Rating: 
Summary: WHY DO I ALWAYS GET THE LEMON?
Review: WHEN IT WORKS, IT WORKS FINE AND UP TO SPEC. BUT I HAVE SENT IT BACK TO KNOXVILLE FOR FACTORY SERVICE TWO WEEKS AFTER I RECEIVED IT FROM ABE'S OF MAINE (INTERNET SALE). I PAID [$$$] FOR THE UNIT PLUS [$$] FOR SHIPPING TO CALIFORNIA, TOTAL [$$$]
ADD [$$] BUCKS TO SEND IT BACK TO KNOXVILLE, AND THE TOTAL IS [$$$]. I GOT IT BACK 4 WEEKS LATER ( I SENT IT FEDX 2-DAY, THEY SENT IT BACK BY UPS CAMEL). THEY FIXED THE PROBLEM ( DISC ERROR, INVALID DATA TYPE, FAILED SELF TEST, DISC WARNING, ERROR CODE DB7FC54FC6)BUT THAT LASTED ABOUT 4 DAYS. THE UNIT STARTED EXHIBITING NEW PROBLEMS. THE VIDEO OUTPUT WOULD FLICKER AND GO BLANK, THEN FLICKER SOME MORE. I SMACKED IT ON THE SIDE AND THE VIDEO CAME BACK. NOW I HAVE TO SMACK IT 5 OR 6 TIMES A DAY TO STABILIZE THE VIDEO. MUST BE A COLD OR BROKEN SOLDER JOINT,LOOSE CONNECTION OR LOOSE CHIP, OR MAYBE A CRACKED LAND ON THE PC BOARD. WHO KNOWS. ALL I KNOW IS I HAVE TO SEND IT BACK TO KNOXVILLE AGAIN.
Rating: 
Summary: The best DVD recorder out there...
Review: I was an early adopter of recordable DVD technology, and, until I began using this unit, I was never satisfied with the results. My orignial DVD's were recorded using a PC DVD drive, which was cumbersome and the results were not spectacular. This unit from Phillips, however, is fantastic. Since I bought it several weeks ago, I have been using it almost continuously to transfer my old VHS tapes to DVD. Of course, the quality of your resulting DVD is dependent on the quality of the original VHS, but the results are outstanding. With the price of these units coming down fast over the past several months, and DVD media is becoming cheap, do yourself a favor and get this unit. You WILL be impressed by it and will get lots of use from it.
Rating:
Summary: Waaaaay Cool
Review: ....It works just like your regular VHS recorder, only better. Unlike your VHS recorder this thing has awesome indexing capabilities which allow you to jump to which ever recording you want. Recording is a snap. In no time at all I was transferring my home movies from my digital camcorder to the recorder with no problem. Next I tried to copy a purchased VHS movie video to DVD - nothing doing. Thanks to the recording industry the unit will not allow you to record certain proprietary content. I'm searching the web now trying to find some way of bypassing this little inconvenience.My only wish is that it could buffer recording like Tivo, so that I could pause the video while I ran to the fridge for a sandwich and not miss a thing. Still, this is an awesome piece of technology. The future is here. Update 1 : I have found one problem with the unit after a few weeks of use. The unit sometimes corrupts DVD+R disks. I'll be recording a program, press stop and nothing will happen. The unit just freezes up and will not respond to commands from the remote control. This has ONLY happended with DVD+R disks. Otherwise it does fine with DVD+RW.
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite there yet
Review: I would give this recorder 5 stars if the firewire interface allowed it to link to a pc. Unfortunately the firewire port is only for downloading video from a digital camcorder. In my opinion, a standalone dvd-recorder is much easier, faster, and produces better quality recordings of analog video than does a pc-based recorder. I mean, why would I want to hook up my pc to my tv and devote all those system resources just to record a tv show? For just recording a show where I don't want to do any editing or manipulation a device like this that acts like a vcr is perfect. On the other hand, there are times when I want to record from digital or data sources and that is impossible on this machine (without a digital camcorder). So ideally the firewire port should allow me to use this unit like an external pc-based dvd recorder for digital or data recordings and if it should also capture analog video and deliver it to my pc through the firewire. Either that or I will just buy both kinds once the prices drop more.
Rating:
Summary: In one year VHS will be gone!
