Philips DVDR985 Recorder: A Keeper
Written: Sep 13 '03
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Pros: Worked well right out of the box. Stable. Produces DVDs with high quality video
Cons: Lousy manual, confusing and hard to use remote, and baffling on-screen menus
The Bottom Line: An affordable, good-quality DVD recorder. Produces excellent quality discs playable on most home players. Not really that hard to use once you've recorded your first disc or two.
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| ychromosome's Full Review: Philips DVDR985 DVD Recorder |
I bought one of these machines from Circuit City in June 2003. Paid about $ 270. It was in close competition with a comparably-priced recorder (DVD-R/-RW) from Panasonic.
I've been waiting a long time for a DVD recorder to transfer 8mm video onto. Been waiting for the price to come down, the technology to stabilize, and the competing formats to shake-out.
I did do a lot of research into the various DVD formats. DVD-R is compatible with about 90-95% of current consumer DVD players. The DVD+R format (Philips) is compatible with about 85% of current players. Both the DVD-RW and the DVD+RW format are a problem for consumer DVD players. These are best for playback in the machine they were recorded with.
I took the machine on a 1 week trial basis. My first concern was whether the recorded discs would be playable in my Panasonic DVD player. They were (although the Panasonic will not play RW discs). And I haven't run into anyone yet that has a DVD player that can't play one of the discs recorded on this machine.
The recorder is hefty, and intimidating. The manual is even more intimidating. Half the features in it you'll probably never use. I read the manual through, made some notes (a recording checklist to make sure I get everything connected right, turn on all the right buttons, and set the formatting each time I record), and then burned my first DVD with no problem. I spent about 45 minutes with the manual, 30 minutes figuring out the connections and what all the buttons did, and then I was making DVDs: Pretty much right out of the box. My first VCR took just about as long to set up and figure out how to use.
Once you get the process down (your own checklist really helps), it's not really that hard to make a DVD. And after a few "practice" runs, you can start playing with some of the features, like adding chapters. The video quality is AMAZING if you use composite video connections: Vastly superior to videotape. In fact, the final DVDs transferred from 8mm tape look better than the original video.
I so far have only ruined one disc, and that was my own fault. I'll be busy transferring video onto DVD this winter, using this machine.
All in all, I'd say the 985 is a keeper.
My only real complaints are:
1. The manual really sucks. It does cover all topics thoroughly, but is organized poorly, is not well indexed, and apparently was written by a techno-geek who uses English as a second language.
2. The method for making titles is archaic: You have to scroll through the whole alphabet to pick each letter. Slow, SLOW, SLOOWW. And very tedious too.
3. The remote has way too many buttons, all of which are too small and labeled with tiny print. The remote layout is funky too: Definitely not intuitive (you have to carefully look at the remote each time to make sure you're pushing the right button), and set-up completely different from most TV, VCR, and DVD player remotes.
4. The on-screen menu is baffling: Both getting the cursor to move through it, and figuring out what the silly icons mean. Would have been better if they just used words in the menu. It's a good idea to include a drawing of the menus in your checklist, to guide you through them.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 270
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Epinions.com ID:
ychromosome
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Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 8 members
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