Rating: 
Summary: Had to return it
Review: As others have mentioned, it could not read many of my commercial and recorded DVD's. Imagine my surprise when I put the Lord of the Rings DVD in that I just bought from Target and it could not read it. I had similar problems with other DVD's. I would not recommend this unit.
Rating: 
Summary: Pulled, Despite Horrific Exp w/the 985
Review: For some inexplicable reason, I just decided that I would buy this after multiple rounds of suffering with the 985. So I ordered this and then packed up my 985 and sent it back to the factory for a second time.Meanwhile, when this was delivered, I had a bit of a hassle with it because I plugged it into my digital receiver and got 'no signal' when trying to monitor the recording. Also, I wanted to have an S connection. Well, finally got it working by moving to EXT2. Anyway, to my amazement, I have not had a single recording fail, and I've done a ton of them since purchasing a couple months ago. Never once have I seen DISC ERROR or have I had to wipe the disc. So I was surprised to read the other accounts which sound like 985-like behavior. Lots of the online disc ordering places will send you sample packs now so you can try different brands. I got mine from rima.com. One last note: I make all my recordings to RW and then take them to my G5 and make copies onto -Rs, so I can't really speak to the long-standing problems with +Rs.
Rating: 
Summary: I took it back to the store for a refund
Review: I bought (and returned) a Philips DVDR615/17. (...) It was a beautiful machine and it has a lot of nice features. It made beautiful disks...when it made disks. I usually record on DVD+RW and I should have had a clue that things weren't going to go well when there was a preprinted form in the box telling me how to wipe a +RW disk, if the machine suddenly decided it couldn't read it. Well, it decides that A LOT! You might go back to add an hour at the end of 4 other hours that this same machine already recorded...and suddenly it can't read it. But, more disgusting, on just about every disk (and I tried several brands), it went "disk error" after a couple of minutes of recording and ruined the disk. If you erased it (using the secret disk wiping procedure) and started over, it usually recorded. But, that's not too practical if you want to timer record. In fact, I NEVER made a successful timer recording. (And, even if you got a non-timer recording, the machine might just forget how to read that same disk a few minutes later.) I tried contacting Philips support to see if there was a firmware flash or something to correct this, but the only response I got referred me to an 800 number that turned out to be "Out of Warrantee Support", who wanted to charge me (...) just to talk to me, even though I had only had the goofy thing a few days. I think not. So, back to the store it went. If that one problem didn't exist, this would've been a great machine, so if they ever fix it, somebody let me know.
Rating:
Summary: I took it back to the store for a refund
Review: I bought (and returned) a Philips DVDR615/17. It is a DVD+R/DVD+RW machine, so if they haven't fixed the "features" item on this page that says -R/-RW, don't be fooled. It was a beautiful machine and it has a lot of nice features. It made beautiful disks...when it made disks. I usually record on DVD+RW and I should have had a clue that things weren't going to go well when there was a preprinted form in the box telling me how to wipe a +RW disk, if the machine suddenly decided it couldn't read it. Well, it decides that A LOT! You might go back to add an hour at the end of 4 other hours that this same machine already recorded...and suddenly it can't read it. But, more disgusting, on just about every disk (and I tried several brands), it went "disk error" after a couple of minutes of recording and ruined the disk. If you erased it (using the secret disk wiping procedure) and started over, it usually recorded. But, that's not too practical if you want to timer record. In fact, I NEVER made a successful timer recording. (And, even if you got a non-timer recording, the machine might just forget how to read that same disk a few minutes later.) I tried contacting Philips support to see if there was a firmware flash or something to correct this, but the only response I got referred me to an 800 number that turned out to be "Out of Warrantee Support", who wanted to charge me $19.95 just to talk to me, even though I had only had the goofy thing a few days. I think not. So, back to the store it went. If that one problem didn't exist, this would've been a great machine, so if they ever fix it, somebody let me know.
Rating:
Summary: Do not buy anything Philips!
Review: I have purchased this DVD "Recorder" and it was the biggest mistake of my life. The recorder shuts itself off without warning and then proceeds to wipe out anything and everything you previously may have been able (if lucky) to record on the disk. Its difficult to navigate your way through the menu screen and it also likes to record things on its own when there's no scheduled recording. And good luck with trying to get any type of technical support over the phone. Trust me, this is a bad piece of equipment.
Rating:
Summary: Do not buy anything Philips!
Review: I have purchased this DVD "Recorder" and it was the biggest mistake of my life. The recorder shuts itself off without warning and then proceeds to wipe out anything and everything you previously may have been able (if lucky) to record on the disk. Its difficult to navigate your way through the menu screen and it also likes to record things on its own when there's no scheduled recording. And good luck with trying to get any type of technical support over the phone. Trust me, this is a bad piece of equipment.
Rating:
Summary: Very good machine
Review: I haven't had any problems with my machine and have been pleased with the quality. The video is good all the way to the 8 hr mode. It is easy to hook up and navigate around with the remote. The onscreen menu is a bit awkward so you need to keep your user manual close by until you get the hang of things. Overall I am glad I chose this machine over the panasonic, as this machine is more compatable with most DVD players on the market. I was considering the panasonic model but the compatability issue was too much of a risk. So far the discs I have made with this machine have played in every other DVD player I've tried them in.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a single bad burn to date
Review: I picked up the Philips DVDR615 a week ago at a local Best Buy and love it. I have burned 15 +R Disc and 1 +RW Disc without any problems. All disc played in my Sony DVD players as well as a Dell and 2 Apple computers. The Apple's seemed to like the disc to be finalized on one machine, didn't care on the other. I purchsed this machine for one reason only and that is archiving shows off my Dish 921 HD PVR. I have to downconvert from 1080i to 480i but the PQ at the 1X setting is excellent, not HD of course but certainly top quality DVD which is all we have until the release of any HD Recorders sometime next year ($$$$).
I disagree about waiting 6 months to post a review on something, by then you usually can't find it. I would have preferred to purchase the Philips DVDR740 which has 5.1 Audio recording capability but for some reason I can't find one anywhere. Lastly the reason I give this recorder 4 stars and not 5 stars is the fact that the OSD is not very intuitive and the owners manual is even worse. Once you figure out how to operate it though its really quite simple. I don't know why they couldn't explain it better in the manual. The "monitor" key is your friend! If anything changes with the reliability of this recorder I will update or add to this review
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't do all that it says it does.
Review: I was very disappointed to find that this recorder could not read all the formats consistently. It could read one dvd+ but not another, one dvd-, but not another, one svcd but not another, etc. I had bought it with expectation that it could read all the formats if they were recorded correctly and this was not the case. I had to return it. Otherwise, setup was easy. My old APEX player, which was 1/3 the price, reads everything without a hitch. Glad I didn't part with it.
Rating:
Summary: Update on October 8 Review
Review: My previous review (LarryM) ended with "We'll see how the turnaround is & whether the problem returns."
Well, three months later I still do not have my DVDR-615 back from service. No one will give me a straight answer and I'm out $331 (now sells for less than $240).
Bottom line, I can't recommend buying this model due to non-existent customer service. Philips will have to work very hard to gain back a customer.
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