Good value and multi region right out of the box

I have some old VHS tapes that I still watch from time to time - my old VCR packed up so I either needed a new machine or otherwise buy the old tape titles on DVD. I didn't fancy spending on new DVDs so I checked out who still does VCRs and spotted this Samsung.

Setting it up was very easy as I had previously had a VCR attached to my TV with a Scart cable. I just plugged the RF cable in as per the manual, hooked up the Scart, powered it up and it went into Auto set up. Two minutes later it was done. It had tuned to the TV stations and set the date and time. I didn't need to go into the menu at all. This is the simplest set up I've ever experienced when hooking up new kit, so top marks to Samsung.

I also found that I could play a US format tape immediately. I didn't need the multi-region hack that other users had tried.

The only minor irritation is the noise. It's perhaps a little noisier than other VCRs I've had, but this isn't noticeable most of the time.

In short this unit is great value, easy to set up and I'm very pleased with it.

very very NOISY

This is only an average product. I previously owned the Panasonic DMR E-55 model which was RAM and -R compatible only so i was expecting this to be a big improvement. It isn't.

It's biggest drawback is the amount of noise it makes while playin discs. I thought it was a fault and sent it back and amazon very quickly sent another but it was the same so i presume it's just the way this model works. Even when you press stop it continues to whirr for about 5 mins.

Also when you put in a -RW dvd you must finalise it before it will play on another dvd player which really makes the function useless. I intended to record programs on RW in one room while kids watched their dvds in sitting room, then watch what i had taped later on in the sitting room but it would cost me a dvd RW every time.

Finally it sure is ugly.

Very Bad

I got this product for Christmas from my parents so i feel bad giving it 1 star.

This product is slow, not user friendly and records disc inconsistantly.

I record something and it works on my other dvd player then i repeat this with the same settings and it doesnt work on my other dvd player.

To add to my frustrations today it stopped working completly only 4 months after i was given it.

Multi-region hack

I previously owed a Philips recorder which I found very complicated, this one is so easy to use. I would definitely recommend it.
I found the multi-region hack attached to this item was incomplete.
The full instructions are:

1) Setup button
2) Initial set up screen / enter button
3) scroll along top to System info
4) Enter numbers 1101 on remote
5) enter region 0 for region free
6) Press enter then setup button

Amazing value!

With the prospect of a 9-hour flight to Florida on my own with two little ones under age 3, I thought that it would be a good idea to invest in a personal DVD-player for my 2 year old to watch her favourite movies. I searched the whole of Amazon reading the reviews and decided to go for this one as it came so highly recommended by many reviewers. When I got it today, I was not disappointed. The DVD player has a sleek white case akin to the Apple ibook. It is very compact and the weight is good for the size.

When I switched it on, it played the DVD immediately and the sound quality was good. I used a music video to test the sound. The picture is not crystal clear and you can see the lines across the screen but for the price, it is good quality. I then used the instructions from a kind Amazon reviewer to change the player to Multi-region. It took only a minute to do and it played the NTSC DVD no problem. The unit has a very slimline remote control too. The whole player is very user friendly.

My 2 year old is in love with it and Teletubbies looks good on the screen. The only disadvantages I have noticed so far are: 1. the unit is rather noisy when the disc is spinning but should be fine for the viewer wearing headphones; 2. the battery is not built-in so looks like a small docking station; 3. it is a little heavy.

The best thing I have ever bought

I came across Ellion when I was looking for an HD/DVD recorder. The leading makes were too expensive and the Ellion was the right price, had the required functions - a big hard drive capacity, numerous recording facilities, timeslip etc - and looked great. I've had one for around 18 months and I wouldn't be without it. At first, I started using the timeslip function regularly, until a friend who bought one on my recommendation told me that you can watch a 'live' recording from the start. This meant that you were watching something while it was recording and it was permanently stored on the hard drive, unlike timeslip, which merely stores the programme in a temporary cache. I once accidentally hit the stop button on the remote while watching a timeslip recording and lost it forever. Remember, timeslip enables you to use pause or rewind/fast forward, but not stop; that literally erases the recording. By recording conventionally, the programme is always on the hard drive. It just takes a while to figure it out. Otherwise, the Ellion is a seriously brilliant piece of kit. Great looks, great functions, great price. For a manufacturer that isn't one of the 'big boys' they deserve a lot of credit.

