Samsung DVD-AR650 DVD Recorder
By: Samsung Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 24
More Information
 On: 2008-05-04
I bought this DVD recorder last Aug. When I got it it worked fine. Then lately I tried using some DVD-RW new disc. and when I put it in it has to format it - it goes to about 20% done then says some message of an error & spits it back out. Now it is starting to do the same thing with the DVD-R when I put it in then it says a message of "disc can not be played" and opens the tray back up. If I retry it it then will accept it, but I am afraid that the recording part is about to quit.
So far it will play a video ok, it is the recording part that is acting up for me. I am trying to use brand new Maxwell DVD-R/RW.
 On: 2008-04-23
Overall, this unit is pretty good considering the price. I have mine hooked up with HDMI for the video and Im going optical out for the audio into my Technics Dolby digital 5.1 audio receiver/amp. The sound is spectacular in true Dolby Digital. The video on the ATSC tuner channels is not true HD as it actually increases the size of the picture just a bit bigger than its native aspect ratio, thus cutting off part of the picture. But, it is a nice picture nonetheless. The DVD recorder is relatively reliable but the player has some quirks. Sometimes itll just stop playing. Possibly possessed? Whos to say. The digital tuner needs a strong clean signal, otherwise you can expect significant dropouts, to the point that it is unwatchable. The analog tuner works well and is what I use to watch most of my tv. You can record in a couple different formats for playback on your DVD player or PC. You can also transfer the files from a recorded DVD -R or DVD -RW to your your favorite video editing software on your PC. There are still a few of these around and I have no reservations recommending this unit. Just remember, its not true HD and thats ok because I dont think a consumer HD DVD recorder even exists. But this is pretty close to it. Rob @ robdrew.com
On: 2008-04-01
The tuner in my 10 year old 35" TV stopped working about two years ago so I started using it as a monitor for my VCR. The VCR stopped playing and recording tapes so I took a chance and bought a refurbished AR650 online to take its place. There was no audio when in digital mode. Standard broadcast audio and DVD audio were fine. I called Samsung and they went through the off/on and reset stuff but still no audio. Their final suggestion was that I get a new TV and use another audio output. I exchanged the 650. Everything went fine. It only took a week. The new unit worked fine. I have antennas and amplifiers in my attic and get pretty good digital signals from Philadelphia and Baltimore. The freezing of the digital picture is caused by weak signals. An amplifier will help.
I got a scare last week. The digital audio stopped working. I did the off/on and reset and it came back. Two weeks ago I left it in digital mode and I guess the signal was lost for a long time. I leave the TV on when I go out. This caused the digital to stop working. I had to do the off/on and reset and rescan the channels.
When in standard broadcast you can Add and Delete channels but in digital you can Delete only. The only way to add digital channels is to rescan and then delete the ones you never watch.
On: 2008-03-27
Overall its a good dvd recorder and hdtv tuner. If you have a HDTV monitor, this would be a perfect choice. Recording OTA HDTV programs is very easy and high quality. I give it a four star because the picture quality is not as good as my DirecTV receiver, but thats just a matter of opinion.
On: 2008-03-10
I thought this was a good buy for the money and I was lookinf for an upconvertinf dvd player for my LCD tv and at first it was just fine.
Easy to set-up, easy to use...then...I would put brand new dvds right out of the package and it would tell me "This Disc Cannot Be Played".
Dirty lens? I Cleaned it and it still continues to reject certain dvds it would seem the more thats on the dvd the more itll reject the dvd. Terminator 2, Star Wars, The Devils Rejects all rejected. So watch out for this model and it 90% rejection rate of your dvd collection.
When it works, it works just fine, good picture, good sound, Good upconverting.
On: 2008-03-10
I thought this was a good buy for the money and I was looking for an upconverting dvd player for my LCD and at first it was just fine.
Easy to set-up, easy to use...then...I would put brand new dvds right out of the package and it would tell me "This Disc Cannot Be Played".
