Samsung SV-5000W Worldwide VHS Format VCR
Your Most Accurate Assessment ... ? And a late 2008 Update!
I say this assessment is the \\"most accurate\\" only because -- having read all previous reviews here, good, bad and middling -- I can categorically state that nobody's wrong and everybody's right. Here's the deal:    The Samsung SV-5000W is a complicated but comprehensive unit. It does all the tricks it's supposed to. Once you figure out how to set it up (not altogether easy, ESPECIALLY if it's in a daisy chain of devices; being a \\"worldwide\\" model it has different protocols) it's a pretty impressive and useful \\"toy.\\" But here's the problem:    Quality control on this product line clearly doesn't much exist. Based on prior reviews, and my own experience, you have as good a chance of getting a functioning unit as a lemon. My tale?    Without checking prior reviews I somewhat impulsively bought the SV-5000W from an eBay \\"Buy it Now\\" vendor located in NYC. It was weird out of the box. I did experience the chronic \\"snow\\" in the video (described by others) but there was even more disturbing stuff -- the onscreen counter display showed numbers that had nothing to do with the actual location the tape was at; somehow the unit even demagnetized and corrupted a couple of cassettes. I was about two weeks into the purchase and that last was the definitive clue: It wasn't that I hadn't mastered its unusual operations, it wasn't that I didn't understand fully how it should work, whatever its complexities: the unit just sucked.    THEN I did my research and saw the furious mix of reviews. I called the vendor. His eBay listing had specified a NO RETURNS policy. But I brought the bad reviews to his attention, in addition to my own problems with the unit. I asked if he had another worldwide make/model ... I was happy to trade up. He did not: the Samsung was all he carried -- but he couldn't have been more reasonable. He said, \\"Let's exchange the one you have for another. If that one also doesn't work, you'll get a full refund.\\" Well, okay.    I'm into the third year of ownership now and so far the replacement has held up. It goes long stretches without being used (I have other VCRs for normal use, so I try not to tempt the gods by taking it for granted) but when I do use it, it gets a fair workout. And it does a very decent job.    2005 Update: Shortly after posting the text above, I too experienced the snow problem. The way to correct it is to effect a partial reset: Eject your tape, go to the front panel and hold down the PAUSE and STOP buttons at the same time for ten seconds. Turn off the machine for ten seconds. Turn it back on. (Note: A previous reviewer mistakenly identified the reset pair buttons as PLAY and STOP. When this didn't work for me, I re-examined the panel and realized that PLAY/STOP were rather far apart, whereas PAUSE/STOP were contiguous \\"Twin\\" buttons: the most likely, design wise, for a \\"hold down together\\" protocol. And indeed this proved correct.) Head cleaning cassettes should not be used to clear the snow problem; however, used SPARINGLY they can sharpen the picture when the resolution becomes grainy. I discovered this by accident. I tried head cleaning for the snow before I learned the reset steps. It of course did nothing to clear the snow ... but on my test cassette (a PAL version of the miniseries SHOGUN) the colors and definition became immediately more vibrant.)    To address a question posed by an earlier reviewer: this is not the model to buy if you need to view or convert tapes from the SECAM-L format (used in France). The SV-5000W has only one converter onboard, which handles the more common NTSC/PAL/SECAM play and convert variations. But SECAM-L is different from straight SECAM, and requires an entirely separate converter.  The more expensive SV-7000W model has the second converter built in.    One more caution: The onboard clock runs fast and tends to pick up a minute or so each month. So you have to periodically reset it if you plan on using it for off-broadcast recording.    2008 UPDATE: The \\"snow\\" problem finally hit permanently about a year or so ago. My collection of PAL cassettes is so small, with most having been replaced by DVD or media-file equivalents, that I haven't raced to get the thing fixed (for my limited purposes, I can't see where it would be cost effective anymore). Not chucking it, may indeed fix it some day, but I would say nonetheless and on balance I got less use out of this machine than expected for the price -- even refurbished, less than what's listed here. Given its frequency of use (as opposed to calebdar age), it lived about as long as cheaper \\"off-brand\\" electronics (the kind you buy on impulse just knowing they'll only fill a temporary gap) do. And with that said, two more notes.    Note #1: In 2001 I bought a dirt-cheap Broksonic Hi-fi stereo VCR. One of those aforementioned \\"off-brands.\\" And yet ... the darn thing is a warhorse. Three speeds, excellent picture, great sound, and despite clunky load-sounds and a poorly designed remote, it's maybe the best VCR I've ever owned. I bought another, even cheaper, off eBay for my lady friend's house and that one has proven just as sturdy. I mention this because Broksonic ALSO makes a universal VCR (albeit supposedly only for the South American market). I don't know if it's Hi-Fi stereo or not, but if you can find a way to purchase the unit from them, I daresay it'll outlast and outperform the Samsung. Look up Broksonic on the web.    Note #2: I've owned three Samsung products in my lifetime:  -- The Worldwide VCR under discussion;   -- a 2006 DVD Recorder (with a tuner I never used);   -- and a pre-millennium GX three-point surround TV set, 12 inch screen (designed, I am told, for gamers, batwing doors over the screen; flip them open and they're the left and right speakers; looks very cool).     The TV has some inherent imperfections I didn't notice right away and won't catalog here, but I made allowances as it has been (and for a while will remain) a decent bedroom set of its type -- and it'sstill fully functional; though that's likely because all it needs to do is power on. I don't use the tuner and there are no moving parts within.     The DVD Recorder was finicky about blank disk brands (and types) out of the box, and though the manual warned that it would only support certain brands, it became even more finicky with time, eventually refusing to record on any disk of ANY brand (the deterioration was fast enough that I came in six weeks under the wire on the Tiger Direct protection plan, which gave me a full refund, so I was lucky).     Thus assessing all three products side-by-side, given their different functions and dates of manufacture (spanning about a decade), I'd have to say, in the end, Samsung products just don't deliver the goods. The designs are inelegant, the electronics range from imperfect to unreliable, and they don't stand the test of heavy use over the long haul.