Think twice before replacing your SVHS recorder with the current DVD recorders
Written: Jan 03 '04 (Updated Jan 06 '04)
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Pros: Good player and good recorder with M1 and M2 quality.
Cons: Wrong expectations in documentation : M3 is NOT better then SVHS. It's VHS at best.
The Bottom Line: Great recorder if you are happy to record less then 3 hours. I would, however, consider a recorder with hard drive to have good quality with longer recording capabilities.
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| wwullus's Full Review: Philips DVD-750 DVD Player |
I wanted to by a DVD recorder for two main reasons. First of all to record my DV camcorder tapes and secondly to have my SVHS recorder replaced. The first part went fine. Using M1 (High Quality 1h on a 4.7GB DVD disk) or 2M (2hour standard play) gave me an acceptable quality. The second part (replacing my SVHS recorder and therefore recording movies at M3/M4/M6 quality) went really wrong. M3 quality is just NOT what the Philips documentation writes. In the docs they state that M3 gives you still better then SVHS quality... You can forget about this. I did several tests (similar TV pictures with M1/M2/M2x/M3... quality as recording) and I would only compare M2 as what I used to get with my SVHS recorder. M3 is even worse then my VHS recordings. It really wasn't nice to look at. In the store where I bought the DVD they told me that the documentation is indeed misleading. M3 is (as put on the disks itself) LP (long play). Long Play is NOT SVHS quality... As a result I asked my money back (and succeeded!) and I'll wait until technology allows me to at least record 3hours with acceptable quality. Three hours isn't luxury when you want to record a (long) movie.
Note that I played some rented DVD movies and this went great. Now I understand why : movies you rent or buy are recorded on disks where two layers per side are used (giving you 8.5 GB). Much more space to store high quality movies. DVDR75 can read 2-layer DVD's but can't record it. I read that 2-layer writers will be put on the market half 2004 but they will probably be very expensive at the beginning. Patience is my solution or considering a DVD recorder with a hard disk (or using a PC with a TV-card).
Conclusion : great DVD recorder/player as long as you are happy to record with M1 or M2 quality. 'Liking' M3/M4/M6 quality will probably depend on what you are currently used to. If you currently don't have a SVHS AND a high quality TV - as the Pixel Plus Philips TV I'm using for example - you'll probably be quite happy with this machine. Buying it with the right expectations is key! I had wrong ones...
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 580
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Epinions.com ID:
wwullus
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
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