Rating: 
Summary: Poor documentation - Unstable operation
Review: We own a small home based video production business and thought that this DVD recorder would be an excellent addition for providing DVD's to customers that requested them. However, it fails during recording about 1 of 3 dvd's and unless you are watching the screen at the time, you will not know it until the finished product is watched and a screen freezes or jumps ahead about 3-4 minutes into the program.
There is absolutely no mention what-so-ever of these error messages in the book so there is no chance of trying to correct it. We have tried 5 differant manufacturers of DVD blanks both +RW and +R and it doesn't make any differance. As I said, unless you are staring at the display at the time the error occurs, there is no indication that it happened, so we have sent out batches of 40 and 50 dvd's only to get 25-30 returned from our "un-happy" customers. It is unrealistic to stare at the machine while recording 50 copies so I'd call that a problem.
There is also an odd feature that allows you to somehow change the configuration of a recorded DVD to be compatible with certain players but there is no explaination as to what is happening to the DVD when you perform this "magic" step so one cannot determine a useful way to implement the option.
When it worked, it was very easy to use. But it is way too un-reliable and un-documented for any serious user.
Based on others comments, this is a common problem with the unit. (if anybody wants a good deal)
Rating: 
Summary: have to say, "pretty good"
Review: bought this unit in Dec 2002 with the fear of an untested technology. set-up is not as daunting as reviews would have you believe. the unit a great job of recording tv. video tape only records as good as the source. one can record dvd but it requires the purchase of an auxillary filter, but the results are good. cross compatibility has not been a problem. overall, much more convenient that the best vcr anyday. the price has really dropped- this unit is definitely worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Booo! Hisssss!
Review: Unless you have a wad of cash lying around that you don't need, don't waste your money on what I consider a piece of junk! Others in these reviews have had the exact same problems that I have had, so I know it is not just me. I bought my unit a year ago, and unless they have GREATLY improved the machine, I would not pay five dollars for this unit. Allow me to elucidate...The machine worked fine for about a month or two after I got it hooked up. I was a happy camper. Then the problems began. It started with the DVD+Rs. Some of this may be a bit hard to believe, but it is all true. I started getting numerous disc errors when I would try to record, or in a lot of cases even play, a DVD. I could not get the unit to play store bought DVDs. As far as the disc errors go, here is the short list - "Disc Contains Unknown Data", "Disc Warning", "Disc Error" - that is if it would read the discs at all! And get this - I would get "Disc Contains Unknown Data" errors on BLANK DISCS!!!! So I call Philips technical support. What a joke! I am surprised these people can find the floor when they get out of bed in the morning! At a point when I could have returned the unit, Technical Support assured me that a firmware upgrade would fix my problems, and they sent me an upgrade disc. When I got the disc and put it in the recorder to do the update, THE UNIT COULD NOT EVEN READ THE DISC!!!! Finally I got it to load, but it did not help at all. At this point, I was beyond the point of exchanging it, so once again I was on the phone with tech support. This went on for months, with them offering various ineffective solutions. Finally they say "Well, it must be a defective unit!" Duh! I sent it in for repair (which is one good thing I can say, the repair was made quickly!) and when I got it back it worked fine - for about a month again. Then, guess what? Same problems, only now the DVD+RW discs were being corrupted as well! Now, here I sit, packing the unit once again to send in for repair. I wrote a scathing letter to Philips Customer Service, asking that they refund at least part of my money. Their response? Call our DVD+R Technical Support Experts! I did, and the only advice that these "experts" could give me was to send it in for repair again. They did offer to reimburse me for the hundreds of corrupted discs I have stacked all around, but only if I had the receipts! (Acutally, they did not offer until AFTER I had demanded that they do!)
So, the warranty is about to expire, and I am going to have to spend another hundred dollars to extend the warranty on the unit, because goodness knows I am gonna need it! If I am lucky, I get maybe two good discs out of every five attempts. It ranges from 0/5 to 2/5.
...If you are considering purchasing one, DO NOT DO IT!!!! ...
Rating:
Summary: No cable box control mars great unit
Review: The only real problem I have with this unit is the lack of a cable/satellite box control output. This function is pretty standard on VCRs and it's very awkward to record off of cable without such a thing. Basically you have to set the recorder for external input and then set your cable box for the desired channel and leave it there. If you want to record 2 things unattended on different cable or satellite channels, well, you can't -- unless your cable box supports timed channel changes. Many don't.
Rating:
Summary: junk
Review: Don't buy this machine it breaks down after a couple months. I runied many disc trying to record. Just like most all of the other reviews were all having the same problem. Sounds like they should be recalled. My machine is in the shop after 3 months. Philips has terriable customer service. Save your money and agravation and don't buy it. Hey all us reviwers can't be wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: So far, so good.
