Samsung DVD-SH855M HDD/DVD Recorder Comments

I've had to live with this machine for over a year now and whilst a lot of what is said in the review is true (picture quality, excellent display, lots of technology to choose from etc) this machine leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, it takes a full 20 seconds between switching it on and the remote to become responsive. The default mode is analogue, so you need to switch to digital for the freeview. The tv guide takes forever to refresh so you need to plan well ahead if you're wanting to record something on timer. Most dvd's are recorded in 5.1 surround sound now. You can only take advantage of this by manually selecting "bitstream" instead of "pcm" by going through the system setup every time you want to watch a dvd. Playing from the hdd in bitstream mode results in either no noise or a terrible racket (depending on which tv or home theatre system you are using). So, you need to manually select PCM again. Yes, it's been back to samsung and there's nothing wrong with it.
Together with the frequent system freezes (resulting in the need to turn the device off from the mains) and the slow remote, I'd be a mean man to recommend this to anyone.