Samsung DVD-SH853M

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Excellent
Sound Level	Good
Ease of Use	Simple
Range of Features	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great series of facilities
Disadvantages:	Attracts dust, no time remaining, no HDNI

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

That time of year had descended on me again where whether I need one or not it was time to purchase a new DVD recorder. After the success of last year's Samsung DVD recorder I again chose to stick with the brand again.

During last year having fought it off for a few years silver finally made way for black, as black had for silver five years prior; I am of course talking about casings. The Samsung DVD-SH 853 comes completely in black with a nice neon blue power button. I reach my first stumbling point, the new casing is a beautiful shiny black and as a result it attracts two things, dust and fingerprints. Being a home that comes complete with two dogs that rule triumphant, I find myself cloth in hand wiping over the DVD recorder twice daily, I pray to God this stops soon, or that the dogs are just going through a particularly molten stage.

Forgetting the obvious flaws let's get under the hood so to speak.

The DVD Recorder works in the - (minus format) I always specifically choose - format DVD recorders, the images cut better into a disc; whereas the + format DVD recorders very often have this habit that a tear down the line the images burned on them become diluted or the disc simply stops playing suddenly. Another added bonus is that - discs are often a lot cheaper than the + format discs. It's important that when buying a DVD recorder you take these issues into account, while some DVD recorders record in both + and - formats, most do one or the other and as a result the discs you buy need to be appropriately labelled so.

With this year's Samsung model, rather like the one I purchased last year the recorder will burn images regardless of the disc speed. Until recently DVD recorders would only record on discs that clearly indicated X1, those discs that said X16 or X32 would only really work in PC's. The Samsung models rather capably do both.

There are recording advancements this year too, now you can record on rewritable discs, or on RAM discs. On a Rewritable disc or RW you can record and erase a number of times, but in honesty beyond 5 times and your pushing your luck. While the RAM option (you use special RAM discs) allow you to use the same disc up to about 1000 times. The bonus of using RAM is that you can not only reuse it time and time again, but it offers a timeslip ability that means mid way through a show, while still recording you can go to the start of the programme and watch mid way through a bit like using Sky+ or any other digital video recorder or PVR as they are otherwise known. This is beneficial when you come in mid way through a favourite show, or if you record something on a channel that has commercials to start watching part way through fast forwarding through the adverts. In honesty having Virgin's V+ we don't use this facility but it's handy to have.

When recording to a disc you can record either an hour, two hours, four hours, or six hours of entertainment, the difference is quality for the highest quality record in one or two hour option, a bit like DVD quality that you might buy in the shops. Record in six hour mode and the quality is rather similar to a good VHS picture quality.

When you have recorded a programme you need to finalise it in order for it to be played on other DVD players. This stage allows you to enter titles to make menus on the DVD.

The recorder has a build in freeview ability; this enables you to view the 30 or so TV channels, and similar amount of radio stations too. You can watch these stations like having a digital receiver, you can also record one channel while watching another. Recording is simple and done in one of three ways, you can either push the record button, select the programme you want by selecting it from the EPG (electronic programme guide), or by entering the video plus code.

Recording is of course a big plus, but watching DVD's is equally important. You have the ability to play standard DVD's, or play DIVX, AVI, or MPEG files you have downloaded from the internet, or that you have recorded on a camera, or mobile phone (once put on a disc of course). Whichever form of visual media you choose to play, you can guarantee crystal clear picture quality, or at least the best quality the record image can achieve. Fast forwarding and rewinding is good with 2x, 6x, 8X, 16X, 32X and 128x the speed of standard play, although of course you have the chapter stops if you prefer. On the subject of chapter stops when recording the chapter spots are placed at the moment a scene movies rather than cut at exact 10 minute intervals like previous models, giving your homemade DVD's that pre-recorded feel.

What does fascinate me about this DVD recorder is that there are two what I consider to be essential things missing. Firstly there is no upscaling, many DVD's feature upscaling a process that allows for advanced picture quality when used with an HD or HD ready television. But then the second point solidifies this reason a bit there is no HDMI port (or interface if you prefer) meaning in a world of HD technology you need to connect the recorder to a TV via a scart lead and not an HDMI lead.

One final bugbear is that there is no option to view the time remaining on a disc, something I personally consider essential. In order to find out how long is left on a disc either through playing or recording you need to work it out by the time that has passed, how very 80's I hear you cry.

The remote control is a big chunky thing that sadly is identical for the most part with the TV remote (we have a Samsung TV too) except for one row of buttons and some different options, though in the same place as a TV remote. This is most annoying when you need to get a control in a hurry.

Despite a few minor flaws the DVD recorder is a great piece of kit, it works well is more reliable than other DVD recorders I have had in the past. The images recorded are better than on previous DVD recorders I have had, which is a really big thing. But the biggest bonus is that this is a feature packed bit of kit that you can pick up pretty much anywhere for between £140-£160.