Philips DVDR75 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder

[Archived in $200 - $300, All DVD Players, DVD Players, DVD Recorders, Philips, Products, Progressive-Scan DVD Players, Single-Disc DVD Players]

Manufacturer: Philips
Price at amazon.com: Used from $169.00

List price $599.99



Product Features:

• Combination DVD player/recorder with camcorder-ready DV (i.Link), component-video, composite-video, and S-video inputs
• Record from TV directly to DVD; up to 6 hours video recording per side (either DVD+R or DVD+RW)
• Progressive-scan output for seamless, flicker-free images on high-definition and HD-ready TVs
• Motion-compensated Noise Filter, Virtual Time Base Corrector (for better-than-original copies of old video tapes)
• Favorite Scene Selection simplifies editing of your home movies; VCR Plus+ simplifies timer programming

Product Description:

Capture, edit, and preserve precious memories with the Philips DVDR75 DVD player/recorder. Using the model's extensive inputs--including an i.Link digital video jack--you can transfer and assemble your most treasured camcorder footage, archive old video tapes, or burn video from a PC straight to high-capacity DVD (up to 6 hours per disc side using either DVD+R or DVD+RW). The unit's onboard Virtual Time Base Corrector ensures better-than-original copies from old video tapes. You can also use the DVDR75 like a VCR, burning televised programs directly to disc using helpful VCR Plus+ programming data. Recording functions include safe record, one-touch record (OTR), track append, track divide, track erase, automatic/manual chapter marker insertion, disc write protection, favorite scene selection, index picture screen for instant content overview, and Selectable Index Pictures. The DVDR75 is also a first-rate DVD player, featuring progressive-scan video outputs, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround sound passthrough, MP3 CD playback (CD-R/CD-RW), and compatibility with most DVD media (including video-mode DVD-R and DVD-RW). Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DVDR75 stands ready to deliver the full potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Top-of-the-line component-video inputs and outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video inputs and outputs bring compatibility with nearly any video component and television monitor. Audio inputs consist of two-channel analog jacks with 16-bit analog-to-digital conversion and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio compression (compression is non-defeatable). Two sets of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (one each of RCA coaxial and Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. If you don't have a surround receiver or six-channel speaker setup, you can still make every movie night the ultimate experience: 3D Surround simulates surround sound through two speakers (even the stereo speakers on a TV). What's in the Box DVD recorder, remote control, batteries, user's manual (in English only), one blank DVD+RW disc, an AC power cord, a stereo audio interconnect, a composite-video cable, an S-video cable, and a coaxial RF antenna cable.
From the Manufacturer Capture, edit, and preserve your precious memories with Philips DVDR75 Progressive Scan DVD Player/Recorder. Create a DVD from any source using the i.LINK digital connection. Transfer your most precious moments captured with your camcorder or archive all your old video tapes straight to DVD. Features: Digital picture and sound for the ultimate viewing experience Record from TV in digital quality on DVD Copy your favorite video tapes for life Digital copying from camcorder via i.LINK ... read more


See all product description...

Description from Manufacturer:Capture, edit, and preserve precious memories with the Philips DVDR75 DVD player/recorder. Using the model's extensive inputs--including an i.Link digital video jack--you can transfer and assemble your most treasured camcorder footage, archive old video tapes, or burn video from a PC straight to high-capacity DVD (up to 6 hours per disc side using either DVD+R or DVD+RW). The unit's onboard Virtual Time Base Corrector ensures better-than-original copies from old video tapes.

You can also use the DVDR75 like a VCR, burning televised programs directly to disc using helpful VCR Plus+ programming data. Recording functions include safe record, one-touch record (OTR), track append, track divide, track erase, automatic/manual chapter marker insertion, disc write protection, favorite scene selection, index picture screen for instant content overview, and Selectable Index Pictures.

The DVDR75 is also a first-rate DVD player, featuring progressive-scan video outputs, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround sound passthrough, MP3 CD playback (CD-R/CD-RW), and compatibility with most DVD media (including video-mode DVD-R and DVD-RW).

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DVDR75 stands ready to deliver the full potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

Top-of-the-line component-video inputs and outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video inputs and outputs bring compatibility with nearly any video component and television monitor. Audio inputs consist of two-channel analog jacks with 16-bit analog-to-digital conversion and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio compression (compression is non-defeatable).

Two sets of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (one each of RCA coaxial and Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. If you don't have a surround receiver or six-channel speaker setup, you can still make every movie night the ultimate experience: 3D Surround simulates surround sound through two speakers (even the stereo speakers on a TV).

