Editorial Review:

Item Description:
HDMI / Easy Record / Component Video / Composite

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Rating: - * Yeah, Right ...
I bought this unit to copy my VHS collection to DVDs (with automatically generated chapters, how cool!) that could then subsequently be played on any DVD player. Duh, what else would anyone buy it for? However, this unit will not perform the task I just described above and will only even partially do it at all under an extremely narrow set of circumstances.

First off, the DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/VR-Mode/V-Mode debacle. It took me three sets of blank purchases to come to the realization that if you want these DVDs to be finalized so they can be recognized in an everyday DVD player you MUST have DVD-R or DVD-RW ONLY (DVD+R won't record at all and DVD+RW won't finalize) and that DVD-RW is a waste of money because you can't unfinalize a finalized video made in V-Mode anyway. Did I mention that the unit automatically initializes a blank disc in VR Mode, which is incompatible with everyday DVD players, forcing you to re-initialize it? Yeah, if you choose "no" on the "do you want to initialize this blank dvd" screen it pops the dvd out of the drive. Awesome! Are you confused yet?

Well don't worry, at least you have a completely incomprehensible poorly written manual to help you out! Obviously written by someone whose first language is not English, the manual explains absolutely NOTHING, so it took me a couple dozen shots in the dark to come to what murky conclusions I have been able to come to. I mean it, not a single term in this manual is defined. They just assume you know what a "title list," a "playlist, a "scene" and a "chapter" are. Those words are simple enough and you would think that you would know but trust me - in the context of this manual none of them make a lot of sense. Oh and be careful to look for the little icons in the upper right corner of every paragraph that let you know that the paragraph you are reading is utter bollocks for any format other than DVD-RW!

Oh hey - about that cool "automatic chapter generation" thing you're hearing so much about? Yeah, that doesn't work. Well, it does, but only if you're recording from the television. I am not entirely sure, but I THINK you can sort of make chapters manually except that the instructions use the terms "chapter," "playlist" and "scene" sort of interchangeably. Maybe. I can't tell honestly. I still have a couple dozen tests to perform before I'll have that all worked out, but one thing I am sure of - automatic 5 or 15-minute chapters are a pipe dream when copying from VHS to DVD with this unit.

This unit gets two stars because of the quick copy buttons on the front panel. If you set your VHS to where you want it to start copying, put in a blank dvd, initialize it in VR mode (grr) re-initialize it in V mode, press the "To DVD" button on the front panel, wait for VHS to run it's course, finalize the DVD and eject - you have a reasonably pain-free DVD copy of your VHS tape, just as long as you don't mind the fact that there is only one "chapter," and therefore only one way to navigate your DVD - just like you navigate your VHS tapes. FF and RW. Glorious. Buyer be warned.

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Edit/Update July 2008: Now that Blu-Ray has won the hi-def war, my outlook on this machine has changed somewhat. I bought a Playstation 3. Once you watch a movie in high definition, things really change. My DVD collection no longer seems important, less so my VHS collection. All I want is my favorite movies in high definition - everything else is noticeably... drab. So my focus has shifted. I no longer care about turning my VHS into DVDs - DVDs are going away. All I'm concerned with now is ripping my DVD/VHSs to video files that can be streamed via wireless to my Playstation 3, so I can just dump them and start re-buying in hi-def. As someone else mentioned in a different review of this product, if you use DVD+RW there is no need to finalize or do anything else, you can remove the DVD+RW and it will be reeadable by your computer DVD drive. You can then rip the file and re-use the same DVD+RW over and over again by re-formatting it. Sweet! I'd up my review by one star because I've had the unit this long and have had no problems, and using it in the way I'm describing I've had very good results.

The only drawback, and this applies across the board no matter how you choose to use this unit - is that about half of VHS tapes out there have a copy protection scheme that the unit honors ("You cannot copy protected video," it gasps). I guess Samsung is bound by law in this regard, but it's still highly irritating that something you paid money for won't let you create a backup of it.

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Rating: - * Samsung DVD-VR357 Tunerless DVD Recorder and VCR Combo ...
Easy to attach to the TV, easy to set up and easy to use. Have had no problems with it since purchase (1 month ago).

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Rating: - * First Class all the way ...
Fast delivery of chosen product, which is exactly what it was said to be.
Another good buy and perfect delivery from Amazon.

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Rating: - * Trouble recording tv programs ...
Bought the 357 a week ago and have not been able to figure out why it wont allow recording tv shows. We can watch movies, and we can transfer vhs to dvd but we cannot record anything from tv on to dvd. WE have hd cables one going from tv to cable box and one going from tv to dvd player. 357 does not have coaxil connection to connect to cable box so what other cable should we have to make proper connections? If its not a connection problem might we be making the wrong choices on the programmed menu? Thanks for any input. We want to love it - but not there yet.

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Rating: - * You better have the patience of Job ...
I bought this unit even though there had been negative reviews. Most of them were obviously because people just don't read instructions or are just pinheads. The problems they say are problems aren't; like someone complaining about the unit being tunerless. Yeah...its tunerless. A little reading would have revealed this. There are other things that people complain about that aren't problems; but the problems people have regarding the quality of physical workings of the unit are probably correct.

Anyway if you get this unit to tape VHS to DVD (why else would you get it?), be prepared to have your patience and blank dvd supply severely tested. The first time I tried to record from tape, the unit rewound my tape right off the spool! I had to open up the VHS tape and repair/ respool it. Anyway...

After being able to copy tapes for a week or so, the thing is now giving me fits. I set up a record list off a tape (which can take forever if you have a lot of video on the tape) and after investing tons of time, the unit will rewind to the first title and proceed to record only 5 seconds and then stop and then start recording whatever is coming from the cable box. FRUSTRATING! I have to stop the unit which loses the title list...which means do it all again. Like I said, I've been doing this for awhile successfully, but now it just doesn't want to do it but maybe 25% of the time. The other times it records a few seconds from tape and then decides to record from the set top box. I have updated the firmware from Samsung, but to no avail. I can't detect a pattern on why it does this.

As of this writing, I'm 3-1/2 hours into trying to tape 2 hours of video. I had to start over because the unit just wouldn't stop taping 5-10 seconds from the tape before rolling over to recording from the cable STB. Be prepared to waste dvds. Right now I'm blowing through Verbatim Dual Layer DVD+Rs. Not cheap.