PRICE WAS GREAT, BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK

SKIPPING..........SKKKKIPPP........SKIII.....SKIPPPP...ETC

I RECEIVED MINE AS A BIRTHDAY GIFT FROM MY WIFE FROM AUDIO KING. I PUT IN THE FIRST DVD "DAYS OF THUNDER" AND IT SKIPPED BADLY IN SPOTS AND AT TIMES FROZE ALL TOGETHER. TOOK THE DVD BACK AND IT PLAYED BETTER. I HAVE NOT TRIED MATRIX YET BUT I AM SURE IT WILL SKIP.
THE REMOTE IS GREAT AND IS VERY USER FRIENDLY.
IF I WERE TO BUY AGAIN I MIGHT PASS OVER THE SAMSUNG AND FIND SOMETHING ELSE IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE

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One of the cheapest players available in Australia which will play NTSC discs on a PAL TV.

The universal remote does not work with many popular TVs in Australia. Check before you buy!

I ordered a Pioneer 525 in January from Campsie HiFi. After 2 months of waiting for stock to come in I gave up and cancelled the order over the phone. The saleman suggested the Samsung 709 would be a good alternative so I agreed to pick it up the next day (after they removed the region lock). That night I did a search on the web and found these reviews. Forewarned, I phoned the shop and made sure they had a copy of Matrix to test the loading and layer change problems before I parted with the cash. The disc loaded ok, but skipped and froze numberous times during a ten minute test. The saleman was shocked. He got the tech guy to come out and check the rom version and region lock crack - it was all ok. Then he got a second copy of Matrix and it played perfectly. I asked if I could have the faulty disc - which I took home (with the 709) and gave a good clean. It now works perfectly too! No jumps skips or freezes - and I could not detect the layer change. I guess the moral of the story is make sure your disc is clean before you blame the machine :)

Easy setup, clear/crisp picture, kick @$$ remote.

Gets hot after 1 hr - 2 hr of play.....will cause skipping

I love it. Just make sure the DVD player is not enclosed and you will experience awesome entertainment.

Very good video quality and good sound and bass off the movies on my suround sound system.

Can skip on rental DVDs and ones that may have small scratches.

This is a very good DVD player and we got it at Best Buy for $199.00 and it worked very well on all of the DVDs that we bought, and it came with 5 free DVDs through the mail. It will skip on certain rental DVDs like Dudley Do Right but only on the full screen side, and it will not play The Matrix or Wild Wild West even after cleaning them. We have not taken it anywhere to get it looked at or fixed to see if that would solve the problems, but we might pretty soon because I love watching The Matrix.

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Tremendous value for the money. This model has more features than my JVC higher end model. Pausing the view and the zoom features are easy to use. I would recommend this model to anyone.

I do agree that out-of-the-box, the player should have been able to play the dual-layered movies from Warner Bros. But the slight inconvenience of taking the player to an authorized service center for a 5 minute repair was worth it. Even though I did not have the E Prom upgrade in the DVD player, I was still able to play The Matrix and Wild Wild West. My unit was manufactured in Oct. 1999, prior to the upgrade.

I am more than happy with the Samsung 709 DVD Player. I purchased the unit over the Internet and it plays fine.
The ability to hear audio during fast forward mode is also a nice feature. I also have not had any skipping problems as other reviewers have had.

Again, for the price, it is a tough value to beat.

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Price, Feature

None

I purchased the unit around Christmas as a gift, and I was very concerned after reading the comments posted on this board. Not able to play many discs, skipping etc. However I had none of the above problms. But I decided to do some research, as it turned out, my unit was manufactured "99.05" and it already had the new E-PROM installed. I took my unit to the Samsung factory service center and they opened up and verified it. I am not sure when they switched over, but if your unit is manufactured after "99.05" it should be O.K. The year and date are on the back of the unit. My understanding is "Warner Brother" came out with the dual layers discs after 709 was already on the market. There are old inventory floating around, which are cusing the problems. I also noticed that the Samsung 909 was rated much higher on this board, and while I was at the factory service center talking to the service guy, he confirmed that the 709 and 909 shared the same laser and E-PROM. The differences are features. So, If you are looking for a reasonable unit, 709 may not be a bad choice. Do some research and make your own decision. Since I only had mine for several months, I could not comment on the long term reliability.

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Low Price, easy setup. Strong Dolby sound.

Had to have firmware upgrade. The remote is a little jumpy.

I reviewed the 709 when I first bought it, and my impressions are still basically the same.

I did have the problem with the Matrix DVD, but I called Samsung, they told me where to take it in my area for the upgrade, which was completed in two weeks.

It plays the Matrix flawlessly and I have run into no problems with any other disc I've tried to play. All in all I'm very happy with my purchase.

Low price, zoom feature

Skipped on several DVD selections (didn't even try Matrix)

Skipped on every DVD (about 8 titles). Returned this within 1 week and got a refund.

This is a follow-up review from 8 months ago. Good picture, sound, etc

picture skips freezes on Paramount discs. Anyone know why??

Overall I'm still happy with my player but I am wondering why it does not play dvd's from Paramount very well. During "Titanic", and "Hunt For Red October" and nameless other Paramount discs, the picture will lock up for a second ot two while the audio continues to play perfectly. It does this at least 6 or 7 times during a movie and its fairly annoying. I also get one second of pixellizaton during the movie as well. I dont rent DVD's, I always brand new discs and i dont encounter this problem with any other studio's discs except Paramount. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, I would appreciate any info. My warranty expires in 2 months and if this can be fixed by sending it to Samsung for firmware service I would like to do so. Please email me at:

bonehead48655@yahoo.com

Thanks everyone!

Price only cost $130. Everything is perfect

Nothing

I got this DVD player from an online auction. Even though I heard about all the problems Samsumg had concerning this model not playing DVD's and needing a Firmware update, I bought it anyway. Well the first DVD i rented was The Matrix - and worked perfectly! I also watched Sixth Sense. This unit is a Refurb from the factory which leads me to believe that it may have had the firmware update ( I don't know) all that I do know is that so far it has worked perfectly. I love the remote with the little joystick!

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