What's in the Box
DVD recorder, remote control, batteries, user's manual (in English only), one blank DVD+RW disc, an AC power cord, a stereo audio interconnect, a composite-video cable, an S-video cable, and a coaxial RF antenna cable.Average Customer Rating:

---

Comment: A totally useless piece of JUNK Rating:
This multi-regional machine worked for 3 months, during which time, it often froze up, turned itself off whilst recording, or just refused to play certain discs. Three weeks after returning it to richer sounds, I was told it had been fixed, but still wouldn't play just one particular Region 1 disc. I got the staff to try three different machines ( same make/model) in the store, fresh from the box, and each machine was faulty,in one way or the other. After an hour or so, I decided to settle for taking my original "fixed" machine home. Imagine my suprise when my "fixed" machine wouldn't play any region 1 discs at all (over 100 in my collection). This is a totally useless piece of junk that refuses to work properly, but Philips won't admit to it having faults. AVOID BUYING THESE DVD RECORDERS. Even if you are lucky enough to get your money back, the DVD+RW discs recorded with it can't be played on any other machine, and you won't be compensated for the cost of those wasted discs.

---

Comment: A good, but not great, product Rating:
This product suffers from my pet peeve when it comes to some consumer-grade electronics these days: some jackass with a biz-school degree at a major electronics firm decided that it was acceptable to ship a product with sub-standard software, forcing customers to upgrade the firmware afterwards to achieve stability, and unfortunately, other jackasses at other companies thought this was a swell idea.

I've seen this with most of the Linksys products I've purchased, for example, but I assumed that, since routers are a geeky subject anyway, that was somehow more acceptable.

But this certainly shouldn't be acceptable for a device that's supposed to be easy enough for my grandmother to use (it's supposed to replace her VCR, isn't it?).

My device froze up a couple of times and intermittently refused to recognize blank discs over the first few days, which set off an immediate jackass alert in my mind.

Why do I still own one, you ask? Because, once I got over the initial hurdle of:

* upgrading the firmware (if you don't have a CD burner or don't want to bother downloading and burning the firmware, call Philips support at 1-800-531-0039 and they'll send you the appropriate firmware CD in the mail - doesn't hurt to ask for this as soon as you get this device even if you aren't seeing any immediate problems);

* learning the non-intuitive user interface (it's no TiVO, that's for sure - expect to spend a few hours playing with the menus with the manual in hand); and,

* navigating the Philips Web site (http://www.philipsusa.com), and especially its support area - I could not find support questions/faqs for this product (though I did find the firmware and manuals), and no-one answered the support chat, even though I waited for over ten minutes;

I realized that, for the money, this is a good buy. No, really, it is. These are the early heady days for DVD recorders, and so I have to expect some warts to be present. This is a first-generation DVD recorder, after all, and offers a great mix of features for the price, especially when compared to similar items from Panasonic and Sony (I didn't consider the products from Gateway and GoVideo seriously).

Here are some warts you should be aware of (a few of which may have already been mentioned in other reviews):

* The interface allows you to enter many characters for the disc and title names, but only displays a subset of these names on playback on the menu screen.

* If you hide a chapter recorded on a DVD+R disc, then it will correctly be hidden on playback on the same machine, but not on other DVD players. (This problem does not apparently occur on DVD+RW discs.)

* The device is limited on video inputs (you can only hook up one S-video/composite video input and one component video input). So I could not, for example, connect both my TiVO and VCR directly to it (receivers that can handle multiple video inputs help to deal with such situations). It's a little unfair to bring this up, since this is a natural consequence of buying a relatively cheap piece of hardware.

* To switch between video inputs, you need to switch to the monitor mode and press channel-up or -down. I had to call support to figure that one out. Given that there are only a very small number of inputs, providing buttons for each on the remote would've been much better.

A final note: Philips' phone support is quite good. The first-tier guys were easy to reach (hold time was less than a minute on each of the four or five occasions I've called them) and were quite knowledgeable (you can imagine my surprise).

---

Comment: DVDR75 A great product Rating:
If I had read all the negative reports I see on this site I never would have bought this recorder. I am glad I did not see all the negative reviews. This is a very good recorder. I have had no problems playing or recording. I am using Memorex 4x DVD+R und +RW with no problems. The only negative thing I can say is that the directions for connecting the recorder are the worse I have every seen. They should show pictures instead of drawings and should be clear about what to do. I finally closed the manual and used my good sense to connect my recorder. I must have done it right as everything is working. I have a surround sound reciever, a digital cabel box and a VCR. Digital cabel box is not even mentioned in the instructions. I have not upgraded and do not know if I need to. So far I am happy with my DVD recorder.

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)