Philips DVDR80 DVD Recorder

Pros: Recording Feature and Quality, Stylish Design, Easy Operation
Cons: Price, Poor Remote

Philips announces the DVDR80! Your home DVD recorder! The Philips DVDR80 DVD recorder is the next generation DVD recorder manufactured by Philips. Philips produced the older DVDR985 and it is a decent machine but if you're looking for newer technol ...

Pros: Fantastic flexibility and quality reproductions
Cons: Hard to find, costly

Having the ability to make back up copies has always been important to me. I started out dubbing my ...

Pros: Guideplus; several recording modes; plays CDs and MP3s
Cons: Missed programme endings and occasional freezes

It's been two years since I've used my VCR. In fact, the last time I moved, I didn't even bother to get it out of the box. That's because I've moved on to the Phillips DVDR-80 DVD recorder. Setup The enclosed diagram takes the stress out of ...

Pros: Looks sharp, filled with features, produces great results GUIDEplus is great for cable users.
Cons: Retail price is still too high for a Philips.

I should preface my review by saying that I got my machine on e-bay for an absolute bargain, and that probably has had a positive effect on my evaluation. However, I will try to be as objective as possible. The DVDR80 looks just like the DVDR75, but ...

Pros: DVD Plus system. Design. Long recording. Recording quality.
Cons: Quality of manufacture. Learning curve. Changing input devices. +R waste.

The design is excellent. The features and control are great. It makes good quality recordings for a home DVD recorder. But mine has already been in the shop and I don't expect it to last. I bought this DVD recorder because of the features. 1) The ...

Pros: Lengthy feature set Broad disk format support
Cons: Won't work with large-screen, 16:9 TVs, painful for satellite subscribers

I was so optimistic about the DVDR80 that I bought it on-line, and now have to deal with the pain of returning it on-line. However, I find that I'm putting it in a situation that it just can't handle. I have a Samsung HCL5515W 55" rear-screen ...

Pros: Excellent capabilities
Cons: Lackluster remote, difficult to learn

I purchased the Philips DVDR80 model from Circuit City a few months ago.(Price $379.00) Now it retails for about $300, and online places like Amazon sell it for $304.(Usually free shipping is offered.) So what does your hard earned $300 buy you? A good ...

Pros: 1394; Quieter (no cooling fan)
Cons: Poor TV reception; Digital artifacts; Immature software; Poor controls

I was excited opening the box. Then I plugged in the cable and saw the TV picture quality was just ...

Pros: see review
Cons: see review

Problems I have had with the Philips DVDR80/17 1. Build in Guide Plus does not recognize all my cable channels. There are six channels that I cannot record through the Guide Plus system. Guide Plus web site refers me to Philips and Philips refers ...

Pros: Makes great quality DVDs, many different recording speeds, DV input, able to select index pictures
Cons: Broke down right after warranty expired

I've had a Philips DVDR80 for over year. For the first 12 months it worked great. Made great copies of VHS tapes and excellent home videos from my camcorder (via the firewire port). The finalized DVD+Rs work great in my old DVD player too. However, right after the warranty expired it started freezing up on me during playback. I took it to a repair shop and they gave me an estimate of $600 to "replace the DVD mechanism". Since I only paid $400 for the unit, I rejected their offer to repair. Very disappointed with this turn of events.

Pros: Nice features, if it works properly.
Cons: Slow power-up and changing channels. Dedicated remote will not work with other TVs

Unfortunately, I used Hotel frequent stay points (a bunch of them) to get this unit from SkyMall. Right out of the box I have had problems with it randomly deciding to erase the CD-RW that is currently in it. Sometimes it will say "Disk Error" in the display, then sometimes it just freezes.

I called Philips tech support line and was sadly disappointed. After over an hour on the phone and maybe a total of 5 minutes talking to two different people, then only thing they asked was, "does the DVD have any scratches on it." I answered no and then they said, "Luckily the unit has a 1 year parts and labor warranty..." Then gave me the number of a repair place. This think is less than 5 days old.

Pros: Freedom to record what I wanted. Easy to edit out commercials.
Cons: Problems using DVD+RW disks, laser assembly failure, firmware update req'd.

I purchased my DVDR80 in 2004. I had lots of problems initially but worked them out. The user manual was difficult to understand. After I got the firmware update Philips offered, I was able to use the unit until last month until I started getting the "disk error" message. I took it to a repair shop. They said it was the laser assy, which was a big problem for these units. I was told a new one was over $300 which of course, I won't pay. Philips offered me an extended warranty arrangement where I send in the DVDR80 and for $39.00 they will send me a refurbished unit. The replacement is not a DVDR80 but it's better than nothing. I like the DVDR80 because I could record movies from Comcast and with the new one, everything is copy protected. I had to get a DVR so I could save movies until I wanted to watch them.

Pros: Looks cool
Cons: Would not work out of the box and after 1 repair attempt

After installation the channels would not change using the remote or the buttons on the front of the unit. Because of this defect I could also not switch between Audio/Video inputs, EXT1, EXT2, CAM1, and CAM2. I took it to the Phillips Factory Service Center in Michigan to have it repaired.

After being serviced I could change channels but I still not switch between Audio/Video inputs AND it no longer had the GUIDE feature. I called the service center and was told to bring it back in.

What was really disappointing is that the slip that was returned with the recorder after being serviced said "replaced analog board, upgraded firmware and checked all functions". Checked all functions??? How could they have checked all functions and not noticed that it no longer had the GUIDE feature?

This has been one of the most disappointing purchases I have ever made.

Pros: Records and plays back its own RW discs fine. Looks cool.
Cons: Wont play DVD movies you buy from the shop.

Reads and plays the discs that it records, but it wont play pre-recorded ones you get from the shops! It freezes halfway through every disc we try and play - i think its a memory buffer problem.

So all in all a useless machine.

Pros: Handy on screen programming capability, makes good quality copies of VHS tapes (when it works).
Cons: It seldom records what you set it up to record, making it useless.

This product should never have gone to the public without working out its many, many, many kinks.

For one thing, it seldom records an entire show. If one sets it up to record more than one show, it will usually record the second show over the first, the third over the second, etc... Many times, I've set it up to transfer my home videos to DVD only to find that it only recorded a third or half the tape! And I'm a PC technician by trade and an A/V geek by inclination! If I can't get this thing to work, I'm sure few can.

If you need a DVD recorder to transfer things from VHS to DVD, use your PC. Obviously, DVD recording technology is not yet ready to take over the good old VHS recorders.