Samsung DVD SH895M or Panasonic

[paul kersey]

I am at present looking to buy a DVD recorder with Upscaling, Freeview, Hard- Drive and possibly Multi-region Playback. I had settled upon the Panasonic DMREX89EBK which seemed to feature everything bar being multi-regional. However I have seen a Samsung DVD SH895M advertised which seems to have the advantage of being Multi-Regional subject to a simple hack. Looking at various reviews, the Samsung does not always gain totally positive reviews but this could be subject to snobbery, this brings me to the point finally of this thread, does anyone have first hand experience of the Samsung or the Panasonic? Or can anyone give me a recommendation for something else?. Would I be better off buying a cheap DVD player that can be hacked , all advice is welcome, thank-you in advance

[fluddite]

I've never had major problems (other than normal wear 'n' tear) with either brand - but all my recent DVD recorders have been MR Panasonics, not least because they can use DVD-RAM discs.



If you're willing to up your budget a little and settle for a 250GB hard drive, this one would give you dual Freesat tuners and out-of-the-box MR capability:



Panasonic DMRXS350 MR Black | DVD Recorder MR playback HDD 250GB twin freesat HD | Richer Sounds

[Straff]

My previous DVD/HD recorder was a Samsung. Never again. Slow to power up, noisy, wouldn't play many discs. Now got a Panasonic. A tad more lolly but I'm happy.

[Mr Pastry Time]

Hi Paul

I have had Samsung gear in the past and never again due to the Nuclear link that country now has. I got shot of the Sammy kit last year and replaced with a Sony DVD/HDD machine which I just love and produces perfect results every time. My father also has a Panny and also a Sony HXD890 HDMI DVD recorder and he favours the Sony. I think they have a new range out now so would be worth having a god look round.



Best wishes...

[dvdman]

samsung is rubbish my first dvd player was a samsung 709 it never worked properly but i have also bought 3 panasonic dvd recorders with hard drives lovely machines for using the ram discs the only thing i dont like about them is once you finilise the disc on them you cant high speed dub back onto the hard drive when using discs such as -r/+r but u can if u use ram discs though and these aernt cheap so my next machine will be a pioneer as my friend in bedfordshire has one and you can high speed any disc in 6 mins -r/+r when finalised back onto the hard drive

[paul kersey]

Many thanks to all of you who talk the time and trouble to reply. I have now purchased a Sony RDR-DC205 which has all the features that I wanted. So far it seems to be the right choice, but the instruction manual leaves a lot to be desired.