Solid build quality, and good picture

Subwoofer channel of the Digital Decoder does not work correctly. Skips during some layer changes

I have had this unit for a couple of years. The actual build quality is excelent compared to some other players, even ones that have better performance. However, I have had two problem one minor and one major. The minor problem I have is that sometimes (not always) it pauses for a second when switching layers on a dual layer disc. This is a minor gripe but for a unit that was supposed to be as good as this one, it shouldn''t happen. Other than this the video quality is acutally very good. Secondly, I purchased this model because it had a built in Dolby Digital decoder and my receiver is only digital ready and does not have a decoder. The subwoofer channel does not output all of the signal. It does output signal, but not the entire signal. You can hear it actually cut in and out. If you have small satellite speakers like I do, you lose all of the bass that would come out of your main channels if they were large. I sent it in for repairs while it was still under warranty. The repair man obviously did not understand the problem, because he said that it did pass a signal through that channel. Consequently, I ended up buying a separate digital decoder which cost me another $200(which was a good price). Otherwise it works well. Mine is almost 2 years old and still plays well. I have not had most of the other problem that everyone else has had. Mine even plays the Matrix correctly which was the first test I gave it when I bought it. Some of the problems described in other reviews of this player were common among other brands in this model year such as sony and pioneer. I would assume that all of these companies have fixed any problems that they may have had in their designs.

$250 straight. No tax.

None so far...was a little glitch while playing "Malcolm X" disc where as it would skip one word at a particular scene, but other than that, cool so far. "Matrix" plays for now, (seems a little dirty quality wise, compared to "Armaggedon", which incidently also plays fine) but I haven't watched either of them in thier entirety.
So, we'll see.

Cool so far. Haven't had it long enough to tell, but it seems like a good purchase for now. To be continued...

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Panasonic Portable DVD-L10

provides the Dolby Digital surround decoder and other options at a good price

none

I have not had any problems with this unit.
The Dolby Digital Surround sound is great.
The remote functions are easy to use.
I think this DVD player was a strong solid value.

Remote, onscreen menus

Has a major problem recognizing video format. Most movies will start in letterbox even though wide or pan & scan are selected.

I called Samsung before I bought the unit and asked them about the "matrix problem", they said they are aware of it and have fixed the problem on all models made after October 99. He also rattled off several other DVDs that would not play for the same reason(I had originally thought it was only 5 or 6 movies). When I got it I popped in the Matrix and it played fine. The picture was sharp considering I only paid $229.00 at supremevideo.com for it. My biggest problem is the units inability to start a movie in the proper video format. It almost always starts in letterbox, you can go into the video settings and change it to wide or P&S even though wide is already selected.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 3109
Sony 330
Hitachi PC DVD player

Lots of bang for your buck.

My experience with the 909 totally conflicts with the previous reviews. Perhaps these particular players were distributed from a botched batch! I own Matrix & Blade Runner and have not had any problems. I've had the 909 for almost 4 weeks and have played about 20 or so discs on it since: Apocolypse Now!, Austin Powers 2, Entrapment, Dark City, Clockwork Orange, It's A Wonderful Life, Good, Bad, & the Ugly, Gone with The Wind, Black Mask, Mickey Blue Eyes, and others. The player has played every single one without fail and some I've viewed more than once. The one problem I have so far is with Yessongs (Yes in concert), and the problem there is that it pauses very briefly (or skips) maybe 3 or 4 times during a viewing and I blame it on the disc. I also bought it in J&R in NYC for 249.99. I almost bought the Sony550 which was 399.99 and had the exact same features as the 909, partly due to some of the comments on this site but then read a review on ETOWN.COM and on another web site and just decided, hey Sony has enough of my money already, let's try Samsung, besides with the 149.99 left over, I could buy some decent cables and a few DVDs to boot! No dissapointment here: Video is excellent, sound is very good, it's chock full of features, the manual is well written, and the player is reasonably attractive. My only gripe would be that it feels kinda light, doesn't feel "Heavy Duty", but of course that doesn't mean that it's not solidly built, and besides this isn't a $5000 reference player. Maybe in a few years I'll invest in something a little more high end, but if you're on a budget or just don't want to spend so much to get on the DVD wagon, this is an excellent buy.

none

everything

This is the worst DVD player, period. A month after I bought the player, it started to skip, freeze. Six months later, it can only play half of the DVDs I bought/rent. I've contacted Samsung many times but after the 'service' the problems were still there. Don't buy it, Don't buy it, Don't buy it!!!

Similar Products Used:

SONY DVPS560D

I got mine for $269

Does not always switch between widescreen-letterbox mode.
Major weekness - IS DOES NOT PLAY(RECOGNIZE) DVDs !!!

I bought this product, because it's cheap. Also I considered Panasonic A320, which is $130 in that ("JandR" in Manhattan, NY) store. Well, I should have bought Panasonic.
The problem is - this piece of electronics DOES NOT ALWAYS PLAY or RECOGNIZE DVDs or CDs. 19 out of 20 times after I put DVD in it, it says "no disk", though sometimes you're lucky, like today after 30 min of headache I finally saw the movie, yeah :(.
DO NOY BUY THIS DVD player, avoid it, spent hundred more bucks on decent Japaneeze thing, than on this product. You might get lucky and yours will work just fine first day, but you need it more than for one day, right?

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Creative PC DVD Dxr-2 (higly recommend it, or Dxr-3)

THIS UNIT HAS SOME REALLY COOL ADD ON'S FOR THE CHEAP PRICE

THE MATRIX PROBLEM.

THIS HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE MACHINE WITH SAMSUNG. I BOUGHT IT OCT 3RD, FOUND THE MATRIX PROBEM ON QCT 10TH. TOOK IT TO GET UPGRADE IT WORKED- 2 WEEKS IN SHOP, BUT I AM NOW MISSING THE SPEAKER SETUP MENU. TOOK IT BACK UPGRADED AGAIN, CHIP CAME FROM KOREA. THE REPAIR LOCATION TOLD ME SAME PROBLEM- 2 WEEKS. I SPOKE TO SAMSUNG THEY HAVE REQUESTED THE REPAIR LOCATION RETURN IT TO THEM FOR EVALUATION. ALL YOU DVD 909 USERS PLEASE CHECK ALL THE SETUP MENUS BEFORE YOUR WARRANTY RUNS OUT.

I purchased the DVD-909 by mail order under $400 and the first time I played the dvd (rush-hour), its picture quality was great and especially, I loved its detailed crisp clear sound from the optical digital output. I owned the JVC XV-501 before and I would say it is a very good piece of DVD hardware but no coax digital output...compared with the JVC XV-501, the Samsung DVD-909 sounded better than the JVC since its audio dynamic range is over 120 db. I love the DVD-909's remote since it is easy to use and buttons are well arranged for convenience. It is a great product among that price range.

lots of features found only on higher priced equipment

will not play

I purchased this product in May, 2000. I immediately noticed that many discs skipped several times while being viewed. Problems steadily grew worse. Occasionally movies would freeze up as if I had paused them, and they would not restart. Many discs would not play at all; the machine would spit out the disc and an error message would be displayed saying "this player will not play this disc." Once the picture collapsed into small squares and a loud noise was emmitted from my speakers nearly blowing them out. I brought the player to the nearest authorized repair facility (over 35 miles from my home!). They had it for five weeks, changing the laser pickup and the main PCB. Guess what? It still will not play. I called Samsung and they promised to send me information on returning the player to them for a replacement. As of today I have not received this information. I went out and bought a Sony DVP C650D which flawlessly plays all the discs which the Samsung would not. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!