus I get on my TV screen. I haven't been able to find a couple of things in the manual at all, and some things discussed in the manual don't seem to correspond to anything I can find on the machine or on the menus. The manual is definitely a one-star item; it's incomplete and misleading. It's pathetic.

Overall I think Samsung has come up with a pretty good product in this machine. For the basic tasks of playing DVDs, CDs, and VHS cassettes it's superb. It's nicely styled. It makes recording from VHS to DVD easy. Startup is slow, the remote is annoying, and the manual is crummy. Those are things that should be easily and cheaply fixed. If they are, this will be a five-star product.

I made the mistake of ignoring all the warnings regarding the poor HDMI audio . . cuts in and out constantly . . I bought this unit from Circuit City and to my shagrin, the audio went in and out from the get-go. . Really frustrating trying to watch a movie!! I will say though that the video on my Panasonic 50" Plasma HDTV looked great, the upconverting IS the way to go, but just not with THIS unit or THIS (Samsung) brand! Also, contrary to what Samsung claims, there really is no appreciable upconverting the signal for VHS tapes that I could see, they actually looked worse!!. In short, DON"T BUY THIS UNIT, it has a widely experienced defect. Shame on Samsung for releasing a product with known defects in the HDMI audio without a recall or warning to consumers. This thing cost over $350 bucks! I've lost all trust in Samsung and will avoid this brand from now on . . You would be wise to do the same given the number of reviews like this one . . .

Promising feature package, but does not deliver. Tape to DVD copying works fine, but do not buy this if you care about Dolby 5.1 audio with HDMI.

By itself the HDMI does not support multichannel audio, only PCM (stereo). Those wanting Dolby 5.1 must use the separate digital audio output connected directly to a receiver. But when HDMI is connected, audible static is present from the digital audio out whenever the unit is paused or stopped, and the sound drops out every couple of minutes during playback. All this makes the HDMI feature basically unusable for typical home theater setups. I've tried two units with the latest manufacturing dates and they behave exactly the same, it's a design flaw. Digital audio only works properly using a component video connection, which delivers a mediocre picture. Samsung tech support is aware of the problem, but there is no fix, and no apparent urgency in developing one or even responding to customers.

This is the only model currently available from any manufacturer that has DVD recording, VCR and HDMI, and there's probably a reason why. It appears to have been rushed onto the market prematurely.

I had two machines, one a VCR recorder that couldn't remember that it's input was cable. It kept switching back to normal TV (ch 2-13). That got old real fast, the other was a DVD recorder that recorded. But the picture was grainy, really sub par. Plus it didn't want to paly some DVD's. So it was "chuck ho" for it. I searched and found this Samsung DVD-VR325 that did both. And it up converted EVERYTHING to 1080! Unless you wanted to spend big $$$ this fits the bill just right. I hooked this up and didn't even need to use the manual. The on screen menu was very easy to manuver and understand. Also the feel of the player and remote feels like quality, so different than the others. And the best part is the wiring mess is gone. One cable (to the HDMI connection) to my Sony 50" LCD eliminated five cables from the other recorders! And the picture is great. I especially like the Pscan button that tells you what picture quality you are selecting ie..480p, 720p or 1080i and you can see the differance right away. Very well designed, I will most likely get some very good viewing from this rig. Just make sure you follow the hook up instructions good. Cables first and then plug it in. Saves a lot of head scratching.
***** Just one thing about recording onto the VCR. Make sure that the TV/VCR button is switched to the "TV" option. Otherwise you will end up recording nothing...I could not find anywhere in the book that mentioned this. Thought I had a bummer for a moment.

DVD playback picture was very sharp (see below). Intermittent audio drop-outs were experienced when using HDMI cable, but not component cables. After unit had been turned on/off a few times, however, this problem went away.

The following issues remained:

1. Picture qualities (sharpness, color) at 480p, 720p and 1080i resolution settings were indistinguishable to my eyes. I was originally happy to see good 1080i picture quality, but was surprised to find out that at 480p resolution, the picture quality did not significantly degrade. I wonder if the "upconversion" was really effective afterall.

2. At 720p and 1080i resolution settings, standard aspect ratio (4:3) VHS and DVDs were stretched to widescreen, i.e. people look fat and shorter. There is no way to correct this with my TV setting. Level 2 Samsung technician could not help. This is inherent in the design.

To watch standart TV format (4:3) movies in their correct aspect ratio, you have to reset the resolution to 480p. This means that upconversion cannot be used for standard format DVDs and VHS movies. 720p & 1080i output signals are set to widescreen format.

