Price Paid:  $499.00 from Hi-Fi Buys

Summary:
This is a follow up of my other review. This player has now progressed into a problem from just being a nuisance. It freezes a lot, unable to read dual layer movies, adudio/video gets out of synch, and so on. I promised not again to even consider Samsung products ever. I had contacted Samsung tech support which offered to replace my unit with their top of the line single tray player, DVD812. No further questions ask. I AM IMPRESSED. IT remains to be seen how this new player work. I am giving it only 1 star just because they are replacing the player.

Strengths:
Excellent tech support

Weaknesses:
POS player

Similar Products Used:
Sony

Price Paid:  $499.00 from Hi-Fi Buys

Summary:
Since I have an early model Yamaha receiver(kicks-ass by the way)with AC-3 ready capability, I was looking for an AC-3 DVD player with the built-in decoder. It was a tough search, being DTS seems to be the standard now. I was able to find this Samsung and I had no other choice since no other brands with the capability was available. I took the bait and got this POS player. This thing freezes too frequently on some movies, it skips, and can not read audio cdr's. I think I may have to upgrade my whole system with DTS since AC-3 seems to be getting outdated. I will not buy any more Samsung products.

Strengths:
AC-3 Decoder built-in

Weaknesses:
skips, picture freezes, can not read audio CD-R's

Summary:
This Samsung is a first generation DVD, as such the most recent firmware upgrade is 3rd or 4th quarter 1999. I've sent my DVD player in twice to get upgrades once in july of 99 and June of 00. There still is some skipping but at least the movies are watchable. They were not prior to the upgrades. To the best of my knowledge, Samsung is directing its efforts in support of the more recent DVD players, and further firmware upgrades will not be available. Even if you get this used, I recommend that it be heavily discounted

Strengths:
Built in Dolby Digital, Composite Vdeo Out

Weaknesses:
Skips, has trouble with dual layered DVDs

Similar Products Used:
None