Do I Have Split Personality Syndrome?
Written: Dec 08 '02
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Pros: DVD and VCR together at last - Able to complete two tasks at once
Cons: Lack of Progressive Scan Ability
The Bottom Line: Treat yourself, go out and at least consider it. Don't trash it just because someone uninformed told you they didn't like it
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| vandalz's Full Review: Samsung DVD-V2000 DVD Player / VCR Combo |
Samsung, well known for quality products in more markets than are known, has stepped up to the new trends of two-fers. Now, they have two products out on the market that offer two items within one unit, and DVD unit and a HiFi VCR unit. These two products are the DVD-V2000 and the DVD-V2500. The DVD-V2000 is the unit in which this review will cover.
I am not a big fan of two components within each other. Although, I have heard the arguments from both sides of the situation, I just don't like the idea of them being together. I will agree that there are generally less wires to clutter the area in which the unit is located, but what happens when one of the products inside go bad? Do you lose the whole thing, or is it easily fixed?
These are questions that came to my mind, along with others during the recent years. Well, I guess you could say that I am torn between tradition and trend right now. Traditionally, I would never have even considered a combination unit, but trends seem to push me the other way. I decided that I would try out this new trend of "two - fer - one" pricing, although if you really look at it, you are still paying the same price for two units, but now only in one case.
The Samsung DVD-V2000 is not a bad unit at all. As a matter of fact, it was the #1 ranked DVD/VCR Combo in Consumer Reports, about one month ago (November 2002). So I decided to check it out for myself. Seeing that this unit was so highly ranked, I wanted to see why.
For the price that you might pay, this unit is definitely worth the consideration.
At first glance, you will notice that there is indeed a DVD player, and a VCR player within the unit. Common sense would tell you that, but you need to look further than just the outer cover. There are many things to consider. This unit has a HiFi VCR unit which, while pretty well common for VCR's, not always common in DVD/VCR Combo's. Secondly, this unit does not have Progressive Scan, but this flaw can be detracted if you don't have a television unit that will display Progressive Scan Imaging.
One very wonderful feature that I found to really enjoy was the ability of the DVD player to play so many different formats of music. You could play a regular cd or dvd as with most any player, but you also had the ability to play your CD-R's and CD-RW's with MP3's on the discs. This was a big plus, seeing that I enjoy putting tons of music on CD-R's. There was a flaw with this feature as well, seeing that I could not place the music on random, it just kept going in sequence, but who really notices after 5 hours of music? All you need to do if burn the music at random, and you now have randomization.
This unit has a plethora of connections. More than I probably would ever consider using, but needless to say, it has enough. Besides the front RCA inputs on the front, it has one input/output RCA in the back, as well as Component and S-Video output. You have the ability to run the DVD and VCR out of the unit using the RF connection, better known as Coaxial connection, or you can connect the VCR unit to the television, and the DVD unit through line outputs (RCA, S-Video, Component). All work very well, but I prefer the latter. Being able to hook into different devices with different outputs allows you to do to things at once, which can be so great when you have to watch that boring movie that your significant other wants to watch, because now you can just record what you are missing ( and possibly sneak a peak at it when she leaves the room ).
Setting Up:
Setting the unit up only takes a few operations. Depending on whether you are going to use Coaxial connections for the whole unit or Line connections, is really the hardest part of the whole procedure.
Just take whichever connections you plan to use, hook them up, plug in the unit, and let it do the rest of the work, and believe me, it will do the rest of the work for you. Ever heard of computer automation, well Samsung has it. To use the unit all you have to do, it press play once, bring up a menu, or play twice, and you are ready to go.
The remote, while complicated, is pretty straight forward. If you have ever used a universal remote, then you shouldn't have a lick of problems using or figuring out how this one is supposed to be used.
Final Thoughts:
As far as I am concerned, this unit has taken my traditional view, and just tossed it out of the window to the ground. I can't see many problems with this unit at all, and for the price that you can get it at, it is a great bargain. If you use the Epinions.Search engine you can really find a deal on it, seeing that they actually have it for less that what I paid for it.
If you ever come across one of these units, buy it. If the store offers an additional warranty or protection for it, consider it. All electronics now tend to give out within a fair amount of time, and the price that you pay for the protection now, will actually be less that what you probably will pay in the end trying to fix or replace it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.99
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Epinions.com ID:
vandalz
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Pascagoula, MS
Reviews written: 157
Trusted by: 44 members
About Me:
Freelance programmer finishing up a project shortly. Watch for updates!
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