Customer Reviews

Samsung DVD-V1000 DVD-VCR Combo

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If you don't own a DVD player yet, you won't know much of what you are missing. The quality of the VCR portion of the product is excellent, and the DVD playback is also fine. No need for an RF modulator, as everything you need to connect to TV's old or new is in the box. Get an S-Video connection ASAP, though.

Most problems start when you go to use the thing. Others have mentioned problems with the remote and menu functions; I, too have had situations where I had to turn it all of, and try it all again until it worked.

The biggest irritation will be to electronics buffs who chose this because other models were too high. If you have a DVD in the drive and turn the unit on, it will start the DVD no matter what you are trying to do. In the middle of getting the news? It will play the DVD. Switching to catch the latest MTV video? It will play the DVD. And forget RESUME functions. Turn the player off and you have to find your chapter anew. We have started to eject the DVD on turning the unit on if we want the VCR channel to stay on screen. Big irritation - big.

For the VCR side, until you PLAY a VHS tape the VCR display is not shown on screen (tape status, etc.). The controls on the remote are poor, and although it does double-function for your TV I wish some buttons were just TV and some buttons were just VCR. You will know what I mean when you see how small and oddly placed some of the remote functions are.

At a slightly lower price this product would be a great value; at the current price it isn't worth it, but does the job for a 2nd DVD player in the home to get rid of that old, yucky VCR you have had for years.

This player is perfect for the average user (as I said in the title). It combines a good ... DVD player with a good VCR ..., saving space and electrical cord confusion.

DVDs play perfectly, exactly the way they are supposed to, without skipping or anything. While there are no special frills or anything, it does exactly what any normal person wants out of a DVD player; plays DVDs without skipping or screwing up. In addition, the DVD player can play audio CDs, including ones with MP3 files on them. This means you can listen to 10 straight hours of music without pushing a button, as long as you also have a CD burner.

The VCR part is great (or at least much better than the 12 year old VCR we had previously). It has 4 tracks in it, which means when you pause it, you dont get those little white lines all over the place. Even better, you can record from a DVD onto a VCR (but not vice versa) provided the DVD isn't safe protected.

As far as ease of use goes, I only had one problem with the entire thing. When you first connect it, it tries to auto-detect the time and what channels you have. For some reason, it couldn't find my antenna, which forced me to tell it what the time was, as well as what the channels were, manually (adding about 2 more minutes to the 5 minute procedure of setting this thing up).

I don't have tons of experience with DVD players, so I can't say this is the best DVD player on the market. I would be lying, because I have nothing to compare it to. However, it fits the average user's needs perfectly. If you want like ultra amazing picture that you need to zoom in 8x to notice, you might want to shell out that extra $... for one of the newer ones. But for now, this is perfect.

I just got this yesterday. It is my first DVD player. It was a snap to set up and works just great! I had it up and running in 10 minutes. I was looking for a combo DVD/vcr since my TV only accepts 75 ohm co-ax composite video , I didnt want the hassle and extra expense of adding the RF modulator and switcher, I would have needed, if I purchashed a dedicated DVD player. This unit fits the bill. I had considered the Panasonic 4741 and 4761 but they are (...) more expensive than this unit. Normally, I would never have considered anything from Samsung, but this product was the right features at the right price. I found the instruction manual to be well written and easy to understand. Although I am using the Composite video output, I find the picture quality to be outstanding even with my not- very-good-quality - Phillips-Magnavox 25" color stereo - 'El- cheapo TV'. Audio quality is also very good. Obviously , this unit was NEVER intended to be a Videophile's heart-throb. Ignore the nit-picking Video-tech snobs , this unit was not intended for them.
BUT If you are an average Joe - like me, who just wants to watch a movie without obsessing and getting all twisted up about the 'Spec's, or hasseling a bunch of cables and interface connections, this unit will do the job just fine. Since I haven't had the unit very long, I can't vouch for reliability. A few reviewers seems to have had problems after a couple of weeks , so I will update this review after I have lived with it for a while. For now, I couldn't be happier!! Way to go Samsung!

After spending some time researching the 3 combo DVD/VCR players I could find, I settled on this one based on userfeedback from several sites. The first one I purchased was a bit of a dud (VCR door didn't open when ejecting a tape), but after exchanging it for a new one, I'm glad I picked it. Overall, it's a good sturdy unit. A bit wider than my original VCR. Initial setup is very easy. Plug the cables into the TV, plug the CATV from the wall into the unit, turn it on and let the autosetup run. The unit goes out and adds all the channels it can find, and even sets the time for you.

Video quality is very good. VCR playback looks very nice, and the auto-tracking is a nice feature. Very fast rewind too (a full T-120 in less than 2 minutes).

DVD image quality is very good. If you can get S-Video into your TV, go for it. Playback/pause works smoothly, although FF/Rew scan takes some getting used to if you're coming from the VCR world.

