Samsung SV-5000W Worldwide VHS Format VCR

• Worldwide NTSC, PAL, SECAM playback
• 4-head Diamond video system with stereo sound
• High-speed rewind and digital auto tracking
• S-VHS playback capability
• Luminescent universal remote control included

I got the Samsung Worldwide VCR for Christmas and am really satisfied with it. It's not just an excellent worldwide VCR, but it also plays video images in such a crisp and clear quality, much better than my standard VCR's. When I play a video from Germany the quality is exactly the same as when I play a video from the US or from any other country. However, we did have a little trouble trying to set it up. Since it's a worldwide VCR there was no TV channel that I could set it to ( 3 or 4). So the worldwide VCR had to have extra cable wires hooked up to my TV for it to work. And then my second VCR had to be set to the channel Line. It was also a huge inconvenience to call Samsung Technical Support, it took me two days to get someone to help. There is another item with the VCR that I noticed, when a program has to be tracked it will automatically track it. But for some reason the color goes black & white (for about a split second). Overall I really enjoy the VCR.

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To the folks who have had trouble using this unit for recording

(or viewing) SECAM L tapes, THIS UNIT WON'T DO IT PER SAMSUNG. Buried on page 18 of the Owners Manual it clearly states "*SECAM L (FRANCE) is not available on this VCR.

I called Samsung and the confirmed. If you want to do SECAM L (France) you need to step up to the SV7000-W VCR. Supposedly it's about the same price according to Samsung Cus.Svc. but so far the only price I got was $190 higher !!! I'm still looking.

The vendor I'm delaing with Elite Video recommended the Emerson

EWW7070 (which amazon offers too) but I don't think the specs are the same. I don't think much of Emerson VCRs either (had 2

other regular Emerson VCRs crap out) Hope this helps some of you.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung SV-5000W Worldwide VHS Format VCR Here

I say this assessment is the "most accurate" only because -having read all previous reviews here, good, bad and middling -I can categorically state that nobody's wrong and everybody's right. Here's the deal:

The Samsung SV-5000W is a complicated but comprehensive unit. It does all the tricks it's supposed to. Once you figure out how to set it up (not altogether easy, ESPECIALLY if it's in a daisy chain of devices; being a "worldwide" model it has different protocols) it's a pretty impressive and useful "toy." But here's the problem:

Quality control on this product line clearly doesn't much exist. Based on prior reviews, and my own experience, you have as good a chance of getting a functioning unit as a lemon. My tale?

Without checking prior reviews I somewhat impulsively bought the SV-5000W from an eBay "Buy it Now" vendor located in NYC. It was weird out of the box. I did experience the chronic "snow" in the video (described by others) but there was even more disturbing stuff -the onscreen counter display showed numbers that had nothing to do with the actual location the tape was at; somehow the unit even demagnetized and corrupted a couple of cassettes. I was about two weeks into the purchase and that last was the definitive clue: It wasn't that I hadn't mastered its unusual operations, it wasn't that I didn't understand fully how it should work, whatever its complexities: the unit just sucked.

THEN I did my research and saw the furious mix of reviews. I called the vendor. His eBay listing had specified a NO RETURNS policy. But I brought the bad reviews to his attention, in addition to my own problems with the unit. I asked if he had another worldwide make/model ... I was happy to trade up. He did not: the Samsung was all he carried -but he couldn't have been more reasonable. He said, "Let's exchange the one you have for another. If that one also doesn't work, you'll get a full refund." Well, okay.

I'm into the third year of ownership now and so far the replacement has held up. It goes long stretches without being used (I have other VCRs for normal use, so I try not to tempt the gods by taking it for granted) but when I do use it, it gets a fair workout. And it does a very decent job.

2005 Update: Shortly after posting the text above, I too experienced the snow problem. The way to correct it is to effect a partial reset: Eject your tape, go to the front panel and hold down the PAUSE and STOP buttons at the same time for ten seconds. Turn off the machine for ten seconds. Turn it back on. (Note: A previous reviewer mistakenly identified the reset pair buttons as PLAY and STOP. When this didn't work for me, I re-examined the panel and realized that PLAY/STOP were rather far apart, whereas PAUSE/STOP were contiguous "Twin" buttons: the most likely, design wise, for a "hold down together" protocol. And indeed this proved correct.) Head cleaning cassettes should not be used to clear the snow problem; however, used SPARINGLY they can sharpen the picture when the resolution becomes grainy. I discovered this by accident. I tried head cleaning for the snow before I learned the reset steps. It of course did nothing to clear the snow ... but on my test cassette (a PAL version of the miniseries SHOGUN) the colors and definition became immediately more vibrant.)

