Home > Consumer Reviews > Samsung SV-5000W Worldwide VHS Format VCR

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.

This particular Worldwide VCR comes with a wide variety of options- so many, in fact, that it is likely that you will never use them all unless you are very heavy into format conversion. The setup and implementation of the conversion, all digitally handled within (requiring no separate input or output converter) makes it very convenient to view PAL, SECAM, or other variant video tape formats with any type of TV. The best part is that the input format is normally selected automatically (output must be manually selected, but this is very easy), and the VCR produces a very clean, crisp image.

Of course, two or three times conversion produces grainy and/or fuzzy images, but this is to be expected with any system. Do not expect to record NTSC in SECAM and then be able to view that on an NTSC TV without loss of image quality. Conversion of PAL to NTSC, then viewing it on an NTSC TV, on the other hand, is marvelous.

Overall, this is a superb VCR. My only qualms with it are the inclusion of some rather idiotic features (ART mode, which makes the image look "artlike"; Strobe mode, which displays images from the video stream in single frame fashion), as well as the inability to select a recording program that records on Weekdays only.

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.

I wanted to do just one thing: watch PAL tapes from England
on my American NTSC TV. The price of this Samsung was low
enough to take the risk -- and I'm happy to say it works as
perfectly as any U.S. VCR I've ever had. It took less than a
minute to hook up (the video/audio cable was all I needed, since
I attached the player to a TV I only use as a monitor; I'm not
using this machine to record off-air TV/cable programming).
Picture quality, tracking, fast-forwarding, etc. -- nothing presents any problem at all. Tapes from the UK play completely
as normal. Couldn't be more pleased.

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.