| Value |  4 | | Performance | 4 | | Ease of Use | 4 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4 |
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4 of 4 customers found this review helpful.
4 of 5 Samsung 375 Hits the Mark Monday, October 20, 2008
Don DeChamps from New Franken, WI
Reviewer: DonVanHalen from New Franken, WI on May 2, 2008
I researched several models and read the reviews on several models. It seemed so many people were disappointed with their recorders. I found the best reviews on the Samsung 357. When I saw this 375 as the replacement model and/or new model, I thought I would give it a spin. I must be honest, my expectations were low when I bought the unit based on all the disgruntled users out there on so many different makes and models. This unit pleasantly surprised me with great results.
First off, I highly recommend reviewing the directions. I know most of us don't mess with this, but I have a feeling this is what causes a lot of pain for the unhappy folks. This is a unit I would never buy for my parents who need remotes with less than ten buttons. Our tech kids of today will have no problem with this unit. The quick start directions are also helpful and includes the chart I describe below.
Start by understanding the length of recording. There is a chart in both sets of directions. Select a corresponding recording speed. Switch unit to VCR. Que the VCR tape to the beginning of the title page or the start of the movie. Go to menu, use simple dubbing and off it goes. If you record two or three tapes to the dvd, each one will have the title page in the menu for selecting titles (chapters). Very cool and why it is important to cue the tape up to the beginning. The unit does check for the start of the tape before it starts recording but has never changed from my cue position.
The unit records to DVD quite well. I bought Sony DVD -R to start. Obviously, you have more edit options with the RW's. You can delete titles, whole recordings, partials, etc.. I have not had time to play that much with it yet.
My wife has several daily work out tapes that she wanted to transferred to DVD. I was able to put three or four tapes to one DVD. Now when her tapes wear out she has a preserved copy.
This unit does not have a tuner but does come with an infrared to run your existing cable/satellite box for recording. I have not moved this unit to the theater room yet to connect. I am busy dubbing many VCR's to DVD's. Recording from events of our children throughout the years may take all summer. lol. But my wife is happy to "preserve" them on a better media.
I currently have it hooked up in the bedroom to a Samsung LCD with HDMI. The unit automatically connects to the TV with Anynet+ which provides the ability to use either remote. Note: If you do this and you switch antennas on the TV, the anynet+ connection will be terminated and when you return to HDMI you will have a blue screen. Must power cycle both units to reconnect. The discovery for plug and play anynet devices for whatever reason did not work for me.
In summary, I am very pleased with this purchase. It is definitely accomplishing my needs of replacing and protecting my old VCR tapes. You don't need to be high tech but you have to be able to have some video techpertise (my own word, sorry) to have complete satisfaction of this recording product. It also upconverts DVD's to 1080!
If you are on the fence like I was about buying a recorder, feel confident that this one will be a great purchase at a decent price.
Enjoy,
DonVanHalen
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