To address a question posed by an earlier reviewer: this is not the model to buy if you need to view or convert tapes from the SECAM-L format (used in France). The SV-5000W has only one converter onboard, which handles the more common NTSC/PAL/SECAM play and convert variations. But SECAM-L is different from straight SECAM, and requires an entirely separate converter. The more expensive SV-7000W model has the second converter built in.

One more caution: The onboard clock runs fast and tends to pick up a minute or so each month. So you have to periodically reset it if you plan on using it for off-broadcast recording.

2008 UPDATE: The "snow" problem finally hit permanently about a year or so ago. My collection of PAL cassettes is so small, with most having been replaced by DVD or media-file equivalents, that I haven't raced to get the thing fixed (for my limited purposes, I can't see where it would be cost effective anymore). Not chucking it, may indeed fix it some day, but I would say nonetheless and on balance I got less use out of this machine than expected for the price -even refurbished, less than what's listed here. Given its frequency of use (as opposed to calebdar age), it lived about as long as cheaper "off-brand" electronics (the kind you buy on impulse just knowing they'll only fill a temporary gap) do. And with that said, two more notes.

Note #1: In 2001 I bought a dirt-cheap Broksonic Hi-fi stereo VCR. One of those aforementioned "off-brands." And yet ... the darn thing is a warhorse. Three speeds, excellent picture, great sound, and despite clunky load-sounds and a poorly designed remote, it's maybe the best VCR I've ever owned. I bought another, even cheaper, off eBay for my lady friend's house and that one has proven just as sturdy. I mention this because Broksonic ALSO makes a universal VCR (albeit supposedly only for the South American market). I don't know if it's Hi-Fi stereo or not, but if you can find a way to purchase the unit from them, I daresay it'll outlast and outperform the Samsung. Look up Broksonic on the web.

Note #2: I've owned three Samsung products in my lifetime:

-The Worldwide VCR under discussion;

-a 2006 DVD Recorder (with a tuner I never used);

-and a pre-millennium GX three-point surround TV set, 12 inch screen (designed, I am told, for gamers, batwing doors over the screen; flip them open and they're the left and right speakers; looks very cool).

The TV has some inherent imperfections I didn't notice right away and won't catalog here, but I made allowances as it has been (and for a while will remain) a decent bedroom set of its type -and it's still fully functional; though that's likely because all it needs to do is power on. I don't use the tuner and there are no moving parts within.

The DVD Recorder was finicky about blank disk brands (and types) out of the box, and though the manual warned that it would only support certain brands, it became even more finicky with time, eventually refusing to record on any disk of ANY brand (the deterioration was fast enough that I came in six weeks under the wire on the Tiger Direct protection plan, which gave me a full refund, so I was lucky).

Thus assessing all three products side-by-side, given their different functions and dates of manufacture (spanning about a decade), I'd have to say, in the end, Samsung products just don't deliver the goods. The designs are inelegant, the electronics range from imperfect to unreliable, and they don't stand the test of heavy use over the long haul.

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Bear with me I have the snow solution (AND 2 UPDATES) at the end but, I need to vent my frustration. Ok, I read some glowing reviews about this VCR and really had little choice as most multisystems are PAL based to play NTSC, not the other way around, and need an outside converter or multisytem TV that converts to work. Samsung's site praises the video heads as life long and needing no cleaning. I don't live in a region that would have any of these for sale so it was online for me. Wow, this thing was expensive! However, I found a demonstrator model on ebay for half retail and grabbed it. The first few months were fine, although the PAL conversion to NTSC was understandably sub-quality (NTSC uses more scans per inch than PAL), but softening the picture helped. Then the snow began to fall. ALL of you have heard of this and believe me I was floored when it happened. It looked like a tracking problem so I manually adjusted, no luck. Maybe the heads so I cleaned them, ditto. Then I went to Samsung's site and quess what I found? That's right, this problem in their FAQ section! Lo and behold the answer. Play a pristine blank tape for an hour to clean the heads (?!). If that didn't work, get a commerical "WET" head cleaner and wait about ten minutes after cleaning to play another tape. Well, I went to the store and picked up both. Played the tape, aargh! Used the head, Yaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Samsung just made me spend $15 bucks for nothing. Their no-need-to-clean-heads VCR had dirty heads. I have a twenty year old RCA that played better and I never clean the heads on it.