Only complaint (as with some other reviewers) is the remote. Buttons are kind of small, and takes some getting used to. Labels for a few buttons are pretty small, and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out where the Return button was. There are buttons all over the place, and not all of them are in the usual places you expect them.

If you're looking for a new VCR, and want to get into the DVD world without completely obsoleting your video collection, I'd give this one a good looking over.

The Samsung V1000 comes with the rarest of features - a well written manual. While most features are intuitive, it's nice to be able to refer to the manual for some of the advanced features like setting DVD bookmarks, dynamic compression, and programmed playback.

The V1000 flawlessly detected my home-burned CD's and MP3's and switched automatically without fuss to any and all commercial media. The front and rear panel aux video/audio inputs are nice for camcorder connections and multiple video/audio sources. Two digital audio outs and S Video along with all the standard outputs seems pretty remarkable for a combo unit at this price.

The remote is laid out well and programmed itself for compatibility with my TV with just 3 button pushes.

There was one mechanical problem - the display circuit board had popped out during shipping so that the top half of the display couldn't be seen. The case and front panel came off easily and I just pushed the circuit board back into place. However, since this display board has no mechanical restraint (i.e. screws or clips) I suspect this is a fairly common problem. The fix only took 3 or 4 minutes but might be daunting for someone unfamiliar with a phillips screwdriver. Internally, the unit is cleanly laid out. The V1000 uses a ROM based operating system. The unit I purchased was manufactured 5/01 and had a ROM that appeared to be marked version 2. That probably means they've found most of the bugs.

A VCR/DVD player combo is a great idea and most stores are sold out of them. However I have had nothing but problems with my Samsung. The DVD player locks up and won't let me access the menu on some of my DVD's and therefore forced to watch some movies with subtitles and not able to skip chapters. If you want the advice from someone who ownes one, my advice is, if you are going to spend the money up grade. I wish I would have spent the extra money to get a better top of the line model.

This is an excellent choice overall. It has many useful features to it. The remote however lacks a lighted keypad this should be standard these days. An additional drawback is whenever the VCR channel is changed the VCR signal interupts the television mode, on most video players this usually happens only when going from TV to VCR mode. This is a real pain if you use picture-in-picture (PIP) as I do, you then have to press the TV/VCR button after changing channels. Also this has NO VCR Plus capabilty (a minor drawback). Hookup for this unit is easy. It transmits an excellent picture even when the cable signal is a little weak, unlike the Panasonic PV-D4761 that has every feature imaginable but has miserable picture quality in VCR mode, whether playing back a program you taped with it or simply watching the cable piped through it. As great as the picture quality is on this Smsung with both the DVD and VCR/Cable the Philips DVD/VCR combo picture is slightly better, however the philips ate my VHS tape & seamed to lack an illuminated front panel clock. The Samsung is an excellent electronics gift or self purchase. It doesn't have all the features of the Panasonic PV-D4761 but it has every one of them you'd need and more than a few that you would want including 2x & 4x zoom. It plays CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, VCD, and quasi S-VHS the panasonic does not play all of these CD types and cost me approx [price] more than the Samsung & Philips.

I've owned the Samsung DVD-V1000 for about two weeks and it has worked great, I have mine hooked up to a receiver and the sound is very good, my video tapes/DVD's have never looked better. When I purchased the unit I had a couple questions regarding connections and when I called Samsung customer service the advisor helped me out a lot, it's probably the best customer experience help that I have received on a electronics product, I was very impressed. I haven't had any of the problems with my unit to speak of. I originally purchased an APEX DVD player and had problems with lots of "skips" during action scenes, the Samsung DVD-V1000 plays those scenes with ease. I highly recommend this product, just read you instructions and learn to live with the remote (it's a little confusing at first).

If this DVD player worked as advertised it would be a great unit and I do like the space savings aspect.

The main problem I have is that the DVD player has difficulty accessing menus on some DVDs. It displays the menus wrong and won't allow selection of some items.

Another annoyance seems to be with the actual decoding of the DVD during playback. Usually during the course of a movie there will be one or more glitches, which amount to a slight pause or skip. Sometimes the video appears scrambled momentarily.

Worst of all, the unit I have seems to hang up or get into a mode where it doesn't respond to any buttons (even the power switch). To correct this problem I have to unplug it from the wall outlet to cycle power. (Really inconvenient!)

I use this exclusively to watch movies, which I may have in either DVD or VHS format (depending on what the rental store has in stock in the film I want to see). So when I went researching last fall for something to hook up to my new 53" Sony projection TV for home movies "living large", many afficiandos recommended this brand and this particular model. So far, I have to agree with their excellent advice, for it has served me well, and renders the movie into excellent resolution and terrific picture and color quality, and the stereo sound is excellent as well. I am not particularly electronics-savvy, so I appreciate its relative simplicity and ease of use. I did have some minor problems initially using the remote, but I think that was self-induced by my silly reluctance to actually spend any time reading the instructions. When all else fails, I did, and the problem was quickly resolved. This is a terrific product, and I really enjoy using it when I am watching films in my new "movie room" at home. Enjoy!