Dirty lens? I Cleaned it and it still continues to reject certain dvds it would seem the more thats on the dvd the more itll reject the dvd. Terminator 2, Star Wars, The Devils Rejects all rejected. Also if your dvd has even the slighest scratch or dirt it will not play it. Ive had many dvds just pause and stop and whole chapters of a movie not play. The other annoying thing is how this player stopf ro no apparent reason. You will be watching a movie and the movie will just suddenly stop for no reason. You hit play it starts up again right where you left off, but its still annoying. No explanation for the "stopping for no reason" and no firmware upgrades from Samsung. So watch out for this model and its 90% rejection rate of your dvd collection.Playing the Jurassic Park Trilogy I got to watch 2 out of the 3 movies. Makes a GREAT CD player lol I got a brand new dvd for xmas and it played on every OTHER dvd player in the house except this one.
Also when using the frame by frame function> it has a tendency to just not move forward. You hit play and then it wont even play it just stays in "still" mode and you have to shut it off and back on to play the dvd, or itll move backward but not forward.
On: 2008-03-09
When I ordered the Samsung AR650 dvd recorder I had no idea that It would do so much for so little. The price was well below what I expected to pay for a quality product of this caliber. The product arrived in very good condition and in a timely manner. I feel that I really lucked out on this one. I would do it again.
 On: 2008-02-27
I bought this unit about three months ago. At first it was fine with slight issue with the unit recording a timed show that wouldnt play back in the play mode. Samsung had me do the hard reset, but still no help. As time went on the player would only record and replay about half of the shows that we would try to record, Not real helpfull!!! Now the player only plays about two-thirds of ANY dvd that is inserted. Not very happy at all. I will call Samsung tomorrow to find out what they will do about it.
On: 2008-02-25
I bought mine in October after downloading the instruction manual. I was looking for something for time shift recording that was as easy to use as a VCR, had a tuner so that I could record something while watching something else, and would record on RAM discs. This met all my requirements and I have been really pleased with it. I have read that a lot of people have had problems with theirs, but so far I have had none. Recordings made in the proper format and finalized have played on 4 other DVD players with no problems. I liked it so much I just bought another one to replace the VCR in my home office.
On: 2008-02-18
My main reason for dissatisfaction is that the player rejects 85% of the DVDs I try to play, including new ones just out of the case. I am going to junk the DVD-AR650 as soon as I get a new (definitely NOT a Samsung) DVD player.
On: 2007-12-27
I bought this product for my parents to replace their DVD player and VCR in a single device. They have a HD-ready TV with no tuner, so the ATSC tuner was quite helpful. The HDMI upconvert works great, and playing DVDs looked good. The recording interface was relatively simple, although the lack of program guide information (not the devices fault) didnt allow for the unit to do "TiVo"-like recording of series as each recording needed to be scheduled individually. The only improvements I would have liked is a more intuitive OSD and support for DVD+R/RW (only DVD-R/RW and DVD-RAM are supported). It would be nice also to have a CableCard slot so it could be used to tune encrypted channels.
On: 2007-12-27
I bought the Samsung DVD-AR650 at a local computer-electronics-appliance superstore three weeks ago and I regretted it. It was the only readily-seen DVD recorder I could find with an ATSC tuner. This was a brand-new unit - not a reconditioned or repackaged box. The analog tuner works well though the picture is fuzzy. The picture on the digital tuner often freezes. It has to be the recorders tuner because the reception is consistent on my HDTV set - never freezes. I cycled through the input selector to see if it clears up the problem. No change. I tried re-scanning the digital channels and it didnt solve the problem. The only solution is to unplug this unit, plug it back in and reset everything - the time, the scanned channels, etc. The clock is also the pits. Its wonderful that it can automatically set the time, but a day later, the time is way off - between four hours behind to 6 hours ahead. This isnt very reliable, especially if youre planning to record a show to watch later.
The DVD recorder and the closed caption decoder sections are the only pluses I find in this model. The video that is recorded looks just as good as any high-definition broadcast. The LightScribe DVD-R discs worked on this recorder with no problem. The closed caption decoder is a must for people with a hearing disability. The closed captioned decoder decodes all of the closed captioning in the high definition broadcasts - something which my HDTV set fails to do on networks other than NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS. It has more choices for closed caption service than my HDTV set.