Then I read the second page of reviews here on Amazon. Oh brother, were there a ton of complaints about this problem. I did notice that when I rewound a tape and played it the snow cleared up. But after a while it returned and I fast forwarded numerous tapes just to play them. I had hoped to retire my RCA, but there seemed little hope. Out of options I decided to call Samsung's support. Mind you, I read horror stories about getting complacent CSR's and getting the runaround so I prepared myself. I got the friendlist woman who really listened to my problem gave me the advise that the site already did and when informed those methods didn't work, gave me a case # and transfered me to the tech division. After 10 minutes of music I was cut off. Huh! Called back to second helpfull CSR, transfered and hung up on again. RRRRR! Called back third time and asked not to be transfered. Well this guy somehow accessed a tech page and told me to eject the tape, hold down the "Play" and "Stop" button at the same time for 10 seconds and turn the VCR off for 10 seconds. Turn back on and play tape. What does that do? It is a reset to factory standards that doesn't make you have to go through the user set-up again (you know that little reset button under the "record" button you should NEVER push). Nope! Well call back tomorrow and give case # to be transfered to tech help again. Right!

Pushed the play button for the heck of it and zoinks, a perfect picture. I really worked! Put in another tape. Yeah! Put in third, Uh Oh. Tried reset again and found I had to do it a few times but it does work. I won't be using this as my main player, just for imports and a few tapes that have surround (the RCA is mono).

I know this isn't the greatest climax to the story, but give it a try. It may take a few times but it will happen. One thing I did notice is that this thing gets as hot as the sun and takes a couple of hours to cool down. This may be a big part of the problem and though I've not tried it a fan blowing in the vent couldn't hurt. I really hope this helps everyone with this problem because this machine can play like a champ when coaxed.

UPDATE 1:

I recently moved and left this player unplugged for a couple of days. When I put together my system, Voila! No problems. Since then I've had absolutely no snow whatsoever. Hmmm? Could it be this unit needs a break every once and a while? My new place is a lot cooler too so I still believe that has something to do with the problem and not the heads because it only appears during playback and not recording. Yes I have actually recorded with it. Although I bought it as a player, it does a damn fine job recording.

UPDATE 2: I recently had the snow problem come back and unplugged the player, as before, for a week. This time, however, the snow persisted when I played an NTSC tape. I tried several movies and also the reset to no avail. Hmmmm? I noticed the "though" button was lit (this means that what you play is not converted) so I switched to NTSC and put in a PAL tape. Still the snow. Frustrated I put in an NTSC and it played perfectly. This sucker is touchy and you have to work with it. Kind of a shame because this player has some great features that I've only seen on high-end players.

One other thing, I highly recommend getting a video enhancer, such as Sima. This player does not like the older Macrovision tapes and the picture fuctuates between over and undersaturation. Not great for viewing older rentals.

I really don't recommend this. I bought it a year ago and had to repair it many times. After only 3 months, with regular cleaning, the heads shows wear and the picture quality was poor. Also, the displays on the VCR are absolutely useless. You don't know whether it's playing or rewinding. It doesn't tell you. The machine itself is cheaply made.... This is the worst product I've ever bought. Now with its short life, it keeps ejecting my tapes and I can't play anything. I bought this machine because we moved from Australia to USA and had plenty of Aussie PAL tapes, mainly for my kids. We also have 2 other VCRs, it's not like we overused it. Learn from our mistakes, never Samsung again.... I'm really mad. I could have bought a really nice top-of-the-range VCR that plays PAL & NTSC from Australia for half the price. All I had to do was buy a power converter from 240V to 110V. My next trip I will be doing that.... Hope this helps, I hate for anyone else to waste their money. I'm so dissapointed.