Samsung DVD-VR375 1080p Up-Converting VHS Combo DVD Recorder

I've had this Samsung DVD-VR375 for about 3 weeks now. I give up and will be returning it!

To clarify, my reason for buying a VCR/DVD burner was very simple: I wanted to convert my old VHS tapes to DVDs that would be able to be played in OTHER machines, not just this Samsung unit.

Here's the problem with this Samsung unit: Every DVD I have burned so far has sound-sync problems. The sound is off by a few seconds. If you fast-forward or chapter-search, then the sound goes REALLY off and the DVD is unwatchable because of this.

I have tested my newly-burnt DVDs on two players in my home: My iMac computer DVD player, and my Sony DVD player, which is hooked up to my TV. Both players give me the same problem: the sound is out of sync.

I have tried every imaginable iteration of dubbing on this machine to see if I could produce ONE USABLE DVD ... to no avail. I have used DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD-RW discs. All produce the same sound problems. I have used the "Simple dub" option as well as the EZ Dub button on the front of the machine ... same problems.

The instruction manual is really poorly written. I'm a pretty smart "techie" guy, and it's still confusing.

So, I cannot recommend this DVD/VCR -- especially if you're buying it to convert your old VHS tapes. I'm returning this one and either buying a different brand, or sending my old tapes to a conversion company who'll do it right.

The product was shipped promptly via UPS. The upconverting feature works really well. The quality of the DVD discs I've played so far is pretty close to blu-ray quality. I have not used the VHS copy to DVD yet.

The system worked perfectly for 30 days (about 40 hours) then it would no longer play VHS videos. The audio came through but no picture. What a disappointment! Thanks goodness Amazon has given me a refund. Be careful if you buy and be sure to give it a lot of operation before the return date expires.

As for Samsung, I will never make the mistake of buying one of your products again.

This unit stinks. If you have a slightly older television with s-video inputs, don't buy this unit. You'll be disappointed at the lower quality video. One would think a recently manufactured item with a "375" would be superior to the 357. The Samsung VR357 has s-video capability. The VR375 does not. Go figure. Who cares whether it's "upconverting" ?

Over the past two decades, I have purchased and owned five Samsung video products: three televisions and two VCR's. All were outstanding, long-lasting performers. That's why, when reading through the mixed reviews for this product, I put my faith in the most positive ones. Unfortunately, I lived to regret that decision.

It's par for the course that the product manual is inadequate, incomplete and sometimes incomprehensible. That's unfortunate because not all the features of this machine are intuitive. For example, one of the reviewers mentioned that his recorded DVD's auto-finalized. That's because the machine is default set to EZ Record, which finalizes disks automatically. You must turn off this feature if you do not want auto-finalize. Where in the manual is this explained? Nowhere. I had to search through the almost equally baffling FAQ on the Samsung website to unearth this important information.

Once I mastered the idiosyncracies of the machine, the few DVD's I recorded were excellent quality - a step above those recorded on my old Sylvania unit. But, after a few days of use, I started experiencing screen "flutter" when in DVD or VCR mode. At first, I could correct this temporarily by fiddling with the video cables, but it wasn't long before that no longer helped. In frustration, I called Samsung product support, who informed me the "apparatus" was faulty and that I would need to ship it to a service center in New Jersey for repair.

Having just purchased the unit brand new, I was not going to accept a reconditioned machine, so I elected to return it to Amazon. I must say the return process could not have been easier. I received my refund notification from Amazon today, four days after dropping the unit off at UPS for return. I have since ordered a Toshiba unit and am hoping for a better experience.