As soon as I go back to the store and get a new DVD recorder with an ATSC tuner (a different brand this time), this unit is going to the E-waste dump - its junk! Dont waste your money on this one. You may regret it!
On: 2007-12-27
I bought the Samsung DVD-AR650 at a local computer-electronics-appliance superstore three weeks ago and I regretted it. It was the only readily-seen DVD recorder I could find with an ATSC tuner. This was a brand-new unit - not a reconditioned or repackaged box. The analog tuner works well though the picture is fuzzy. The picture on the digital tuner often freezes. It has to be the recorders tuner because the reception is consistent on my HDTV set - never freezes. I cycled through the input selector to see if it clears up the problem. No change. I tried re-scanning the digital channels and it didnt solve the problem. The only solution is to unplug this unit, plug it back in and reset everything - the time, the scanned channels, etc. The clock is also the pits. Its wonderful that it can automatically set the time, but a day later, the time is way off - between four hours behind to 6 hours ahead. This isnt very reliable, especially if youre planning to record a show to watch later.
The DVD recorder and the closed caption decoder sections are the only pluses I find in this model. The video that is recorded looks just as good as any high-definition broadcast. The LightScribe DVD-R discs worked on this recorder with no problem. The closed caption decoder is a must for people with a hearing disability. The closed captioned decoder decodes all of the closed captioning in the high definition broadcasts - something which my HDTV set fails to do on networks other than NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS. It has more choices for closed caption service than my HDTV set.
Updated on January 1, 2008:
I dont know what to say now about the Samsung DVD-AR650 ATSC DVD recorder. I originally stated that the HD tuner and the clock was not working very well. Last week, my unit suddenly started working like it should. The clock has been keeping consistent time (1 minute ahead of my Atomic clock receiver) and so far the digital tuner has not locked up - a very wierd blessing if you ask me. My absolute bottom line is to carefully look over the reviews of other Samsung products because other reviewers have reported problems on other Samsung products too. Let the buyer beware!
On: 2007-12-26
I bought the Samsung DVD-AR650 at a local computer-electronics-appliance superstore three weeks ago and I regretted it. It was the only readily-seen DVD recorder I could find with an ATSC tuner. This was a brand-new unit - not a reconditioned or repackaged box. The analog tuner works well though the picture is fuzzy. The picture on the digital tuner often freezes. It has to be the recorders tuner because the reception is consistent on my HDTV set - never freezes. I cycled through the input selector to see if it clears up the problem. No change. I tried re-scanning the digital channels and it didnt solve the problem. The only solution is to unplug this unit, plug it back in and reset everything - the time, the scanned channels, etc. The clock is also the pits. Its wonderful that it can automatically set the time, but a day later, the time is way off - between four hours behind to 6 hours ahead. This isnt very reliable, especially if youre planning to record a show to watch later.
The DVD recorder and the closed caption decoder sections are the only pluses I find in this model. The video that is recorded looks just as good as any high-definition broadcast. The LightScribe DVD-R discs worked on this recorder with no problem. The closed caption decoder is a must for people with a hearing disability. The closed captioned decoder decodes all of the closed captioning in the high definition broadcasts - something which my HDTV set fails to do on networks other than NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS. It has more choices for closed caption service than my HDTV set.
Updated on January 1, 2008:
I dont know what to say now about the Samsung DVD-AR650 ATSC DVD recorder. I originally stated that the HD tuner and the clock was not working very well. Last week, my unit suddenly started working like it should. The clock has been keeping consistent time (1 minute ahead of my Atomic clock receiver) and so far the digital tuner has not locked up - a very wierd blessing if you ask me. My absolute bottom line is to carefully look over the reviews of other Samsung products because other reviewers have reported problems on other Samsung products too. Let the buyer beware!
On: 2007-11-30
First off, may I clearify you CAN record DVDs that will play on other DVD Players. By default, its set to a proprietary Samsung format. A simple switch in a menu sets it to standard DVD-R and viola, you may play it in any DVD player or computer.
