When connected to other home-theater components, Samsung's DVD-R4000 gives you the freedom to record audio and video on DVD. Boasting extraordinary picture quality, multi-format playback, digital recording, and random-access capability, the DVD-R4000 is a versatile home-entertainment product. With a 4.7 GB recordable DVD-RAM (perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings) as well as DVD-R (widely regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats and great for sharing camcorder footage with loved ones), it's possible to capture up to one hour of recording in the XP (high picture quality) mode, two hours in the regular SP mode, four hours in the long LP mode, and six hours in the extra long EP mode.
Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DVD-R4000 stands ready to deliver the full playback potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, providing higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Other great recording features include simultaneous record and play (record a program while watching one you had previously recorded), MPEG-2 variable bit-rate recording, one-touch recording, time stamp, digital noise reduction for analog sources, and live picture pause and replay.
Analog audio and video inputs make it easy to feed the recorder outputs from a camcorder or VCR as well as from a cable box and satellite receiver. A set of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio output for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver.
Have you ever wondered how you can create a home theatre in your own home? Here your imagination becomes reality. A DVD player is the state of the art addition to your home entertainment system that allows you to watch a movie of more than 2 hours in length in the utmost quality from a 12-cm disc, the size of your standard CD. You can have the comforts of your home and also experience theater-like quality in picture and sound with digital audio and video with a DVD player.PRODUCT FEATURES: Silver; Aluminum Front; Half Mirror Facia; DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, CD, CD-R, CD-RW playback; DVD-R and DVD-RAM Recording; 5 recording modes; 2 - 12 hour recording; 96kHz/24Bit D/A converter.
1 Please take my advice: don't buy this
One of the other reviewers here hit the nail right on the head when he mentioned how poor the customer support is, and how Samsung has "insulated" themselves from any customer complaints. It's all too true. I actually have an earlier model Samsung DVD player, and it, along with other Samsung models at the time, had a horrible skipping problem on many DVDs. Samsung's support was almost non-existant -- I found out there was a firmware upgrade for the player, but not through their website (where I couldn't find any help whatsoever), but through a friend with the same problem. HOWEVER, the firmware upgrade did not resolve the problem, and the last I heard, there was a class action suit filed here in Pennsylvania (which I received an invitiation to be a part of, but could not participate in, I think because I no longer had the receipt). Considering their lackluster customer support, I would advise anyone against buying any DVD player from this company. Players are much cheaper nowadays anyway, and you can get an excellent Sony or Toshiba for a modest price.
2 so far so good
I burn't about 100 DVDS so far and it it is holding up well. Samsung its self is like most companies with support, it depends who you talk to on any given day. Sometimes great and others not so great.
3 Love It!
I had first gotten a Philips player (see my 1 star review on that page) and traded it for the Samsung.
I should start by saying that the reason I got a DVD recorder was to simply "save" things from my TiVo to DVD. Nothing too fancy.
Setup: a snap. Got it going in 10 minutes out of the box.
Interface: a heck of a lot better than the Philips. The menus are easy to understand. Everything is where you figure it would be. I recommend reading the manual to learn about the more advanced features, but even that's written well. The "keyboard" on-screen is great for doing your titles.
So far, I've already burned an episode of Angel for a friend who forgot to set his TiVo and have unloaded 7+ hours off my TiVo onto discs. It's rather nice to be able to burn discs for friends of mine.
Oh, and check your local paper for ads for Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy, Staples, Fry's, etc...they usually run some good deals on DVD-R stacks (saw one for 50 discs for $55 this morning).
This was a positive consumer experience and I'd buy from Samsung again.
