Entered CNET Catalog: 05/01/2007
SKU: 00036725607767
Manufacturer: Samsung
Manufacturer description
Samsung's DVD-AR650 Recorder with built-in ATSC tuner which allows the reception of digital TV signals broadcast over-the-air by TV stations is the perfect way to join the digital revolution. The -R dual layer recording and front DV input features let you record TV shows and add home video to a DVD disc for more than 14 hours of programming. Favorite shows can be captured immediately with the "1 sec." EZ record feature. Playback is amazingly clear with true color reproduction, thanks to Samsung's EVQ (Enhanced Video Quality) and Progressive scan output features.Product summary
The good: Excellent recording quality on XP and SP modes; ATSC tuner for receiving over-the-air digital TV broadcasts; EPG for digital over-the-air channels; IR blaster can control cable or satellite box for timer recordings; HDMI output upscales up to 1080i; commercial skip button; solid DVD playback performance; flexible recording speed for timer recordings; DVD-RAM compatibility.
The bad: Its ATSC tuner cannot deliver full HDTV resolution; no chasing playback on DVD-RAM discs; doesn't record to +R/+RW discs.
The bottom line: The Samsung DVD-AR650 is a solid DVD recorder with a nice collection of features for digital video archivists.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/24/2007
Many of us may live in a high-def world, but if you want to archive your favorite TV shows, you're still going to have to turn to your trusty standard-def DVD recorder to get the job done. The Samsung DVD-AR650 is a member of the new breed of DVD recorders that boast an ATSC tuner, which allows for reception of digital and HD broadcasts via an antenna. (Tunerless models are also available--and those are better deals for anyone who already has a DVR.) While it seems to be a perfect product for those in love with the idea of free over-the-air HDTV, there's a catch: All those HD broadcasts aren't shown in true high-def on the Samsung, either when watched live or recorded to DVD.
But that disappointment aside, there's a lot to like about the DVD-AR650. For one, it's the only DVD recorder we've tested this year with a built-in EPG (electronic programming guide) for ATSC signals, so you can pick your favorite shows by name and set up a timer recording without having to consult a channel guide for info. The DVD-AR650 also includes an IR blaster, which allows you to control a satellite or cable box, making timer recordings even easier. While it didn't beat our current recording quality champion--the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK--it still has very good recording quality, thanks to an S-Video input (notably missing from the LG RC797T, and restricted to the front panel on the Sony RDR-GXD455). Altogether, while it's not the absolute best DVD recorder we've seen, the DVD-AR650 has a nice blend of features and performance that should satisfy digital video archivists who are looking to record from cable, satellite, or over-the-air TV sources.
Design
Samsung is known for its stylish designs, but the DVD-AR650 is more utilitarian than eye-catching. Like nearly all DVD recorders, it has a boxy design, with the front panel angled back and the top edge hanging over like an awning. On the left side, there's the DVD tray on the top half and below is a flip-down tray housing an extra AV input and the FireWire port. On the right side, there's a reasonably large LCD display on the top half and several useful buttons on the bottom half, including chapter forward/backward, record, input select, and channel up/down.
The included remote is a variation on the standard Samsung DVD player remote. Toward the bottom is a directional pad for navigating menus, which is surrounded by important buttons such as menu and disc menu. The play, stop, and fast-forward/rewind buttons are reasonably well-differentiated making it possible to navigate by feel. While the standard DVD playback buttons are fine, DVD recorder specific buttons feel like more of an afterthought. Buttons we found ourselves using frequently--such as CM Skip, EPG and Timer Record--are lost within a sea of similarly sized keys, when they should have larger, more prominent positioning. As always, you can alleviate these problems by picking up a solid universal remote.
User interface
The graphical user interface for browsing discs is pretty good. The left side of the screen plays the selected video from the beginning and includes the date and quality at which it was recorded. The right side lists all the programs on the disc by date and length. This isn't perfect--we preferred how the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK pulled the title of the program from the digital signal data--but it works fine.