As for supported formats, Amazon is incorrect. It only supports MINUS disks. DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM. I tried a DVD+R and it spit it back out. It will play back finalized "plus" disks, but not record them.
The HD Tuner isnt true HD. The quality, over-all, is good, but not quite the level of my LCD TVs tuner.
Finalizing speed is sluggish. My previous Panasonic DMR-ES20 would finalize a disk in about 1 minute. This, with only about 10 minutes of video in SP, took about 5 minutes. Nothing major, Im just not used to it.
Playback is typical. Though I was surprised when it wouldnt play VCDs or SVCDs. Home-made DVDs play fine, and apparently DIVX will too. I had hoped it might be an all-in-one solutions, but I supposed my Phillips will stick around a while longer for playback.
All in all, its a decent recorder and should be a nice upgrade from my Panasonic. I still think the Panasonic was a better recorder over-all, but it lacked ATSC tuner.
On: 2007-11-29
First off, may I clearify you CAN record DVDs that will play on other DVD Players. By default, its set to a proprietary Samsung format. A simple switch in a menu sets it to standard DVD-R and viola, you may play it in any DVD player or computer.
As for supported formats, Amazon is incorrect. It only supports MINUS disks. DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM. I tried a DVD+R and it spit it back out. It will play back finalized "plus" disks, but not record them.
The HD Tuner isnt true HD. The quality, over-all, is good, but not quite the level of my LCD TVs tuner.
Finalizing speed is sluggish. My previous Panasonic DMR-ES20 would finalize a disk in about 1 minute. This, with only about 10 minutes of video in SP, took about 5 minutes. Nothing major, Im just not used to it.
Playback is typical. Though I was surprised when it wouldnt play VCDs or SVCDs. Home-made DVDs play fine, and apparently DIVX will too. I had hoped it might be an all-in-one solutions, but I supposed my Phillips will stick around a while longer for playback.
All in all, its a decent recorder and should be a nice upgrade from my Panasonic. I still think the Panasonic was a better recorder over-all, but it lacked ATSC tuner.
On: 2007-11-20
I purchased this unit through another vendor. It arrived and I set it up last Friday. ATSC/NTSC tuner worked well with my cable hookup; I didnt try the OTA antenna I got for it. Then I tried to play a DVD. A DVD that worked fine in my Sampo player and the recently-deceased Panasonic changer. So I tried another DVD. Still "No disc". Or "Not a playable DVD". The message was different for different DVDs.
Called Samsung and went through their "hard reset" process (as mentioned in another review, the ^ and v channel buttons pressed simultaneously and held for 8-10 seconds) and that didnt help. So I was told to return it to my etailer.
Emailed the etailer for an RMA. Was politely told, "weve OKd your RMA, but the manufacturer has discontinued the item, so well give you a full refund." So I called the etailer and the sales guy said, "it was discontinued immediately" with a puzzled tone in his voice. So we worked out a deal on the slightly-pricier LGDR787T. Why not another Panasonic? Ive had troubles with my plain-old DVD changer since I bought it; it would reject disks that the Sampo happily played. And a recent call with Customer Service was very frustrating, so Ill avoid Panasonic henceforth.
Anyway, while Consumer Reports had a nice review of the unit, my recent experience and its being discontinued say simply, "DONT BUY IT!"
 On: 2007-11-14
Great ATSC/QAM receivers, records in wide-screen (16:9) at about the same resolution as my Lite-On NTSC recorder (4:3). Records only to DVDD-R, DVD-RW or DVD-RAM.
I almost didnt purchase because of the poor reviews of some folks. Upon further review it appears that they were trying to use it with an analog TV or didnt understand the setup. Buy and connect an HDMI cable and audio to a HDTV, set video to 1080i and youre ready to record wide-screen broadcasts. Only HDMI will display 1080i. No problems experienced with sync issues or loss of signal. Great buy if you cant afford the outrageous price of Blueray or HD-DVD.
