Samsung BD-C8200 Blu-Ray Freeview HD 250GB HDD Recorder with 6 free titles (309, Up, Toy Story, Bruno, Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd)

Masho says:

Review by Masho for Samsung BD-C8200 Blu-Ray Freeview HD 250GB HDD Recorder with 6 free titles (309, Up, Toy Story, Bruno, Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd)
Rating:
Reviews on this machine are split and I thought long and hard before purchasing. This is what I found;

Setup was quick and easy; the BD-C8200 scanned found and stored the channels (including HD ones), without issue. I was able to establish connection to the internet via wireless router and carry out the software update, again without any problems (just a case of finding your home network and entering the key). With the Internet connection established I downloaded the applications which took a little time as there were 17 of them, however these all installed successfully. It took me a little while to understand that to use some of the applications (i.e. those that normally require a user ID and password such as Facebook) you need, not only to initially ‘one off’ register them on the Samsung but also to set up a personal profile to log in with every time you access it(similar to logging on to an Xbox 360 using an individual profile.) However, once you get your head around this it is a doddle to log in and out,and the Samsung allows for multiple profiles for different members of the family (including the ability to `lock’ access to an application, i.e parental control). I was particularly impressed by the YouTube app which is nicely presented and easy to navigate.

Next I tested the recording to HDD which performed well; including timed and instant record, playback and deletion, the picture quality was superb. The DVD player, being Blu Ray, performed admirably and the picture quality was impressive to say the least. The last test was access to other devices. The Samsung found my PC over the wireless network and I was able to see and play my music and video files and view pictures. The only thing I would say is that the time it took the Samsung to access some of the folders was slightly frustrating but then, I do have a lot of music files and once in, the delay was minimal.

Overall, I cannot really fault the BD C8200. Manage your expectation by understanding it can only access one facility at a time and yes it is a single tuner, and the handset is a little cluttered and not particularly intuitive. However the trade off is the price. For around £300.00 you are getting a lot of technology (including wireless access – a huge benefit), good performance and a quality picture for half the cost of, say the twin tuner Panasonic. The ability to upgrade the device over the Internet, and the HD functionality also make it fairly future-proof and so far, I have not experienced any picture freezing or machine `lock ups’. I would certainly not describe it as `worst consumer device ever’; that would be the Thomson TUTV+ DTI6300!

davide37 says:

Review by davide37 for Samsung BD-C8200 Blu-Ray Freeview HD 250GB HDD Recorder with 6 free titles (309, Up, Toy Story, Bruno, Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd)
Rating:
This box needs to be reviewed in context. At half the price of the Panasonic blu-ray recorders, one really can’t expect the same functionality. Yes, it’s a pain that there’s only one Freeview HD tuner, but you have to ask yourself how often you really need to be using two HD tuners at once. What the box does deliver is superb picture quality (both from Freeview HD and Blu-ray), fast Blu-ray loading, an entirely serviceable PVR and a stylish design which perfectly matches my Panasonic LCD. If you add in the 6 free Blu-ray discs, it’s even more of a bargain.

DS says:

Review by DS for Samsung BD-C8200 Blu-Ray Freeview HD 250GB HDD Recorder with 6 free titles (309, Up, Toy Story, Bruno, Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd)
Rating:
Oh gosh, where do I start? I would love to give this no stars. The Samsung BD-C8200/8500 is awful! Avoid it like the plague. I cannot believe how a company like Samsung dare release this kind of rubbish. The user interface is so bad it infuriates me because every aspect is not remotely intuitive. The remote is shockingly bad too.

I’m sending mine back for the following reasons:

1). If you are recording a programme and try to use any other function, like Internet@TV, view photos, play videos from a USB stick or try to playback a previously recorded programme you are met with the message “Do you want to stop recording and instead use the selected function”. You cannot do anything useful with the device whilst it is recording except watching a DVD or Bluray.

2). iPlayer, Facebook and LoveFilm are not yet available despite them being advertised as being included.

3). TV recording is not intuitive. There is no series link, or programme search. If you want to record a channel at a given time each day you have to fish deep into some menus to do so – Menu, Channels, Channel Manager, Select channel.. you get the idea.

4). The remote is poorly laid out and squashed together with the useful buttons right at the bottom making it awkward to hold and use. The remote included with the Samsung B650 TV is far better.

My advice, give it a miss for a few months and wait for Samsung to sort the software out.