Otherwise, you can use the eight-step manual process, which depends upon your knowing which TV channels carry a time signal. Under ideal circumstances, the clock might properly set itself. I had to program the clock, of course, but this model thankfully doesn't endlessly flash "12:00." Samsung provides an Auto Clock feature to simplify setup.
So, writing about VHS now feels oddly unfamiliar. The last time I watched a videotape by choice was about two years ago, and that was something absolutely necessary for work that wasn't available in any other format. (Interlaced/progressive component video and S-video outputs are provided, as well.) The bottom line is, you're going to need two different video-output cables to use both sources. And, while the deck offers DVD upconversion over HDMI, you can only connect the VHS output via composite or RF coaxial outputs, neither of which is an enticing choice for DVD output. It won't work even if you feed the DVD output to the VCR input, because the disc and the tape sections will not operate at the same time.
There's also no way to record from DVD-copy protected or not-to VHS, as the deck is not wired internally for this purpose. First, this model's recording is limited to VHS, meaning it doesn't record to DVD, unlike some other decks I've reviewed, as well as some other Samsung decks. Right here in the second paragraph, let me make a few points plain. Their top-end model is the DVD-V9650, the first upconverting DVD/VHS combi player from the company that introduced the original DVD/VHS combo going on six years ago. Still, for reasons that escape me, VHS just won't lie down, even though the consumer electronics coroner has pronounced it dead.Ĭatering to tape-faithful diehards, Samsung has an entire wave of assorted DVD-player/VHS-recorder combo units. I'm sure that recordable DVD still remains a runner-up to the ubiquitous videocassette-even though blank DVDs cost less than blank tapes and recording decks are at all-time-low prices. I flashed nostalgically on DVD's initial toehold in rental outlets like Blockbuster and stores such as Suncoast, as well as its relentless growth to the point where VHS was relegated to a single shelf before disappearing altogether.
I recently read somewhere that DVD's install base had eclipsed that of VHS, the former king of meat-and-potatoes home entertainment. Teasing the high end while still embracing the previous generation.