Philips DVDR75 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder
Great While it lasted
On Paper this machine was wonderful.  It had everything I was looking for starting at a great price: Flexability of DVD+R/RW discs, front i.LINK connection, nice picture, easy menu creation... <br /> <br />It was very easy to set up, I was happy with the recording quality and the ease of creating chapters and menus. <br /> <br />I was very pleased for about a year then I started seeing small problems like the machine would freeze while trying to read the disc, or after recording the disc would format then freeze resulting in 'disc error'.  It was still not consistent enough to worry about it at the time.  When the machine froze while reading a disc, the only way to stop it was to unplug the machine.  I did not try this when it was formatting a disc in fear I'd loose the work I just put in.  I just waited until it gave 'disc error' and could not read anything it recorded. <br /> <br />Now it is 6 months later and recording is hit or miss.  I thought it maybe was just my machine until I read similar reviews on this and other Philips DVD recorders.   <br /> <br />Problems I have:  <br />1) It has difficulty reading discs (commercial, blank, recorded) making it difficult to use.  Error: \\"No Disc\\"  or \\"Disc Error\\"   <br />2) When I try to record onto a disc, it starts recording (you think) then freezes after about a minute. Then the machine shuts down completely.  When turning the machine back on again you find that in fact nothing has recorded at all.  This problem occurs about 70% of the time now. <br />3) Using timer to record has the same problem as recording, though you don't have the joy actually seeing it fail.  Using the timer, while simple to set up, is pretty useless since it rarely actually records. <br />4) Sometimes when playing back a disc (commerical or recorded) it will give a \\"Disc Error\\" and stop playback. <br /> <br />I am hoping Philips DVD recorders will improve as they have potential and a good brand name, but I am seeing similar reviews on newer machines.