 On: 2007-11-08
This is a tough one to review. The ease of use and recorded quality are as advertised. But I had to return it after less than a month because it stopped playing or recording. Be forwarned, the customer must pay the shipping cost. Also, DVDs recorded from the tuner or cable box wont even play on my other Samsung DVD player. The instructions state that recorded DVDs may not play on all makes. But not even on one of their own players? Fortunately, copies made from my VCR tapes and camcorder work just fine on the other player. I wish I had known about these problems before making the purchase.
On: 2007-11-05
We have had nothing but trouble with this unit since we recieved it.We are NEVER going to buy a Samsung product again due to the trouble we have had with this and the one we had before. We bought a brand new Samsung DVD player in January of this year and right away it was defective.The peoples words did not match up with their mouths.We called they had us ship it to NJ.When we got it back 1 month later it was even worse so we sent it away again and through much struggle on our part finally got them to send us a this unit over 4 MONTHS later.It is loud,skips 3-5 seconds on every movie,and quite often rejects the movie entirely,even brand-new ones.Also the people we dealt with were rude,not at first,but they became rude when we asked for a replacement unit and thsy said if this one had problems we could not get a new one.So PLEASE do not buy this product.I am going to put this out on every web site I can think of.
On: 2007-10-17
Samsung DVD-AR650
OK, the bottom line at the top: Do not waste your thoughts, time, or money on this worthless product.
First some preface info:
My current home setup consists of a Sony WEGA CRT HD monitor/television (NTSC only), HiSense over-the-air receiver for HD, Samsung HD-850 DVD player, and Panasonic VCR. All of which work fine, and work fine together. But Im now in the market for a DVD recorder.
The Sony TV is a 1080i HDTV, physically a 4:3 with 16:9 capability. The HiSense receiver outputs 1080i HD via component. The Samsung DVD player upconverts to 1080i via component. The VCR, of course, outputs 480i (The Sony does a fine job of upgrading 480i to somewhat HD quality). I use component and 1080i because (a) my Onkyo receiver does not have HDMI switching (b) I have to run my component & composite cables some distance to my TV (c) my Sony TV can do some special things in 1080i mode.
When watching television via the HiSense there are 3 possible modes: (1) an HD program broadcast in the HD 16:9 mode (i.e. the x-1 channel) - on my TV this shows correctly as full width with black bars on top and bottom. (2) A SD program broadcast in HD 16:9 mode - on my TV this shows correctly with gray bars on the side and black bars on the top and bottom. (3) A SD program broadcast in the SD 4:3 mode (i.e. the x-2 channel) - on my TV this shows correctly with black bars all around. My Sony TV can zoom to remove the top and bottom black bars.
Now for the Samsung DVD-AR650:
First, this unit is fatally flawed because the digital tuner "locks up" very often; any other function which has any connection to the digital tuner then also fails to work (i.e. channel select, channel edit, timer setting, etc.). The only way out of the "lock-up" is to power cycle several times. Because the tuner at first works and then doesnt work this seems to be to be a firmware defect and probably endemic to all AR650 units. Im not willing to try another. Curiously, the analog tuner works just fine. I called Samsung and they suggested to try the "secret" reset (why dont they publish this in the manual?) of simultaneously pressing Ch-Up and Ch-Down for 10 seconds. It showed a lot of nice software rev levels and dates on the screen but didnt help the "lock-up" situation. Samsung said that there have been no firmware updates issued; I have the latest.
Not that it now matters, but here are the rest of the bad characteristics, some major and some minor:
(1) It cannot output 1080i via component like my Samsung HD-850 does.
(2) It cannot handle the 3 digital broadcast modes correctly like my HiSense does. If I set it up for 16:9 mode then any 4:3 broadcast program get distorted - horizontally expanded. If I set it up for 4:3 mode than any 16:9 broadcast program gets distorted - vertically compressed. This is true whether watching the broadcast or watching a DVD recording of the broadcast.
(3) No display of the actual broadcast channel (i.e. my channel 10-1,-2 are actually UHF 31).
(4) No display of antenna signal strength.
(5) Failed to set its clock automatically.