Review: I have had this recorder for one month, and have had very few problems. Out of 20 recorded discs, only one has been corrupted. The discs exhibit strong compatibility with my other players. The quality of the recordings is outstanding relative to the source, even in 3-hour mode (LP). I have no use for the higher capacity modes, and have yet to try them. Contrary to many reviews, the manual is easy to follow, succinct, and methodical in its instructional format. However, if you plan on archiving safety copies of copy-protected DVDs or transferring prerecorded VHS onto DVD, make sure you have some sort of device to defeat copy-protection. For VHS, it's not that difficult, but DVDs are tougher. Amazon probably would not it if I told you how. However, it can be done!
Rating:
Summary: Great machine with strange new problem
Review: I've just encountered the same problem as described below. I was just curious to see if anyone else had this problem and found it here on this board, how nice, I love amazon.com. The unit will record a +RW disk just fine at this time but when I try to record with a +R disk, the unit stops and freezes up, then shuts off. I have to agree, when the machine is working right, I love what it does, but not this problem. I will try rebooting. I've had this Dvd Recorder by Phillips #985 for 2 months so far & Have recorded over 300 dvds. The last 4 weeks the recorder has had on going problems & recording errors! It's been coming up with a DB?????### ERROR. I've had to reboot & program the unit again & again! Sometimes it'll just shut off in the middle of recording & won't continue with the same disc. When it runs good it runs very good! When it runs bad it's horrible!!! At the moment it will only record dvdrw+ I can't get it to record the regular dvd+r disc. Hopefully it'll fix it self like it has in the past. I ran the diagnostic test on it & it passed??!!
So who knows? I was hoping for a little more dependability for what i paid for it. One question? Why doesn't Phillips have a list of the error codes in the manual??? It's too late to return so i'll just wait it out & see how it runs tommorow.
S.Martinez
Roseville CA
Rating:
Summary: It works great as it's supposed to
Review: I recorded a program within 30 minutes after taking it out of the box. I only tried LP quality (3 hrs.) and it is very good. It only takes seconds to erase a DVD+RW disc. I have not tried any DVD+R disc since I am afraid that I would make mistake and waste discs.
I plan on transfering some S-VHS tapes onto DVD+RW or +R discs, but I really doubt what the other reviewer said - "The record quality is maybe as good as SVHS,but vhs copys are much better than from SVHS." I think it's all in the source. It is true if a particular VHS tape looks better than a S-VHS tape if from different sources, you could end up with better VHS and translate into better DVD. To me, he just does not understand the difference between S-VHS and VHS. Let me put it this way, if you record program off air and your antena could only get you ghost images, even if you use HQ recording, your DVD would still not look anywhere close to a third generation VHS recording of a rental movie. And you blame on the DVD recorder? Get real.
One thing I wish for is that Philips should offer black finish on the unit. It does stand out on my stereo rack with all other units are in black.
The DVD+RW disc does make quite difference. I used Verbatim and Memorex brand. Verbatim disc is so smooth that operates like VCR, once you stop recording, within a few seconds, you can play the recorded title. With Memorex disc, it shows a message "Post Formatting" for a minute or two before you can do anything. I did not see such message with Verbatim disc. Also, when using Memorex +RW disc, it ran into "Disc Error" after an hour or so in SP mode which never happened with Verbatim disc in any mode. The price difference on these discs is about $.85/disc with Verbatim is more expensive. Now I can see why people will get bunch of coasters with ... DVD+R discs.
Another thing I wish it had is a keyboard connection like my Pioneer DVD changer that allows me to type in titles.
Rating: 
Summary: Breaking Down after 2 Months!
Review: I've had this Dvd Recorder by Phillips #985 for 2 months so far & Have recorded over 300 dvds. The last 4 weeks the recorder has had on going problems & recording errors! It's been coming up with a DB?????### ERROR. I've had to reboot & program the unit again & again! Sometimes it'll just shut off in the middle of recording & won't continue with the same disc. When it runs good it runs very good! When it runs bad it's horrible!!! At the moment it will only record dvdrw+ I can't get it to record the regular dvd+r disc. Hopefully it'll fix it self like it has in the past. I ran the diagnostic test on it & it passed??!!
So who knows? I was hoping for a little more dependability for what i paid for it. One question? Why doesn't Phillips have a list of the error codes in the manual??? It's too late to return so i'll just wait it out & see how it runs tommorow.
S.Martinez
Roseville CA
Rating:
Summary: just ok
Review: The record quality is maybe as good as SVHS,but vhs copys are much better than from SVHS. Fast foward and rev. don't work that well when played on other dvd players. I've had problems with disc error and destroyed several discs that "cost money". This recorder records real time and only notifies of disc error after the recording is complete and not only have you wasted an expensive disc but a lot of time. A rating or 3 stars is generious. I' rather have the money that I spent than the recorder.
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