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Samsung DVD-V3650 Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Combo

Samsung DVD-V3650 Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Combo

List Price: $169.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very impressive all-in-one product
Review: I received the Samsung V-3650 "One Unit Solution" two months ago as a gift after my old VCR was finally retired. I wanted to hold off on a review until I was able to use the unit for a while, to really know what it can do. I must say that overall, I am very impressed -- the V-3650 is a versatile, feature packed product. As far as the DVD player, it is very solid, with good picture quality and some great features, including a one-touch adjustment of the screen to match your current TV. The on-screen displays are also very good, and they are interactive (i.e. you can pull up a display that shows which track you are on and the time spent on the DVD, and can then highlight each item and manually adjust it).

The VCR is equally impressive. Picture quality is good, and the menus for it, along with some of the features (such as a tape position display) make it very complete.

Overall, I am very pleased with it. It has component and coaxial outputs, and is a progressive scan unit. Some little features make the difference, as well -- I was surprised to even see that it can detect the channel AND television program when using its tuner. My only disappointment is that the VCR only has a one-month timer, but this will be enough for most users. I would recommend the V-3650 to anyone that needs a nicely- designed, one-stop unit for all media needs (it also plays picture disks, CDs, and MP3 disks). Very well done.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Samsung DVD-V3650 Suits Us.
Review: I'm glad I didn't listen to most of the reviews here. If you are just a normal person who isn't expecting to get a $600 Combo Unit for this price, you'll love it.

I purchased a Panasonic Home Theatre system 3 years ago and have had nothing but problems with it. It got so bad, in fact, that we needed to buy a new DVD player because the Panasonic would only recognize ANY DVD about 25% of the time.

Enter the Samsung DVD-V3650. We had an old Phillips/Mag VCR which had its nasty quirks, too. It made sense to get one unit.

I don't care much for the Samsung DVD-V3650's color. But that's not the important thing. I digress. We thought our TV was giving us "Wavy refresh rate things" going up and down our screen, but found with the new Samsung DVD-V3650 we no longer had them.

I like the fact that it has digital audio out jacks (optical and component). When I record a show, I like that I have a 30 second FFW button. I like that I can record and watch a DVD at the same time. Easy set up, yet pretty thorough.

We are very happy with this Samsung. My first with this company.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Samsung DVD-V3650 Suits Us.
Review: I'm glad I didn't listen to most of the reviews here. If you are just a normal person who isn't expecting to get a $600 Combo Unit for this price, you'll love it.

I purchased a Panasonic Home Theatre system 3 years ago and have had nothing but problems with it. It got so bad, in fact, that we needed to buy a new DVD player because the Panasonic would only recognize ANY DVD about 25% of the time.

Enter the Samsung DVD-V3650. We had an old Phillips/Mag VCR which had its nasty quirks, too. It made sense to get one unit.

I don't care much for the Samsung DVD-V3650's color. But that's not the important thing. I digress. We thought our TV was giving us "Wavy refresh rate things" going up and down our screen, but found with the new Samsung DVD-V3650 we no longer had them.

I like the fact that it has digital audio out jacks (optical and component). When I record a show, I like that I have a 30 second FFW button. I like that I can record and watch a DVD at the same time. Easy set up, yet pretty thorough.

We are very happy with this Samsung. My first with this company.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Defective
Review: I've had several DVD players in the last 8 years, and this was the first that failed to work. The VCR played, however setting it up to communicate with the cable system repeatedly recieved an error message. Before I had a chance to sort out if it was the unit or the cable company, I realized that the DVD player would't work. After an hour wait with Samsung helpdesk, they quickly determined that the unit was defective.

I've decided that the convenience of a combo DVD/VCR is not worth the complications, so this unit was quickly boxed up and sent back for refund.

The only good news is that Amazon has a great return policy ... get on the web, note the problem, print out a UPS packing slip and drop it off at the UPS store at no cost.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So-so VCR, DVD ok
Review: I've had this product about 6 weeks. I liked my old VCR (that I bought in 1995) better. My old VCR was easier to program than this one. I also notice when I finish fast forwarding or rewinding while watching a program, it takes about 5 seconds for the audio to come back. My old VCR (an RCA) never did that; I don't like that at all about the VCR part. I agree with other reviewers that the buttons on the remote are too small. The DVD playback is good, but I have to turn the volume on my TV up several notches from where I usually keep it to hear the audio. I paid $130 for it when I bought it, which I considered reasonable for a VCR/DVD combo. I wasn't willing to pay more for one, since you can buy them separately for about that much. I would give this product 2 1/2 stars if that were an option.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I had to return it!
Review: It didn't work. The remote did not respond, despite my changing the battery twice, and the controls on the front of the unit were not responsive. I did everything I was supposed to do, read the manual, hooked it up properly, etc., but it just didn't work! So, I returned it and bought a Sony. The Sony works fine.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointed in Samsung DVD3650 combo unit
Review: It took me a while to make up my mind about this unit. In general, I've had good luck with Samsung products (printer, cell phone) so I thought I'd give the DVD-3650 a try. I wanted to add DVD capability to my family room system, but didn't want to add another box. So this unit went in, and the VCR I was using went to the bedroom.