(6) Digital channel selection takes a long time and provides no feedback information
(7) As far as watching television goes, I dont know if this unit sends the full HD 1080i signal to my TV, or first downconverts to 480p (for recording) and then subsequently upconverts to 1080i. I suspect the latter, and no one could otherwise inform me. Samsung should let us know this info.
(8) I find the remote to be ergonomically very poor, and with a very narrow base which results in tipping over if I press one of the buttons near the side. Didnt anyone ever try to use this thing setting flat on an end table? Very different from my HD850 remote.
(9) It only records on DVD-RAM, DVR-R, and DVD-RW. Why not DVD+R and DVD+RW also?
(10) The user manual is poorly organized; to get the full story on a subject I had to jump around through the manual.
(11) Both my HiSense receiver and HD-850 player offer several on-demand format / zoom functions. This unit provides none.
I worked with the DVD record function for only a short time, because the tuner "lock-up" problem continually frustrated me. As far as I could tell, the record functions worked correctly; this may be the only part of this product that works close to advertised. I tried the record timer function once but again the "lock-up" foiled me. But by then I was over this product.
Repeating, the bottom line at the bottom: Do not waste your thoughts, time, or money on this worthless product. Its hard to believe that it comes from the same company that marketed my HD-850.
On: 2007-10-16
I have had this a few days and it is nice.
I do not have cable or dish so I needed to get a unit with a tuner built in. If you have cable or dish you may not need the tuner and can save a few bucks. The tuner works good and it will get regular analog and HD digital stations. The reception is good. It takes a second or two for stations to come in on digital which is normal because the signal needes to be processed/accessed. The unit is pretty easy to set up and use. It does take a little getting used to the menus because it does so much. You can set chapters, titles, change record speed from 1 2 4 6 or 8 hours. The timer is easy. It even gives you a gudie on HD channels where you can just click a show and tell the mackine to record, or you can program timed recording normally. One note I almost did not buy this since people were saying the fan runs all the time, but THE FAN DOES NOT RUN ALL THE TIME. The unit is quiet and the fan only runs constantly if you set quick record to on, otherwise3 it only runs when needed. It has many inputs and outputs including S video in and out, component out, coax in/out, and HDMI out. I recommend getting whatever cable you need to take best advantage of all these connections. The unit comes with composite 3 wire rca cable. If you have component video get a component cable, S vid get a S cable and for HDMI get that cable. Buy a decent cable not the cheapest, but you do not need the best either. It is a 200 buck machine so buy a 30 buck cable and youll be fine. Do yourself a favor, and order it now so you can hook everything up when it comes. Ask me how I know to say this. This uses DVD-R or DVD-RW do NOT buy DVD+RW, again ask me how I know.
Overall a nice unit I would buy again.
On: 2007-10-15
I have had this a few days and it is nice.
I do not have cable or dish so I needed to get a unit with a tuner built in. If you have cable or dish you may not need the tuner and can save a few bucks. The tuner works good and it will get regular analog and HD digital stations. The reception is good. It takes a second or two for stations to come in on digital which is normal because the signal needes to be processed/accessed. The unit is pretty easy to set up and use. It does take a little getting used to the menus because it does so much. You can set chapters, titles, change record speed from 1 2 4 6 or 8 hours. The timer is easy. It even gives you a gudie on HD channels where you can just click a show and tell the mackine to record, or you can program timed recording normally. One note I almost did not buy this since people were saying the fan runs all the time, but THE FAN DOES NOT RUN ALL THE TIME. The unit is quiet and the fan only runs constantly if you set quick record to on, otherwise3 it only runs when needed. It has many inputs and outputs including S video in and out, component out, coax in/out, and HDMI out. I recommend getting whatever cable you need to take best advantage of all these connections. The unit comes with composite 3 wire rca cable. If you have component video get a component cable, S vid get a S cable and for HDMI get that cable. Buy a decent cable not the cheapest, but you do not need the best either. It is a 200 buck machine so buy a 30 buck cable and youll be fine. Do yourself a favor, and order it now so you can hook everything up when it comes. Ask me how I know to say this. This uses DVD-R or DVD-RW do NOT buy DVD+RW, again ask me how I know.
