Philips DVDR80 DVD Recorder Best Buy

Good ideas, poor product design! - 12 Jan 2008

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

I bought the Philips DVDR80 recorder in 2004, from another store, for £610 (+ insurance) and just after 6 months, it started to fail to read and record DVD discs properly, this was due to a cheap Philips laser reader pickup and under-developed software. It was sent for repair to one of Philips registered repair stores and a new laser was replaced and software updated. I was pleased when I got it back because I loved the features of it: the different recording qualities and flexible recording! Just recently it had became faulty again, and this time it couldn't record nor did it recognise any disc I put into it, so the DVD recorder was sent back for repair and Philips, with all their qualified repair staff, told me that it was unrepairable and that they are no longer selling that model - this was disappointing, and in a way a waste of money!

Philips used to be very good with their products. Nowadays, Philips seem to have very good ideas, but poor and half-baked product designs that are never well thought out, and are quick to release products without testing it first to make a quick buck! Since the company had bad management over the years, their standards and quality controls have gone down. What a shame they are no longer a top brand that anyone can trust!

Very good overall - 05 Apr 2005

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

I've had my DVDR80 for a couple of months now and I've been very pleased with it, especially after reading the problems many people have had with the 70 and 75.

I have to agree that the remote isn't the best but I'm getting used to it. My two main difficulties are that you have to press and hold to be able to fast forward / rewind (I keep skipping chapters by mistake) and then that the letters aren't written above the keypad numbers. I don't think the letters are written in the manual either so I'm not sure if I'm missing any functionality. I just keep referring to my mobile - the same letters seem to be assigned to the same number keys.

I especially like that my Sky box can start off the recorder.

A handy hint for when entering title names - if you press 'Select' then the letter is changed to uppercase. So, if you're used to texting on your mobile then it's fairly easy to enter titles and then go back and change any letters to uppercase afterwards.

All I'd like to see now is the ability to merge recordings as well as split. I'm doing that on my PC at the moment and it's a little bit cumbersome to go between the two...

Philips DVDR80 - 23 Feb 2004

30 out of 33 found this review helpful.

I have had this player for only 24 hours and am very pleased. Picture quality is no problem, even at M6 for home recording/watching purposes. Very extensive instruction manual and, yes it is needed! Recorded DVDs will play on our Sony and Cyberhome DVD players. The GuidePlus system is very extensive and there is also the ability to use VideoPlus as well. I had no problems hooking up to a five year old Pace sky digibox and have not had any problems with the GuidePlus working, as others seem to have done. The remote control is not the best I've ever used, but otherwise the machine is well equipped and the red lights leave others in no doubt that the machine is recording! Box hooked up to ITV at 2pm, presumably to update the GuidePlus. This needs to be at night, but I'm sure Philips will help me on that one. Hooked up through an Ixos XHT 611 scart through the RGB output for a very fine picture indeed!

I am also able to transfer all my DV camcorder footage of the kids, when they were just that!! Highly recommendable DVD Recorder, for anyone a little worried about stepping into a three format market.

Almost perfect - 14 Jan 2004

33 out of 35 found this review helpful.

After returning my DVDR880 turkey, Philips replaced it with the brilliant DVDR80. I record off my Sky tuner via the RGB in and it's awesome quality. Here's a few tips : make it region-free by borrowing a "One for All" remote, codes are on the Net. Then always upgrade the internal software, downloaded free from Philips website. Handy hint! You can eject the DVD by holding down the STOP button on remote. Plays SVCDs without a hitch, but can be a little fussy playing DVD+R movies made on PC with DVD-Shrink. The firewire input is the icing on the cake!

Typically Philips... - 28 Dec 2003

30 out of 31 found this review helpful.

A typical Philips product - generally technically superb, but with an abysmal user interface and in this case with a remote control unit the designer of which should be shot.
Quality of recording is superb, and produces excellent DVDs. In particular, the disk menu is very professional compared to any of the alternative recorders I have seen.
However, it is let down by the combination of cumbersome user interface and very poor remote control design (in so many respects). In particular, the fact that the remote control is very sensitive to position - ours won't work if you point it directly at the DVDR80 (it only works effectively if we point it at the white ceiling and let the recorder pick up the reflection!) - coupled with many operations taking several seconds before anything visually changes (so you don't know whether the recorder actually received the command or not) is amazingly frustrating. There is a "command received" indicator on the unit, which is effectively invisible with the unit more than a couple of feet away and so no help.
Probably the single worst feature, however, is ">>"/"<<" and chapter forward/backwards being combined into two buttons (you hold chapter forwards for several seconds and it switches to ">>") - we have wasted literally hours scanning forwards or backwards after the unit did a chapter skip when we wanted ">>" or "<<". Other problems include the lack of lettering on the number buttons (these are the fastest way to enter titles, but this is apparently undocumented and the remote control buttons don't therefore have the letters printed). Etc.
Of the remaining irritations with the unit, probably the next worst is the inaccuracy in frame positioning, particularly when setting chapter marks or dividing titles. For general home use, it doesn't matter that the chapter mark (or title division) can be several seconds away from where you wanted it; if you're actually trying to produce professional looking recordings, it is frustratingly, and even sometimes unusably, inaccurate.

So, if you're looking for a replacement for a VCR, you'd have to look hard to find a better unit (particularly if you're looking for a replacement for a Philips VCR). If frustrating user interfaces bother you, or you're looking to have precise control over the recordings, look elsewhere. Particularly if you're used to the ease of use of systems such as "Sky+", try the unit before you buy, as otherwise you may be badly disappointed. We're still giving the unit 4 stars though (the overall quality of the disks produced is superb).