Rating: 
Summary: Not suitable for archiving VHS family videos
Review: I bought this unit so we could copy 20 year old VHS tapes onto a more permanent media. The manual was written for people who would use it as a VCR replacement, making it difficult, but not impossible, to get working for my application. DVD+R disks will play intermitently in one or more of our four DVD players, but the next time they are run, they may not play at all. In some cases, the unit cannot read its own disks. These are family videos, so we need a reliable way to copy them.
I was concerned that the DVD recording market had not yet settled on a standard, however, I was surprised at the level of incompatibility and sporadic playback the Philips unit has shown. I am planning to return the unit.
Rating: 
Summary: Compatibility-Important
Review: The quality of the recorder is excellent...the unfortunate part of the manual is that it's not real clear on the final step of making a disk. I was ready to return this unit since I made DVD's and couldn't play them either in my computer DVD drive or my regular home DVD player UNTIL I "Finalized" each DVD which then allowed me to do that.
Rating:
Summary: Poor technical assistance from Philips
Review: My recorded DVD+R and DVD+RW's will not play on any of my existing DVD players, I contacted Philips online and after one month, have not got a reply.
The machine works well when the discs are played in it however if you have thoughts of making copies for your friends, forget it. I don't think the limitation of this recorder justifies the price.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST accessory for your TV since Tivo!!
Review: I have been using this unit for almost a month now and I gotta say I'm thrilled with it! This thing is great, and really easy to use as well. Despite earlier reviews about difficult setup, I found no such problem. Setup took about 10 minutes and consisted of a few arrow keys and ok button pushes. Also a nice touch is that it comes with a free blank RW disk, so you don't have to wait to play with it once you get it. Picture & sound quality are outstanding, even on EP (4 hours per side) mode. Blows videotape away, and will retain its quality for a theoretical 100 years. Ability to set the screen type (wide, letterbox, etc), sound type (stereo, 3d, surround), a multitude of inputs and outputs, and one touch record are nice additions to this great machine. The remote is decent, though I would have swapped the location of the play & slow buttons for more intuitive control. Would be nice if it were multifunction (not just for tv) as well, but its better than most remotes. The onscreen programming & controls are pretty intuitive and work quite well. For timer settings, it basically programs like a vcr and it reminds you to turn it off when the programmed time approaches, in case you forgot. Front panel display of time remaining on your disk and where the new recording will be stored was a great idea too, very handy. I checked out the other brands with the 'time-slip' feature before buying this one and found out the following. The time-slip feature offered on other brands sounded like it would work like a Tivo, but really all it does is let you watch what's already been recorded while it continues to record the rest of the program. It **doesn't** let you start a recording in the middle of a program and capture what you missed! All in all, this is a wonderful device and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of buying such a device. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Philips is the DVD recorder of choice for DVD+R & RW's!!!
Review: Bottom line - this Philips Recorder is a very simple and outstanding system!! This is the first DVD recorder that allows us to replace the VCR completely!!! From a VHS 240 horizontal lines to a DVD 520 lines - what a difference. No - tape rewinding, tape wear, dirty VHS heads, endless search for a scene, space hogging large format. Now lets cut to the chase. Yes the DVDR-985 Progressive scan (line doubler) Recorder & Player is pricey but this is simply what you have invested in. 1.) DVD+RW (re-writable DVD recording) you can record over & over again just like VHS tapes. DVD 120 minute = approximate resolution in HQ mode (High Quality) 520+ lines for 60 minutes or SP mode 480 lines for 120 minutes or LP mode 350 lines for 180 minutes or EP mode for 250 lines for 240 minutes. the +RW DVD play on almost all brands of DVD players. 2.) DVD+R one time write on DVD with same quality as DVD+RW's (price is half of a DVD+RW disc.) 3.) includes a tv yuner with VCR+Plus. 4.) PROGRESSIVE SCAN DVD ready. NOTE: you must have a Progressive Scan ready TV or HDTV. Simply this feature is a line doubler so you see a more defined/clearest picture available!!! 5.) Is FIREWIRE ready - this is for the pure digital picture transfer & digital sound from digital8 camcorders/digtial8 taperecorder or PC's. NOTE: this is a 4 wire Firewire so again you must have appropiate compatible equipment. Its works beautifully - I have transferred Digital8 camcoder tape directly with no signal loss. 6.) VHS or Super VHS tape transfer via composite video, S-video or component video with 2 channel stereo. This DVDR-985 is the perfect digital upgrade system. Remember entering the world is expensive but once you jump to digital you will never look back. Why - perfect color pictures , flawless sound Dolby Digital & 5.1 ready, high resolution picture 520+ lines, instant visual search by title or chapter (you get to designate easy search with a visual picture and written heading on you DVD+R's & +RW's) For your info the DVDR-985 68 page Users Manual can be down loaded from a website for your examination. This will answer your question!!! I love my unit and you will too once your ready for the world on Digital Home Theatre. Enjoy!!!
Rating: 
Summary: DVD+R is the DVD Medium of choice
Review: The following statement from a previous reviewer is absolutely INCORRECT:
>"I just want to emphasize for those of you who are considering buying this unit, the DVD+R discs will never work in any brand of DVD player. Period. So if that's a consideration for you, don't buy this unit."< Out of all the DVD recordable formats, DVD+R and DVD+RW are the most backward compatible and future-proof storage media. It is the standard that is quickly gaining the support of both the PC software and A/V hardware communities. DVD-R has had its day; while it will likely be compatible for a long time to come in future DVD players, it is likely to be phased out in next generation DVD recorder products.
Rating: 
Summary: Won't Work in a DVD Player
Review: I just want to emphasize for those of you who are considering buying this unit, the DVD+R discs will never work in any brand of DVD player. Period. So if that's a consideration for you, don't buy this unit. DVD-Rs, which can be recorded in Panasonic E30, HS2 and Toshiba RD-X2 units, can be played in *most* DVD players (more likely to work in newer units rather than older machines).
Rating:
Summary: Incompatible with my Sampo & Samsung. Poor Customer Service
Review: I have had a completely disappointing experience with this machine and with the company that produces it. It is not compatible with my Sampo or Samsung DVD players. I believe this machine will become the equivalent of the notorious Beatmax. Luckily, I can afford to throw away...but how many people can?
Rating:
Summary: pretty good machine
Review: I'm very satisfied with the quality and ease of use. The inputs and outputs are great. Compatibility is also sweet. The ability to set chapter marks around commercials, and then make those chapters "hidden", thus skipped on playback, is also very nice, even though frame advance for mark setting is not as exact as I think it should be. Title setting is a bit of a pain with just arrows, but it's alright. Philips tech support helped me discover that RF output is pass-through only. To see DVD Recorder output requires using one of the other generous outputs. Tech support also says there is no way to record via i.Link from PC. That's an unfortunate limitation that brought my rating down from a 5. Although they said it wouldn't work, I was able to get signal through a Firewire DV Bridge once. I've not been able to duplicate that success since. I know it's possible from a hardware standpoint, but firmware/software limitations are not supporting it.
Rating:
Summary: Great product. Better than great.
Review: I've made about 75 DVD+RW and DVD+R recordings so far with this deck. Not a single bad result. I have successfully tried about 10 different off-the-shelf DVD playback decks and results have been fully compatible. I've also used a half dozen different brands of media (all of them fine). Both the deck and the user interface exude a well-designed and constructed quality. The user interface is perfect in the sense that it is uncomplicated for making quick recordings, but there is a lot behind the scenes if you dig into it. I agree with another review that a keyboard would be a big improvement (even a USB port to plug in your own). Beyond that, there's nothing else I'd want changed.
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