4 Samsung DVD-R4000 DVD Player/Recorder
I bought a Samsung DVD-R4000 recorder in Oct. 2003. The unit worked fine for a while. After having recorded a few DVD's successfully it said "finalizing has failed". I notified the Sansung warranty repair in N.J. and Amazon. Amazon said to send the defective unit back and they would replace it. I received the new unit in short order. I recorded one DVD with it, before this unit showed the following, "finalizing is failing." I should point out that I bought Sansung DVD-r's as it burped on other manufacturers DVD's. I talked with Amazon and warranty service in N.J. for Samsung. Amazon said to send it back and they would reimburse me. The conversation with Samsung's warranty repair service was bizarre and after that I wouldn't purchase another Samsung product. It appears that this is a contract service to Samsung and in my estimation not customer oriented. I tried via a Public Relations service to contact Samsung to no avail. They have insulated themselves from customer contact in my opinion. If you go to the Samsung web site you will see that their motto is, "Limitless Support and Uncommon Customer Care." In my opinion that truly has to be a joke. Samsung appears to have isolated itself from any constructive or any kind of criticism of their product from the customer. You can however feel confident buying through Amazon however. I would give Amazon 5 stars for cystomer care and help and actually no stars based on experience for Samsung. It still is "caveat emptor" in the marketplace and Panasonic or Sony will get my business in the future.
5 Great Value And Easy To Use!
I picked this up mainly to archieve videos, and it is wonderful. Menu creation is especially easy-if the disk is not playing it will title the disk, and if it is playing, the individual chapters. The automatic setup is a pain, though, as above, and if you have to move equipment to teach classes, etc. it is a huge headache.
6 great product
Hllo,
this product uses dvd -r not +r but thats ok it's a great product, but if you don't havecable and you don't have satelite just a regular tv you will need to get a RF modulator from radio shack or another store there only a few dollars and then once it hooks up it's easy to use and works like a charm and will play all of your dvds as well you can easly hook up a vcr to the dvd recrder as well aand put your vhs tapes on dvd. If you find it to hard to hokup call the technical support department in the ook they are very helpful and will have you set this thing up in a few minutes.
7 Throw that VCR Away............
This recorder will turn your VCR into a door stop or boat anchor, you pick, it is GREAT!!! Records on DVD-RAM and DVD-R (NOT DVD-RW like the review below states) and the quality is GREAT! Has 4 speeds XP 1 hour, SP 2 hour, LP 4 hour and EP 6 hours. I have tried out most speeds and find XP and SP great for recordings you want to keep and LP for everyday recording. (have not tried EP yet) No more searching where things on tape each recording can be titled like a chapter in a book and accessed by a computer like menu on your TV, very slick. Can delete shows very easily that way. Remote has a lot of buttons but gets the job done, I especially like the one touch record, press once to start, then each time you press will record in 30 minute increments, sweet! I have mine hooked up to direcTV and the recording quality is great as I understand quality depends on the signal it receives. (makes sense) Also like the fact that you can watch a recorded program while recording another. Other great features - up to 100x fast forward, can easily edit out commercials on RAM media, or you can commercial skip by pressing a button, gets you back to the show fast. Time slip record (start watching the program while if finishes recording) try that on your vcr and it will probably explode...
* ONE YEAR PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY TOO!!!
Main drawback is that DVD-RAM disks are not playable on most other DVD players (some Panasonic and Toshiba will) but DVD-R are more compatible but have limited editing options.
Go out and buy this, you will love the quality and versatility it offers.
8 A Pleasant Surprise
Although Initial Setup was Fairly Easy for some reason I couldn't get a signal off the RF Connector It Latter Resolved Itself, Pay Attention to the formats You Can And Can't Use. I Made the Mistake of Buying DVD+RW Wrong, DVD-RW Are Supported. It say's That it will not Support VCD But Does. Picture Quility Recording off Air is Great, S-video Even Better, Over all It is a good Buy.
9 A great machine that replaces the VCR
I was looking for a better mousetrap than the VCR. This DVD Recorder makes great quality recordings and fills that requirement quite nicely. I decided to hook the Samsung R4000 up to my Tivo (my all-time favorite electronic device) and copy shows that interest me onto DVD. So far I haven't made any "coasters" and all of my recordings work in my other DVD players as well as my Honda Odyssey van DVD. The only negative is the initial setup. I am fairly savvy with respect to electronics and I read the DVD manual cover to cover but, I used some profanity trying to get the DVD recorder setup via the onscreen menu. The actual cable hookup was no problem but the DVD recorder insists that you have a signal going to the unit such as cable TV so that the DVD can preprogram the channels. If you try to skip this process, then everytime you turn the unit on, it will start its setup process until you successfully complete it. After I finally got past that issue, I have been very happy with the unit.