Review: For several years I have tried to get my video work to digital in the PC domain and was never happy with the unnecessary complexity of the related products. In many cases I was ripped off by the vendor with unfulfilled claims. Bill Gates and the lack of a stable operating system was one of them. So I bought a Mac and it was more or less the same disaster. I am not saying that it does not work, but it was not worth the effort. All that changed a week ago when I bought a Philips DVD-RW recorder. This is the way to do digital video at home. In few days, I have converted all my old videos from VHS, Hi-8 and DV to DVD. Not only can we now watch them with the simplicity and quality of DVD, but they go into my DVD disk changer for fast access. For my video editing I had to find a way to read MPEG2 files and it will depend on the product you use hwo that can be achieved. But there is no more need for slow capturing of sequences. The DVD recorder is the perfect path into the digital domain! Archiving is just a perfect byproduct! Using the DV-in I also use the DVD recorder to create my video masters, rather than going to DV tape. Perfect! Create a few title sequences on the PC and then assembling them and the video directly to the DVD recorder is the most simple way to do your home videos! Fun is back into home video! This will replace the VHS recorder in a very short time and then also the media prcies will drop to pleaseant levels. Finally the future is here!
Rating:
Summary: Finally.....
Review: UPDATE: Get firmware version 12ff from Philips!! It adds SP+ (3 hour) and EP+ (6 hour) recording modes which add flexibility to your recording. Various "clock" problems are also corrected. You can also find the firmware by searching DVD+R/RW fan websites, but it isn't available on the Philips website, unfortunately. I finally picked up my recorder about a week ago after doing some agressive price comparisons. The recorder is flawless, but the instructions are marginal for setting the recorder up. The recorder won't work until you complete setup, I'd wasted an hour pushing buttons at first. Reading instructions is not something I normally have to do. When the instructions say "Hook the recorder up to the TV", what it REALLY means is "Hook the computer up to the 75 ohm antenna/cable connection", so the automatic channel setup can proceed, as there is no cancel. I've already filled up 2 DVDs of my favorite TV shows that I want to keep. I was able to "hide" the commercials easily enough, but it still uses up the disk space. People with DV cameras will need to buy a ... 4 to 4 pin cable, which you certainly don't have now....
Rating: 
Summary: I only give this item 1 star since zero is not available.
Review: This is new technology and it shows. My "recorder" is only good for playing DVD's since the machine has never been able successfully record anything. What is worse is Philips customer service, who refuses to fix the problem. Save your money, this is nothing more than an overpriced DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT RECORDER
Review: This is oustanding product although it is a bit pricey. The quality is worth the money you will pay and with all the inputs and feature you can't go wrong. Also Phillips has informed me the update disk is available by calling (800)531-0039 which should take care of a few earlier issues which have been reported. Happy recording.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Every Penny
Review: I received one of these DVD Recorders as a gift a couple of weeks ago. It is extremely easy to understand and use. The quality of the recordings is excellent. I think it is well worth every penny. If I had to pick one thing as a draw back it would be that it takes 20 seconds to "set up" at the start of a recording. If you want to record a show from 8:00 to 8:30 you need set the timer for 7:59 to 8:31. It advises of this in the user's manual. A very minor thing. If you are in the market for a dvd recorder and you want the DVDs to play on other players, this is the recorder to get.
Rating:
Summary: Okay To Buy But There Are Still Bugs....!
Review: OKAY TO BUY, but beware. There are still bugs in this DVD Recorder. I bought ... and had to return [my first unit]. The Display clock failed to display the time when the unit was turned off after the first night. I also have problems playing back VCD's. My VCD's or not marked by a Region Number so they should play quite nicely in this ... machine. Be sure to set the clock by using manual settings and turn Off the Daylight Saving's Feature otherwise the unit will not time your programs correctly. In addition, I have problems playing back recorded DVD +RW disk on my Compaq Computer. I have had no problems playing back VCD's on my Compaq CPU or SAMSUNG DVD Player. I had difficulty with the end results in configuring a DVD player (SAMSUNG) to the Philips DVD985 Recorder using Component IN. The output picture was always green when I played back the DVD's. I am not sure if this was due to some type of software copy protection or what. The DVD that I played back was not copy protected. The (TBC) Time Base Corrector may not like one of the phases, I am not sure so once again I'll have to contact Tech Support. I have a new Sony 32KV20 with split screen and can monitor Twin pictures simultaneously. This comes in handy for monitoring the DVD985 output vs. other devices side by side. There must be some type of phase shift somewhere, but the DVDR985 is suppose to accept the Component input with or without progressive scan. So compatibility remains an issue. This may eventually be resolved with software upgrades I don't know. If you talk to Customer Service I found Mr. Lee to be the most knowledgeable about the unit. This machine is best suited for VHS and TV Recordings to the DVD format resulting in High Quality recordings. The TV Turner is excellent and may have spec's closely to HDTV Set Top Boxes with the end results You'll get the most out of this DVD Tuner/Recorder if you have High Definition TV Monitor Capabilities. I am not sure if I am willing to keep this version but somehow I feel this is the best on the market considering Price and Category at this time. Boss Of Doss
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