Philips HDRW720 DVD Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive
Good product, but could use improvement in quality control.
The past few months I have been enjoying my purchase of the Philips HDRW720 DVD Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive. I made the choice to purchase this particular model from reading other reviews listed here. For the most part I have enjoyed my purchase but have experienced some problems which were corrected by Amazon's excellent return policy and by Philips support. <br /> <br />My first problem was experienced while archiving to DVD+RW media. Sometimes during the process of archiving a program to DVD+RW media the Philips HDRW720 would hang for a moment then reboot itself. After attempting to archive this particular program to the same DVD+RW disc and failing the HDRW720 would finally not accept the DVD+RW media giving me \\"error reading disc\\" or would not recognize the disc with \\"no disc\\". Over a period of 3 weeks after attempting to archive to 9 different disc and 5 of those disc becoming unusable by the unit I called Philips support. After explaining my problem and a little troubleshooting they suggested that I contact Amazon and ask for a replacement unit since I was still within my original 30 days of purchase. I contacted Amazon and they immediately shipped a replacement unit while I returned the defective unit. The new HDRW720 arrived within 2 days. Amazon even refunded my shipping cost. <br /> <br />Upon receiving the replacement unit I decided to test it to be sure it performed all functions that I needed. This unit performed with no problems when archiving to DVD+RW media. But I had problems when I connected my camcorder to the front ports to archive video to DVD. I called Philips support and after troubleshooting the problem they determined I needed to send the unit to their support facility for repair. I boxed the unit in its original box with original shipping materials and sent it to their repair facility in Louisville, KY. They told me to allow 4 weeks for the repair but I received the unit back in a week. But on the repair description sheet it stated that they didn't find anything wrong with the unit. I was a little upset but proceeded to connect the unit back and check it out. Needless to say, it performed the way it was suppose to and I was able to archive all my personal video to DVD with no problems. I suspect that a cable was not plugged in correctly inside was why the camcorder ports didn't work and all they did was plug it back in. I was also a little disappointed because they had not shipped the unit back to me in the same box I had sent it to them in. They shipped it back in a plain box with the unit wrapped in bubble wrap. The bubble wrap was wrapped loosely around the unit which caused the bubble wrap to rub against the LED display and scruff it up a little. But it's hardly noticeable. <br /> <br />Even though I have had some problems I am extremely happy with my purchase and would recommend anyone to purchase one due to the excellent support by Philips and by Amazon. They have proven to me that they support what they sell. <br /> <br />The Philips HDRW720 is designed to work with cable systems, but I use it with a satellite system. You just have to remember to program the satellite receiver to come on when the HDRW720 comes on to record a program. A little extra effort but no problem. <br /> <br />For anyone purchasing the Philips HDRW720 I would recommend the following. Discard the original manual that is shipped with the unit and download the PDF file of the manual and print it. The original manual has a lot of important information left out which makes using the HDRW720 very confusing. Next, upgrade the firmware to the latest version offered on Philips support website. And last, test the unit you receive very thoroughly that it performs all the functions it's suppose to correctly. If in doubt about the way anything works call Philips support.