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"Perfect accessory for digital camcorders" on by OnanSalad
Pros: great functionality with handycams, price
Cons: picture quality from coax input is a bit soft
Summary: Though it's a little late with hd on the horizon, this unit seems to have been specifically built for those making dvds from their digital camcorders. If you have one of these cameras, particularly any made by Sony, you may have found that the software is horrible. Computer support in general for handycams seems to have been added after the fact. Samsung's DVD-R135 allows the user to avoid this problem by allowing direct to dvd recording via front dv connectors. There's also a front mini firewire/ilink jack, but I haven't tested this yet.
The dvd-r135 allows you to title segments so viewers can navigate different scenes. If your handycam includes the slideshow capability, you can even record a slideshow of your digital photos as a scene on the dvd. My handycam has some professional fade-in & fade-out effects for slideshows - which I never saw a use for until I saw the resulting slideshow on the dvd.
If you prefer additional mastering, you can always rip the recorded dvd to your computer and add additional effects - such as a music-track to the previously mentioned slideshow - using more advanced software such as ulead's movie studio.
If I were just rating this as a dvr, I would probably give this a 7.5 or 8. The upconverting is good but not spectacular. The added features - such as mp3, jpeg and avi support - perform very well. Navigation through functions is more intuitive than most dvd players.
Considering its low price (you can find it for around $130 USD if you look hard enough)and it's great functionality with my handycam, I have to conclude that this was a spectacular purchase. I actually use my handycam now. -
"very disappointing" on by anbas
Pros: simple to use
Cons: stopped working after 4 months
Summary: This machine was incredibly disappointing. It worked find for the first 3 months. Then it stopped recognizing DVDs that I recorded. I called the tech support and they had me reset the machine and buy a cleaner. Neither worked. Then it wouldn't even play oommercially produced DVDs! When I called back the tech support they told me that I would have to pay to send it to New Jersey and pay for any labor because it was not covered by warranty anymore! I decided to just get rid of it. I had never bought a Samsung product before and won't ever again.
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"Great chapter making capability!" on by vtrekkie
Pros: Chapters vs. Fast forward
Cons: Cannot play burned dvd's without menu's.
Summary: The ony shortfall of this machine is that it cannot play some burned dvd's that are recorded without menu's. If you have a burned dvd with menu's no problem, it will play them. The biggest advantage of this machine over others is it's ability to record with chapters. this beats having to fast forward your recordings. No other dvd recorder on the market can make chapters except for the samsung as far as I know. Not even Sony or Panasonic has a machine capablke of doing that is affordable like the Samsung. Get this machine you won' regret it.
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"the best dvd recorder by far!" on by apkguy06
Pros: great quality dvd playback, great divx play, the best
Cons: haven't found one yet
Summary: I love this dvd recorder the best by far. Plays dvd-r,dvd+r, divx movies and more. Great quality. Has noise 3d reduction. I havn't used many dvd recorders except dvd r-120 by samsung but I love samsung products and have used their dvd players before. One con you can fast forword but can't fast rewind.Iset it up the standared way and only have a Standered tv not HDTV but the player makes my old dvds and regular ones look better then ever. I give it 8 for excellent dvd recording quality.
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"Nicely packaged item with decent features" on by rsc8989
Pros: Decent recording speed and options, sleek design
Cons: Component output display not as good as it should be, tricky operations
Summary: If you still own a MiniDV camcorder, this will burn DVD's in rather simple and straightforward steps. I think one of the strong points for Samsung may be its sleek designs on most of their models and this one will not disappoint you in that regards. Will play the Divx or .avi files without problems which was another factor in choosing this particular model, HDMI output with component out, optical, composite, coaxial in and out if you want to record from cable/off air.
Minor things that bother me are: the remote will interfere with other Samsung HDMI DVD player - the remotes will operate both devices at the same time and Samsung support can't do much about although they will acknowledge the problem. Component output to flat panel seems to grey out overall picture - you could tell right away if you switch to other input sources.
Overall, the price, features, design and recording features will do enough to justify the addition.
Samsung DVD-R135 user reviews
Where to Buy
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