If you click on a title, you can rename it, delete it, or--for recordings on DVD-RAM and DVD-RW recording in VR mode--edit it. You select the start and end times of the portion you want to remove, and then select delete. We had no problems editing out a few commercials--although with the CM Skip button (see the Features section below), we probably wouldn't go through the effort.
Unlike the other DVD recorders with ATSC tuners we've reviewed this year, the DVD-AR650 has a built-in electronic program guide (EPG). The interface is reasonably straightforward and intuitive: You can view four channel listings at a time while the last channel you were watching continues to play in a smaller screen in the upper left-hand corner. We would love for Samsung to upgrade to high-def graphics for the next year's version to offer up even more screen real estate--but that's more of a wish than a knock.
Features
The DVD-AR650 is capable of recording to the following disc formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-R Dual Layer, and DVD-RAM. Support for +R/RW support is noticeably missing, but in our opinion it's not a big loss--just remember to buy the right discs.
Despite having DVD-RAM support, the DVD-AR650 does not have chasing playback functionality--a feature we've raved about in reviews for Panasonic DVD recorders. Chasing playback refers to the ability to watch a program from the beginning while still in the process of recording, or you can record something on DVD-RAM while watching a previously recorded program on the same DVD-RAM disc. We would have loved to have seen this feature, but its absence isn't a deal breaker.
For DVD recording, the unit offers four recording modes that all have trade-offs in recording quality vs. capacity. Only 1 hour of highest quality XP mode video fits onto one single-layer DVD; SP is 2 hours; LP is 4; and EP either 6 or 8 (the 6-hour mode gives better audio quality).
Thankfully, if you have a program that doesn't nicely fit into one of those time frames, the DVD-AR650 has one of our favorite features: flexible recording. Selecting this option allows you to completely fill a DVD with your program, thereby maximizing the video quality. This is particularly useful if, for instance, you have a 2-hour movie and you want to use a dual-layer disc. Instead of having to drop down to lower-quality SP mode, you can maximize the quality using flexible recording. You can only select the flexible recording speed option in timer record (it needs to know how long you're going to record to set the appropriate quality level). But there is a workaround: Just set the start time to the current time if you want to record a 2-hour-and-10-minute movie on a standard DVD without using LP mode.
The DVD-AR650 is also capable of JPEG, DivX and MP3 playback off DVDs and CDs. We would've liked to see a USB port for pulling those files off a flash drive, as well, but again, its absence isn't a deal breaker.
As now required by federal law, the DVD-AR650 comes equipped with ATSC and NTSC tuners, which means the unit is capable of picking up digital over-the-air broadcasts as well as analog TV. When we first heard about DVD recorders equipped with ATSC tuners back at CES, we were pretty excited about the idea, but we've found ourselves a little disappointed with the 2007 models. For basic use, it worked well; the tuner picked up all our local digital channels (not much of a challenge given CNET Labs' proximity to the Empire State Building). Additionally, digital stations always looked better than their analog counterparts, at least in our testing area--with a clear signal, you essentially get DVD-quality video, free of the interference, ghosting, and "snow" found on analog broadcasts. On the other hand, it was disappointing that the DVD-AR650 does not output true high-definition TV. Over-the-air digital signals are fully capable of displaying high-definition TV, but instead the DVD-AR650 displays a 480p signal upconverted to 1080i--which is far from true high definition (more on this in the Performance section).
As mentioned before, one of the standout aspects of Samsung's digital tuner implementation is the built-in EPG. While almost every standalone digital tuner has a built-in EPG, previous digital-tuner-enabled DVD recorders we've reviewed (the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK and the LG RC797T) lacked this crucial feature. With the EPG, recording programs from the built-in digital tuner is extremely easy. Simply navigate the channel guide with the remote and then hit "timer record" to select a program. This is a great convenience--instead of having to tell the recorder to record CBS from 11:30 to 12:30, you can just browse to Late Show with David Letterman and hit the timer record button.
