Philips DVDR75 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder
Amazing Recorder for the Price!!!!
For $399, you just can't beat it!!!<br />Here are the positives:<br />- Very easy to setup, was up and running in 10 minutes<br />- Impressive image quality - even at M6 (6 hours recording mode per DVD), the quality was better than my VCR's, and I mean, A LOT better!!!<br />For everyday recording, M6 is great. If you want to keep them and get great image quality, use M4 (4 hours per DVD) or better (noticeable difference between M6 and M4).<br />- Great compatibility - so far has played every DVD's I've put in there, including the ones I burned on my computer without a glitch. My other DVD players have played DVD's burned on this one without a glitch either.<br />- Same on the timer record function - has been flawless<br />- They have a very cool feature that allow you to hide chapters within movies, so if you make the commercial break a chapter, you can then hide it so it doesn't play during playback.<br />- Love the fact that it uses RW's as well (My first recorder could only use R's).<br />Now for the negative<br />- A bit difficult to navigate - It does get some getting used to. The buttons on the remote are labeled strangely for what they do. I.e. while playing a movie or recording, the system button will show on-screen display. I was looking for a button that said display, silly me.<br />- Though the 'hide chapters' feature is great, I wish you could delete them and gain the time back again to record. At this time, if you 'hide' 20 minutes of commercials in an hour show, though the time spent watching it will only be 40 minutes, it will still use one hour of your disc.<br />- A bit of a delay when you push a button on some features (about half a second), which has a tendency to make you feel it did not get it. Not with every buttons, just some. A little weird.<br />- If recording something, if you press the stop button, image will freeze for about 5 to 10 seconds, while it writes. Make sure you press the pause button instead, if you don't want to miss what is playing on TV at the moment.<br />- 480i on Component as opposed to 1080i<br />So with those negatives, why did I rate it 5 Stars?<br />Simple - Bang for Buck! This is $390! I can't expect it to do everything I want for that price, and the negatives are more things I wish it had or did a bit better, not things that are of major concerns as far as what it does. If I had paid $490 for it, I would have dropped it to 4 stars, but considering the price, this is simply a great unit that does what it says it does.<br />I highly recommend it! The only ones I saw that did more things better started at $699 (ones that include a HD).<br />As far as the few negative reviews I saw here, I think every company has some bad units out.<br />My recommendation?<br />Just like anything else you buy, if it doesn't work right from the beginning, return it and get another one. You probably have a bad unit. Make sure you buy from a company that has a 15-day return policy. If it works fine for the first 15 days, you should be fine, if it doesn't, return it and get another one. Especially it it's a major brand. One bad unit doesn't mean every unit made is bad.<br />Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.oment.<BR>- 480i on Component as opposed to 1080i<br />So with those negatives, why did I rate it 5 Stars?<br />Simple - Bang for Buck! This is $390! I can't expect it to do everything I want for that price, and the negatives are more things I wish it had or did a bit better, not things that are of major concerns as far as what it does. If I had paid $490 for it, I would have dropped it to 4 stars, but considering the price, this is simply a great unit that does what it says it does.<br />I highly recommend it! The only ones I saw that did more things better started at $699 (ones that include a HD).<br />As far as the few negative reviews I saw here, I think every company has some bad units out. <BR>My recommendation? <BR>Just like anything else you buy, if it doesn't work right from the beginning, return it and get another one. You probably have a bad unit. Make sure you buy from a company that has a 15-day return policy. If it works fine for the first 15 days, you should be fine, if it doesn't, return it and get another one. Especially it it's a major brand. One bad unit doesn't mean every unit made is bad.<BR>Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.