Philips DVDR75 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder
Be prepared for writing a notebook titled "Lessons learned"
I Called the \\"800-531-0039\\" customer support for Philips Consumer Electronics and was switched to a support center that is located in Jamaica.   The call was a simple one:  I needed to know how to change the DVDR75 from looking at the antenna input connection to one of the other input connections that I had a VCR attached to.  The manual for the recorder is horribly written and assumes a lot on consumer knowledge of this product.  The response from the representative was that she did not know how to do this function and that the user's manual does not reference on how to do this.  I found it hard that the manual could be written without detailed instructions on guiding the user through the process so I decided to call the local service center in Atlanta.  They said that they could not answer such a question and that the only way to get the correct answer was to call the \\"800-531-0039\\" Jamaica.  I did not want to take that route again so I asked if there was an alternative approach to seeking the \\"truth\\".  Yes I started to feel like I was in an X-Files episode.  The Atlanta office suggested that I call the Knoxville repair center and they also gave me the \\"800-531-0039\\" number.  I told them of my experience with the call center in Montego Bay and they suggested that I try the Internet route.  I took this approach enthusiastically only to find out after submittal of the issue that it will take up to 48 hours to respond.  It is now two days later and I have not received a response.  So I again decided to torture myself again and call the call center and this time the representative stated that in order for my DVDR to record from another port source on the DVDR I needed to change the connections to my TV set and that I needed to contact the TV manufacturer.  At this point I lost my cool and asked the representative to let me speak to her supervisor.  The supervisor came on the line within a few minutes and after explaining my problem he told me exactly what should be done to \\"switch\\" to the other ports and it actually works as he stated.  I thanked him and hung up.  Now on to part two of this story.  I recorded two hours of video at M2x speed using the supplied DVD-RW disc by Philips.  The disc worked fine in the recorder but try using it on another DVD player and you get \\"disc errors\\".  So you guessed it, I called the service center again and the lady on the other end stated that in order for the DVD-RW to work in another player I had to do some things with the disc in the disc tray and depress \\"2\\" or \\"3\\" and neither worked.  When I asked why I was doing this, the representative stated that she did not know but that it works sometimes.  Even though I was in my own house I started to wonder if maybe I was on the TV show \\"Candid Camera\\" and someone was playing a joke on me.  Since this did not work I decided to go to the Philips Webpage and try the 48 hour response line.  While at the webpage I saw that Philips has a customer service chat room and so I tried this.  Well the down side is that it also originates out of Montego Bay but the upside is that you get to talk to someone \\"now\\" but at what seems to be at a 300 baud rate.  You send a message and they reply two minutes or so later.  So do not ask how is the weather but stick to the issue if you get a representative.  The quality of the responses seems to be better.  It appears that the DVD-RW will not work in the Toshiba SD-2700 player that I have because it cannot read RW discs.  The answer to this question is buying and record on DVD-R's for this purpose.   The final chink in my technical ego came when I purchased a DVD-R disc and not DVD+R disc.  I did not know that there was a difference.  The DVD-R will not work in the DVDR75 recorder.  This was answered correctly when we called the \\"800-531-0039\\" number.  They did not know what the difference was but they did know that DVD-R will not work in the recorder and so after going back to the store one more time and getting the correct DVD it worked.  The final straw was drawn now and if this recording did not work in another player we were returning the recorder for a refund.  <br />After making the recording with my wife and I following the directions for finalizing, which were barely clear, we took the DVD to the other player and fortunate for Philips it worked great.  <br />After all of the above four things should stand out.  First, if you purchase this recorder be prepared to call the customer support center in Montego Bay.  Second, be prepared to write your own instructions on how to run the recorder, the user's manual, at least the English portion, is useless.  Third, we have made five DVDs now and we are very pleased with the quality of the recording and plan we plan on retaining the product but boy was it rough getting started.  Make good use of the DVD-RW that is supplied with the recorder to become familiar with it.  It may not work in other players but use it to get familiar with the features.  Finally, Philips needs to hire an experienced English speaking technical writer and re-write this manual.  Too much of the verbiage assumes too much of the average consumer.  I am an Electrical Engineer and I usually do not have this much trouble with toys like this.