I'll reiterate some of the previous comments, both good and bad points.
The manual might be over simplified, perhaps, because I redid a VCR to DVD playlist before I realized I had to use Copy All after creating a playlist or else I'd lose the remaining segments I laboriously set up (still not positive if the playlist segments themselves are only recorded or entire tape might be! Yesterday was first test.). Manual does state that a VCR playlist can't be "saved" but I thought it was saying the DVD-VR325 (somewhere it calls it DVD-VR320) wouldn't do a second copy after the first (six segments are possible) DVD is recorded, so I ended up with two disks having only a first segment and the other five segments disappeared when the initial recording ended. Another rather important fact, if you don't rewind the tape yourself before selecting to Copy it'll rewind in play mode, taking forever! Should be a note about that.
As to the HDMI audio dropouts... I'm awaiting delivery of a Samsung LCD this week before I'll know anything about that, but sure am counting on that connection to be okay. That was a main part of my decision to buy these Samsung products together (also got Samsung HT-DB600 home theater 5-disc player-- I have had a good Samsung 27" CRT since the late 1980's).
Something I found out right away about the audio is that DRC (dynamic range compression) causes out-of-synch sound. Not sure why. I use the optical output connected to the HT-DB600 input and set to bitstream, as suggested in the manual. I just don't know enough about these digital things to help myself. So the DRC is kept off on both units. Curious thing about that optical setting is that PCM seems to be what the manual says VCR and non-digital sources needs but I still get audio through the Home Theater speakers okay with it set to Bitstream instead. Again, I don't fully understand this stuff.
Well, now about the 4 star rating I chose to give this DVD/VCR recorder combo. It is definitely a nice device when going from a heavier DVD(non-recorder)/VCR combo that always baked the discs and tapes. A pleasant surprise, since I figured the cooling fan was there because it would still be hot. It's quiet, too, my notebook computer is noisier.
Also, compared to any previous VHS tape machine I ever had this one does tracking very well, showing a slider on-screen as it adjusts automatically. My other VCR's would never stay aligned even if they initially tracked okay.
Only had this a few days so I plan to update my long-winded review here if I discover anything to change my mind about the generous rating but, if not, I think a rating just above average would apply anyhow.
Paid $337 and some change (from Amazon itself).

Regarding Design:
HDMI-page 19, use HDMI for "best quality images and sounds." "Set the audio output to PCM. See p. 29." (Does this screw-up audio-out using component instead of HDMI? See below.)

Page 31, Using SETUP screen, change resolution from 480p to 720p to 1080i.
Or, "press the P.SCAN button while the unit is in Stop mode to select HDMI resolution as follows: 480i>480p>720p>1080i." Note: "HDMI/DVI does not support 480i. Video with 480i resolution can only be viewed through the analog inputs (Composite/S-Video/Component)." Catch that? Only the P.Scan button, not the setup screen, can get you back to 480i, and then the HDMI is unusable.

Page 63, "copy function is not allowed in progressive scan mode." Another gotcha: if you set any progressive mode, required in order to use HDMI, you cannot copy.

Page 64, "copy function from VCR to DVD does not operate if resolution is set to 1080i using HDMI or DVI."

Regarding Quality:
First unit returned due to audio drop-outs while using HDMI-no further testing, only one evening use. This second unit has dropouts every 4 to 6 seconds at 480p, every 10 to 15 seconds at 720p, and every 20 to 30 seconds at 1080i

Audio from DVD of very poor quality; TV required setting volume at max to hear at all, and background noise excessive. However, the audio was still set to PCM as required for HDMI, even though now using S-video + audio (3 cables in lieu of one HDMI.)

Playback of VCR, either for direct viewing or for copying, has VERY low resolution, and excessive contrast. Full blacks, and full whites visible, but no details visible in hair, grass, trees, etc.-all look black. Black Level was adjusted, as on p 30, but both settings were bad-just different. Audio useable, but seemed to be of a low level.

Recording from external VCR to a DVD-R on the DVD-VR325, unit stopped recording when stop button on remote pressed, but DVD not finalized. When playback was attempted, only low-quality audio was output, no video. Tried recording again on same disc for 10 seconds, stop button caused finalization to take place. Of course, this ruined the remainder of the disk. (ten-year-old VCR has better audio and video than this new DVD-VR325.)

Three Cassettes were copied onto DVD-R with no further loss of quality than that apparent on VCR playback-poor as this was, may not be a valid indicator of quality of recording.

this product has the best picture I seen,BUT!!!! the audio has dropouts every 20 seconds,through the HDMI,or digital outs,in other words,is buggy,being refurbished (,and I purchased it here,through Amazon,)i Cannot send it back,so I have to go through Samsung to have it fixed,hope they have the fix,this piece has potential for a good seller