At first, I liked the unit overall; I'm fine with the remote; the buttons aren't too small for me, and I have big hands. The picture on the DVD is as good as necessary for a 30" TV. The VCR picture with pre-recorded tapes is OK. I like the access to manual tracking adjustment on the remote. And I haven't had any functional problems with it (over 3 months).

But little things bug me. I use VHS index search a lot, since I make compilations of several kids films on one tape to reduce bulk on trips. On the Samsung, you have to go deep into the menus to get to index search, instead of it being directly on the remote. When you finally do get to it via the menu, it is only available as introscan fwd or rev; you can't set it to search, for example, two indexes forward and start playing. Plus, it only searches at about 8x playback speed, so it's not much faster than just using scan during playback and searching manually. Its a totally lame implementation of what should be a standard feature.

Other minor quibbles; two vertical ribs on the VCR tape door that are apparently for aesthetics make it HARDER to insert a tape correctly. Not a big deal for an adult, perhaps, but a major frustration for a 4 year old, and there is NO good reason for them to be there. When the remote is in the VCR mode, the mute button becomes the VCR audio input select button. Since I use the VCR tuner for watching TV on a regular basis, this is a pain; I have to switch the remote back to TV function, press mute; press it again when the commercial is over, then press VCR again if I want to channel surf. And how often does the average person want to switch the audio input on a VCR anyway? Ever? THAT is something that should be in a menu.

Also, not a problem for me, but could be for many purchasers are the very limited number of TV brands controllable via the remote, far fewer than most other multibrand remotes I've seen. It would be a good idea to download the manual from the Samsung site to make sure your TV is listed before purchasing if you want to use this feature.

More significantly, I've recently discovered the VCR seems to be abnormally sensitive to anti-copy schemes; tapes I made from a DVD on another VCR using a Sima video stabilizer that play perfectly on that and every other VCR I own, have horizontal purple stripes on the Samsung.

All in all, if it played copied tapes properly, I'd be willing to put up with its other weaknesses. But as it is, even though I'm now stuck with it (didn't discover that problem until after Amazon's return time limit expired), I regret this purchase.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Close, but no cigar
Review: It took me a while to make up my mind about this unit. In general, I've had good luck with Samsung products (printer, cell phone) so I thought I'd give the DVD-3650 a try. I wanted to add DVD capability to my family room system, but didn't want to add another box. So this unit went in, and the VCR I was using went to the bedroom.

At first, I liked the unit overall; I'm fine with the remote; the buttons aren't too small for me, and I have big hands. The picture on the DVD is as good as necessary for a 30" TV. The VCR picture with pre-recorded tapes is OK. I like the access to manual tracking adjustment on the remote. And I haven't had any functional problems with it (over 3 months).

But little things bug me. I use VHS index search a lot, since I make compilations of several kids films on one tape to reduce bulk on trips. On the Samsung, you have to go deep into the menus to get to index search, instead of it being directly on the remote. When you finally do get to it via the menu, it is only available as introscan fwd or rev; you can't set it to search, for example, two indexes forward and start playing. Plus, it only searches at about 8x playback speed, so it's not much faster than just using scan during playback and searching manually. Its a totally lame implementation of what should be a standard feature.

Other minor quibbles; two vertical ribs on the VCR tape door that are apparently for aesthetics make it HARDER to insert a tape correctly. Not a big deal for an adult, perhaps, but a major frustration for a 4 year old, and there is NO good reason for them to be there. When the remote is in the VCR mode, the mute button becomes the VCR audio input select button. Since I use the VCR tuner for watching TV on a regular basis, this is a pain; I have to switch the remote back to TV function, press mute; press it again when the commercial is over, then press VCR again if I want to channel surf. And how often does the average person want to switch the audio input on a VCR anyway? Ever? THAT is something that should be in a menu.

Also, not a problem for me, but could be for many purchasers are the very limited number of TV brands controllable via the remote, far fewer than most other multibrand remotes I've seen. It would be a good idea to download the manual from the Samsung site to make sure your TV is listed before purchasing if you want to use this feature.

More significantly, I've recently discovered the VCR seems to be abnormally sensitive to anti-copy schemes; tapes I made from a DVD on another VCR using a Sima video stabilizer that play perfectly on that and every other VCR I own, have horizontal purple stripes on the Samsung.

All in all, if it played copied tapes properly, I'd be willing to put up with its other weaknesses. But as it is, even though I'm now stuck with it (didn't discover that problem until after Amazon's return time limit expired), I regret this purchase.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Did not work
Review: The DVD player froze after playing a disc for an hour. The problem occurred with every disc played. The VCR player is also loud. There is a buzz that is distinctly audible while the tape is playing. The unit was returned and a SONY was purchased. After two weeks, there have no problems with the SONY.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good , Solid Product
Review: This unit is a great step up for people with limited space. The all-in-one unit works great with any TV. It can play both the VCR and the DVD through its coaxial connection. This is great for people with older TVs that don't have line inputs. DVD playback is flawless. Bright picture with great sound. The VCR is a fantastic upgrade from my last unit. It will "tag" your recordings so that you can easily find the beginning of them on the tape. It also features a "playback" feature that allows you to replay about 10 seconds of video if you missed what is said.

I've used the picture cd features and the cd playback features. Both work as advertised.


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