34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Everything the C8200 should have been, 5 May 2011
This review is from: Samsung BD-D8200 Blu-ray 3D Player with Freeview HD and PVR Upto 250GB (Electronics)
This machine is brilliant.
Given the mixed reviews of Samsung's previous incarnation, the C8200, I was very worried purchasing this, especially as I could not find a review of it. The issues with the C8200 seem fixed here; it is a twin tuner and it has BBC iplayer, on top of which, it is 3D ready.
It was very easy to set up. The instruction booklet is clear and takes you through step by step. Set-up is automatic and flawless. Connecting to my wireless network was similary easy and took moments. I got a software update automatically then had access to lots of content inc BBC iplayer.
I am guessing the user interface is not much different to other Samsung players and I find it intuitive and easy to use, likewise the control is easy to use with decent sized buttons, the layout of which suited me perfectly. I was also able to calibrate the control to work with my old Sony TV (not a flat screen) and it works perfectly so now I only need to use one controller for everything. I will be upgrading the TV soon to a modern flatscreen but even on the old analogue screen the picture seems better than before. I look forward to viewing in trueHD soon.
Tried out the recording feature too. This was very easy from the Guide menu and the control. Being a twin tuner, I was able to record one thing but watch another inc DVDs. Pausing live TV was also very easy to do - just press 'pause' button - how much easier can you get!?
As with other Samsung players, loading times of disc media is very fast (twice as fast as my old panasonic machine) and there is very little operation noise.
For a black box, I think the player is quite sleek and has good looks. I like the touch screen display which is clear but not over-bright.
Over all I am exceptionally pleased.
Just one thing though and the reason I didn't give this 5stars - a screen saver keeps coming on whilst watching content on BBC iplayer and I can't find in the manual how to turn this off. I don't expect to use BBC i-player alot but when I do I don't want to have to press a button every 5 mins to clear the screen saver. For some this will be a major fail. If someone can tell me how to switch off the screen saver, then please consider this a 5star review.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great piece of kit, but..., 25 May 2011
This review is from: Samsung BD-D8200 Blu-ray 3D Player with Freeview HD and PVR Upto 250GB (Electronics)
I've been using this for a couple of weeks now and felt compelled to share my thoughts for anyone else considering a purchase. Firstly, this is a great piece of kit. I have bought it to replace my two previous boxes - I had one for recording and one for HD, so this combines them both perfectly; plus I get the addition of Bluray (3D no less) which I never had before, and the excellent internet functionality.
The downside for me is the recorder. The whole recording and playback process leaves a lot to be desired - when you stop, you can't resume playback from the same point; if you watch in timeshift mode, it stops playback when the "real time" programme finishes (and again you can't resume from the same point!); and you can't use the Smart Hub (including Iplayer) while recording.
I just wanted to air these minor quibbles for the benefit of others considering this. For an all-in-one solution with this spec it's probably as good as you'll get for the price, so I'm reluctant to mark it down too much, but it could have been better!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nearly a good product, 1 Oct 2011
This review is from: Samsung BD-D8200 Blu-ray 3D Player with Freeview HD and PVR Upto 250GB (Electronics)
The good points about this product are that it is relatively low cost, has lots of features for the price point and has good picture quality. The bad points are that the user guide is badly organised and written, making things difficult or even impossible to find. The products user interface is poor and not intuitive. I could make the effort and get used to its many idiosyncracies, but will not do so because of what I perceive to be a major failing in its record/playback features. When you are playing back a recording and a scheduled recording starts, the playback stops. Thinking that this was a bug, I called Samsung, and they confirmed that THIS PRODUCT CANNOT PLAYBACK ONE RECORDING< WHILST RECORDING ANOTHER PROGRAM. Even my 6 year old Pioneer HD recorder can do this, so I was amazed that this so called state of the art device can't, and for this reason I am returning it, because for me this makes it not fit for purpose. I deliberately steered clear of both Panasonic and Sony as I thought this product was far better value for money, and maybe it is, but this feature limitation means that I have to organise my recording and viewing around its limitations, and for me that just isn't good enough. My advice therefore is don't but this product, spend a little more and get a Sony or Panasonic, that will give you a well thought out user interface and a feature pack that ultimately will not disappoint.
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