Advantages: Easy to use, perfect picture quality and ability to be multi region
Disadvantages: Not as wide a variety of DVD's available as videos.

...I'm very lucky as Santa bought me the Samsung 709 DVD player last Christmas, well, no truthfully, it was my husband who SAID it was from Santa. Anyway, after grumbling about the extra expense and unnecessary purchase I soon changed my mind ... namely when we actually played a DVD!!!! We first watched 'The Matrix' on DVD, a great one to play with the magnificent sound and special effects and it really was fantastic. The best features of the product I would say are: - The simple easy to use remote control and buttons on the machine meant I didn't need an expert with me to watch my favourite DVDs. - The fact that, with a little remote control manipulation, this player is Multi Region, which opens a whole American market of DVDs!!!! On the negative side I'd say: - Actual DVD's, in my opinion, are still taking off and therefore you don... Read review

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Advantages: Sleek speaker set up, great sound and playback features
Disadvantages: DVD player looks like a 1980s video recorder!

...We have just purchased this system with a 32" Samsung TV. Although at first it was confusing (we have only had Sony products before) we set it up quickly and it is a good looking system. The surround speakers are sleek and well made, easy to hide and have the advantage of (the rear two) going wireless with the purchase of an extra wireless card. The woofer box is large in size but compact enough to remain inconspicuous to the viewer. The sound actually rivals our Sony system and we have had it up to max (awesome!) Playback features include Media file (via USB), MP3, DivX. Warning though it does not support the playback of CD-ROM, DVD-ROMs or any other region DVDs. A great system considering the budget price.... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent value for money
Disadvantages: No extra features, such Video CD capability

...Although Matsui's DVD player may well be at the bottom of the price range, it most certainly isn't at the same level for quality. I have had mine since it first came on to the market and haven't had any problems whatsoever. It can be chipped to play multi region DVDs by a series of commands from the remote control, and can handle playing these without any hastle. I have watched DVDs on other models such as a Samsung, and I am yet to find any better quality of picture or sound. OK, the more expensive models have extra features, but for a low cost and for someone who is just after a straight foward DVD player, no frills, then the Matsui is my first choice. Cheap and Cheerful.... Read review

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Advantages: Great quality
Disadvantages: Not very advanced interface

...This DVD player is the one that i have in my lounge and is a great one in my eyes and i think i will have it for years to come. It goes very well with my sony LCD HDready television and was very easy to set up and also very quick. It plays pretty much anything and has great quality and is very easy to use, i.e. the remote is very simple layout but with most features available. Plus this dvd player is also a great buy because it is under £100 and plays HD dvds and normal dvds which means it is much better pirced than most others.. If you dont already own a hd dvd player i would say that it is well worth getting on as they have awesome quality and are well worth the money in the long run!... Read review

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Advantages: Not many
Disadvantages: Bad quality

...DVDs are better than videos. Being well up on the latest DVD technology and also having inside knowlege on how good they realy are, I am trying to work out why people perfer them. No blame to Samsung for their devices but surely even they have noticed the poor quality and block effect - for all those who own one and disagree, just pause it on an explosion - so why have they done nothing about it? A standard picture of a VHS video will give you a good enough quality picture - yet again for all those who own a dvd and disagree, im sure you have a vhs in your house so give it up - so why has everyone started to believe there are flaws in them. It seems to me that people are simply riding on a buzz of a system which i have no doubt is doomed to fail. The only reason i can see for this to be a big success is that so many people have allready... Read review

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Advantages: price, picture and sound quality, plays all regions
Disadvantages: none really

...I'm a big gadget fan, and enjoy movies and surround sound, so a DVD player was an obvious purchase to make. At £299 the Samsung DVD-709 was the cheapest DVD player on the market at the time I bought it, though since then cheaper models are available. However, in terms of quality the DVD-709 is unbeatable for the price. You get a high-quality DVD player in sleek silver, digital audio out for connection to a Dolby 5.1 decoder for surround sound, zoom feature and DTS compatibility. The picture quality is first class, and when connected up to a Dolby 5.1 processor, the digital surround sound is superb. The model had difficulties playing certain discs, such as the MAtrix, but there is an upgrade available from the shop you purchsed from which corrects this ... and there is a region hack so you can play DVDs from anywhere in the world as well... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap annd Reliable
Disadvantages: Spindle casing the DVDs are packaged in not suitable for storing DVDs once opened

...This 'write once' pack of DVD +R is great value. At the moment Tesco are retailing these at £14.97 which works out to be about 30p each The pack comes in as a spindle pack with no covers. They are write once only at max speed of x8 and have a storage capacity of 4.7GB each. The +R format can be used in the following DVD machines: Technika Bush Alba Daewoo Goodmans Matsui Philips The following machines are also compatible with +R as well as -R Sony LG Liteon Sharp The hardware that only caters for -R and therefore cannot use the +R format are: Hitachi JVC Panasonic Pioneer Samsung Toshiba The spindle pack the DVDs come in is very flimsy cheap plastic so once opened the original casing is not very good to store the blank DVDs. However, this is a minor quibble considering the price they retail at. The DVDs are not suitable for inkjet... Read review

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Advantages: Region Free!
Disadvantages: None that I know

...I bought the Samsung 709 just before Xmas 99, and have found it to be a very good player with lots of features for a small price. As with most DVD players the picture quality is very high if you have a decent TV (I have a Sony 28” Wide screen) and the sound is great too. There is also a Digital Output if you have the necessary Amp. I had the infamous Matrix problem when I first got my player but that was solved by a quick trip back to Curry’s where the firmware was updated and I’ve had no more problems with any DVD’s since. My main reason for buying the Samsung was because it can be made region free by the use of a “One 4 All” remote to perform a hack on the box. This is very simple and is documented on www.709online.co.uk. I order a lot of region 1 DVD’s from the USA now, which works out a lot cheaper and you get them way before... Read review

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Advantages: Made by good brand-Samsung, Can be made multiregion
Disadvantages: cant play mp3 discs, has a hard tim trying to play VCDs and SVCDs

...I spent many hours searching for a suitable dvd for my needs a couple of years ago and I found the perfect solution, the Samsung DVD-511. The main features I wanted from a DVD player at the time was it to be cheap and multi-region. Finding a cheap player wasn't too hard but finding a cheap multi-regional player was another matter! I read various articles regarding a thing known as region hacks which make a player able to read different regionally coded dvds. I found that the Samsung 511 had a successfull region hack which can be applied simply by pressing a series of buttons on the remote and bingo! it can play all regions of DVDs. Having known a friend who also owned the Samsung 511 I decided to get myself one at christmas. A year later than he had purchased his, he paid around £170 and just one year later I got the exact same... Read review

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Advantages: Cost, picture and sound quality, hackability(!)
Disadvantages: Large size, no optical-out socket, has a Samsung badge on it(!)

...What a great player! For an entry level player you could do a lot worse than the Samsung 709 DVD player. I managed to get mine from Comet with no manuals, remote control or packaging for £130 and then got a remote control and the manual from the internet. The picture quality is exceptional, the settings allow you to set up the picture size (4:3 or 16:9 if you have a widescreen television) and the sound is great too. Connections allow you to connect via either S-Video or SCART. The player I bought had already had the hack applied to it to disable macrovision and region coding so it will play DVDs from the UK and USA and allow you to tape them to (but to do this would obviously infringe copyright which I wouldn't encourage anyone to do!). The unit is a smart looking, wide player with a drawer that ejects at the front. If you have... Read review

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