Nice, clear and clean picture, nice remote and has yet to skip.

Reputation. It seems as though alot of people have had problems with skipping. Since it was free from Hifi.com with a purchase, I bit not knowing what to expect.

Based on what I had read in these reviews, I was really expecting a player that didn't work (out of the box) but was willing to take it and get it upgraded and hope for the best. What the hell, it was free with a purchase from HIFI.com.
Figuring it would make a nice bedroom player once I got the upgrade, I set it up to see what everyone was complaining about. Though I have yet to test it on what seems to be the ultimate challenge movie, The Matrix, everything else works great. One thing however, keep the DVDs clean. I popped "Ronin" in my JVC and it didn't work and then took it to the Samsung to see if it would do better. Nope. Looked at the DVD and a finger print of relatively small size was on it. Taking the advice of a previous reviewer, I cleaned it and popped it in each of the DVD players and damn if it didn't work beautifully in both.
So... no upgrade and the 709 plays everything I've tried. Gotta say, I'm as impressed as could be. Maybe I got one of the good ones and lucked out but I have to give the highest rating even though it's entry level. If it goes bad, I'll update. Actually, I'm wondering if I need the upgrade.

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JVC 555.

Good pic, RGB + Svid from scart. Nice looking. DTS. Easy menu setup.

Can skip. Silver shows up dirt!

GREAT. Has a good pic and has DD + DTS output. menu system easy to use and a good looking machine. if you can get it in Richter Sounds for 150 pound then get it. it can skip but for 180 pound i expected it. I had a Matsui 110 before, also a good pic but wouldnt play CD's as good. You can go far worse than get one of these machines. I havn't hacked it but can do if i need.

if you get the chance to get one the do, and if you want one that is perfect then be my guest, spend 100 pound more!

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Matsui 110

Good pic, RGB + Svid from scart. Nice looking. DTS. Easy menu setup.

Can skip. Silver shows up dirt!

GREAT. Has a good pic and has DD + DTS output. menu system easy to use and a good looking machine. if you can get it in Richter Sounds for 150 pound then get it. it can skip but for 180 pound i expected it. I had a Matsui 110 before, also a good pic but wouldnt play CD's as good. You can go far worse than get one of these machines. I havn't hacked it but can do if i need.

if you get the chance to get one the do, and if you want one that is perfect then be my guest, spend 100 pound more!

Similar Products Used:

Matsui 110

multi-region hacks and macrovision removal!!! Its sooooo easy to do! Great picture and sound

none at all, considering my recent "upgrade"!

First, I would like to thank the gentleman from Ireland who gave the link for hacking this player. I was almost about ready to get rid of this unit until I came across this site. Let me tell you folks, if you can ge this player it will be the best 200 bucks you ever spent. By entering about 7 buttons on our 709's suppiled remote you can permanantly remove the copy protection and make it an all-region player, while also keeping the warranty intact! No mod chips needed and no need to open your unit. And it is PERMANENT! At least until you reset the unit settings, which takes literally about 5 seconds. As long as you dont open the unit up the warranty remains in effect. I dont know where else you can get a deal like this!!! At first all i could find were hacks for the UK model, but I assure you all that the US version can be hacked as well. Check out that 709online site and rest assured...IT WORKS!!!! I wont post the details here, they're all on the site for easy referece. You simply wont find a better deal than this unit anywhere. Add this to the fact that it already is a great player and you've got the most versatile dvd player on the planet! And best of all, this is not illegal to do!!

Easy region-free hack, RCE proof (!), Plays NTSC on PAL-only TV (!), Cheap, Looks nice

Skipping on some discs

When I bought my player about a year ago, I wasn't sure what to buy. I got the 709, because it was the cheapest I could find at the time. (I figured I could always get a better DVD player later on).

I L O V E the region free features. It took me one minute to find the hack on the Internet, and another to actually apply the hack.
Now recently I was very happy to find out that RCE doesn't affect the 709.
I also really like the way the 709 can convert NTSC to true PAL, because I own one of the few TV's that can't handle NTSC.

On the downside is the skipping on some discs. I first experienced this with Austin Powers (R2), one of my first DVDs. In the last scene the players skips a few times, but other than that the movie is watchable.
Not so with Galaxy Quest (R1). The 2nd part of the movie (probably after the layer change) is totally unwatchable b/c of the skipping. I also have major problems with American Beauty (R1).

I own some 120 DVDs and these are the only 3 that give me problems. (Other known difficult discs as Terminator 2 UE (R1) and Disney's Tarzan (R2) play fine).

I think I'll always keep on cherishing my 709 for its special features and I'm still very pleased with its value for money, but my next player won't be a Samsung again. It doesn't just give a real 'quality' feeling.

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PC-DVD: Pioneer 105S with Power DVD

Played audio CD's fine-Advertised features were appealing

Didn't load right out of box (purchased 12/27/99)

Bought this before I found this website.First rental was "The Matrix"...and guess what,it didn't load. Got Samsung Yadda Yadda about firmware fix,take it in,etc...I don't feel as though I should take a unit fresh out of the box in for repairs or updates. I feel as though they should have done a recall on existing units to correct the problem. It's like buying a car that looks great and has nice features...oh,you wanted to drive it? Bring it in,we will put in a free engine. Returned it...if you are looking for performance for dollar spent,look no further than the Toshiba SD2109. About 50.00 more,but well worth it.
Caveat Emptor on the 709!
Great value for a great looking doorstop,with a nice remote...or if you don't mind the firmware fix...but what's a few more bucks to have one ready to roll...

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Toshiba

plays vcd nicely, plays some dvds

freaks out on some dvds, freezes and pixelates

I own a lot of vcds and needed a dvd player and that is why I bought this unit. It played the vcds nicely. With some of the dvds especially The Matrix, Excalibur - it would just spin and spin and spits the disc back out. With Excalibur, 2 hrs into the movie, I get pixelation - little boxes forming and the sound drops off and stutters. This was the disappointing point that I couldn't trust my unit when renting movies - I will always wonder if it will play on the player. Other than that, the player had some nice features like - if I power off the machine, it will remember where I left off. The remote was kinda interesting with the joystick, took a little getting used to.

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philips 711, Aiwa

Easy to use and set up...Was Free

Occaisional Skip, but notin to get excited about and did not play one CD-R that I had.

This is my first DVD player, so my experience is limited. But, I gotta say that for a DVD player listed at about $200 (or in my case free - Gotta love Cambridge Soundworks)I think its a great unit. Pretty easy to use and set up. Togle on the remote is easy enough to get used to. For first timers and those looking for quality DVD on the cheap, go for it.

Region Free

Skip DVD

I think this is a great DVD Player, because it has region free(hack),it can play VCD that are 650mb, it cann't play vcd of 700mb. About the thing that you all are trying to figure out why this dvd player skip dvd is easy. The laser in the player can only read silver dvd/cd, it cann't read golden dvd/cd, because the material used in the golden dvd/cd are less reflective to the laser, and they need a stronger one. I got this DVD free at Hifi.com because I bought some speaker, and I like this player. I have a Panasonic RV-20 and cann't play cdr, and the Samsung 709 can.

it was free and it came with some free rentals and movies

skipping on a few disks

Overall i think this is great bargain exspecially seeing how i got it free thans to hifi.com IT did skip on a few of my disks like . Arlington road skipped alot. not sure if it was the disk but ive oly watched a couple movies on it and only that one has skipped . i intend on renting matrix soon so we will see how it does with that but so far i give it a average rating or maybe a bit better seing how it cost me NO money at all.

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none first time owner