Samsung - Samsung DVD-631P 5-Disc DVD Changer Review

My first DVD player -- if you don't count my first DVD-ROM drive -- was a KLH Audio offering which, although freeing me from having to sit in my room in front of a PC to watch a good movie on the new format, caused me more headaches than I had bargained for.

It was a very inexpensive machine (less than $90 in 2000) and at first it wasn't too bad when it played a first-generation DVD (circa 1998-1999) as long as I didn't ask too much from it. If I just slipped a disc into the tray and just hit PLAY MOVIE when the disc menu came up, 90 percent of the time it would play the movie without too many hassles. There were a few discs that, mysteriously, would just not function properly; Saving Private Ryan, for instance, would freeze and go into pixel-blurring frenzies at Chapter 16. At first I thought I'd bought a bad disc, but when I played it on a friend's General Electric DVD machine it played perfectly; no freezing, no pixel-blurring.

Things got worse over the next two years. As the major studios started rolling out discs with really snazzy menus and extra features disc, the KLH DVD player became more problem-prone and either exhibited the same freeze up at a certain point glitch it had with Saving Private Ryan or worse, it wouldn't play some DVDs at all.

For instance, when I bought my copy of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in November of 2002, the KLH player would work with Disc 1 (the feature film) but it would reject Disc 2 (the extra features). Ditto for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: The Collector's Edition and any post 2002 disc that had graphics-heavy menus and other advanced features.

I had two alternatives, neither of which appealed to me: (a) watch newer DVDs on my eMachines PC (which at the time was also new) and spend even more time holed up in my room, or (b) bite the bullet and buy a better DVD player. For a while I dithered like Hamlet; I couldn't really afford to spend $175 or more because of my low income. My pet-sitting gigs are relatively long ones but they do come to an end when my two main clients come ashore from their cruise ship jobs, and my ghostwriting client was becoming more combative and less forthcoming with writing jobs, so I opted to watch movies on my PC until I could afford a more reliable and versatile DVD player.

By the summer of 2003, however, I'd had enough. I like my computer just fine and I don't mind working for several hours at my desk. Heck, I even spend time socializing online or playing long games such as Sid Meier's Civilization IV for even more hours, but even I get claustrophobia and want to spend time away from my room. So in June of '03 my friend Raci and I went to Best Buy and I picked out a new DVD player...the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer.

General Features: Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer

DVD Changer: holds five DVDs or CDs; provides full random play and relatively quick disc changes.

Great Sound: The Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer has Dolby Digital sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories; the sound is crystal clear, making it not only good for watching movie DVDs but as a secondary CD player.

Screen: Both "full screen" and "widescreen" (16:9) DVD formats are viewable on the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer without any distortion or degradation of the picture.

Slow Motion

Programmed Play: The Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer can be programmed to play CD, WMA and MP3 tracks in any desired order.

Parental Control: Parents can program the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer to prevent their kids from watching such fare as Die Hard or Jenna Jameson: Baby Doll by setting a password-protected viewing level.

On-Screen Menu Functions: Want to change the audio or subtitle options? Or perhaps you want to see a different screen angle? The various on-screen menu options let you do this relatively easily.

Progressive Scan: This was something my old KLH Audio DVD junkheap lacked...progressive scan, which gives owners of the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer a better and sharper image with twice the scan lines of a conventional interlaced picture.

Easy View: Are you a "full screen" fanatic who still likes the pan-and-scan format of standard TV and VHS videos? With the touch of the "Easy View" button on your remote, you can switch a "widescreen" DVD's picture to "full screen" view on a conventional television set.

Digital Photo Viewer (JPEG): Want to see digital JPEG-format photos that you have stored on a CD-RW disc on your TV set? With the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer, you can.

Repeat

MP3/WMA: The Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer can play discs created from MP3/WMA files.

Instant Replay

Instant Skip

Performance: In the six years that I've owned my Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer I haven't had any of the problems exhibited by my first DVD player; it has played all of the DVDs I have in my video library, including the newer Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. I haven't had any problems with playback related to the machine itself; the two or three times that I've had frame-freeze or DVD-drag issues is when I've neglected to check the discs' underside for dust particles or minor debris; I always store my movies in their cases after using them, but sometimes dust or an errant finger will make contact with the silvery playing surface and cause playback errors. When this happens, I get out my DVD cleaning kit and get rid of the dust or fingerprint, and this always solves the problem.

Although I chose the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer because I wanted to be able to play, say, all three movies of The Adventures of Indiana Jones DVD box set in one sitting, the most that I have attempted to do is to play both discs of a 2-disc set (say, Aliens, for instance).

It doesn't take too long to open the tray, put one disc on its carousel, hit DISC SKIP on the remote, then let the carousel move so you can place the second disc in. As a matter of fact, I prefer the bigger size of the disc tray to my KLH's trickier single-disc tray; it slides out more slowly, sure, but it isn't as sensitive to touch and doesn't suddenly retract while you are still placing your disc on the carousel. (I lost a couple of early DVDs to my KLH Audio DVD player in this fashion!) DISC SKIP is also somewhat leisurely but -- to me, anyway -- that is not a drawback. At least I don't have to swap out discs if I want to watch a movie and its supplementary materials or listen to two or more albums.

It also takes a little while for the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer to "load" a DVD while the laser beam reads and initializes a DVD. Someone else remarked that the process takes too long, but I don't see any difference between the time it takes to load and play than on any of my friends' equally good Toshiba or Panasonic players. I realize that there are people who need instant gratification, but it's not like it takes hours, even minutes for a DVD to load. CD playback is almost instantaneouus; in fact, I have had to stop the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer when it starts playing an audio disc because I'll miss the first microsecond.

To ensure quality playback and prevent damage to the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer, you should use a CD-DVD lens cleaning disc at least once a week. 

What It Can (and Can't) Do: As good as it is, the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer does have limits. It does play factory made DVDs and audio CDs flawlessly, but it will not be compatible-- according to the manufacturer -- with the following discs or formats:

DVD-ROM
CD-ROM
CDI
HD layer of Super Audio CDs
CDGs (the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer will play back only the audio, not the graphics)
DVD-RAM
CDV

Additionally, the Samsung DVD-C631P 5-Disc DVD Changer will support the following formats depending on recording conditions:
DVD-R
DVD+RW, RW
CD-RW