Another nice touch is the "CM Skip" button on the remote. It stands for commercial skip, so you can blast by any commercials in your recorded programs. The default skip length is 15 seconds, but you can go into the setup menu and change it to 30 or 60 seconds.
We were also very pleased that Samsung included an IR (infrared) blaster with the DVD-AR650, which allows you to control a cable or satellite box. The wire for the IR blaster is connected to the back of the unit and the actual blaster is placed by the IR receiver on the cable or satellite box. The main purpose of the blaster is to enable timer recordings from your cable or satellite box--the DVD-AR650 (via the IR blaster) is able to change the channel on your cable/satellite box at the specified time so it can record your favorite show. Some might not like the extra wire hanging around, but it's really the only way to solve the problem.
The connectivity of the DVD-AR650 is pretty solid. There's an HDMI output, which is capable of upscaling video to 1080i and carrying audio signals. The rest of the video outputs include a component video output, an S-Video output, and a composite video output. Note that, as always, component video output is limited to 480p.
Video input selection is healthy, with both an S-Video input and a composite video input on the rear panel. The S-Video input is especially important--it's typically the highest quality connection you can use with a DVD recorder (component video inputs are very rare), and it's the one connection we were really missing with the LG RC797T. On the front panel, there's also an additional composite video input and a DV input, for connecting a digital camcorder directly.
For surround audio, there's the aforementioned HDMI output, along with both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. For analog audio, a standard stereo RCA output (red and white jacks) is present.
If you're not interested in over-the-air signals, there are alternatives in the Samsung recorder line. The DVD-R155 has no tuner at all, so it's ideal for simply backing up recordings from a DVR. The same goes for the step-up models, the DVD-R157 (adds support for DVD+R, +RW recordings), the DVD-VR357 (adds a VHS tape deck), and the DVD-R160 (adds upscaling to 1080p), which lacks a tuner.
Digital TV performance
First things first: Like every other DVD recorder with a built-in ATSC tuner we've tested, the DVD-AR650 is not capable of outputting a true HD signal. This was easily apparent in the softness of the images and we were able to easily confirm it by looking at the CBS logo. Instead of the smooth round edges you'd see with true high-def signal, there were jaggies where it should have been a curved line. It's a little confusing using the HDMI output because the signal is upconverted to 1080i--so your HDTV will say it's accepting a 1080i signal--but it's interpolated from an image that's far less detailed than the full 1920x1080 lines of resolution.
We were able to confirm our observations using the Sencore VP403C signal generator, which has an RF output capable of sending an ATSC signal. We dialed in a resolution test on the Sencore and it clearly could not pass the resolution of either a 1080i or 720p signal. Even more interestingly, it didn't quite resolve all detail of a 480p signal either, which the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK was able to do. While we don't know for sure, we imagine the DVD-AR650 down-converts the original high-definition signal to 480p--which loses much of the actual detail--and then it up-converts it back to 1080i.
Despite the fact that it's not true high-definition, in our experience digital TV signals look much better than analog signals, and also are able to preserve the wide-screen aspect ratio of high-def shows. So while the DVD-AR650 can't output high-def, you'll still enjoy superior image quality than you'd get with a standard analog tuner.
DVD recording performance
Recording quality on the DVD-AR650 is very good, although it's still a notch below our recording quality champ, the DMR-EZ47VK. The two highest quality modes--XP and SP--offer similarly excellent image quality overall, mostly free of the compression artifacts that can mar the image. There's a slight difference between the XP and SP modes, but it's so small we're guessing almost everybody will prefer the increased recording length offered by SP. LP mode suffers a significant image quality dropoff from SP mode. This was easily visible watching some episodes of Arrested Development--in LP mode, the background had some significant compression artifacts and the image overall looked a good deal softer. This is the main area where the DVD-AR650 falls short of the DMR-EZ47VK, as the DMR-EZ47VK can maintain nearly the same image quality in LP mode as SP mode. EP mode, as you might expect, is another large dropoff in quality and will most likely be borderline unwatchable for most people.