Overall a nice unit I would buy again.
On: 2007-10-13
I was very pleased with product until it began to malfunction (will not play or record) barely one month after purchase. After contacting the manufacturer I find the nearest service center is in N.J.(a long way from here in S.C.). Now I must ship it to them (at my expense) and await repairs.
On: 2007-10-12
I was very pleased with product until it began to malfunction (will not play or record) barely one month after purchase. After contacting the manufacturer I find the nearest service center is in N.J.(a long way from here in S.C.). Now I must ship it to them (at my expense) and await repairs.
On: 2007-10-10
Once everything installed and the unit turned on, the DVD tray did not open!!!! Obviously there was something wrong. However, what caught my attention is how noisy this machine is. Just plugging the unit turns on a very noisy fan. Now I just imagine how worse it will get once the DVD is in??? Anyway, the samsung people were very courteous and I got a refund pretty quickly from amazon. lesson learned: better stay away from samsung dvd recorder
On: 2007-08-28
I bought a Panasonic DMR-ES25 from another dealer and was APALLED! Some of the features didnt work, and two buttons on the remote either didnt work or were intermittent. It was very confusing to use as well. When I got the Samsung, I did everything but record from a DVD player without reading ANYTHING! The remote is beautifully laid out and there is NO problem with pressing two buttons at once which was a problem with the Chinese made Panasonic. This machine makes beautiful copies, and Im looking forward to the arrival of my HDMI to DVI cable tomorrow to try upconverting the DVDs and even trying to upconvert the signal from my SD sat receiver! This machine, as well as the Panasonic and, Ive heard, Sony units as well, will NOT copy pre-recorded DVDs. Ive ordered a Clearpix "macrovision filter" to take care of that problem. This is the best piece of electronics since I bought a One For All universal remote. Absolutely recommended!
On: 2007-08-27
I bought a Panasonic DMR-ES25 from another dealer and was APALLED! Some of the features didnt work, and two buttons on the remote either didnt work or were intermittent. It was very confusing to use as well. When I got the Samsung, I did everything but record from a DVD player without reading ANYTHING! The remote is beautifully laid out and there is NO problem with pressing two buttons at once which was a problem with the Chinese made Panasonic. This machine makes beautiful copies, and Im looking forward to the arrival of my HDMI to DVI cable tomorrow to try upconverting the DVDs and even trying to upconvert the signal from my SD sat receiver! This machine, as well as the Panasonic and, Ive heard, Sony units as well, will NOT copy pre-recorded DVDs. Ive ordered a Clearpix "macrovision filter" to take care of that problem. This is the best piece of electronics since I bought a One For All universal remote. Absolutely recommended!
by: dchoughton On: 2007-08-24
The Philips upconverting DVD recorder records on both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW, but this Samsung only records on DVD-R/RW, which means you have to finalize the disc before playing it on another player (which takes about 10 minutes). This player also costs about $50 more, but the menus and front panel display are much nicer than the Philips, and it plays discs without a hitch. The Philips stalls for 5-10 seconds whenever you try to skip a chapter or FFWD (I tried 2 players, and they both had the same problem). I got both players at Wal-Mart, which means a good price, cheap extended service/replacement plan, and 3 months to return it. Ive tried playing discs I recorded on the Samsung on several other DVD players, and they played fine. However, you need to make sure you use the EZ Rec mode, so that the disc automatically gets recorded in DVD-video format, and not DVD-VR, which seems to be the default format otherwise. DVD-VRs only play on the PC. Also, the digital tuner doesnt give the same channel numbers as my Cox digital cable box. The Samsung tuner lists channels as primary and sub-channels if I select cable as my source, so that its hard to program it to record because it uses different channel numbers. If I select antenna as my source instead, the channel numbers are correct. But it doesnt receive all the digital channels that my Cox cable box does. But it appears that this is the overall best upconverting DVD recorder I can get.
