Samsung DVD-VR320 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Pros: None
Cons: Poor DVD tracking, very poor customer service from manufacturer

I purchased this DVD-R/VCR back in March of this year from Best Buy. It seemed like a great player and the consumer reviews seemed good. Unfortunately, the player did not live up to them. We no sooner plugged it in and started to play one of our DVD's ...

Pros: Records to DVD and tape at the same time. Great transfer quality. DV jack.
Cons: Learning curve. No DVD+R or DVD+RW recording.

I Bought a Samsung DVD VR320 to save the 25 plus VCR tapes of my children that were in boxes in my garage. The quality of the tapes were beginning to fade. I had tried a USB adapter and an AV cable connecting a VCR to my computer. While I was able to ...

Pros: Easy set up and operation. Nice design overall.
Cons: Very loud "fan". DVD/video playback functionality died after 6 months.

I bought this product in March 2006 to replace my aging VHS recorder and DVD player. After reading many of these kind of reviews I bought this device. I'm a "normal" household user that just wants to record from TV, watch DVD's and videos, and maybe ...

Pros: DVD/VCR combo is nice, really slims down an entertainment center.
Cons: Buggy. If you enjoy watching movies, you will not enjoy this player. VCR sucks.

My wife bought me this for my birthday in January. I was thrilled to get rid of my old components and combine them into a single unit. However, my natural suspicions of any combo units was confirmed when, by March, regular DVD movies stopped playing in the unit. Movie watching became an event as halfway through the feature most movies skipped, and the player's response time slowed to a crawl. After ten to twenty tries, you can get the movie playing again, but then it runs into the same skipping, pixilization problems again a half hour later. At first, we thought this was due to bad disks from NetFlix, but even new DVDs have refused to play. Additionally, my old $50 player would play the same disks fine. We eventally went to the Samsung website and found a firmware upgrade that fixed things for a little while, but the problem is now back. Shame on Samsung from shipping an unfinished product. I had a TiVo Samsung player that exhibitied similar behavior (slow response time after a hour of operation) and I will never buy Samsung again.

Pros: Ease of use, reliability, never freezes, never locks up, never has any playback problem
Cons: static pop on recorded DVDs

I purchased this recorder Christmas 2005? Have used it several times for copying VHS to DVD, TV programs to DVD, Camcorder to VHS/DVD, etc. First thing you notice is the popping sound that occurs during DVD playback of things that the recorder has produced on DVD. There is a static pop that happens often enough to be annoying. A recording purist would recall a cheap cassette tape recorder's effort to record. The product is fairly simple to use, but if you are looking for pristine copies, this product is not good enough. Everyday use is fine. Your DVDs will sound like an old vinyl record with the leader groove of static, except it happens through your whole movie. You never know when it will happen.
Video playback has been flawless.

Pros: Versatile, good price, good quality, front DV input.
Cons: recording features could be simplified for the novice.

Owned it for two months and love it. Very simple to use. As with all DVD recorders make sure you buy the correct media and brand. A list is provided when you buy it.

Pros: DVD-VCR combo
Cons: Does not work very well AT ALL!

I would not recommend this product. I had several problems when trying to record programs. I would get errors and have to try to reset the unit or unplug it. I took it back and exchanged it for another thinking I just had a defective unit. With the second unit I still had similar problems. When it did record, it was a hit-or-miss with playback. I would take the recorded DVD's and they would sometimes stop mid-playback or would not playback at all. I have replaced this with another (though slightly more expensive) brand and have not had any problems.

Pros: Easy to use and DVD recordings are good.
Cons: VCR sucks.

I bought this at the end of January. It worked fine for 2 1/2 months and then the VCR stopped working properly. Anything I record plays back with a gray screen and flickers of the program. I can hear the sound but can't get the picture to come in. It appears to have a tracking problem. When I play my previously recorded tapes, the same thing happens.

It went back to Samsung for repairs and supposedly was fixed. I can now record a program and view it if I record it using the 'automatic' feature. Any other setting results in the original problem and I still can't play my previously recorded tapes.

I bought this so I could convert my tapes to DVD, but the VCR feature on this unit is worthless now.

Pros: Extremely easy interface
Cons: Major bug that affects DVD recording process

I bought this in Jan06 and it was great. Very easy interface, setup was a breeze and the manuals were very helpful.

By April-06, the DVD recorder flopped. I had a scheduled recording that froze with only 2 seconds left. I was editing a title track and a system error popped up. The last straw was when I was recording a program, pressed stop and another system error popped up. Fortunately I was able to retrieve my data on these discs using the Isobuster software. But I didnt know what was up with these "system errors".

HERE'S THE PROBLEM:
The unit can't distinguish NTSC and PAL!

Somewhere in the manufacturing process Samsung screwed up the TV system (NTSC, PAL) mechanism. Although the unit is supposed to be NTSC, and you record in NTSC, suddenly the recording turns into PAL. Once it turns to PAL, you can't view it because our TVs and DVDs aren't made to view PAL. Hence, the TV system error.

And I paid $200 for this?!?!

Pros: Quality / Value / Ease of Use
Cons: The copy protection circuitry works too well!

Santa's wife brought home a new Samsung DVD-VR320 DVD/VCR Combo Recorder this past Christmas eve after Santa had complained about playing & rewinding and playing & rewinding the same childrens shows over and over and over again for the two newest "grand-elves" who had come to live in their house.

Having oodles and oodles of childrens shows on VHS tapes from when our fist little elves were still little we decided to upgrade them to DVD.

The new Samsung DVD-VR320 DVD/VCR Combo Recorder made this task amazingly easy - when the tapes weren't encoded with that pesky grinch Copy Protection!

It is simplicity itself to record a DVD from the VCR - just load a disk, pop in a tape, press one button and voila! The quality of the recordings so far have been excellent and several tapes can be placed on one disc.

Our little grand-elves love having all their shows on disc and Santa is happy that his old tapes aren't being worn out and are now saved in a newer, safer, longer lasting format.

Pros: Great value, looks good and mostly works.
Cons: Software problems exist, Samsung UK technical are a waste of time.

This product offers great value for money with it's many features. I paid £200 back in May for it, but Makro were selling it for £169 the other week. Although I love the machine for what it is, there are a few software problems with this model ie. when connecting a camcorder via a dv lead, it leaves the date and time information out. You cant alter the record speed setting...something the melon heads at Samsung design forgot to include. There are a couple of other things also that can be put right only if someone from Samsung technical is willing to get back to me! I have rang Samsung UK every week since May the 30th 2005.When I get through I am told that someone will call within 2 working days. As of the end of August I still wait their call. Not that I am bothered now as I will keep it another 4 months and then return it for a full refund!

Pros: DVD recording was effortless and transportable. Price was pretty good (especially with the DivX support)
Cons: Ate all my tapes, very poor quality control and unhelpful support from Samsung UK.

I recieved the VR320 on Thursday, hooked it up by FRiday with little or no real problem. I found the DVD recording side of things a doddle and was able to finalise "infiniti DVD-R" discs on the Samsung and then play them on both JVC and Philips DVD players.

The problem I have is with the VCR. Every tape I put in got eaten, old & new, home or commercail I ate the lot! Samsung simply says its a fault and the retailer needs to fix it, which I am sure is right - but honestly I thought faults straight off the productin line were a thing of the past, apparently not in Samsung factories!

I am sure it will finally be fixed but I dont see why consumers have to put up with such poor quality control. So Beware - may be I got a Friday afternoon machine but so may you...