DVD playback performance
We started off our testing of DVD playback performance using Silicon Optix's HQV test suite. We set the DVD-AR650 to 1080i mode and it started off strong, acing the initial resolution test by displaying all the detail of DVD without any instability to the image. It also did an excellent job on the two following jaggies tests, displaying both three pivoting lines and a rotating white line without any significant jaggies. The DVD-AR650 wasn't perfect though--it failed the difficult 2:3 pulldown test, as there was moiré in the grandstands as the car drove by.
Of course, most people won't be watching test patterns, so we took a look at some actual program material. Looking at the introduction to Star Trek: Insurrection demonstrated that despite failing the HQV test, the DVD-AR650 does have 2:3 processing--the hulls of the boats and the curved railing looked smooth without any jagged edges. Next we popped in the difficult Seabiscuit intro sequence, and it performed commendably. The black-and-white photos were rendered accurately, and we didn't see any of the distortions that often pop up. We've been critical of the DVD playback performance of some Samsung recorders in the past, but the DVD-AR650 gets it mostly right.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7out of 7 user reviews
garbage dvr
Pros: dvd player works
Cons: DTV locks up, can not write to DVD+RW, disc inititalizing crash. check videos on http://*******.com/yfklj3f
out of 7 user reviews
Unit rejects DVD-RAM & DVD-R
Pros: Easy to operate
Cons: Unit will only use DVD-R disks
out of 7 user reviews
buy something else the DVD AR650 is junk
Pros: there are no pros this thing is useless
Cons: can't format it says disk cannot be played and ejects it,same thing when you try to play a movie it says disk cannot be played and kicks it out.samsung this thing is a useless piece of junk.
Updated on Oct 31, 2008Called Samsung today 10/31/08 they had me do the reset and unplug the unit,then use a lens cleaning disk also used a compressed gas duster,it now works because the cooling fan runs ALL the time on this unit it is easily affected by dust build up.I would say to clean it every two weeks or so.I must add this the record quality is not great to start with,hopefully they do a firmware update maybe it will help.
Updated on Nov 25, 2008it has returned to it's piece of junk status I recorded a movie on a DVD-R disc watched the movie one time,wanted to watch it again later gave me the disc cannot be played please check disc.I guess it creates disposable movies watch them one time and chuck them,also if I want to record a movie I can't use any DVD-RW disc it will not use any brand I have tried it gives the message disc cannot be played please check the disc and kicks it out.Samsung can rot in hell this is the last Samsung product I will ever buy they are DONE.
out of 7 user reviews
When it works, great, but when is doesn't, it sucks
Pros: Easy programming, easy menu, good picture quality.
Enjoy watching purchased or rented DVDs on the unit.
Cons: Often on timer programming, it won't "read" the channel signal. You get an hour or 2 of a blank screen.
The clock resets to the wrong times (and years). It won't lock and stay on a manual time input and on auto time, it "picks up the wrong time".
If I had the chance, I would try something else. However, as aggravating as this one might be, it is much better then the Sylvania recorder it replaced.
out of 7 user reviews
This dvd recorder would not record
Pros: it did play a dvd from Netflix!
Cons: would not record using timer or instant record function
out of 7 user reviews
Almost a bang for the buck!
Pros: Nice video, recording in HQ setting, good audio
Cons: Unit not true HD, tuner freezes up and cheap
out of 7 user reviews
Wait for Firmware Update or buy something else
Pros: Great Digital Tuner, EPG (Programming Guide), Clock sets itself from the signal (no more 12:00 blinking VCR syndrome!).
Cons: Software is very buggy… need an upgrade… not ready for primetime. No signal strength meter for the digital channels. No evidence that the device has the capability to be firmware upgradeable.
I design electronic products for a living so I know a “good” unit from a “bad” unit. This device appears to be a good hardware platform with some good software architecture that was rushed to market without being completed or fully debugged.
SOFTWARE BUGS DISCOVERED (one month of use)
1) Often when trying to use the timer record function in conjuction with the programming guide (great feature); the unit provides an error message that the clock is not set correctly. Any attempts to fix the clock manually do not correct the problem… the only solution that works is to unplug the unit for 5 seconds and then power the unit back up.