by: dchoughton On: 2007-08-23
The Philips upconverting DVD recorder records on both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW, but this Samsung only records on DVD-R/RW, which means you have to finalize the disc before playing it on another player (which takes about 10 minutes). This player also costs about $50 more, but the menus and front panel display are much nicer than the Philips, and it plays discs without a hitch. The Philips stalls for 5-10 seconds whenever you try to skip a chapter or FFWD (I tried 2 players, and they both had the same problem). I got both players at Wal-Mart, which means a good price, cheap extended service/replacement plan, and 3 months to return it. Ive tried playing discs I recorded on the Samsung on several other DVD players, and they played fine. However, you need to make sure you use the EZ Rec mode, so that the disc automatically gets recorded in DVD-video format, and not DVD-VR, which seems to be the default format otherwise. DVD-VRs only play on the PC. Also, the digital tuner doesnt give the same channel numbers as my Cox digital cable box. The Samsung tuner lists channels as primary and sub-channels if I select cable as my source, so that its hard to program it to record because it uses different channel numbers. If I select antenna as my source instead, the channel numbers are correct. But it doesnt receive all the digital channels that my Cox cable box does. But it appears that this is the overall best upconverting DVD recorder I can get.
On: 2007-07-08
I bought this DVD recorder HD tuner because I was sick of my Kworld hdtv PCI tuner which would freeze up sometimes when I get a weak signal using Beyond TV.
The HD channels scanned very quickly using my HDTV OTA antenna. Ive hooked up my LCD HDTV using the component cables and Im getting pretty good 720p (1080i is supported but my LCD doesnt support it). I think it was clearer when I was using DVI from my computer, but I should be able to get a HDMI->DVI converter to get a clearer picture because my LCD does not have HDMI.
I tested doing a quick recording on a DVD-R. I recorded a minute of HD video. The video played back fine with no problems.
There is only about a second delay when changing between digital channels. This is pretty good because my Kworld hd tuner would have more like a 2-3 second delay.
On: 2007-07-07
I bought this DVD recorder HD tuner because I was sick of my Kworld hdtv PCI tuner which would freeze up sometimes when I get a weak signal using Beyond TV.
The HD channels scanned very quickly using my HDTV OTA antenna. Ive hooked up my LCD HDTV using the component cables and Im getting pretty good 720p (1080i is supported but my LCD doesnt support it). I think it was clearer when I was using DVI from my computer, but I should be able to get a HDMI->DVI converter to get a clearer picture because my LCD does not have HDMI.
I tested doing a quick recording on a DVD-R. I recorded a minute of HD video. The video played back fine with no problems.
There is only about a second delay when changing between digital channels. This is pretty good because my Kworld hd tuner would have more like a 2-3 second delay.
On: 2007-06-23
I bought this unit and have been using it for about 3 days now. Everything seems to be working well! I have it set up with my Samsung 32 inch LCD HDTV (780P) using the HDMI output. I also have standard cable with no cable box just coaxial coming in from the wall. (thus the need for the built in tuner) So far Ive recorded from TV (using DVD-RW) and also watched a DVD.
Positives-Easy set up and use, great picture and sound, excellent menus for set up and programming, cool design.
Negatives-Low level hum at all times even when power is off, Digital stations take a long time to scan (50 min although it does warn you of that in the manual) EPG only works with Digital stations, which I dont use anyway.
Overall, I love this unit! The purpose was to replace the old VCR/DVD combo and get an upconversion DVD player. Both tasks have been accomplished very nicely. It runs very quiet, although it is all the time. I assume it is the built-in fan. Picture quality and sound are great. I definitely would recommend this unit. I give it 4 1/2 stars.
Other info-I ordered it through Amazon from J&R music world ($209) and it arrived in 3 days no problems. I also bought the HDMI cable through Amazon from Eforcity ($3.30 + shipping $8.00 total) It works great as well, and you cant beat the price.
On: 2007-05-25
Tiger Direct does not carry this product. We ordered it through Amazon and had another recorder shipped from Tiger Direct. Ive reported it to both places, but unfortunately, the AR-650 is still listed on the website.
|
|