How do you do timned recording of Freeview programmes

Help! I bought this machine in anticipation of being able to queue up stacks of programmes to record from E4, More 4, and the other decent freeview channels. But, when I connect my Freeview box to the DVD, it only sees one channel!

Have I bought the wrong box? Am I too stupid to understand the manual (possible, but I like to think unlikely)? Is there anyone out there who has solved this problem?

Ellion - no product support

I bought a similar DVD recorder made by Ellion and after about 18 months the power supply failed, I have seen other comments on the web with similar faults. Also another niggle was the clock would not keep correct time and had to be reset constantly. I have emailed Ellion for some advice but I am still waiting...... My advice - think very very carefully before you buy one of their products, I will not be buying again!!

Broke down after 9 months - AVOID

I would urge anyone considering buying this machine to seriously consider other options. Whilst there are many good reviews of the product, I am sure that most of them were done in the first month or two of purchase. I also didn't have any problems for the first few months, other than it being noisy, which I could live with. After about 6 or 7 months, things slowly started going wrong, one thing at a time. It was rejecting more and more discs. It was not recognising discs that had previously been recorded on. Eventually after about 9 months it just stopped working as a recorder altogether. It still worked as a player. Yes, it was cheap. But if you consider that I have had to spend money on a replacement, it didn't work out cheap at all. I have replaced it with a well known and trusted brand which is far superier in every way.

absolute pants

We bought this 2 years ago and at first it seemed fine, then it started corrupting discs that were recorded on other DVD recorders. Recently it stopped reading even the discs it had previously recorded so we just used it as a player of prerecorded DVDs. But it finally packed up yesterday with a precious DVD in it which it refused to eject.
My husband had to dismantle it to retrieve the disc and we were shocked at what we saw inside. One of the circuit boards had snapped off and was just loose in the box and some of the resistors were all bent and twisted on the other boards. My husband works in IT and had never seen anything like it. If we had seen the inside two years ago it would have gone straight back. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

Simple user-interfaced & Excellent compatibility with discs

The set-up is so easy and once you go thru user manual, you would get the hang of it. The set-up button on the remote is a main key to set up all major features.

Reading capability of blank discs is quite reliable thru automatic format of them and it takes a few minutes but seems that it make discs compatible with the machine so I would know that the discs could be used for recording not having to waste my time until the end of the recording progress where I would sometimes find discs"faulty" or"not readable".

Timer recording has never failed and copying from HDD to DVD discs has been almost perfect maybe because the discs are made compatible thru formatting with the machine. This is one of the strong points on this machine compared to another brand HDD/DVD recorder which I returned to Amazon due to discs reading problem.

I have also succeeded to copy a few Divx discs and files to HDD and then produced some copies of DVDs for my colleagues at work.

What would I expect more !

i really don't like my dvd recorder

the clock resets to the year 2005 everytime you turn it off. its very tempremental when it comes to recording dvd's (sometimes it will sometimes it won't) and its incredibly slow at doing anything, such as turning it on or loading a disc!!!

Buy one now, ignore bad reviews!

I have had this little DVD player/recorder for 4 months now and it works better and does more than models 4 times its price. It is small compact and does what it says on the box. I give it 5 stars for size, functions and quality of build and recording/playback. Why pay up to £400 for a 'brand name' machine or something with a hard drive when this little machine plays and records every disc going AND is multi-region! Ignore the niggly comments and bad reviews this is ace. get one now!