2) Once the system reported that it did not have any signal on any digital channel. A complete power down (unplug) and repower and all those missing channels were back…while a true scientist could not absolutely conclude that the DVD player was at fault because I had no other source to simultaneously prove it… I would say it is highly likely that the software “hiccupped” (a technical term for a software bug).
3) When you have recorded multiple programs in VR mode and then you delete program two and three…it disrupts program # one so it still shows it to be present but you can’t play it so it is not recoverable… Very frustrating…anybody got the latest episode of “So you think you can dance”?
4) When I deleted a station and then unplugged and replugged the unit it did not remember that I had deleted the channel.
OTHER COMPLAINTS
1) No digital channel signal strength meter. How are you supposed to aim your antenna without a signal strength meter?
2) A “return” and “exit” key on remote that both appear to do the same thing… too many redundant/near redundant keys on the remote … not well thought out.
3) Default on record time is the shortest instead of the longest… so several times I have filled up a disc and the recorder stops before the show is finished because the disc is full! Each time I unplug the unit to reset it from its buggy operation I have to remember to reset the default record time to the highest time.
4) The fan in the unit runs all the time…even when in standby mode!
5) It sure would be helpful if I could tell you what version of software is in the product right now … but you can’t see that unless you have an update firmware CD so I can’t tell you what version I have. You should always be able to query a product for it firmware version information.
PRODUCT FEATURE REQUESTS
1) To make the EPG more useful allow the tuner to run though all the digital stations at periodic intervals when in the standby mode. This way as soon as you “turn on” the player the EPG is populated so you don’t have to first run through all the stations to update the guide. Also storing this information though a power cycle would be a good idea!
2) Only turn on the fan when needed … the noise while low is annoying.
3) Allowing a user to program in text with each channel name is a good feature seen on many TVs… so instead of seeing channel 12-2 you can see channel 12-2 FOX. I use it to add the network name to the channel so I am sure I am on the right network.
4) In the Digital Channels you briefly display the channel the DVD player is tuned to and then you go back to the clock. I suggest the you add the channel dash number ie 12-2 instead of just 12….and I think you should flip back and forth between the time and the channel at an interval of about 3 seconds each.
The tuner now thinks that digital channel 0-0 exists and will not allow the tuner to change channels.... it acts like a software bug as the autotune function still works and it does seem to find the channels that are really out there but then it will not show the picture and will not allow you to change the channel. This issue only affects the ASTC tuner... the analog tuner works just fine. Still no firmware update available as of November 22,2007.
Well, I called Samsung Tech Support to fix the CH 0-0 problem... they told me I had to unplug the unit for at least one minute and then plug it back in.... I tried it and it worked the unit began to work properly again. I asked when the firmware update would be available and they told me there are NO KNOWN ISSUES WITH THIS PRODUCT. I was so outragged by this response that I told them to fire their engineers!
SAMSUNG Why do I have to unplug this device for one minute?
ANSWER - Because it has a software bug which causes the unit to fail in a mode that can only be fixed by unplugging the unit so it can reinitialize the system and start working again.
SAMSUNG How is it that your tech support people know what to tell customers to do to fix this problem but yet you still insist that this product does not have any software bugs; Could it be that you already know what the problem is? If so, why not issue a firmware update to fix this and the other issues listed?
ANSWER ????
Tech support told me if I was concerned I could write the corporate office... I asked for the email address and they told me the corporate office could only be reached by snail mail!!!
SAMSUNG you make great LCDs... but you have lost me as a customer for any other product that you might think about making.
As of January 4, 2008.... still NO FIRMWARE update available!!
7/19/08 Update
Well the software buggy product develops new ways to exhibit it poor behavior.... Now it refuses to format a disk... it crashes during the format process and ejects the disk.
Samsung you make many great products.... however, this one you need to pull from the market until you are willing to fix the many issues with this product.
