Philips HDRW720 DVD Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive
SIMPLE PROCESSES THAT WERE OVERLOOKED
I have had the 720 for more than a year now and it has taken that long to finally master it.  The owner's manual leave very much to be desired since it doesnt cover all the questions one might have on how to effectively operate the unit.  I have placed more than 15 calls to technical service to find out how to do things that were not discussed in the manual.  I have also sent it back to their factory to have it checked out since it didnt appear to be working properly.  It came back with no problems noted.  I subsequently found out the problems were items not covered in the manual.  Here are some things I found regarding the unit that the Philips Engineers should have considered building into it\\" <br />1.  Like a vcr where one can see the real time as it is being recorded, there is not time tick in the display of the window to tell one how much has been recorded during a particular program.  It does on playback but not record. <br />2.  One can record many hours of programming to the hard drive but no where does it tell you how much time is left on the hard drive to be recorded.  While I have not run out of hard drive space yet, its still an unknown and it would be terrible to run out while one is recording a favorite program. <br />3.  The timer does not allow one to select a speed for recording.  Say I set the timer to record a 2 hr program at the M2 speed at 2 in the morning.  This is to be followed by a longer program at 4 in the morning that requires a recording speed in excess of 2 hours.  I am not allowed to select different recording speeds, unlike a VCR.  This is just not acceptable. <br />4.  I have encountered some store bought DVD's that wont play on the 720; says they are copywrited.  But I have a Philips and a Samsung Player where they play fine. <br />5.  In the HDD listing of recorded programs there are a set of numbers in the left section of the screen, such as 1-2, or 4-6.  No where can I find, nor can technical support tell me, what these numbers mean.  If no one knows, why put them there at all? <br />6.  I downloaded the lastest update from their website just a month ago and updated the 720.  One of the updated items was to better accept and play dual layer discs.  Well that doesnt happen.  My dual layer discs will not play in the 720 but play well in the Philips and Samsung players that were hundreds of dollars less.  Technical support has no fix for this problem. <br />All in all, I have gotten to the point where I can usually get the unit to work, but it has taken a lot of effort using an inept owners manual and technical support.