Samsung DC164 DVD Camcorder with 33x Optical Zoom

I bought this a week ago. A few things to mention...the indoor recording with low lighting is horrible. DVD's actually look like a movie recorded from the 80's. I opened my blinds and turned all the lights on and it's perfect but that was the middle of the day when the sun was out. There is no night time recording on this. Everything looks dark. I used the DVD -R's. These work fine...you don't have to format it. You do have to finalize the disc...takes about 2 seconds and you are done. I had the Samsung MiniDV camcorder..quality is about the same...zoom is much better on this one. I like the idea of having my disc's ready to watch. I haven't had a problem with the battery but am still disappointed after spending nearly $400 for a camcorder and cannot record indoors if it's dark outside.

UPDATE 02/06/07 I returned this for the SONY DVD108. Main reason was because for $20 more this camcorder comes with a great niteshot light. The Samsung did not record well indoors with low lighting. Majority of my home videos are of Christmas morning (when it's dark outside) and my kids playing in the living room. Unless it was the middle of the day and I could open the curtains and blinds it wouldn't record well. The Sony DVD108 is much better for the same price. Also the SONY DVD108 has a 40X optical zoom. The man at Best Buy said that optical zoom is almost unheard of. He also said Samsung uses plastic for their lens...Sony uses glass which makes the picture clearer. The zoom on the SONY is fantastic. If you are looking for a camcorder within the $400 price range look at the SONY DVD108 you'll be glad you did. Also I was able to use the DVD -R's on the SONY DVD108 as well and they work fine. The SONY also has a touch screen menu unlike the Samsung.

Although some of the reviews are positive, please do not take a chance with this model. I purchased it in April, and have had only one disc (the first one) be able to finalize. After a few calls to tech support, I have been given no explanation,but was told the following each timeI called when it would not finalize a disc: 1) "I am not sure why, but maybe you had a bad disc " (I agreed, there was a possibility since it was the first time) 2)"I don't know, but at least you can still recover the information to your disc-burner on your PC (I agree, but why the heck would I want to continue to do this, I could do this with my old 8mm camcorder, but at least I did not loose the video) 3)AND I QUOTE " Oh, Rdon't need to be finalized, you can just drop it in a DVD player, and if it doesn't work, try another dvd player." (Anyone with any sense knows this is totally wrong, and this woman had no ability to be giving out technical advice.) (I simply said okay, but let her know that the main reason I was calling was to document the failure of this device.

I attempted to try a different brand of Rdisc, (originally used FUJI, now MAXELL)and after recording almost a full disc, it now reads a "NO DISC" error, and fails to even recognize it. SO LONG MEMORIES !!! There is no way to recover this, since it doesn't even read the disc to transfer to my PC. I am now in the process of gathering up all of the parts and documentation of all of my trouble, plus all of the bad reviews, and head to battle Circuit City for a refund (Somehow, I think I will be out $400 !!!)

As for the earlier review: WHERE DO YOU READ THAT RIS NOT COMPATABLE ?(IT IS LISTED ON PAGE 10 !!!) WHERE DID YOU READ TO NOT OPEN THE DOOR ? I SURE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW.....

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I read these reviews after i had purchased this camera. I was very afraid of the results. After a weekend of use i could not find a reason to hate the camera. I was able to finalize and unfinalize my dvd-rw many times during testing without any issues. I will say in low light it does not record as well, you can play with the settings and find what works best, this is a issue with all or most cameras. Anyone with issues can also try the firmware upgrade with fixes compatibly issues with DVD types (perhaps the reason the 1st 2 reviews were not +)

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This is the first product I have ever purchased from Samsung and have been dissatisfied with. It is a very expensive piece of The videos are fuzzy at best, there is absolutely no taking videos in dimly lit areas and the digital camera photos come out looking like black and white photos.

You must change the settings from inside and outside constantly and the color is mediocre at best.

I also had disc errors. Anything recorded prior to the disc error you lose. Can be quite frustrating especially if your recording a special event.

I would actually give this product ZERO stars but that isn't an option.

It is worth returning to best buy and losing the 15% restocking fee. Spend an extra $200 and buy something a little more than the low end DVD camcorder.

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1 disk recorded fine, second disk could not finalize, and recorder would freeze up. Had to remove battery to restore. Third recording attempt (3rd disk) I continued to get disk errors, and had to wait minutes for recovery. No I wasn't jumping up and down, I was highly stationary.

Software/Hardware doesn't allow for easy recorded data transfer to hard drive (USB). Data capture of recorded data crashed about 70% through every attempt (USB). Gave up an copied from mini DV through DVD burner.

Tried to return for exchange or money back, but Best Buy would not accommodate the request 3 days after the return policy. I feel like I have a expensive peice of junk Samsung will only service it. I really don't want this product, and wouldn't recommed it obviously based on experience.